Flames players slowly reassemble for playoffs
Expanded groups of players begin working toward season restart as restrictions eased
Some are on the ice getting their sweat on …
Now 12 at a time, instead of six. Others are in quarantine, sweating out the mandatory 14-day isolation period after returning from home to Calgary following the lengthy break in the sporting schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But slowly, the Calgary Flames are getting the band back together with camp set to open in preparation for the monthslong delayed — and still undetermined — start to the Stanley
Cup playoffs.
“We’ll have close to everybody here by the end of the weekend if not the early part of (next) week,” said Flames GM Brad Treliving, counting upwards of 18 players who are already here in Calgary.
“You got a lot of guys participating (in voluntary workouts), and you’ve got some guys here who — because of where they came from — are in quarantine.”
The plan is to have everybody out of isolation and on the ice by July 10, the earliest possible date set by the NHL for camps to begin.
“I would equate this to being like August going into a September training camp, where the guys who weren’t in town have probably been on the ice at varying degrees,” Treliving said.
“Some were on a lot, and some weren’t on much.
“But this gets everybody back and moving and doing sort of the informal stuff you do prior to a training camp.”
These days, the Flames are able to do their moving on the ice in groups of 12.
That’s upped from the six per cohort originally allowed by health authorities when Alberta put Phase 2 of the province’s reopening in play earlier this month.
So a dozen, including one instructor, have been on the ice per workout session at the Saddledome since early this week.
“It’s a very safe environment with lots of testing going on,” Treliving said. “We’ve got an independent lab set up that the guys go through. I think that bubble’s only going to get tighter. And I think the testing and all the precautions are only going to get greater as we get into Phase 3 and Phase 4.
“But there’s always some questions. In some cases, we don’t know the answers — we’re still waiting for information. But I think our guys are comfortable — and I’m very comfortable — with the steps the league’s going to take. There’s been lots of effort that has gone into this.”
Whenever camp does open in the NHL’S Phase 3 return-to-play protocol, the Flames intend to run with the roster of players that the team sported when the regular season was suspended in mid-march.
Plus Treliving says they’ll have a few others on hand from the organization, including forwards Alan Quine, Buddy Robinson, Byron Froese, Glenn Gawdin, Matthew Phillips, Adam Ruzicka and Austin Czarnik, defenceman Alexander Yelesin and goaltenders Jon Gillies and Artyom Zagidulin.
Left-winger Ryan Lomberg could be there, too, if he’s healthy enough to return from a significant ankle injury. And blueliner Connor Mackey will be part of the club’s camp plans, although he is unable to participate in game play during Phase 4 because his recently signed one-year, entry-level deal doesn’t start until next season.
“We’ve got 30 guys coming to camp, and because of the uniqueness of the situation, camp is important — the top 20 will play (in the playoffs),” Treliving said. “This isn’t one of these things where we’re saying, ‘OK let’s take the first third of the season and see where everybody goes.’
“I don’t care if you played in Stockton or if you played 10 games here or if you played 70 games here. The question is,
‘Can you help us beat Winnipeg (in the play-in playoff round)?’ If the answer is ‘yes,’ then you’re in.
“This isn’t a development camp. This is a get-ready-forplayoffs camp.”
Treliving, however, knows that anything goes during this COVID-19 crisis. Change could still be forthcoming to dates, roster sizes, health parameters …
Perhaps going as far as cancelling the playoffs altogether.
“Somebody asked me the other day ‘What has COVID-19 taught you?’” Treliving added. “No. 1 is you have to learn how to pivot. You have to learn how to prepare for something and what you’ve prepared for, you may have to go 180 the next day — and you can’t get frustrated, because that’s where we’re at.”
LIVE LOTTERY FUN
Treliving was looking forward to a little live sports action Friday night. It was that, for sure, plus he got quite the surprise.
The GM intended to sit down and take in the NHL Draft Lottery, which underwent quite a unique — and strange — revision thanks to the coronavirus pandemic this year.
But after the lottery unfolded, he learned the Flames can still end up with the No. 1 pick, since the eight teams who are eliminated from the play-in round of the playoffs — should they be played — all have an equal chance to be awarded the top overall selection.
One of those eight will get the top pick.
“I thought the league did a smart job with the lottery,” Treliving said. “I think it’s a neat way to do it. And we actually get to see something live and new, so I think it’s kind of cool.
“It’s the first thing that’s happened on the calendar since (mid-march).”
Treliving calls it a “helluva” draft class, especially at the top end with “some big-time players to help some teams.”
The Flames are now possibly among such teams, although it would mean losing in the first round of the best-of-five qualifying round.