FRESH FLAMES
Dube, Valimaki make team
The kids are keepers.
Dillon Dube and Juuso Valimaki proved that with splendid pre-season performances.
And just in case, the youngsters were playing hide-and-seek Monday as general manager Brad Treliving and the rest of the Calgary Flames’ brain-trust inched closer to finalizing the openingnight roster.
“I was hoping to avoid Tre as long as I could today when I got to the rink,” Dube said with a devilish grin. “I didn’t want to see anybody, because I knew if they weren’t talking to me, it was a good sign.”
When the Flames’ higher-ups did finally find Dube, they had only good news for the 20-yearold forward. He’s sticking around to start the season with the big club.
Ditto for Valimaki, 19. “Those two have made our team up to this point,” confirmed head coach Bill Peters after an uptempo practice, one of two final tune-ups for Wednesday’s regular-season opener against the Canucks in Vancouver. Certainly, the kids earned it. Dube was the pre-season darling in Calgary, notching four goals and two assists in exhibition action and showing the sort of speed and versatility that every NHL employer is looking for.
The captain of Canada’s golden group at the world juniors last winter, Dube will be wheeling up and down the left wing Wednesday, working with free-agent additions Derek Ryan and James Neal on the Flames’ third line.
Valimaki, who has the sort of poise you rarely see in a teenager, will be skating with Michael Stone on the third defence pairing.
“I think just when the games went on, I realized I can play here, and not only play, I can play my game and do the things that I’m good at and make plays and keep up with the pace,” said Valimaki, who collected two goals and three assists in seven preseason auditions but earned the extended stay with his decisionmaking and dependability in his own end.
“This is just the first step. Obviously, the competition is going to go up and the games are going to get harder. The actual work is ahead. I just have to keep working hard, learn from every game and kind of keep the same idea. I’ve got better every day during the camp, so just keep doing that, I guess.”
While we know Dube and Valimaki are staying put, there’s still a touch of uncertainty about Calgary’s opening-night roster.
The Flames bid farewell Monday to blue-liner Brett Kulak, who was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for minor-league defencemen Rinat Valiev and Matt Taormina.
Kulak suited up for 71 contests during the 2017-18 campaign, but the 24-year-old has gone unclaimed on waivers twice in the past 11 weeks and ultimately lost his third-pairing job to Valimaki. ( Valiev suited up just twice for the Habs last winter, while Taormina has 59 nights of NHL know-how but hasn’t skated in The Show since 2016.)
Flames bubble forwards Curtis Lazar and Anthony Peluso also cleared waivers and could now be dispatched to the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat, while winger Andrew Mangiapane and goalie Jon Gillies are likely headed south among the final cuts.
Mangiapane, Peluso and Gillies did not participate in Monday’s practice, but Lazar was on the ice as a spare forward.
The biggest question mark is the fate of 21-year-old rearguard Rasmus Andersson, who was impressive during the pre-season but still seems to be the odd man out, unless the Flames plan to carry a pair of extras on the point.
With the final whittling to be announced Tuesday, before 3 p.m. MT, it’s worth noting something that Treliving stressed last week: “Everybody focuses on, ‘When is the roster due?’ OK, but 10 minutes later, you can change it. I like that we have options and we have depth. Because you’re going to need it in this league.”
Just like the final cuts will pushing for a quick call-up, Dube and Valimaki realize they can’t feel too cosy just yet.
“I think right now, a long part of the start of the season is going to be a tryout for me still, and I really want to earn my spot to be an NHLer, night in and night out,” Dube said. “I really have to earn that. A lot of guys in the locker-room have already accomplished that — pretty much every single guy but me and Juuso.”
True, but all the up-and-comers have to start somewhere.
Dube was a second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. The Flames welcomed Valimaki with the No. 17 overall selection last summer.
It’ s a big jump from juniors straight to hockey’s highest level but these kids, to their credit, proved they are keepers.
“I just really believed I could,” Dube said. “This summer, everything I did, I did for a reason. I had purpose behind it. I talked to my parents every day and I said, ‘Even if it’s just us four, including my brother, that they’re the only ones who think I can make it, that’s good enough for me. Because if I believe it, I think it could happen.’
“I prepared for this moment for a long time to be here, and I think that helped me out a lot.”
This is just the first step. Obviously, the competition is going to go up and the games are going to get harder.