Andersson preparing to make a statement

D-man confident entering playoffs

If you’re wondering where Rasmus Andersson is at in terms of confidence regarding his identity in the National Hockey League, experience, or his game in general, fret not.

With 160 regular-season games under his belt after storming onto the scene last year, the 23-year-old Calgary Flames defenceman feels he has arrived and is fully prepared to make a statement during the playoffs, despite only having five post-season appearances on his resume.

Confidence is not an issue.

Just look at one of his answers during Thursday’s post-practice media call, when one reporter asked if Andersson felt pressure to fill Travis Hamonic’s shoes since the veteran blue-liner opted out of the NHL’S Return to Play initiative.

“First of all, no, I don’t want to fill his shoes,” Andersson said.

“And second of all, why would I go out and try to play his game? There’s no point to that. He’s good at his stuff, and in my opinion, we’re pretty much different players. I won’t be going out there to fill his shoes. I will go out there to play my game and play to my strengths.

“Even though our team didn’t have that much success in playoffs, I felt I had a pretty good playoffs,” he said referring to the 2019 post-season when the Flames were eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.

LET’S GET KRAKEN

There was plenty of reaction on Thursday to the release of Seattle’s NHL franchise team name — the Kraken.

And while the Calgary Flames won’t face the newest member of the Pacific Division until the 202122 regular season, Flames coach Geoff Ward said the fun part is just beginning for the NHL’S 32nd franchise.

“Everyone is sort of waiting until they name a franchise,” he said. “Much like they did in Vegas, there is anticipation, the fan base is excited. Now, you move into those decisions about filling out your staff, your coaching, what you’re looking for in players.

“It’s going to be interesting to watch things as they unfold.”

AROUND THE BOARDS

The Flames depart for the bubble in Edmonton on Sunday. But before that, they have some work to do. Their final scrimmage at Scotiabank Saddledome takes place on Friday … That means next week — after a four-month pause due to the COVID-19 outbreak — there will be hockey. The Flames square off with the Edmonton Oilers in an exhibition game on Tuesday before their play-in series against the Winnipeg Jets starts on Saturday … The Flames lineup appears set with their top three lines intact (Johnny Gaudreau/sean Monahan/elias Lindholm; Matthew Tkachuk/mikael Backlund/andrew Mangiapane; and Milan Lucic/ Derek Ryan/dillon Dube). They’ll go with the same three defensive pairs that were together most of the regular season (Mark Giordano/tj Brodie; Noah Hanifin/rasmus Andersson; Derek Forbort / Erik Gustafsson.