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Andre Roy appeared to be on the ice really early this morning working his way back from a concussion. Daymond Langkow also skated prior to the main group as well worked on his conditioning didn’t handle too many pucks.

Rhett Warrener is skating with the main group, but has not been cleared to play yet.

Everybody out for practice today since the team had no skate yesterday.

The Flames seem to be a very loose bunch today as they prepare to play the Wild and why shouldn’t they be the Wild have won just 3 times at the Dome in their history.

Lines

Cammalleri Conroy Iginla
Bertuzzi Lundmark Lombardi
Glencross Boyd Moss
Nystrom Prust Van Der Gulik

Regehr Aucoin
Vandermeer Phaneuf
Sarich Pardy

Kiprusoff

The Flames have called up David Van Der Gulik from Quad City this afternoon, giving yet another young player his first taste of the NHL. This young man is a guy who I thought was going to get a good hard look at camp; he didn’t as the Flames got their numbers down fairly quickly. Ryan McGill has had nothing but praise for David over the past couple of years and feels he is NHL ready.

One of things I have enjoyed this season and last is seeing young players like Van Der Gulik come up and get their feet wet. My first couple of seasons here in Calgary it was Jason Morgan or Craig MacDonald, and some of Richie Regehr and Giordano, but that was it. I like seeing these young guys play and it bodes well for the Flames future.

Talked to Wayne Primeau on the show yesterday and he admitted that he had surgery on his foot last week and is going to be gone long term, joining Mark Giordano.

Talked again to Darryl Sutter today and I am convinced of little at this point on whether or not the Flames are buyers, under no circumstance are they going to sell anything. Each and every time you talk to Darryl he downplays the need to make a deal, but always adds the caveat that if something falls in their laps they will have to look at it.

No shortage of rumors involving the Flames and centermen and I am sure as the trade deadline draws nearer we will hear of many many more.

Funny thing about Mike Richards our morning man, I so rarely see him unless we are at an event and when ever we get to spend some time together I am always blown away by how talented he is. If you haven’t heard his conversation yesterday with Mike Cammalleri as Roberto Luongo, it is brilliant radio, but it was stunning to watch it live as he was doing this whole bit of the top of his head. Creatively he is my hero!

Kyle Greentree who saw himself in Mike Keenan’s dog house after being on the ice for the lone Columbus goal against was sent back to Quad City. Too bad I thought he showed some potential, but it may be too early to read into what may happen for Friday. Langkow skated before the practice today and is a long shot to be back against Minnesota. The Flames maybe saving money by sending him down and recalling him later in the week or they could recall someone else in time for Friday.
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Bertuzzi and Conroy both given the day off the ice as neither skated with the main group this morning.

Rhett Warrener continues to rehab his shoulder and is out with the main group skating in the blue “no hit” jersey.

Congratulations to Curtis McElhinney and his wife on the birth of their first child, Monday they welcomed their son into the world.

Good news for the Flames today as both David Moss and Dustin Boyd are out there for practice. They were involved in a horrific looking own hit late in the game against Edmonton.

No major changes for the Flames at practice today, no Giordano, Langkow, and or Roy. Also missing was Curtis McElhinney, so the Flames brought in a couple of college goalies.

Really liked the play of Greentree and Lundmark on Saturday, when they were paired with Bertuzzi in the 2nd I thought that line was the Flames best. It is just one game so I am curious to see how they play tomorrow but a nice debut for Greentree anyway.

Tough news for a good guy today as the news that Tom Renney was fired by the New York Rangers, I don’t want to pretend to know the inner workings of the Blue shirts, but I am not sure this is going to change anything. Look at the way the Rangers are constructed, they are missing something on the back end, or quite a bit on the back end. Another good guy also got pinked slip today with Perry Pearn being let go by New York.

Congratulations to the voice of the Calgary Flames who just now on national television was presented with a huge honor as the folks in his hometown of Campbellton, New Brunswick just renamed the press box in the arena the Peter Maher broadcast booth. Way to go Pete it is richly deserved and something I know that will very near and dear to your heart.

Gut check time for the Calgary Flames and I hope the team embraces it, they really need too! By now most of you are aware that 4 regulars have been knocked out of the line up in the past 2 games, all with varying return dates. The Flames have made a pair of call ups adding Quad Cities top 2 scorers in Jamie Lundmark and Kyle Greentree and will count on internal help to get them over this hump.

Facts are facts if you are going to have success in this league you have to overcome injuries, the last time the Flames would have encountered this many key players being out of the line up likely would have been back in 03/04. The Flames need to find away to thrive not survive over the next couple of weeks; send a message to themselves and the rest of the league that they are indeed for real.

An important win for the Flames last night in St Paul as they were able to find a way to win in overtime for the 2nd time this season against the Wild and as a result were able to keep the Vancouver Canucks at bay. On the other side it was a devastating loss at home for Minnesota, who failed to make up any substantial ground on a play off spot.

