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BOSTON, MA – JANUARY 12: Mike Cammalleri #13 of the Montreal Canadiens Calgary Flames skates with the puck against the Boston Bruins. Cammalleri was pulled out of the game after two periods, sent to the hotel for later instructions, and then notified he was traded. The trade between Montreal and Calgary sees Cammalleri, netminder Karri Rammo and a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft going to Calgary in exchange for Rene Bourque, Patrick Holland and a second-round pick in 2013 going to Montreal. The trade came a day after Cammalleri made negative comments about the club, most notably that the Canadiens, “play like losers.” The Montreal Canadiens’ circus continues…

The problem with trading a player like Iginla involves how that move will impact his legacy in Calgary. Although not drafted by the Flames, Iginla played his first NHL game in a Flames sweater and has been with the club ever since. The fans adore Iginla thanks to his hard work ethic, his on-ice production and his humble nature. It probably doesn’t hurt that he will throw down the gloves for a good scrap every once in a while either. Needless to say, the thought of trading Iginla is viewed as a sacrileges act among the Calgary faithful.

But at some point, as a fan or as a general manager, you need to weigh the importance of building a winner versus keeping your star athlete. The payback on Iginla should certainly help the Flames begin building a winning franchise. After so many seasons where they just weren’t good enough, the Flames need to make the necessary moves to get themselves over the hump and begin seriously competing with the big guns in the West.

Besides, the Flames will have 12 free agents at the end of this season including Olli Jokinen, Scott Hannan, David Moss, Lee Stempniak and Cory Sarich. This season may provide the best time for Calgary to begin the rebuilding process as they can trade away a good number of players for draft picks and prospects and begin building for the future. Unfortunately, if that does happen, Calgary may be looking at a rebuilding process that could take a few seasons before they are truly a contender. Iginla is only signed through next season, but does he really want to go waste a valuable season at the end of his career with a rebuilding franchise?

The problem, as with almost any trade of a significant player, is finding a competitive team who can absorb his salary. And Iginla’s $7 million cap hit certainly doesn’t make that easy. Perhaps a team like the Nashville Predators could make a run at Iginla. The team needs more offense and a move of that caliber would be telling that the team is serious about building a winner, possibly providing incentive for free agents Shea Weber and Ryan Suter to stick around for longer. The Carolina Hurricanes have roughly $13 million in available cap space and would probably love to get their hands on a veteran scorer like Iginla.

Don’t count out a team like the Detroit Red Wings either. The Wings have roughly $5.5 million in available cap space and it’s been rumored that they would love to bring another scorer into their top-six. If Iginla becomes available, he could be a target for the Wings.

According to reports from Hockey Night in Canada, Iginla hasn’t outright asked for a trade, but he has stated that he is beginning to think about life with a team besides the Calgary Flames. That’s a huge step for someone who has been with the team for the better part of 14 years. With the amount of pending free agents in Calgary at season’s end, the Flames need to seriously consider selling assets and moving into rebuilding mode. Although Iginla’s contract doesn’t expire until the end of next season, moving him this year makes sense for the club and for Iginla himself.

What do you think? Should the Flames trade Iginla this season? Share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment or by visiting our Facebook page to join the discussion!

Key Offseason Losses: Robyn Regehr, Fredrik Modin, Ales Kotalik

Key Offseason Addition: Chris Butler

Last Season Ranking: 10th in the West

Look for Alex Tanguay to crack the 70-point plateau for Calgary this season.

Offense: The Flames got off to a poor start at the beginning of the season. The first half was deadful, they weren’t winning games and they weren’t scoring goals. They were able to find fire the second half where they averaged 3.42 goals per game over the final 47 games of the season. That was when GM Darryl Sutter was fired and Jay Feaster was brought in. Had they been scoring at that clip over the entire season, they would have led the league in scoring. They return every player from the top four lines, with the only addition being 26-year-old prospect Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond.

While he isn’t new, the Flames return Daymond Langkow, who played four games last season when he suffered a neck injury and missed most of the season. He could be a fantasy sleeper as he didn’t play last season and could slip into a later round. Expect him to score between 30-35 points on the third line. Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay will be expected to carry most of the scoring load. The big question is how much will the captain have in the tank? His contract ends in two years, and expect him to look elsewhere for a championship should he not get back to the Stanley Cup final before 2013.

