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Utah vs. Calgary: Who Rebounds Tonight? Who's Better: Barrie or Maatta? |
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There are not many positives to draw out of Monday’s 5-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Connor Zary had three shots, Daniel Vladar took another hit to his stat sheet but kept Vegas out of double-digit goal totals – the Flames simply were outmatched by a contender playing at the height of their potential.
If the goal were to make the playoffs, most fans would be pretty upset about the result, but top-ten picks usually don’t go to those types of teams. Calgary needs to lose a lot of games pick in the top ten. Monday was a step towards that goal.
Now, if they were to lose a game more spectacularly—let's say they gave up three goals in the last five minutes of the game against a 32nd-place bottom feeder—that might hurt a little more.
Enter stage left the Utah Hockey Club.
Painted Coyotes
Monday was likely a franchise low for the upstart Hockey Club, who have now lost six of their last seven after winning their first three. They’re sitting on a 4-4-2 record and may say farewell to a .500 points percentage for good tonight.
Much like the Coyotes before them, they’ve rebuilt enough to have the talent necessary to compete for a playoff spot – Dylan Guenther, Nick Schmalz, Logan Cooley, and Clayton Keller all look like stars on any given night, Mikhail Sergachev and Ian Cole were brought in to bolster a young but overperforming blue line – but something just isn’t there.
The team has undoubtedly struggled since losing Sean Durzi for the season. They addressed that issue yesterday by acquiring right-handed defenceman Olli Maatta from Detroit in exchange for a 2025 third round pick.
Let’s pose a question.
Your team is down a right shot powerplay quarterback. Micheal Kesselring is currently manning the second unit. 20-year-old Maveric Lamoureux is playing top four minutes. Sooner or later, people are going to find out that Vladislav Kolyachonok is not a real person.
Do you give a third for Olli Maatta? Or do you give that pick up for Tyson Barrie?
Mind you, Maatta has zero points in seven games with the Red Wings this season. He posted a career high 29 points seven years ago. Barrie (2) has almost as many shots as Maatta (3) in just two games.
The 30-year-old Finnish defenceman even carries a greater cap hit at $3,000,000. Barrie’s $1,250,000 is chump change compared to that.
I would opt for the guy with ten +35-point seasons on his resume, even if last season was a bit dramatic due to deployment issues.
Lo and behold. Look who’s drawing in tonight.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Lineups courtesy of Derek Wills. @Fan960Wills
Honzek-Backlund-Coleman
Zary-Kadri-Pospisil
Huberdeau-Sharangovich-Kuzmenko
Lomberg-Kirkland-Mantha
Bahl-Andersson
Weegar-Pachal
Bean-Barrie
Wolf
Vladar
New Pairings
Surely Daniil Miromanov isn’t enthused about being a healthy scratch, but what can you do? His stats are almost as bad as Olli Maatta’s. One primary assist and eight shots in eight games. His penchant for slowing down when the puck is confusing.
Meanwhile, Pachal has been, well, he’s played solid despite being a bit of a turnover machine.
You have to wonder who they’ll be running on the powerplay. Does Barrie get a chance to show the Hockey Club what they’re missing?
Other than a real name, of course.
Return of the Kid
Sam Honzek is back after missing five games. The Flames went 1-3-1 in his absence. Correlation is likely not causation on that one. The six-foot-four Slovak is still working on notching his first NHL point.
To make space on the roster, Adam Klapka has been assigned to the Wranglers.
That Wranglers roster is getting pretty scary. Matt Coronato, Jakob Pelletier, Rory Kerins, Adam Klapka. They’re 8-1-0 and first place in the AHL. 30-18 in goals. Clark Bishop is on a heater with seven points in his last six. Duehr and Hunt aren't going down without a fight, with nine and eight points, respectively, in nine games.
Devin Cooley has a 0.946 save percentage and a 1.82 goals against average in seven games. He likely wouldn’t clear if put through waivers today.
Honzek will inevitably join that group as well. It's a bit of a shame that the building looks so empty in their highlights. They play San Diego tomorrow at the dome and deserve a better turnout.
Utah Hockey Club Projected Lineup
Courtesy of nhl.com.
Clayton Keller -- Logan Cooley -- Dylan Guenther
Matias Maccelli -- Barrett Hayton -- Nick Schmaltz
Alexander Kerfoot -- Nick Bjugstad -- Lawson Crouse
Jack McBain -- Kevin Stenlund
Mikhail Sergachev -- Michael Kesselring
Maveric Lamoureux -- Ian Cole
Vladislav Kolyachonok -- Jusso Valimaki
Olli Maatta
Connor Ingram
Karel Vejmelka
Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. MST. Catch it on Sportsnet 360 and TVA Sports.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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