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We're finally here. It's been a long, long time since we saw the Calgary Flames play real, meaningful hockey. A season with no expectations turned into one with playoffs; an offseason full of hope grew as General Manager Brad Treliving made move after move that proved to us he was committed to build on what he already had.
The status quo wasn't acceptable. To chance regression was undesirable. So the Flames went out. They got Dougie Hamilton, they got Michael Frolik. Sam Bennett looks to be a regular NHLer for the first time this season; Micheal Ferland looks to build on his playoff heroics. The Flames lost T.J. Brodie for the start of the season, but gave Brett Kulak, who fought throughout the preseason, a chance to prove his spot.
And now, it all comes together tonight. The Flames are hosting their rival Vancouver Canucks, the very same team they dispatched back in April. Both teams will live to play another day - and another several months, really - but this is the chance to make the first statement.
Projected lines
| Calgary Flames | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing | |||
| Johnny Gaudreau | Sean Monahan | Jiri Hudler | |||
| Lance Bouma | Mikael Backlund | Michael Frolik | |||
| Micheal Ferland | Sam Bennett | Josh Jooris | |||
| Brandon Bollig | Matt Stajan | David Jones | |||
| Left Defence | Right Defence | ||||
| Mark Giordano | Dougie Hamilton | ||||
| Kris Russell | Dennis Wideman | ||||
| Brett Kulak | Deryk Engelland | ||||
| Goalies | |||||
| Karri Ramo | |||||
| Jonas Hiller | |||||
| Vancouver Canucks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing | |||
| Daniel Sedin | Henrik Sedin | Brandon Sutter | |||
| Sven Baertschi | Bo Horvat | Radim Vrbata | |||
| Alexandre Burrows | Jared McCann | Jannik Hansen | |||
| Brandon Prust | Adam Cracknell | Derek Dorsett | |||
| Left Defence | Right Defence | ||||
| Alexander Edler | Christopher Tanev | ||||
| Dan Hamhuis | Matt Bartkowski | ||||
| Ben Hutton | Luca Sbisa | ||||
| Goalies | |||||
| Ryan Miller | |||||
| Jacob Markstrom | |||||
Go Flames.