We’re still not sure when the next NHL season will start, but with most teams sculpting their 2020-21 rosters let’s take a look at how they stack up on paper in comparison with the Vancouver Canucks.
Today, the Calgary Flames, who the Canucks will face in 2020-21 whether the teams play in the Pacific Division or in a modified COVID-19 Canadian Division.
Yes, the Flames, the team that’s just a skip over the Rockies and which signed four players this off-season who wore blue and green in 2019-20.
Despite post-season suggestions that Calgary general manager Brad Treliving would look to remake the group that lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Stars — Johnny Gaudreau was a centre of speculation and Sean Monahan has been shopped in the past — the approach proved to be a refining of the lineup, rather than an overhaul.
What they’ve done so far
Jacob Markstrom, of course, is the new pickup that Canucks fans know the most about. The star goalie signed a huge deal with the Flames and will be looked to carry the same kind of heavy workload he thrived under in Vancouver.
On defence, they lost the underrated T.J. Brodie on the first pairing but signed Chris Tanev to be the veteran presence next to Noah Hanifin on the team’s second defence pairing, while saying goodbye to Travis Hamonic. They’re also hoping that prospect Juuso Valimaki will step into a full-time role on the third pairing.
They also signed Nikita Nesterov, who returns to the NHL after three seasons in the KHL with CSKA Moscow. He seems likely to play alongside Valimaki, though Oliver Kylington, whose star once looked to be rising but is now looking somewhat faint, could also feature in that role.
Up front, their top two lines appear the same but in adding Josh Leivo — the former Canuck is ready to return from a cracked kneecap and is a solid high-upside bet — and Dominik Simon, the Flames have added depth to their bottom two lines, a good thing in a season that will be shorter than usual and likely feature a busy schedule.
How the Canucks stack up
The Flames have a couple game-breaking wingers in Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, but Monahan is no Elias Pettersson and having a powerhouse No. 1 centre is a huge factor for teams seeking success.
And with Bo Horvat as the No. 2 centre, the Canucks have the Flames beat there as well. J.T. Miller certainly changed the conversation for the Canucks on the wings, but only Tanner Pearson stands out as the effective two-way player in the mix for the Canucks’ top two lines.
Even so, the edge remains in the Canucks’ favour.
It’s the bottom end of the forwards where the Flames have the advantage. Sam Bennett is perfectly placed as the third-line centre, a better two-way player than Jay Beagle is for the Canucks, and Derek Ryan is an older version of Bennett as the fourth centre. Adam Gaudette is a match for Bennett offensively but doesn’t have the same two-way prowess.
And as mentioned, the Flames have a nice selection of options on the wings on the third and fourth lines. Even Milan Lucic found a tidy role on the third line for the Flames last season.
On defence, the Flames simply don’t have a match for Quinn Hughes’ game-breaking abilities and Nate Schmidt — this has been noted before and will be noted again — is a big two-way upgrade over Tanev. But Alex Edler, like Mark Giordano, is on the wrong slope of the age curve, while Tyler Myers does lots going forward but struggles at times defensively.
The youth the Canucks seem likely to play on the third pairing are bigger gambles than the Flames looking at Valimaki to become a regular, though perhaps not far off from the Flames’ hope that Rasmus Andersson, who was drafted with the second-round pick flipped by the Canucks in 2015 for Sven Baertschi, can become a top-pairing defenceman.
And in goal, Thatcher Demko would like to become the goalie that Jacob Markstrom is, but now it’s time to prove he can be that, not just aspire to be so.
The final tally
The Flames are far from a perfect lineup. They have some interesting pieces and are overall deeper, especially up front. But Gaudreau is also coming off an incredibly down season.
What happened to the guy who posted 99 points the season before? A return to form brings the overall forwards picture toward the Flames, though Pettersson alone remains a big magnet pulling the whole equation toward the Canucks’ end of the metaphorical ice.
Like the forwards, the blue-line corps tilt slightly toward to the Flames because of overall depth, though the Canucks’ top end is obviously better because of Hughes, who also makes the Canucks’ power play an obvious advantage.
And in goal, at least for this season, it’s advantage Flames.
Overall, the Flames are a mildly deeper team, though they don’t have the explosiveness of the Canucks.
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email [email protected]
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
