4 Big Questions for the Calgary Flames in 2020-21

2.What About Johnny Hockey?

One of the most frustrating issues has been the consistency issues from Johnny Gaudreau.

In 70 games in 2019-20, he had 59 points with just 18 goals. In his prior campaign, Gaudreau notched 36 goals in a 99 point season. There was a decline in his production well before the pause. It was noticeable and raised red flags for some. Injuries and not having the strongest players around will certainly affect that.

Ward has already been tinkering with the lines a little bit. We’ve seen Matthew Tkachuk and Gaudreau swap lines in Training Camp. Tkachuk is a deadly weapon out on the ice and led the team in points last season with 61. You might want someone with that kind of production on your best line.

Gaudreau is always in the mix of trade rumors. Whether it be the media or him playing tricks by removing Calgary related things from his social media profiles, his name is typically in the mix of things. There’s never any truth to these rumors but is the clock ticking? Does Brad Treliving have a clock ticking in terms of finally taking calls and attentively listening for offers?  The thing about Gaudreau is that he has the potential to be back in the 70-90 point range. We’ve seen it before. One doesn’t have a 99 point season by accident. We might see a Brad Marchand-esque career with him in terms of only getting better with time.