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Big day for Theo today and one that was well deserved, he left the game on his own terms. I have a lot of thoughts on Theo so let me just give you bunch of quick hits:

1. Could Theo play in the NHL? Yes, but he made it quite clear that he wanted it to be with the Flames and nobody else.
2. Is Theo destined for the Hockey Hall of Fame? Yes, he defined the role of a smaller player in the modern NHL, a cup and gold medal, better then a point a game during his career he will be in soon enough.
3. Is there a role for Theo with the Flames? Yes, but not as a coach, maybe in player personal as a development guy.
4. Will he have his jersey retired by Calgary? Yes, but likely not before Al, and Joe so he may have to wait a while.

I admit I was disappointed to hear that Anton Stralman was traded to Columbus, I am not sure exactly what he could have been for this club, but I thought he was a good guy and a pretty decent depth guy. Clearly the Flames put a lot of stock in the fact that they signed Staffan Kronwall as a UFA and to a 1 way deal and 7 pre season games weren’t going to tell the tale on him. Stralman will help the Blue Jackets, and they have been trying to land him for a long time so he will get a real good shot there.

I said it this afternoon that I think the MVP of the Flames pre season for me was David Moss, despite the fact he missed a good chunk with a groin injury (by the way pre season MVP is a useless award). He looked good on the power play and took a number of shots, leading the team in that category, played well on the left side with Iginla and Jokinen.

Brent Sutter is really drilling home the details this week to his team, that right there will be the difference for this team and the start it gets this season. That is likely the biggest issue that I think faces this team breaking the bad habits that have creped into their game the last 3 years.

The day after Theo got released and it is still a very hot topic. I find it to be a great debate and a very emotional one at that.

For the record I am not surprised the reality is he couldn’t keep up with the play in pre season, the hands were there, the head was there, but for the up tempo creating turnovers, driving the net, hard back into your own end style the Flames want to play he wasn’t quick enough.

Do I think somebody might give a shot elsewhere, I think it is a real possibility.

But let me add my voice to the chorus of people who want to congratulate Fleury on just getting to this point, I hope people realize how improbable this was.

Lines

Moss Jokinen Iginla
Dawes Langkow Bourque
Glencross Conroy Sjostrom
Nystrom Boyd Prust
Stuart Jaffray Lundmark
McGrattan

Regehr Bouwmeester
Giordano Phaneuf
Kronwall Stralman

Kiprusoff
McElhinney
Shantz

Out Sarich, and John Armstrong

My bubble players at this point are Stralman, Kronwall, Pardy, Jaffray, Stuart, and Lundmark. I think a couple make it but the rest are headed to the AHL, along with David Shantz.

As the Flames near the end of the pre season a couple of thoughts on things that I have noticed.

Overall I have liked the chemistry that Jokinen and Iginla have shown when they played together, and not having a designated set up man doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Dion is a little more ramped up then in previous seasons, and that is saying something, he is feeling the heat for a sub par season. There is no doubting the kids drive, I know a lot do, I just question his composure.

Biggest disappointment in camp for me was the lack of battles on the 3rd and 4th line’s that was the one area I was really looking forward to it just never materialized. The poster boy for this was Kyle Greentree who scored 38 goals in the AHL last season but just didn’t look anywhere near ready to make the jump. Calgary added a lot of depth in the off season but little of it has impacted the roster with Garth Murray and Riley Armstrong not leading the way.

As far as Theo goes, I want to be wrong in the worst way, but I am still not convinced that it will work here in Calgary.

The biggest surprise in camp for me has been Anton Strahlman; I think he has looked really good and very much in control of his game.

The goalies have to be better, and I can’t think of any plausible excuse for both of the NHL goalies sub par play. These guys need to give their mates some confidence, and right now I can’t help that some players are rolling their eye’s going ‘here we go again another slow start”!

All in all I see no reason why this team won’t battle for top spot in the division, but I hope it can avoid that usual big run in late November early December to get itself going.

I appears that the Flames have had some injuries in camp, both David Moss and Craig Conroy were wearing yellow jerseys and skating with Strength and Conditioning coach Rich Hesketh prior to the game day group this morning. Update 12:57 Brent Sutter it was maintence for both players.

Pre season is a strange animal when things are going well it is hard to contain enthusiasm and difficult to keep reality in perspective. On the other hand when things don’t go your way in the exhibition season you often quickly dismiss the issues and downplay inadequacies. Some where in the middle lays the truth at least that is what history has taught me. History books are filled with players who lead either their team or the entire league in pre season scoring only to never be heard from again.