They don’t have  a lot of speed due to the aging vets on the forward lines but will be able to play an uptempo style with Curtis Glencross and Rene Bourque on the wing of the second and third line. X-factor players who we should see good things out of this season include Olli Jokinen, David Moss, and Mikael Backlund. In addition to Letourneau-Leblond, look for Paul Byron to have a chance to make the team and see playing time this season.

Defense: If there is anything that will keep the Flames from playing past April 7, it will be there defense. Because they traded away top defenseman Robyn Regehr, there are big shoes and a lot of playing time up for grabs in all three phases of the game. The top defender is now Jay Bouwmeester, but he hasn’t met expectations in regards to his offensive production. Having the ability to move the puck when the team plays an uptempo style is necessary and the offensive will be generated through Bouwmeester. Also look for contributions from newly promoted Mark Giordano, as well as Chris Butler and Anton Babchuk.

Keeping the other team from scoring will be key for the team, as they were fifth in goals against two years ago, but ballooned up to 19th last season.

Goaltending: Miikka Kiprusoff is the alpha and omega when it comes to goaltending for Calgary. Just like I wrote last season, they had to get him a quality backup. They have appeared to do that with Henrik Karlsson. Kipper played and started a post-lockout low 71 games last season but it isn’t much of a drop when he has played between 73 and 76 games since the lockout. They probably can’t afford to have him start between 69-70 games because the rest of the team isn’t strong but I would like to see that if possible. Karlsson is still young but expect him to get between 10-12 starts. Leyland Irving is penciled in as the third goalie should Kiprusoff or Karlsson suffer an injury.

HWB Playoff Prediction: Not playoff bound. They are essentially the same team as last year. Calgary wasn’t able to bring in any additional talent because they have pretty much spent at the ceiling since the lockout. The bad part is they have spent it on bad contracts and it has taken this long for Feaster to manage it properly to have the space to add players. Should Calgary be in the playoff chase come the trade deadline, expect them to be a buyer.

Stempniak will be taking his talents north of the boarder for the second time in his career. He spent parts of the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons with the Maple Leafs, where he scored 25 goals and 26 assists in 123 games. When interviewed about the trade, he took a small yet yelling jab at Phoenix when he said to the Flames official Twitter feed ”You want to play in a place where hockey matters. You love being in a market like that. I’m so excited to come to Calgary”.  While with the Coyotes, he played 100 games and recorded 56 points since coming over late 2010. Financially, he is set to make $1.9 million while with the Flames. Look for him to fill several roles for Calgary as he has the potential to score 20 goals when healthy. He scored 19 last season in 82 games. His career high is 27 goals with St. Louis in 2006-07.

Calgary got much needed help on the wing with the addition of Stempniak as they have struggled to generate offense and score goals despite having prolific scorers Jarome Iginla, Alex Tanguay and Rene Bourque. They lost depth at center in the trade, but they will be $3.5 million under the salary cap after the trade according to capgeek.com. They will have the ability to acquire another player via free agency or trade if necessary during training camp and during the season.

Phoenix is looking to verify that Langkow is healthy heading into the final year of a contract that will pay him $4.5 million this season. He has missed more than a full calendar year and more games than an NHL regular season, 88 games in all, with a neck injury he suffered on March 21, 2010 in Minnesota. Langkow missed the final 10 games of the 2009-10 season and the first 78 of the 2010-11 season before returning on April 1 in St. Louis.

Langkow wanted to wait until he was 100 percent healthy before returning to play because he cared about his healthy and family before returning until hockey. After six years of service in Calgary, he returns to the city he called home from 2001-2004, the three seasons before the lockout. In 2001-02, he led the team in points with 62. That season also ended a run of five playoff appearances in their first six years in the desert with a first round loss to San Jose. He scored 52 points in each of his next two seasons with the Coyotes. In addition to having the trade completed pending a physical, he had to waive his no-trade clause in order to make the deal happen. He said he did soon after Calgary General Manager Jay Feaster informed him of the potential deal, and added that playing with Coyotes captain Shane Doan was what got him excited about playing in the desert.

Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning with some wicked flex on his shot.

In simple terms, hockey sticks are what we use to launch the puck into a particular direction. A little more complex, a better, stronger shot comes from utilizing the flex of the stick to bend and snap the puck; much like pulling back on a ruler’s end and hitting someone in the forehead. The questions that arises though, how much flex should you have?

The ideal flex will vary for each player, but you want the stiffest flex you can bend completely to take full advantage of the stick recoil to snap the puck. If the stick is too stiff, the player loses out on the mechanical advantage of the stick. On the other hand, if the stick is to flexible, shot accuracy will suffer.

Stick length plays an important role in staff stiffness as well. In a senior stick at 85 flex, if you are to cut it down 2 inches, the stiffness will jump to about a 95 flex. Cutting down another 2 inches (4 inches total) and you’ll end up with about a 103 flex. Looking at those jumps at a beginning flex of 100, 2 inches takes it up to 106 and 4 inches puts you at a 113 flex.

According to Mike Cammalleri in an older Calgary Flames instructional video, he uses an 80 flex and the average around the NHL is about 100. A few general rules of thumb is for heavier guys to use stiffer shafts because of their weight’s ease of bending the stick. Also, for defenseman to use a stiffer shaft to generate harder slapshots. And lastly, for forwards to use less stiff shafts to better their snap and wrist shots.

Still though, these are general rules of thumb and not rule of law. I’ve always bought a 100 flex and have cut it down a few inches for better stick-handling. It is great to take the big slapshots, but I’ve dissected my game and realize I rarely take any slapshots anymore. In knowing what I know now, and playing more forward instead of defense, I am looking forward to picking up an 85 flex and seeing how my snap and wrist shots improve.

In the East, Buffalo is clinging to a three-point lead over the Carolina Hurricane for the 8th spot while the Toronto maple Leafs are right on their tail with 76 points. In the West, the Ducks are securely in 8th place but the Stars and Flames are one and two points behind respectively, meaning Anaheim has to play top-notch hockey for the remainder of the season to maintain their playoff aspirations.

With the standings changing on a daily basis, here are five of the first round playoff matchups that we would love to see happen in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

Matchup: Vancouver vs Calgary

Not only does this have the potential to be the only all-Canadian matchup if the first round, and perhaps of the playoffs in general, but Vancouver and Calgary are also division rivals which could make for a very physical and intense matchup between two teams who are very familiar with one another. It would also pit two seasoned goaltenders against each other in Roberto Luongo and Mikka Kiprusoff. Neither has had much success in the playoffs recently and both would look to step up to the challenge and backstop their team to victory.

Will we see this matchup? Perhaps, but the Flames need to play much better down the stretch if they intend to catch the Ducks, who are 8-2-0 over their last 10 while the Flames are a mediocre 4-4-2.

Matchup: San Jose vs Chicago

Goaltender Antti Niemi won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks last season before the team had to forgo resigning him due to salary cap restraints. The Sharks quickly snatched him up and Niemi has put up good numbers in San Jose with a 2.48 goals against average and a .916 save percentage while accumulating 30 wins with the Sharks. Chicago, meanwhile, has had to rely on rookie goaltender Corey Crawford since Marty Turco, who was brought in as a veteran (and cheaper) replacement to Niemi, has been an absolute bust. But goaltending isn’t the only issue. Both teams are fighting to remain relevent and prove that they have what it takes. After losing a significant amount of talent in the offseason, Chicago has exceeded expectations in a very tightly contested Western Conference. On the other end, the Sharks want to show that they are more thasn just regular season superstars and look to make a significant push to a Stanley Cup this season. This would be quite a matchup to see in the first round.

Will it happen? It could. There is still a significant amount of position-swapping going on in the Western standings, and if San Jose vs Chicago doesn’t happen we would gladly take the other likely alternative of Chicago vs Detroit.

Matchup: Washington vs New York

The Capitals always draw fan fare because of the likes of Alexander Ovechkin and his dynamic goal-scoring abilities. But the real reason why this would be an appealing matchup is because it would come down to whoever executes their game plan better on any given night. Both teams are in the top-5 for the fewest amount of goals allowed per game on average and Henrik Lundquist is finally getting due credit this season as many are already lobbying for him to win the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender. The real kicker, however, is that the Rangers actually score, on average, more goals per game than the Capitals. This would be a very tightly contested matchup where the winner will be the team that shows up and brings their A-game every single night of the series. It might not be high scoring, but it would sure be fun to watch.

