Flames Need to Continue Trusting Young Players

Following the callup of Castagna and Aydar Suniev, the pair played alongside the towering Adam Klapka vs. the Avalanche. Castagna got his first NHL point, assisting Klapka’s first-period goal and looking relatively comfortable out there for their first period of NHL hockey this season. The line hardly touched the ice as much in the following periods, despite looking like one of the better lines offensively. The Flames lost 7-3. 

Huska has also continued to keep Maxim Tsyplakov integrated into the lineup despite generating little offence and not looking cohesive with his linemates. Versus the Hurricanes, he replaced Tsyplakov with Brennan Othmann, who played great in his second game of the season. Huska noted the effort in a press conference on Oct. 20. “He was a lot different than his first game that he played in Vancouver. He was the guy that we saw during the exhibition season; I thought he was the same player vs. Carolina.” 

Tsyplakov is going to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and is 28 years old. Othmann is just 23 years old and has shown he’s ready to play in whatever role is needed from him. It would be better for the team if Othmann is consistently in the lineup rather than a player who was merely traded as a salary cap dump. 

Solutions Require Action

Huska finally rewarded Suniev following his hot start by moving him up in the lineup to play with Morgan Frost and Matthew Coronato. This has resulted in Suniev’s best games so far, elevating the game of the entire line with his hyper-fixated offensive play style. 

Huska broke up Middleton and Parekh for the versus the Hurricanes, with both players looking stronger immediately. Middleton paired up with Zach Whitecloud, which Huska noted as a pair he sees continuing forward for strong defensive loads. Parekh lined up alongside Yan Kuznetzov. Parekh recorded a beautiful assist on Frost’s goal to put the Flames up one. 

While Huska seems hard set in his ways, outside forces have resulted in these shakeups to the lineup. The Backlund injury is just another layer, and the Flames have called up Ben Jones from the Calgary Wranglers. Jones has gotten off to a hot start in the American Hockey League this season with seven goals in as many games and so far looks to be filling in on Backlund’s line. 

As the season continues, Huska needs to continue adapting his strategies that benefit the development of his young talent. There will certainly be mistakes, but the solution cannot be burying the players in the lineup or, worse, leaving them in the press box and crushing their confidence.