Flames feel Iginla’s void

Blair Jones and Sven Baertschi, after weeks away, expected things here to be different. Without Jarome Iginla ruling the roost, they knew the Calgary Flames’ dressing room wouldn’t be the same. And it definitely isn’t. “I used to be over there, right beside him,” Baertschi — getting accustomed to the local digs for the first time in a month — said as he nodded toward the far-wall lockers. “Actually, (Wednesday) morning, I walked over there, trying to get to my stall. I took my skates down because I always check the steel. And I was, ‘Oh, CCM skates? They aren’t mine.’ (Steve) Begin sits there now. “But I’m comfortable over here.” Baertschi laughed. “I’ve got another wise man (Dennis Wideman) right beside me now.”

March 27, the face of the franchise had been pried off of Calgary’s roster and shipped to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now, back at Flames headquarters, the impressionable kids realize Iginla’s void is not something they can fill — but it is something they can feel.

“He was such a big part of the Flames and he was such a big part for me,” said Baertschi, 20. “Sitting beside him, he always helped me. I kind of miss that already. He really helped me. For sure, we miss him.

“I think everybody in here misses him.”

Jones had been demoted to the Abbotsford Heat in February. Since then, much has happened — including the exits of Jay Bouwmeester, Blake Comeau and Iginla.

“Yeah, there’s a couple guys missing, which is a bit strange,” said Jones, called up Tuesday. “But that’s part of the game, so that’s nothing you can really do anything about that. But, yeah, it’s a bit different, not seeing some guys.”

Not surprisingly, the Flames’ upheaval had been dominating conversations during the Heat’s informal hot-stove sessions.

“It was weird — you never knew what was going to happen,” Jones said. “Which guys were coming or going. It was interesting, for sure.”

Summoned from Abbotsford the day of the NHL trade deadline to take Comeau’s spot, Roman Horak caught the tail-end of the transaction flurry. But Iginla’s absence was clear.

“You can obviously tell that he’s gone,” Horak, 21, said. “He was a huge part of this whole organization — such a big icon here — you can obviously tell if you have that guy in the room. Or if you don’t. It’s a change. He was the captain here and he brought the spirit of the team.

“Now it’s up to the other (veteran) guys, right?”

And now it’s up to the youngsters to make an impression, given the tantalizing opportunities at hand.

“This organization, there’s a lot of things that have changed,” Baertschi said. “When Bouw left, too, it’s different. It just changes everything. (The rebuilding) changes everything in the forwards. It changes everything in the defence. It’s just adjustments you’ve got to make.

“But we still play hockey here.”