The above was a veiled attempt to preface the next couple of points, such as the goaltending save percentages are not great for the Flames after 3 games. Another really weird thing after 3 games is the special team numbers both for and against.

On the power play side things are optimistic, or are they? 6 of the Flames 7 goals have come with the man advantage; there might be a balance issue here. One positive thing for the Flames is they are sure creating man advantage opportunities 24 in fact in 3 games.

Penalty killing has been consistent; I will give it that, killing 3 of 5 in each of the first 3 pre season games.

The above are likely more coincidence that problematic, but what is a problem has been the lack of depth stepping up. The one thing that I thought was going to be the strength of this club heading into camp has been the biggest disappointment the 3rd and 4th line depth.

Brent Sutter in the first 3 games has given a ton of chances to the new guys, the top prospects, and returning bottom line guys and you would be hard pressed to say that anybody has really rose to the occasion.

Abbotsford opens their camp tomorrow and plays pre season games later in the week so time is ticking for some if they want to continue to push for a job.

With Florida in town Jay Bouwmeester is doing a bunch of visiting with former coaches, trainers, and players prior to the morning skate.

Injury news from practice Asst. Coach Jamie McLennan was hit with a puck and had to leave to get patched up, came back later with a bandage over his right eye.

Lines

Backlund Jokinen Backlund
Dawes Langkow Glencross
Prust- out Jaffray Nystrom
Sutter Germyn Fleury
Cunning Sjostrom - out

Regehr Bouwmeester
Giordano Phaneuf
Pardy Stralman
Pelech - out

Kiprusoff
Irving

Safe to say that the coaching staff plans on adjusting their roster a little closer to game time based on the number of players in practice.

The day after Theo-mania at the Dome, WOW, what a finish, I loved it, it was very cool to be there, and it is something I will never forget.

Say what you will about his long term future of his return bid, Theo gave the fans what they wanted for a moment in time he was their hero again, what’s wrong with that?

I have had no shortage of e-mail traffic after the game and into today from fans of Fleury and listeners just raving about what happened, and of course you have the nay sayers.

The nay sayers are mad because a big deal is being made of Theo and not enough about the transgressions of Dion and the fact that the Flames didn’t run up the score on the lowly Islanders.

So I guess in this day and age we aren’t allowed to just enjoy the moment, somebody always feel like they need to be the bastion of common sense and reality in this sea of undying optimism.

I tend to always track towards the optimists and the fun stuff, I enjoy the story, but today let’s address the “reality” of last night’s game.

First Theo is not close, not close at all; the best case scenario is a start in the AHL and maybe a mid-season call up. He wasn’t quick enough, and he was too much on the perimeter, there is a huge up hill climb for last night’s hero.

Secondly Dion’s hit, was it legal? Yes! Was it predatory? Yes! Should Dion have stepped up and answered the challenges? Yes! The Islander’s and lot of fans are mad at the fact that Dion didn’t step up and fight the kid the jumped over the bench to challenge him, I think they are right.

The third point the Flames should have beaten the Islanders by 10 with the line up the iced, yes they should have! But they didn’t, there are clear holes in the team’s game after two contests, they have old habits that need to be deleted from their game, and Kiprusoff has to get his game going.

So there you go, for everybody who didn’t see the fun it what happened and is so concerned that there problems that is for you.

By the way two things it is pre season and this is light years away from the regular season, and damn I enjoyed that game last night.

As the great “Badger” Bob Johnson was found of saying “it’s a great day for hockey”.

I love the Theo “story” for so many reasons, one of which is the debate, and yes debate is what this story needs and deserves. I understand and respect why someone would make a rational argument against the Flames giving him the opportunity. I am, as most are, getting tired of what has been termed “the haters” who now permeate all sports as the fan who just hates something because others like it. Don’t let good old debate die folks, opinions should be defended and respected, ok I am now off my high horse.

Theo will not make the team tonight! What he could do is get another audition in another pre season game.

Quietly Jay Bouwmeester will make his Flames debut as he skates with Robin Regehr, my guess is that Jay is loving the fact Theo is playing tonight so there won’t be any giant media scrums to deal with.

Lines

Backlund Jokinen Iginla
Dawes Langkow Fleury
Sutter Conroy Moss
Stuart Jaffray Van der Gulik

Bouwmeester Regehr
Giordano Phaneuf
Aulie Sarich

Kiprusoff
Shantz

Freddie Sjostrom was supposed to be in the line up tonight, but he left practice yesterday with an upper face injury, so it looks like Moss will draw in.

