3 Christmas wish list ideas for the Calgary Flames
It’s hard to believe how quickly it’s come, but the Calgary Flames have just two games remaining on their schedule before Christmas.
To this point, the Flames are similar to last year’s team in a lot of ways. One night, they can go out and defeat a top team, whereas others they look like they should be in the running for a first-overall pick. Their record of 13-14-5 reflects their inconsistencies to this point.
With the holiday season upon us, it may be time to ask Santa for a few wishes when it comes to this Flames team as they prepare to head into the New Year. Here are three Christmas wishes on behalf of the Flames fan base:
A healthy Jakob Pelletier
While Flames fans have been treated to watch some of the organization’s young talent in Matthew Coronato, Connor Zary, Dustin Wolf, Martin Pospisil, and Ilya Solovyov, one who has been absent is Jakob Pelletier.
The 22-year-old suffered a shoulder injury after taking a hard hit from Marian Studenic in a preseason game versus the Seattle Kraken. He has yet to play this season as a result but is reportedly making good progress in his recovery. In 24 games with the Flames last season, he scored three goals and seven points.
Power play improvement
A big part of the Flames’ struggles this season is a result of their horrendous power play. Head coach Ryan Huska has been tinkering with both units as of late, but it has failed to result in any sort of success.
Through 32 games, the Flames are converting on just 11.3 % of their power play opportunities. That has them sitting 29th in the league, with the only worse teams being the Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, and the St. Louis Blues. With an improved man advantage, they would likely have several more points in the standings than they currently do.
Sell pending UFAs
While the fans who are holding hope of the Flames making playoffs may not like this, the best thing general manager Craig Conroy can do is sell his big three pending UFAs — Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, and Chris Tanev.
Conroy can’t afford to keep any of them and risk having them walk in the offseason for nothing. It would be devastating for a team that needs to begin building for the future, and trading the three mentioned would help get things going in the right direction. That said, it is also extremely important that Conroy nets a valuable return for all three, meaning that he shouldn’t rush into anything with the deadline still over two months away.
- You might also like:
- Flames rookie Connor Zary is in the Calder Trophy conversation