FLAMES STILL HAVE SHOT AT PERSONAL MILESTONES
Players hoping to help teammates reach nice round numbers before season ends
The Calgary Flames have exactly two games remaining in their schedule.
The playoffs aren't a possibility and haven't been for a while, but there are still a few career milestones that individual guys are playing for.
And the Flames are going to do everything they can to help them hit their marks.
“You want to see those guys hit those milestones,” Zary said. “Obviously, they might say it's not a big deal and they're happy just winning games but I think in the back of their minds we want to see them hit it just as much as they want to hit those milestones.
“We'll try to get that done in these next two games here.”
It's not just the players saying that, either. The Flames coaches want to see their guys rewarded, too, and while they don't want anyone abandoning the game plan to get a guy an extra shot on net, they're happy to see their players trying to help one another out.
“They matter,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “You want it to always be a team game, but there are things like getting 30 goals or 20 for a defenceman that matter and teammates know that, too.
“There are situations where if they can, they're going to do everything they can to try to help those guys score that goal. As much as it is about team, those milestones are important because it solidifies the type of season that certain individuals have for us.”
Here's five milestones that the Flames could hit in their final two games:
1.
Mackenzie Weegar getting 20 goals. As my colleague Wes Gilbertson uncovered last week, Weegar can become the first NHLER to score 20 goals and block 200 shots in the same season since the league started keeping records on shot-blocking in 2005-06.
He's been a revelation in his second season with the Flames and has sailed past his previous high of eight goals in a year.
He already got to 200 blocked shots, but he's sitting on 19 goals with two games to go and only three defencemen in the NHL have more.
If the 30-year-old does finish the season with 19 goals, it doesn't take away from what's been a fantastic year from start to finish.
It would be a remarkable feather in his cap, though.
2.
Nazem Kadri scoring 30
Kadri has scored 30 goals in a season twice before, both toward the end of his stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
But getting there a third time would be a big deal, too, even if he downplayed that when he was asked after Sunday night's twogoal performance against the Arizona Coyotes.
“It really doesn't matter to me at all,” Kadri said. “Luckily got hot, obviously I've proved I can get there before and I can never sell myself short but my linemates are playing great and my teammates are setting me up with chances.”
Kadri has been arguably the Flames' best player this year and brought out the best in rookies Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil. He deserves a tonne of credit for his attitude throughout difficult circumstances.
Getting to 30 would be a just reward.
3.
Thirty for Coleman, too
There's no question Blake Coleman would already be at 30 goals if he hadn't suffered an injury on April 9 against the San Jose Sharks.
He has now missed three games, though, and won't appear in Tuesday's matchup with the Vancouver Canucks.
The Flames are hopeful he'll be available Thursday against the Sharks and that will give him one game to get the goal he needs to hit the 30-goals mark for the first time in his career.
“He puts people first, so when he's close to a milestone because he's that way, guys want to repay or reward him for that,” Huska said.
“Hopefully, we can get him back in one of these games.”
Coleman, the winner of the Peter Maher Good Guy Award for 2023-24, has 29 goals and 23 assists this year, both of which are career highs.
4.
Playing in all 82
If they play in the last two games of the season, four players will have skated in every single contest for the group in 2023-24.
Those guys? Kadri, Weegar, Mikael Backlund and Yegor Sharangovich.
It would be the first time Weegar and Sharangovich have played in all 82, while Kadri has done it twice previously — including 2022-23 for the Flames — and this would mark a seriously impressive fifth time that Backlund has pulled it off.
Playing in every game isn't easy and it can only be accomplished through a combination of a dedication to fitness and some serious toughness.
“They know how to handle days off, they know how to handle their time to get the maximum recovery that they need to have,” Huska said.
5.
Get a first one
Adam Klapka and Ilya Solovyov have a chance to collect a keepsake puck before the season is through.
Scoring for the first time in the NHL would be a special moment for both of them, and a confidence boost before going back to the AHL for a playoff run with the Calgary Wranglers.
Solovyov has played in eight games this season and has recorded two assists, while Klapka will return to the Flames lineup after going pointless in a four-game stint back in January.