No indication yet on what the Islanders line up might look like tonight.

Finally game day has arrived, the first pre season match for the Flames and Oilers looks a little better then one would expect for the 1st game of the year. IT is quite clear through the two line ups that each team has a different priority coming into the season.

Edmonton’s line up will feature a fairly veteran line up tonight with the likes of Horcoff, Staios, Moreau, and Comrie to name a few. Edmonton didn’t add a whole lot to their roster this year with Mike Comrie and Khabibulin the additions, but the coaching staff is entirely revamped. They pretty much know what their roster is going to look like.

For the Flames they have a ton of guys battling for a number of jobs, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th line have holes and tonight guys will try and fill them.

Another thing to watch tonight will be the style of play by the Flames, under Mike Keenan they talked about being a puck pursuit team, and at times they were. Brent Sutter will/has demanded a lot from his players when it comes to details tonight we see if any of that is sinking in.

Look for Leland Irving to make his Flames debut tonight, he was hurt in the rookie tournament in Camrose last fall and didn’t see any pre season time.

Lines

Dawes Boyd Moss
Greentree Lundmark Chucko
Prust Murray Nystrom
Cunning Jaffray Stuart

Pardy Pelech
Kronwall Stralman
Palin Negrin

Keetley
Irving

For the record Mikael Backlund was the player out on the ice for main camp, he is a little bit of a forgotten man heading into the preseason with all of the hype around Theo and all of the players added this past summer.

Watching Fleury yesterday after his medicals was a treat, I am not sure I am watching a hockey story as much as a story about personal redemption. Theo was jacked up to meet the media after his testing yesterday saying, proclaiming of his 14 physical testing with the Flames this was by far his best. He was also very quick to put a couple of things straight, first and foremost it is the Flames logo tattooed on his heart, he has had no shortage of job offers this wasn’t about the money, and he really doesn’t know what to expect but don’t count him out.

First group is out on the ice, Brian McGratten is out there with them wearing a yellow jersey, no one else has a yellow jersey does that mean he is not participating in physical drills. McGratten is coming off shoulder surgery this summer so it maybe a precaution, we will check.

Kiprusoff looks like he has switched from Vaughn to believe Bauer gear for this year, he had some of the new stuff late last year but told me he wanted to work it in over the summer months.

By the Way Theo has been put into the 2nd group who are out at 10am.

For what it is worth Staffan Kronwall is a monster, we will wait and see if he uses that size.

One other Kipper note he is clearly wearing new body armor which gives him much more prominent shoulders and a whole new profile.

And now a little College Football note: Did you see Matt Barkley lead USC to a 4th quarter comeback in front of 107,000 screaming Ohio State fans in Columbus. The 19 year old true freshmen was solid in marching his team the length of the field to score the major, it was a great moment is sport for sure.

Interesting that Backlund is skating Iginla and Jokinen in the first group, to early too guess if it will stick but it is interesting.

We were wondering if the coaches were going to be on the players of the main group about the details as much as they were on the prospects. YES!!!! Yes they are Sutter just stopped a drill with Jokinen and Iginla to reset them.

5 guys who maybe lost a little bit in the shuffle as camp starts from that I think will be heard from yet.

1. John Armstrong – People forget how close this young man was to making the team out of camp last year, but injuries slowed him down. There are high hoped for this young man.
2. Leland Irving – He won’t be in Calgary to start, but he grabbed the number one job in the AHL last year and could make a statement during pre season.
3. Brett Sutter – May beat out Iggy as the fittest Flame, he was noticeably improved in July and again in prospect camp.
4. David Van der Gulik – I think his Hockey IQ is very high and he seems a little pissed that more forwards were brought in to battle for spots hopefully he uses that.
5. Matt Pelech – He is a monster, he is still working on his skating he should last year that he wasn’t that far off.

First group wraps up strechs, but they don’t leave the ice lots of individual skill development drills.

McGratten is not cleared for physical contact, pretty tough for a tough guy to prove himself if he can’t be physical.

Not surprised to see Dany Heatley in San Jose, don’t think Ottawa did that badly didn’t think they ripped the Sharks off either, at the end of the day the Sen’s are better just through subtraction.

There are no shortage of fans in attendance at the on ice sessions, and Ken King is up among the fans shaking hands and kissing babies.