It came with a price as Rene Bourque left the game with an ankle injury, Bourque who had scored his 21 goal of the season left the Excel energy Center on crutches will be reevaluated today. Iron Mike was furious after the game saying that Bourque was slew footed by Dan Fritsche, who would score on the play, and demanded to know why no penalty was called. Tough break for Bourque who was having a career year and was also trying to shake the label of being injury prone, but in fairness to him this injury was unfortunate and not his fault.

I heard a lot about the home of the Wild and boy did the Excel Energy Center live up to the hype, it is as nice a building as I have ever seen. It is pretty cool that the whole buildings motif meshes with the hockey clubs identity with the cabin like feel to the place. The one thing I noticed though the fans weren’t wearing as much Wild stuff as the other buildings like Nashville and San Jose.

Talking to a couple of the Wild players prior to the game they described the atmosphere around the hockey club in St. Paul as being very Canadian like. By that they mean that the Wild are number the big game and the fans know hockey well, but they aren’t rah rah with it like some centers.

The patience with the current and traditional make up of the Wild seems to be wearing thin in the twin cities. The media and many fans are questioning the direction of the club pointing to the style of play and lack of any real advancement over the past couple of years as proof that the current management and coaches have become stagnant.

It was amazing to me how much the NHL network was on in St. Paul, the channel was on my hotel TV, it was on in many of the restaurants and sports bars we went into or went by, and it was all over the arena.

The Wild aren’t good enough right now to make any serious push of a play off spot, they can’t score enough. Without Gaborik they are left with no game breaking threats and they have a bunch of guys who aren’t pulling their weight. Brent Burns looks like he has taken a step back in my eyes; this is a guy I thought last year was going to by part of Team Canada at the Olympics, not the way he is playing right now. PM Bouchard is another guy that looks like he is regressing; it has been invisible in all 3 games against the Flames this year.

Minnesota play 15 of its next 19 on the road including a visit to the Dome next Friday, if they struggle in the next week you wonder if GM Doug Risebrough might not become a seller at the deadline. I am not as update as I should be on the Wild contracts so I am not sure who may be expendable. With that said if Marion Gaborik is as close as the Wild seem to think he is it might be interesting to see if the talented euro gets dealt. Nick Backstrom is also scheduled to be a UFA maybe he gets shopped too, I doubt it, but you never know.

Back to the Flames, points in 6 consecutive games and all of that coming with the team not playing at the top of their game, that’s the big difference with this yeas team though they are much better at getting points when not playing their best. The other attribute which this team has that others haven’t had is the depth and that is going to be tested here in the next couple of weeks.

With Bourque out long term and Langkow a question mark the Flames will need more out of the likes of Moss, Glencross, and Boyd. It isn’t to say that these guys haven’t been carrying their weight because they have, but the reality is they will now need more.

Calgary had some real good pockets to their game last night in Minnesota, in fact I thought they dictated the play for the first 15 minutes and Final 30 as well, proof of that was surrendering just 1 shot in the third period on the road in a tied hockey game,

Kudos’ to Jim Vandermeer who despite missing 10 games came back into the line up and was an effective fore checker, not bad for a d-man.

The answer is yes! If the question is do I believe Darryl Sutter is actively going to pursue a trade before now and March 4th. Darryl was adamant just a couple of weeks ago that he didn’t have to augment the line up, but with the recent rash of injuries and a few more teams falling out of the picture I think the GM is out their doing his due diligence.

For the record Langkow is day to day with an upper body injury, he got hit in the arm with a puck in the Canuck game on Tuesday; Keenan said yesterday morning that he could be back soon. Andre Roy may have suffered a concussion when he fell to the ice during a fight on Tuesday there appears to be no time table for his return at this time.

The Flames get back at it today as they start a tough stretch of games this week, not that last weeks was a walk in the park, playing the Canucks at home and then on the road in Minnesota and Edmonton. In a month the Flames has slumped some what but haven’t relinquished much of a lead in the Northwest, leading both the Canucks and the Oilers by 9 points.

Congratulations to matt Lombardi whose 7 points were enough to be named 2nd star in the NHL last week. It is a much needed honor for a guy who has become a target for some fans and media to be part of any trade deadline deal the Flames might make.

Speaking of the Flames I see Pierre LeBrun of ESPN and CBC sports once again linked the Flames to Florida headache Jay Bouwmeester as a possible landing spot for the young d-man. While it is tempting, how realistic is the deal, considering what Montreal had to give Atlanta for Matt Schneider. A 2nd Rounder and a 3rd Rounder seemed a little high for rental help; I can’t imagine what the Panthers are going to want.

Watch the Coyotes and Ollie Jokinen, he has under achieved greatly and they have fallen like a rock, he would be attractive enough to create some what of a bidding war.

Flames are holding an optional practice this morning with Iginla, Aucoin, Kiprusoff, and Keenan not skating. Cammalleri skated earlier before the main group but took the optional practice off.

Prust has been cleared to play, and Jim Vandermeer is skating with the main group today, so the Flames are getting healthier with just Primeau and Warrener left on the sidelines.

