Tuesday night the Calgary Flames took on the New York Rangers, and while it is very early in the season, the Flames needed a win after their horrendous road trip where they only picked up one win. Well, the Flames lost, and after the game and the days that followed I couldn’t help but think the Flames could learn a lot from the Rangers on and off the ice.
The on-ice Flames product
Let’s start with things on the ice. The Rangers didn’t necessarily take the game to the Flames per se. Honestly, the Flames played a decent game and maybe they deserved a better result. You can see what the Rangers have and the Flames don’t though—they have the star power that can win you games that you don’t deserve to win.
That starts with Igor Shesterkin in the net. He made some incredible saves after letting in a weak goal to Blake Coleman just over a minute into the contest. Shesterkin locked in after that, and the Flames didn’t beat him the rest of the night. While Jacob Markstrom played a fine game, the third goal scored by Erik Gustafsson needed to be stopped.
Up front, the Rangers were led by their stars. Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider controlled the game whenever they were out there, creating havoc and scoring chances almost every time they touched the puck. Kreider also scored the winner. Artemi Panarin was creating chances out of nothing, and Adam Fox added from the back end. Once again, in a game they maybe didn’t deserve to win, the Rangers stars stepped up and won it for them, something we haven’t seen from a Flame in a while.
At the end of the day, and I’ve talked about it plenty of times, the Flames need their stars to be their stars, and while they may not be the calibre of those on the Rangers, there still has to be a push. The offence cannot always rely on the Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman, and Andrew Mangiapane line—others need to step up.
The off-ice Flames product
The Flames are currently in a similar state as the Rangers were back in the 2017–18 season. The Rangers were in a state of flux, they were competitive, but they didn’t seem like a team that was going to be a true contender anytime soon. So, right before the 2018 trade deadline, the Rangers decided they were going to tear it down and start fresh.
The plan they put in place somewhat worked, they landed the second overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, selecting Kappo Kakko, and lucked into the first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, selecting Alexis Lafreniere. Now this is where it gets interesting, both Kakko and Lafreniere haven’t been the main drivers of the bus, but longer-tenured Rangers like Zibanejad and Kreider took off. They then signed Panarin in the summer of 2019, and they were gifted Fox after he wouldn’t sign in Calgary nor Carolina. That’s all not to mention that Shesterkin stepped in and immediately became one of the best goalies in the NHL.
I know a lot of things went right for the Rangers, and the guys they “tanked” for haven’t made a massive impact, but the thought process was correct from the Rangers point of view, and now they are back to being a contending team. The Flames have an opportunity to do what the Rangers did and try to become a younger team that can sell assets at the deadline like upcoming unrestricted free agents Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov. They definitely don’t want to lose any of them for nothing. It would be a great way to kick start a new era of Flames hockey, and it’s not like the Flames will be contending with this group, so why not try and build for the future before the new arena opens up. Just a thought.
Will they or won’t they
With the Flames’ start to the season being outright horrendous, you have to wonder if General Manager Craig Conroy is feeling the pressure. We know the Flames are actively trying to sign Hanifin and Lindholm but we also know what this team’s ceiling probably is: maybe a playoff team, but probably destined for 17th overall in the league year in and year out.
Flames fans would probably embrace a rebuild with open arms, just like the Rangers fans did. Ownership on the other hand is a whole different story. There is lots of season to go, but the clock is ticking, a decision on this team’s future will have to be made soon.
Photo by @AmanKurji.