Bourque is wearing a yellow jersey in the 2nd group so he hasn’t been cleared for physical contact either?

More goalie fashion notes for you, Curtis McElhinney is sporting new RBK gear, with a lot of black it looks good.

Both Flames NHL goalies have gone away from Vaughn gear this year, tough day for the Vaughn rep who is here today peddling his wears.

Quick observation Theo has a long way to go, but he knew that.

Okay now Theo doesn’t look great out there, but he just made a pass to Carson Germyn on a 2-1 drill that resulted in a goal and he got a big round of applause from the fans.

John Armstrong (one of my five to watch) isn’t skating today will have to wait to talk to Brent Sutter to find out why.

Brent Sutter spoke to the media after the 3rd practice on Sunday and said both McGratten and Bourque are recovering from summer surgeries but they are just taking their time with the players. Jon Armstrong was not the ice because of soreness(?) but shouldn’t be out long.

Sutter also said he was happy with Theo’s first day! I am thinking that I am being far more critical then most, so we will wait and see how he looks tomorrow.

Talked to Bourque and he hopes to be back for the start of the regular season, he had a 2nd surgery on his ankle in July and has only been back on skates recently.

The Flames prospects on the ice for a couple of pre-scrimmage skates, they will meet this afternoon for a game at 3:30pm, it is open to the public.

Media row is buzzing about a possible Theo return to the Flames, in case you missed it Fleury was on with Mike Richards this morning go to the audio on demand at FAN960.com, while the Flames have strongly hinted that they would not be his landing spot it is hard to think that it may not be.

I have said many times that with my heart I hope it works for Theo, my head tells me it won’t, but his original club never seemed like a right fit. Calgary seems to have gotten in a very definitive direction with the age and make up of this years team, and a 41 year old trying to make a comeback doesn’t look like part of it.

One thing Darryl Sutter has shown in his tenure is that he does take risks (see 9 forwards for 3 games in the final week of last season); could he be thinking “what do I have to lose”?

At the end of the day the real story here is that Fleury gets closure on his career by being reinstated, one way or the other today, next week, next month, a couple of years from now but no he has closure.

Day 2 for the Flames prospects down at the dome, and Coach Sutter is not letting off the gas, he is really working these young men hard. You may have read in both papers or heard Boom and I talking about yesterday, but the amount of teaching going on in comparison to the past two years is night and day. Jim Playfair was the same way and I hope people realize that, not to beat a dead horse but I am not sure Brent is here today if Jim got a second year.

Brent Sutter does a lot of little things that I think they are imperative, for instance after the first half of the ice session this morning he waited at the bench door for each and every player and gave them a little encouragement.

Big day and half to come in Arizona for the future of the NHL, its leadership, and the role of Canada in the years to come, as the auction for the Yotes is to take place by 5pm Calgary time Friday. Make no mistake whatever happens there will b court dates to come, who ever loses will not take it well is the general assumption out there.

These are the things that I think we all take for granted heading into court today: Regardless of the public statements to the contrary the NHL in Phoenix long term is over, all of the fighting and wrangling has produce little if any public outcry, nobody cares down there and that has become blatantly apparent.

Gary Bettman is under the gun at this time, more then at any other time in his tenure and that includes the lockout. Right now he is using house money to keep out Balsillie out of the NHL, but that house money is desperately needed through out the league as there is no shortage of teams with financial troubles of their own. If he bogs the league down in costly and lengthy court battles all the while they are paying the bills for a useless team in a town nobody cares about hockey he will be overthrown.

Southern Ontario now must be dealt with, the genie is out of the bottle and in a league which every dollar counts they have to seriously explore any opportunity they have to capitalize on this opportunity. The obvious best case scenario would be to get a team into that area with as little impact on Toronto and Buffalo as possible, but at the end of the day you have to do what is best for the league.

TSN reported last night that former Flame Theo Fleury will meet with Gary Bettman today to discuss his possible reinstatement; I hope that Theo gets his shot and finds out whether or not he still has it. I was hoping for him by now that a team would have jumped up and said they were interested, and maybe they have only time will tell.

It took a while but finally somebody wrote a story in favor of the decision that the NHLPA made a week ago in Chicago, check out Adam Proteau at The Hockey News, as he wrote a blog blaming the owners for the PA’s mess.

Speaking of the PA turmoil Damian Cox of the Toronto Star today fingered former Flame Andrew Ferrence as the ring leader in the over throw of Paul Kelly, hard to believe but you never know.