The road woes continue for the Flames after an overtime loss against the Ducks at the Honda Center last night. The Flames winless in 9 in ScCal, my guess is they will feel like they let one get away.

Two thoughts on last night’s game and the recent play of the local hockey heroes, and quite honestly, they are probably connected: 1. Jarome Iginla and 2. The Power Play

I can’t swing a dead cat in this town with out hitting someone asking me what the real reason for the Captains poor play of late is. I don’t know, there is no sworn to secrecy reason that me or anybody else is keeping under our hat. Is it possible he is just in a FUNK nothing more and nothing less?

Let me refute a couple of the prevailing theories out there: A. He is Hurt! Well I am not a doctor I see no evidence that this is a player playing through something unusual. He is a regular at practices, even when the team holds optional practices he is out before everyone else getting off before the main group. He has not been given an extra “rest and recovery days” which is a code word for someone needing extra time to heal something. Finally well his overall play is down there is nothing on the ice that leads me to believe he can’t go 100%.

Sometimes we get really elaborate to explain the unexplained, I haven’t seen Jarome as average for as long as he has been over the last month, but I don’t think there is any mysterious circumstance around it either. There is one guy who can make Jarome better he knows, hell we all know it, he has to pull himself back up to his usual level of performance.

The power play has let this team down lately, but before we paint it with a brush and say its been weak all year long, it hasn’t and a return to what made it successful is all that needs to change in my opinion. Put pucks and traffic to the net, stop the touch passing, stop the fancy passes along the wall, create a lane get bodies in front or the netminder and outwork the penalty killers. If the Flames do that the PP won’t be an issue.

No major changes for the lineup tonight; except it is possible Brandon Prust may get back into the line up in place of Andre Roy that is a game time decision.

We are one year out from the Vancouver Olympics and already the debate rages on about who will make the cut for Team Canada on the men’s side of things. One reminder they are not picking the team today they will pick it in December, that’s a lifetime in a hockey player’s career.

Flames and Ducks for the 4th and probably final time this season, Anaheim holds the edge two 1 goal games to one. Flames have not won in eight regular season visits to the Honda Center, which is the longest current winning streak for the Ducks, but did win their during the 7 game series in the spring of 2006.

Same line up for both teams it appears, except that Kiprusoff is back in goal for this one, watch for him to play all 3 games on this trip.

Speaking of goalies in the Flames system, Leland Irving has taken the mantle as the starter in Quad City, and the guy who has been on and off the number one goalie for the Flames in AHL the last 2 years Matt Keetley finds himself in Las Vegas in the ECHL. This isn’t breaking news, but it does put an interesting light on the state of Flames prospects. Kevin Lalande is backing up Irving in Quad City. Irving is 6th in the AHL in goals against, but is a game below .500 as he continues to work his way through his first season pro.

Watch for a couple of fights again tonight the teams have averaged 2 tilts a game this season and the Ducks lead the league with 56 fights.

I believe that Cory Sarich is playing his best hockey as a Flame the last 6 weeks or so, he like the rest of the team has had fits of inconsistency, but when he is on his game these days he is a miserable guy to have to play against. The other small aspect of his game that I like is that he doesn’t blast them from the point but he does get pucks on the net, hence his modest 2 game point streak.

Very interesting stat from the 3 games that the Ducks and Flames have played, Anaheim is 0 for 4 on the power play. 4 power plays, that’s it in 3 fairly physical games the Flames have been very disciplined and will have to be the same tonight.

The Ducks play just twice over a 10 day span so it is not out of the question that they could win one or both of those games but still find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to a play off spot once their schedule picks up again. The Ducks have played a league high 56 games so far.

There is no doubt you can feel a palatable change around the Dome these days as the 4 game losing streak takes its toll on everyone. Losing is part of hockey and all teams go through it, its how you get out of it that will define you.

The Flames look like there having an optional practice as Iginla, Cammalleri, Bertuzzi, McElhinney, Conroy, and Prust were out first ahead of the main group.

For the record in this reporter’s honest opinion this team has to start working together rather then individuals and they will be back on track. Selfish penalties and east west passes that go nowhere are symptoms of a team not pulling in the same direction.

Players not taking the pre game skate include Iginla, Cammalleri, Langkow, Phaneuf, Conroy, Aucoin, Kiprusoff, and Mike Keenan (coach not player).

The Canadians will start Halak in goal tonight, according to the team yesterday before they left for Calgary. That means that the Flames still have not scene Cary Price in the other net yet.

Both teams come into the game on slides, the Flames haven’t won in 4, while the Canadian’s have lost 5 in a row on the road and only 3 wins in their pat 10 games.

No Alex Tanguay for the Canadians as he continues to nurse a significant shoulder injury, one wonders where he will be next season once his current deal expires?

Always interesting when the Canadian Original 6 teams come to town, there is a huge contingent of Montreal media here to cover the team, 4x 5x’s what normally comes to town. In addition there is no shortage of Hab’s fans here to watch practice.