New in Town: Calgary Flames

Despite the highest of expectations entering the campaign and some promising moments throughout it, the Calgary Flames’ 2017-18 season was nothing short of a colossal disappointment.

The team ended up missing the playoffs by a whopping 11 points despite pre- and early-season aspirations of a deep playoff run. The Flames were especially marred by an atrocious final two-and-a-half months of the campaign, where they won only 12 of their final 37 contests while trudging their way through a six-game winless skid in January before putting the proverbial nail in their own playoff coffin by dropping seven in a row in regulation at the end of March.

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Gigantic underachievement almost always leads to drastic changes, and Calgary’s offseason reflected that sentiment. Starting at the top, Brian Burke stepped down as president of hockey operations, while head coach Glen Gulutzan along assistants Dave Cameron and Paul Jerrard were relieved of their duties behind the bench.

Star defenceman Dougie Hamilton along with forward Micheal Ferland were shipped to Carolina in exchange for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin, and James Neal was inked during free agency to add some scoring outside the team’s potent first line.

So, who are the new guys and where do they fit on a Flames squad looking to find its way?

The new bench boss: Bill Peters

After new hands-on owner Tom Dundon bought the Hurricanes in January, most suspected it would be house-cleaning time in Raleigh. And that’s exactly what unfolded as former GM Ron Francis and head coach Peters, along with his staff, were axed at season’s end.

Peters, who posted a .498 winning percentage over 328 games with Carolina over the last four seasons, wasn’t handed an embarrassment of riches by any means to work with over his time behind the Canes’ bench, but managed to keep a very young roster competitive in a lot more games than it should’ve been.

Many of the Flames’ on-ice problems last season resulted from poor defensive zone structure, ineffective d-zone exits and o-zone entries, and an inability to discover effective power play personnel deployments — all areas which Peters saw relative success in with the Hurricanes and should instantly improve with the Flames.

The impact blue-liner: Noah Hanifin

After coming over as the centrepiece return in the stunning Dougie Hamilton trade, the former fifth-overall pick will be thrust into the spotlight on the Flames’ blue line right away under a familiar face.

Hanifin enters his 22-year-old season with three NHL campaigns already under his belt — all under Peters and the Hurricanes. The fluidity of playing for the same bench boss as the young blue-liner transitions to a new team and a new role will surely play into Hanifin’s advantage as he looks to fill the void left by the loss of Hamilton.

It shouldn’t be expected that Hanifin — who has posted 18 goals and 83 points and averaged 18:14 TOI in his three-year career — will immediately jump in and replace Hamilton’s offensive prowess, zone exit efficiency and d-zone steadiness, but he’ll surely have plenty of opportunities to impress on Calgary’s second pairing alongside Travis Hamonic and, more than likely, with a lot of good looks on the seconder power play unit, too.

The trigger man: James Neal

Only four clubs scored less goals than the Flames did last season, so the team will lean on its big free-agent signing to help reverse course after inking James Neal to a five-year deal worth an AAV of $5.75 million.

The 31-year-old has averaged just over 27 goals per season over his last seven NHL campaigns, and has hit both the 30 and 40-goal plateaus over that span. Neal saw his production peak in 2011-12 when he netted 40 tallies and 81 points during his first season in Pittsburgh. He also led the NHL with 18 power-play goals that season, a trick the Flames are hoping Neal can turn again when he’s likely granted heavy minutes on the PP1. He didn’t have those opportunities over his last few seasons in Vegas and Nashville, which likely contributed to him scoring only 17 power-play goals over the last four seasons.

Calgary’s power play and goal production both ranked near the bottom of the NHL last season, but Neal now rounds out a pretty potent top-six forward group for the Flames, and brings a new dimension to the man advantage as the team will need every goal it can get if it hopes to creep back into the playoff picture this season.

The wild-card: Elias Lindholm

The right-handed centre came over along with Hanifin from Carolina, and after five NHL seasons we basically know what he is as a player. But is there more to give for the 23-year-old? Many, including me, think so.

Lindholm put up between 39 and 45 points in each of the last four campaigns and is coming off a year where he tallied a career-best 16 goals while averaging a hair under 18 minutes per night. It looks as though rather than slotting him into the third-line centre spot, the Flames may give him an extended look at right wing playing with Johnny Hockey and Sean Monahan on what could turn into one of the most dangerous top units in the league.

Expect a bump in production simply from slotting in with those guys. And with a lot of growing still to do as a player, Lindholm is definitely a breakout candidate heading into 2018-19.

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