This is going to be a year of development for the Calgary Flames, but there are still some players who are key to their success. Peter Klein looks at who are the X-Factors for the Flames this year. He also gives his picks for who might fall off this year as the season preview continues.
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SportsTranscript
00:00The Calgary Flames preseason kicked off last night, and just as a nice reminder that the
00:14season is rapidly approaching.
00:16And so today, going to be looking at who are the X-Factors for this team for the upcoming
00:21year.
00:22Also, looking at who might fall off this season for the Flames.
00:26Let's begin with the X-Factors.
00:28Actually, you know what?
00:29Let's start with the fall-offs, so we can end on a more positive note.
00:33Also, I haven't been able to watch the game from last night yet.
00:36I plan on doing that, and then doing a Flames-related podcast, either late today or early on tomorrow.
00:44That is the plan right now, is to get some, a little bit more Flames content out there.
00:49And maybe build up the Game Over channel right now.
00:51By the way, Game Over Calgary, go subscribe to that right now.
00:54Okay, so first, the fall-off.
00:57I do think that Blake Coleman is a tremendous player, and he was unbelievable last year.
01:04But some of those point totals, and everything like that, were just so out of nowhere, that
01:09I do worry that this is going to be someone that just kind of falls off a little bit this
01:15year.
01:16And so, I think that from a production standpoint, it's not going to be the same.
01:21And I think he is the one who probably falls off a little bit more here this year.
01:27At two, I have Mackenzie Weger.
01:29Again, put up some great numbers last year.
01:31And none of this is a statement on any of these players as players.
01:34It's a little bit just more what the production was last year.
01:37He put up some great numbers.
01:38But I do worry that that may dip, with some inconsistency in who his partners are, and
01:44just, you know, how math works.
01:46It's tough to put up those type of numbers again, in back-to-back years.
01:49Again, he may even feel like, from just a play standpoint, that he is putting out a
01:54better product than he did last year.
01:56But the numbers may not get him there.
01:58And at three, it's Martin Pospisil.
02:00A couple of things here.
02:02A, I do think that last year was a, oh holy shit, who is this guy moment.
02:07Now teams are going to have a year of figuring him out.
02:09And a year of, okay, let's see.
02:11So it'll be nice to see what his counterpunch is to that.
02:14But also, I do think he's going to bounce around the lineup quite a bit.
02:18He feels like the one who, like, in the top six, maybe even undeservedly, but maybe gets
02:23bumped from a top six spot to put someone else in.
02:25And he goes down to the fourth line.
02:27And I also think they're going to experiment with him at center a little bit more.
02:30And I don't think that means him in the second line.
02:32And so again, this could be a year of real development for his talents.
02:37It's just maybe not going to look the same on a score sheet than it did a year ago.
02:41Now on to the X-Factors.
02:42Who are the guys who are going to, like, really decide the year for the Calgary Flames?
02:46At three, I have Daniil Miromanov.
02:48He showed some flashes late last year when he came in.
02:51If he can be a real guy on the blue line, that actually helps quite a bit.
02:55Because one of the things we have said all season, or all offseason, is this team has
02:59really two legitimate NHL defensemen.
03:01And everyone else, like, all due respect to Bean, he's a 5'6 guy, or a 6'7 guy.
03:06And like, I kind of view Miromanov the same way.
03:08If he can step into a more substantial role, legitimately, and not just because, well,
03:13you happen to be the third best guy here, but if you can, if he can legitimately be
03:16a second-pairing guy, then that, I think, changes the shape of this Flames team actually
03:22quite a bit.
03:23And again, all of these things, like, there's going to be some real, um, there's real
03:33chances here, either way.
03:34But I will say, again, I do not think that this is going to be a team that makes the
03:38playoffs.
03:39And so even if Miromanov is awesome, I don't think that, like, we're not talking about
03:43this team being a 1C.
03:44We are more just talking about, like, this team showing some growth and development.
03:49On that note, at 2, it is Konor Zari.
03:52He needs to show a little bit more consistency in his game this year.
03:54If he can do that, because when it is good, it is so good, he has a real touch and a real
04:00vision out there that you, the old Enzo Amore thing, you can't teach that, he has some
04:06of those skills and some of those abilities that make him very, very dangerous out on
04:10the ice.
04:12Just doesn't do it all the time.
04:13And so that has led to some inconsistent play.
04:16If he can round that out and just be that guy for 82 games, then again, it changes,
04:20I think, the dynamic of this forward group.
04:23More so for the future than this year, but really, um, it does change things for this
04:27team.
04:28And at number 1, it's Anthony Mantha.
04:30He has always been someone who the talent has been there, and he has been a very, very
04:34exciting player.
04:36And it just, it hasn't, like Zari, it just, it didn't click, always.
04:40And sometimes it doesn't, even some seasons, it clicks for 82 games, but to be able to
04:44put year after year, um, sometimes for him, month after month, game after game, or shift
04:48after shift together, the consistency hasn't been there.
04:51And so if he can do that, it makes for some intriguing decisions around this Calgary Flames
04:56team.
04:57But also, I think his biggest thing this year is, can he get Jonathan Huberto?
05:04We have thrown out the idea of him being a $10.5 million dollar player, right?
05:07We know he's probably not.
05:09But when you get him to a level that is at least acceptable, can we get this guy to a
05:14point per game?
05:15Like he was flirting with at the end of last season.
05:18And if Mantha can be a guy that can get that out of Jonathan Huberto, A, maybe he bumps
05:22up his trade value and we help him out, or B, he's a guy who you can kind of keep around
05:26midterm, not long term, but he's a guy you can keep around for a couple of years that
05:31helps get your highest paid player to be a productive member of this NHL team.
05:36And that would be a very big thing for the Calgary Flames.