Flamers soldier on with another veteran gone
This is nothing the Calgary Flames haven't dealt with before.
That's not to say they won't miss Noah Hanifin, on and off the ice. They absolutely will.
It's just that the Flames have been adjusting to having their teammates traded all year. The roster's been in a state of flux since well before the start of the season and the combination of having a bunch of veteran unrestricted free agents and the looming trade deadline meant that there was always going to be a lot of movement.
So the Flames have experience with all of this. Hanifin is just the latest guy to be shipped out, following the trades of Chris Tanev, Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov — and Tyler Toffoli last summer, if you want to count that.
And they deal with the trades the same way every time.
Every player on the roster has to do a little bit more. It's an all-in approach, and the Flames try to stay focused on the opportunities that are presenting themselves.
And they keep their eyes on the prize — a playoff spot.
“To me, it's exciting, it's an opportunity,” Flames winger Blake Coleman told reporters in Tampa before Thursday's game against the Lightning. “New faces and new guys are going to have opportunity in our lineup. Wouldn't that be a great story if we went on a run and found a way into the playoffs here?”
The Flames have done an admirable job staying competitive as their teammates have been traded away. You could argue that they've actually improved since Lindholm was dealt to the Canucks during the all-star break and in their first two games since Tanev was traded to the Dallas Stars, they went 1-1.
Nobody has thrown in the towel. The Flames have fought on.
The question is whether there's a breaking point or a moment where they've just lost too much talent to really stay in the playoff race.
That's not a question players or coaches were entertaining Thursday morning when they spoke with media in Tampa.
“This has been an ongoing theme for our team all year,” head coach Ryan Huska told reporters. “I think our guys have become really resilient and they've hardened a little bit when it comes to all the stuff that's coming along with the way our season's been away from the rink.
“Today, when you look at the guys, they were in really good spirits today. Not because they're happy that Noah's gone or anything
like that, but they understand and they get it now and because of the experience they've had all year, it's just another day for us that we have to focus on playing another hockey game.”
Following Thursday's matchup, there are games over the weekend against the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.
Daniil Miromanov, acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights in the package for Hanifin, could debut against the Panthers, but those are three tough matchups, with Friday's 1 p.m. trade deadline sandwiched in between.
More than most years, the Flames will surely feel like they can finally take a breath when the deadline hits. At least they'll know for sure who is going to be in the locker-room for the final month of the season.
“It'll be a relief tomorrow,” Coleman said. “The noise has been loud for the last month or so around our team and at the end of the day we just want to play, we want to win, we want to do well. It's on us to drown out that noise and I think we've done a pretty good job in our room and still played some good hockey. But at the end of the day it's nice to kind of get past this deadline day and just breathe and go play our game.”