BUMPER CROP OF BLUELINERS COULD YIELD FLAMES RECORD
Team just shy of franchise high for most defencemen to suit up in a single season
Hard to believe, but it's not a franchise record ... yet.
The Calgary Flames have dressed 15 defencemen during the 2023-24 campaign. The leaguewide average is 10.
“I honestly didn't know that we've used that many. That's crazy,” said Mackenzie Weegar, the only Flames rearguard to suit up for every game so far this season. “There has been a lot of turnover and obviously a lot of new faces. But I think, in a way, you can get a spark from that. Because they're so excited to play, right?”
Calgary's current blue line brigade includes just a trio who started the season with the club — Weegar, Rasmus Andersson and Dennis Gilbert.
Oliver Kylington returned in late January after an extended leave for mental-health reasons, while Brayden Pachal was plucked off the waiver-wire in early February.
Recently they've claimed Joel Hanley via waivers and welcomed Daniil and Nikita Okhotiuk in trades.
The Flames now have one of the NHL'S most inexperienced defence corps. Their three in-season farewells — Nikita Zadorov, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin, who visits the Saddledome on Thursday with the Vegas Golden Knights (7 p.m. MT, Sportsnet West/sportsnet 960 The Fan) — had combined for upwards of 2,000 career appearances. Among the additions, only Hanley has played over 100.
“You gotta deal with what you're faced with. And you know what? We've done that,” said Flames assistant coach Dan Lambert, who heads the department of defence.
“If you would have asked me how many, I wouldn't have said 15. I don't know that number.
But to me, it doesn't matter how many it is. You have to coach the players that you have.
“There is no doubt we've had a few injuries, but that's kind of normal. Now obviously, with the changes, that's a little bit different, but that's the way it is. So we're going to deal with it. I think it's important that I'm patient, the coaching staff is patient, with some of these new guys. And hopefully we'll get 'em dialed in here quicker than not.”
Okhotiuk, acquired in a deadline-day swap with the San Jose Sharks, was the latest to log his team debut. The initial plan was to give this newest arrival a few days to settle in before he would be pressed into action, but that changed when a couple of forwards — Andrei Kuzmenko (upper-body injury) and Andrew Mangiapane (illness) — were ruled out for Tuesday's clash with the Colorado Avalanche.
The 23-year-old Okhotiuk registered three hits, two blocked shots and an even rating in 8:23 of ice time during a 6-2 shellacking from the Avs.
“We are hockey players, same as warriors. Any time, you have to be ready,” Okhotiuk told reporters after Wednesday's practice. “After warm-up, I got undressed and got told I might play, so I started dressing slowly and then I was told I am playing.
“It's important, what's right here,” he added, tapping the logo on his jersey. “So just play for the team, do my best and show what I can do.”
On Tuesday morning, during a one-on-one meeting, Lambert was showing Okhotiuk some of the details of the Flames' defensive structure. It was a crash course, similar to Lambert's meet-and-greets last week with both Hanley and Miromanov.
“I think the first thing is you want to make 'em feel comfortable,” said Lambert, explaining his strategy for onboarding any of the new blueliners. “It's introducing yourself and just having that short conversation, seeing how they're doing, seeing how the transition has been for them and getting to know them a little bit that way.”
It's certainly been bumpy of late — the Flames have suffered three straight lopsided losses, outscored 18-5.
While head coach Ryan Huska stressed the new faces “are not the issue,” there have been moments of confusion in their own territory.
For perspective, consider that it has been three decades since the Flames deployed this many defencemen in a season. During the 1993-94 campaign, they tried a total of 16 different players on the back-end. That's a franchise record that will soon be matched, since this current regime will undoubtedly want a peek at top prospect Jeremie Poirier. He is now back in action with the Wranglers after recovering from a scary skate laceration and will probably get a look during the stretch run.