Sutter Awarded the Jack Adams — Candidates Next Season From the Affiliate

Apologies for a few days of absence. Life has thrown four short-term illnesses at me this month. Here’s to a great June!

That out of the way, tonight Darryl Sutter was given the Jack Adams Award for league’s top coach after leading the Calgary Flames to a 50-21-11 record and a near full turnaround of the direction the franchise was going.

He was presented the award by his brother Brian, who had won the award after the 1990-91 season head coaching the Blues to a 47 win season.

Yesterday Darryl addressed members of the Calgary media in his final media availability of the 21-22 season. Here are a few points he made in what was a brief address.

The Experience is ValuableDespite the Flames’ early exit out of the first round, the journey still taught the younger core some important lessons. Sutter pointed out that the blue line in particular was lacking in playoff experience. Nikita Zadorov led the group in playoff games heading into the season and remained the leader by season’s end.

Career Playoff GamesNikita Zadorov – 45Chris Tanev – 41Erik Gudbranson – 31Rasmus Andersson – 27Noah Hanifin – 27Oliver Kylington – 12

Most notably is the bottom three making up 75% of Calgary’s top four. The pairing of Hanifin and Andersson had some major adjustments to make. Their hits per game went up, but ultimately the two didn’t bring the same quality of play as they brought in the season.

Noah Hanifin

Regular SeasonGP: 81G: 10A: 38P: 48Points per Game: 0.585+/-: +27

PlayoffsGP: 12G: 0A: 3P: 3Points per Game: 0.25+/-: -11

Rasmus Andersson

Regular SeasonGP: 82G: 4A: 46P: 50Points per Game:+/-: +30

PlayoffsGP: 12G: 3A: 3P: 6Points per Game: 0.5+/-: -10

Obviously, you can see a massive discrepancy in both offence and defence provided by these two once the postseason began. This writer’s theory remains that the April 26 game against Nashville involved an injury to Noah Hanifin, but that’s conjecture at best. He had two points in the game, then his two way game seemed to suffer after that.

That kind of difference in statistics implies more than just a change in urgency between the regular season and postseason. The self-reported injuries by the team at locker clean out day left one expecting more. Markstrom, Hanifin, and Toffoli clearly hit drop offs that seemed more substantial than just a change in urgency that comes with postseason play.

Conditioning is a GoalDarryl Sutter kept the availability fairly short, but this was an interesting tidbit. He thought that one of the next steps was several players taking the next step in their training regimen.

Several players saw drops in quality of play after dealing with COVID-19 mid season, but the team as a whole finished well down the stretch— 10-2-1 in April. Not bad at all.

What Darryl may be referring to is what directly led to playoffs. Three games in four days all on the road due to rescheduling after said COVID outbreak.

Sutter voiced his displeasure with that scheduling at the end of the season. What may be being said between the lines here was that the group seemed out of gas as the second round went on. Taking individual fitness to the next level might be a solution to that.

Affiliate OptionsWith a cap crunch impending due to a bevy of contract renewals being required, will Sutter open the team up to Stockton Heat call ups? The team is moving to Calgary next season, so the convenience of recalling players will be much easier now that the player won’t be subject to COVID protocol at the border.

The Calgary Flames have arguably never had an affiliate in better condition. Tomorrow they kick off the AHL Western Conference Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes affiliate Chicago Wolves. Among the Wolves is nephew of Chris Drury, Jack Drury, NHL veteran Richard Panik, and former Flame Josh Lievo, who shares the lead for most points in the playoffs with 13 in seven games.

Small world. That said, the Heat are a loaded AHL squad. They shutout the Colorado Eagles in all three of their wins. Their one loss being a 6-5 overtime loss. An interesting fact about that game was that the Heat only committed one infraction which was an offsetting tripping/embellishment minor. One has to imagine the memo to the affiliate is that costly penalties will cost you a lot more than two minutes in an NHL penalty box.

The Eagles had also swept their way through two rounds up to their series against the Heat.