Will it happen? The 8-Ball says yes. If playoffs started today, this would be one of the opening round matchups in the East.

Matchup: Boston vs Montreal

There is clearly a disdain amongst both parties for one another in this divisional rivalry – something that could potentially go to the next level thanks to Zdeno Chara’s bone-crushing hit on Max Pacioretty two weeks ago. The good news is that Pacioretty very well may be back for the playoffs. The bad news is that Montreal now has a good cause to ride behind as they look to overthrow the Bruins for the division lead. The Bruins are feisty and the Canadiens are hungry after falling just short of a Stanley Cup Finals berth last season after losing to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Conference Finals. These two teams certainly do not like each other and a best-of-seven playoff series could really elevate this rivalry to the next level.

Will it happen? It’s highly likely. If playoffs started tonight, Boston would be taking on Montreal in one heck of a seven-game classic.

Matchup: Toronto vs Well…Anyone Really…

The Leafs haven’t skated into the postseason since the 2003-04 season where they made it to the 2nd round before being eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers. Things haven’t looked good since then. But Brian Burke is working on turning things around for this storied franchise and a team that was almost counted out is now only five points out of a playoff spot. With eight games left, the Leafs will have to work hard to get points from teams like the Red Wings, Capitals, Bruins and Canadiens – teams all still left on their docket before the season comes to a close. Can they do it? It’s highly unlikely, but what a story it would be if they did…

I think that Ivanans will probably refrain from trying to throw down with MacIntyre for the rest of the season.

Thanks goes out to HWB reader Bryan for giving me the heads up about the fight, and to Hockey Fights for getting the video up rather quickly.

Expect Jarome Iginla and the Calgary Flames to bounce back offensively when they ranked 29th in goal scoring last season.

Key Offseason Losses: Nigel Dawes, Christopher Higgins, Eric Nystrom, Brett Palin

Key Offseason Additions: Alex Tanguay, Olli Jokinen, Tim Jackman, Henrik Karlsson

Last Season Ranking: Ninth, West

Offense: This is the area where they can’t get any worse. One of the worse scoring teams in the entire league last season, the Flames have to improve. They started the season well, when they had 19 wins and 41 points in 30 games. Then the wheels came off the scoring wagon when they played the other 52 games with 21 wins. GM Darryl Sutter’s main goal for the off season was to add scoring. He couldn’t find a sniper or playmaker, but in adding Alex Tanguay and Olli Jokinen added players who was good 3-4 years ago but struggled recently. Captain Jarome Iginla should have a bounce-back season just like everyone else with the flaming C on their chest. He failed to score in the last 12 games and barely reached 30 goals. Expect him to score at least 35 goals this season. If the offense can play like thhe top-10 team they were in 2009, they can become a dangerous team in the postseason.

Defense: When coach Brett Sutter took over for Mike Keenan last season, his focus was to make the team better defensively. He accomplished that in his first year. They were fifth in goals against last season, a far improvement from 23rd in 2009 under Keenan. They are also going for a balanced defensive system with their top three defensemen anchoring each of the lines with someone from the bottom three. They return Robyn Regehr who is now fully recovered from a knee injury. The top blue line pairing is likely to be Jay Bouwmeester and Ian White. Both are solid and should see time on special teams. The third defensive pairing of Mark Giordano and Cory Sarich is functional enough to score key goals when necessary.

Goaltending: Similiar to when I wrote last week about Jonas Hiller and Anaheim, Mikka Kiprusoff is a given to play at least 70-plus games for Calgary. What they have tried-and failed- to do in recent season was find a suitable backup to take some of the load off Kiprusoff. The revolving door of backup goalies has fallen to Henrik Karlsson this season. Karlsson is a big goalie at 6-6 and 215 pounds. He was in the San Jose system last season. Top prospect Leland Irving is still a couple years away from being a full-time goalie and still needs to prove he can hold his weight in the AHL instead of bouncing back and forth between the AHL and ECHL.

