The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers will kick off their respective seasons tonight with a Battle of Alberta showdown at Rogers Place. For the home team, they’re starting from scratch after another failed cup run. Edmonton bowed out to the Florida Panthers in a spirited six-game Stanley Cup Final.
For the visiting team? So much to prove. Media pundits and Vegas oddsmakers alike project Calgary to finish with a little more than 80 points in the standings. Despite blowing their mid-70 point projection out of the water last season with a 96 point finish, scepticism reigns supreme when it comes to the Flames.
Just how they like it. Here is to seven glorious months of embracing the underdog role. This is going to be a fun year.
The Kid
19 year old Matvei Gridin will start the night riding shotgun with Morgan Frost and Matthew Coronato.
Three goals in six preseason games got him here. It’s time to see if he has what it takes to stick with the bog team.
New Look First Line
It would be reasonable to say that no one expected Adam Klapka and Joel Farabee to start the season on Calgary’s top forward unit.
Yet here they are. The two have found chemistry and Nazem Kadri is benefitting from their hard puck pursuit style with clean offensive opportunities from the slot. The veteran pivot potted two goals in Calgary’s final preseason game.
Slow & Steady
Undeniably the greatest controversy going on with the Calgary Flames right now is 19 year old Zayne Parekh sitting out game one. After all, sports fans are about as patient as a drunk toddler.
Darren Haynes made a great point in his Flames From 80 Feet column, which is now solely on Facebook for reasons. He did a quick dive through which Flames defencemen have made the team as a teenager. Robyn Regehr, Derek Morris, Brian Glynn and Paul Reinhart were the four that played substantial amount of games and then a handful of other guys got a game or two in.
Morris was the only player to suit up for all 82.
It’s perfectly normal to manage a teenage defenceman’s workload. Getting lit up by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisatl might not be the best for Zayne’s development.
If we can glean anything from the past, head coach Ryan Huska likes to have the door broken down when it comes to giving up permanent roster spots. Matthew Coronato, for example, officially joined the Flames top six on Nov. 5, 2024; almost a month into the season. Calgary’s most dangerous sniper was a healthy scratch for five of ten October games prior to that.
Maybe Parekh does something similar, maybe this season is more about learning how to be a professional. You don’t need to worry about it too hard.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Farabee-Kadri-Klapka
Gridin-Frost-Coronato
Zary-Backlund-Coleman
Lomberg-Kirkland-Sharangovich
Hanley-Weegar
Bahl-Andersson
Bean-Pachal
Wolf
Cooley
Edmonton Oilers Projected Lineup
Draisaitl – McDavid – Frederic
Mangiapane – RNH – Savoie
Podkolzin – Philp – Kapanen
Howard – Henrique – Tomasek
Lazar
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Regula
Kulak – Emberson
Walman – Stecher
Skinner
Pickard
The Hot Hand
Leon Draisatl comes into tonight on a two-game goal streak notching three total. The 29 year old from Cologne Germany has 63 points (14G, 49A) in 48 regular season games against the Flames.
The Mute Button
Between Jack Edwards doing the commentating and the city of Edmonton celebrating Connor McDavid’s two-year extension—maybe try to sync up the Fan 960 with your broadcast. The fact that a national broadcast leans so hard towards one team is really something.
Expect the puck to drop around 8:35 P.M. MST after a few ceremonies.
Stats courtesy of NaturalStatTrick and the National Hockey League.
KEEP READING:
Hot Takes: Calgary Flames 2025 Preseason Grades
Neufeld: 11 Calgary Flames Preseason Thoughts & Observations
Neufeld: 7 Bold Predictions Heading into the New Season
9 Reasons the Calgary Flames Struggled Last Season
Remarkable Turnaround: How the Flames PK went from 30th to 1st
Five Former Flames Head Coaches: Where are they now?
Follow on X: @Trevor_Neufeld
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