Here are a few players on the Flames affiliate that could fill roles:

Justin KirklandThe 6’3 185lb left wing managed to stick around late into the 21-22 preseason. His size is enticing, but he was struggling to make an impact in the games he got into. He had one preseason game where he recorded two goals.

The Flames organization seems high on the former Nashville Predators third round pick. The former Kelowna Rocket had 25 goals in 66 games this season and has a penchant for excelling in the dirty areas of the ice; the corners, the half-boards, and in front of the net.

Kirkland is tied with Matthew Phillips for team lead in postseason scoring with seven points in seven games.

Jakob PelletierThe 5’9” 160lb left winger had a tremendous rookie season in the AHL. 62 points in 66 games. Third in rookie scoring with four less games played than the two ahead of him. The tenacious winger has some Iginla-like tendencies. He has an ability to make space for himself by reversing direction on a , then reversing again to press the attack with the space he just made— a cornerstone maneuver of Jarome’s.

Time will tell if Jakob makes the team in 22-23, but given his current trajectory; he’s getting a spot in the lineup sooner or later.

Jakob is right behind Kirkland and Phillips in postseason scoring with six points in seven games.

Dustin WolfNext season will likely be Daniel Vladar backing up Jacob Markstrom. That said, what more can this kid do?

Winner of the the accolade for league’s best goalie— the Aldege Bastien Memorial Award. 33-8-3-1, .924 save percentage and a 2.33 goals against average. Three shutouts in his last series. One could make a case that Wolf would have been a better alternative to playing Markstrom in round two.

Sometimes a goalie can get over-saturated in the minors. The Flames are also notoriously bad at developing goalie prospects. Wolf will likely start next season in the AHL, but if Markstrom’s knee goes— prepare for Vladar and Wolf to go to war. Dustin has done everything right so far.

Martin PospisilSooner or later, Martin Pospisil is going to fill out enough to make the big team. Pospisil proved that he has the ability to be a mobile tornado of infractions when playing less developed players in early preseason. That ability diminished as the competition increased. This guy has all the tools to be a menace within Darryl Sutter’s system. It’s only a matter of time for the 6’1” 195lb Slovak.

Pospisil had 25 points and 95 PIM in 47 games with the Heat this year. Three points in five postseason games.He can play center or wing.

Matthew PhillipsYou have to feel bad for Matthew Phillips. Tied for leading scorer in the playoffs with Kirkland. Team lead in goals, assists and points this season with 31, 37 and 68. If he weren’t 5’7”, he’d have seen more than one game in the NHL by the age of 24.

What really hurts is this kid is a Calgary native. The guy wants nothing more than to make the Flames and stick.

The question is: how many small players can you have on a roster while still remaining a difficult team to play?

Phillips plays a game that you wouldn’t expect from someone his size. During preseason, he battled straight through the middle of the play. When he did shift into a perimeter game; he got his more dangerous chances in the limited showing he was given.

It’s tough to say whether the organization sees that kind of style from a smaller guy working at the NHL level. The team let Ryan Francis walk yesterday. An undersized winger who showed a very clutch game in preseason. Another diminutive forward who was only 20. Clearly the organization wants to limit their amount of undersized players to a small handful.

Connor MackeyThe most likely to make the team is saved for last. Connor has only played one postseason game this season due to frequenting the Flames’ taxi squad during the playoffs along with Adam Ruzicka. Concerning for the Chicago Wolves is that those players will now be playing a full series against them.

The 25 year old Mackey plays a mean game. A factor that may make him a threat in camp to make the team. The Flames blue line has some physicality issues this offseason, so his game may be enticing.

With Oliver Kylington an RFA this offseason, the Swede may grow to resent Mackey. Should Oliver hold out or ask for too much: Mackey will take his spot with Tanev and reap the statistical benefits. It’s even possible that the Flames will jettison Oliver in order to save cap space. His 31 points in 73 games would certainly be enticing to other teams. As would his +34 rating.

Mackey put in a very solid season in the AHL with five goals and 31 assists in 53 games. He fights frequently and hits frequently to go with a solid first pass.

Trevor Neufeld

Stats via eliteprospects, dobberhockey, ahl, and nhl.com.

@Trevor_Neufeld