Season Outlook: This is Darryl Sutter’s time to shine season. He’s been over six years since he guided the Flames to the Stanley Cup finals in his first season as GM. They haven’t won a playoff series since. Fanbases in Canada don’t give their GM’s a lifetime free pass, as you can see teams like Edmonton and Vancouver have gone through multiple GM’s since Sutter have been in charge. You can argue Vancouver is a better team than Calgary, and at least Edmonton has been to a final since 2004 and have changed general managers in recent years. Expect Calgary to be better on offense, and do enough to make the playoffs and hopefully win a series.

Speaking of NBC, I’d be willing to bet they had a hand in this as they only recognize eight teams: Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Washington, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Boston.

Sidney and Alex will get the chance to duke it out at the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh.

I am kinda happy/kinda upset about this. We knew a Crosby-Ovechkin Winter Classic was on the horizon. This game has everything you need in a “one game showcase” of the NHL: recognizable names of Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, and Green. I’m actually more inclined to watch because I know Michigan State won’t be playing on New Year’s Day.  But how can the Penguins get to play in a second outdoor game before Original Six franchises New York and Toronto? Those fan bases, as well as perhaps the Canucks have legitimate beef of why they are being left out of the mix. It could perhaps be because those franchises don’t have marketable players (even Vancouver- Roberto Lulongo doesn’t count. You can’t see his face through a goalie mask) or because they simply aren’t good enough to contend on a year-to-year basis.

If you do want to put money on the Caps playing for the Stanley Cup next season, you should do so. Each season of the Winter Classic, the road participant has played for the Stanley Cup that season. Just ask the Penguins, Red Wings, and now Flyers. In addition, TSN is reporting there will be a second Winter Classic next season. Montreal will travel to Calgary in February to take on the Flames at McMahon Stadium.

Goal horns and celebration songs is one thing that makes hockey the great sport it is.

One of the beauties of the great game of hockey is that the home team is able to celebrate with a horn and song. You don’t see this in basketball because they simply score too much. You see it at college football and college hockey games with a fight song or chant (why hasen’t anyone brought any of the various SIEVE chants to the NHL?). You see it in the NFL (thank goodness my hometown Lions stink so we never have to hear it), as well as a soundbite in baseball. I rumbled throughout Youtube this week and found some of my favorite goal horn sounds as well as some of my favorite goal celebration songs. You can view all 30 NHL goal horns from this season here on Youtube.

Favorite Goal Horns:

1. Calgary- This song makes the Sea of Red come alive and the Saddledome become electric.
2. Edmonton- Can’t really explain it, I just love it.
3. Los Angeles- Loud like a freight train coming at you.
4. Washington- I like the police siren to accompany it.
5. New York Rangers- Once you hear this song, you know you’re in MSG.

Least Favorite Goal Horns:

1. Montreal- As much as I love the Habs, their goal horn is kinda annoying to hear.
2. Columbus- Doesn’t have any uniqueness to it.
3. Anaheim- It goes along with the duck theme, but it comes off as very low/deep sounding.
4. San Jose- Had to hear it too much this playoff season.

 My Favorite Goal Songs

1. Kernkraft 400- Zombie Nation (Sports Remix). Good song to get the crowd pumped up. As a Michigan State football fan, I had to endure this song several times watching the Spartans play at Penn State and their whiteouts.
2. Kid Rock- American Bad Ass. This used to be the song after the Edmonton goal horn. I secretly want the Red Wings to adopt this as “Are You Ready For This” is so 1990′s. Has anyone else besides me wondered why a team in Canada used a song called “American Bad Ass”?
3. Tim McGraw- I Like It, I Love It. While I have strong opinions why hockey shouldn’t be played south of the Mason-Dixon line (a blog on that will come in the off-season), I like the country music spin for the Predators.
4. Gary Glitter- Rock and Roll Pt 2. Where else can you get away with yelling “HEY YOU SUCK!” without getting kicked out?

My Least Favorite Goal Song

1. There’s only one entry in this category.It’s Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis. This song is so annoying and bad that I don’t know if I will be able to watch any games of the Blackhawks-Sharks series. Chicago fans feel free to crucify me if you desire.