Calgary Flames Defense Analysis

The Calgary Flames played their first game of the 2015-16 NHL season on Wednesday night against the Vancouver Canucks. Interestingly enough, the Canucks decided to make 2014 first rounder Jake Virtanen a healthy scratch to begin the season.

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However, its the lopsided unexpected result that has the hockey world buzzing. Vancouver trampled the Flames 5-1 in a very interesting game to say the least. The Flames weren’t the only team that didn’t look ready to play opening night as the Kings met the exact same fate against the San Jose Sharks losing 5-1 as well.

The Flames were getting caught flat-footed a lot to begin the game. The overall effort and compete level was non-existent. This was clear by Calgary’s inability to win simple puck races all game long. It’s also hard to stay competitive when you’re losing all the puck battles and making terrible decisions with the puck.

The blame should be shared by both the Calgary Flames defense and forwards. Believe it or not, Karri Ramo played well. He made a couple highlight worthy saves earlier in the game and did all he could making 39 saves on the night. He was doing everything he could to keep them in the game early-on.

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We just didn’t see what we’re used to seeing out of the Flames. The first-line of Jiri Hudler, Johnny Gaudreau, and Sean Monahan were virtually ghosts on the ice. Yes Hudler did score a goal, but it was a pathetic effort by what is supposed to be your top players.

Guys that usually stand out for Calgary like Lance Bouma, were less noticable than usual. Normally Bouma makes his presence felt by throwing his body around like a mad man. If he was last night, it didn’t show or stand-out.

Mismanagement of minutes up front doesn’t help when you’re already struggling with top-end talent. How exactly does David Jones only accumulate 12:05 of ice-time? The only two with less ice time were Michael Ferland and Brandon Bollig. Congratulations Flames fans, you’re paying a $4 mil cap hit for a fourth liner. Jones has more skill than a fourth liner, so that’s sad to see.

Did we learn nothing from the Steven Stamkos situation? Barry Melrose didn’t keep his job for very long when he played his young top prospect such limited minutes.

Sep 25, 2015; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames center Sam Bennett (93) skates during the warmup period against the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

13:08 of ice-time is unacceptable for Sam Bennett. If you’re planning on giving him third line minutes, you mid as well stick him in the AHL and give him top-line minutes because he’s not going to develop that way.

If anything, you risk hurting his development should this theme continue. It’s not like you have any elite offensive talent outside of Gaudreau or Monahan.

Matt Stajan only had 13:03 of ice-time on opening night, but he was noticably making mistakes and bad decisions throughout the game. He still has a bit of a cap hit, but he’s not as good as David Jones.

Stajan could do with a little less ice-time. Realistically, he should have been put on waivers coming out of preseason (not that anyone would have touched him).

Last season, Calgary Flames defense ice-time ranked as follows. T.J. Brodie led the way with Mark Giordano a little behind him(Brodie likely surpassed Giordano after he went down for the season). It followed with Dennis Wideman, then Kris Russell who all garnered over 20 minutes/game. 24 minute range for Brodie and Giordano last year.

So how does Kris Russell walk away from that game against the Canucks with more than 3 1/2 minutes of ice-time than Dougie Hamilton or Mark Giordano? Russell played close to 25 minutes by the end of the game.

Before Flames fans jump on me here. I know Kris Russell is a good d-man. I happen to really like him. The plus/minus was ugly last night with Engellend (-2), Giordano (-3), and Hamilton (-2) with the exception of Russell who came out even after logging the most minutes.

Russell is capable of the 30-40 point range so he does have some offensive prowess, but is better regarded as a solid two-way defender. We’re talking about who had 283 blocked shots last season (74 more than the 2nd place guy).

But doesn’t relying on Russell more ultimately hurt an offense that largely depends on its offensive d-men to kick-start plays? Everybody knows the Flames don’t have an eye-popping offense. A lot of what they do is started in their own end by guys like Mark Giordano or T.J. Brodie.

Perhaps the hockey world over-looked the significance of the T.J. Brodie injury? The Calgary Flames defense are highly regarded as a top-notch core, that if any could sustain an injury without much trouble, it would be them.

Does losing 2014-15’s top minutes logged d-man in T.J. Brodie cause a more temporary issue than first thought? The estimation for his injury on Sept.23 when it was announced was 3-6 weeks. That’s approximately another 1-3 weeks without a valuable defensive piece.

Is the answer as simple as better managing the minutes on the blue-line? Perhaps the Calgary Flames defense has a guy in the system like Tyler Wotherspoon who could maybe come up and fill a hole until Brodie returns? Or is it just simply explained as the first game of the season for a team that didn’t come to play opening night?

We as hockey fans tend to over-react at times because of one result. But it’s a tad alarming when you watch a team like Toronto stay competitive with lots of energy, and then get treated to a stinker of an effort from the Calgary Flames.

Because lets be honest, the Vancouver Canucks didn’t look all that dominant, nor should they with that lineup. It might be a one-game sample size, but sometimes that is all you need to identify potential issues moving forward. So what do you think fans, over-reaction or is the analytics game catching up to the Flames already?

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