Seattle Kraken: A Beginner’s Guide to the Pacific Division
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are one of the oddest teams in the National Hockey League. On paper, they have a terrific team. If they’re all performing at their best, Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, and Johnny Gaudreau form the core one of the strongest top-six forward groups in the NHL. Three potentially superstar-level forwards on one team is rare to see when a team is struggling to make the playoffs.
In addition, Andrew Mangiapane has been improving yearly. Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund give Calgary great depth down the middle. They have a more than capable starting goaltender in Jacob Markstrom; this team sounds like they should be near the top of their division regularly.
Weakened Defense
Seattle weakened the Calgary Flames’ leadership group heavily by taking Mark Giordano in the expansion draft. He had been their captain since the 2013–14 season. If the Kraken decide to name a captain, which seems unlikely at this point, it would almost certainly be him. Taking Giordano also weakened a questionable defensive group, as the Flames have a couple of solid defensemen; however, none are major standouts.
Noah Hanifin showed glimpses of what made him the fifth overall pick in 2015, but he’s never seemed to live up to his expectations. The Flames got essentially what they expected with Christopher Tanev, brother of the Kraken forward Brandon Tanev. Unfortunately, with Christopher’s age and style of play, his contract will seem worse as the years go by.
Nikita Zadorov is an average defenseman, but he’s never really been an impact player at the NHL level. At this point in his young career, he’s already become somewhat of a journeyman. Calgary is his fourth team at the age of 26.
There are some promising young defensemen on the way, including Juuso Valimaki and Rasmus Andersson. The latter could be a key component in a bounceback season.
Questionable Prospects
Regarding their prospect situation, the Flames are in a decent position, but their farm system is not nearly as deep as many of the other Pacific Division teams. Eetu Tuulola, Mathias Emilio Pettersen, and Connor Zary all show promise of being regular NHLers someday. None are considered elite-level talents.
Matthew Coronato, on the other hand, who the Flames selected in the first round of the 2021 draft, does show potential to be a key player for them someday. Rushan Rafikov is also a fairly solid defenseman whose rights the Flames own, but with each passing year, it seems less and less likely that the 26-year-old leaves Russia.