There was cause for celebration, and cause for concern.
Filed under the not-so-good, Mikael Backlund made an early exit. The last thing you want in pre-season is an injury to your captain and most trusted defensive centre.
Asked post-game if he had any update on the status of the 35-year-old Backlund, head coach Ryan Huska replied: “No, we don’t actually. Not yet”
Nazem Kadri scored a gimme in overtime Monday, finishing off a sweet feed from Andrei Kuzmenko, while Brayden Pachal and Blake Coleman also bulged twine for the hosts and tryout hopeful Tyson Barrie contributed two helpers.
Dan Vladar went the distance between the pipes, another important mileage marker in his return from hip surgery. Vladar had played two periods in each of his previous starts, all part of the plan to steadily up his workload. On this night, he finished with 30 saves.
The Flames, who were 5-0-1 on their September slate, will wrap their exhibition schedule with a home-and-home against the Winnipeg Jets — Wednesday in Friendly Manitoba, followed by Friday at the Saddledome.
Here are three takeaways from Monday’s matchup …
HONZEK HIGHLIGHT
Honzek danced around an NHL defenceman — arguably, Seattle’s best blue-liner in Vince Dunn — and then deked around a proven puck-stopper for a shorthanded strike.
In what has been a superb pre-season showing, this was his best highlight yet.
“I just told him it was sick,” said Vladar, spotted chatting with Honzek shortly after his snipe. “I think I said something that he might be too young to be doing that.”
Two nights after Huska told reporters that the rookie left-winger is “going to make it really hard on us,” Honzek continued to do precisely that against the Kraken.
He’s now up to seven points — two goals and five assists — in a handful of exhibition outings.
It always seemed to make the most sense for Honzek to start his pro climb with the AHL’s Wranglers, and maybe it still does, but how can you possibly cut the kid if he’s outperforming every other guy on the roster?
While Honzek has being doing his best to play it cool, insisting a few days back that he wasn’t aware of his perch as the NHL’s pre-season scoring leader, he couldn’t conceal a wide smile after Monday’s gorgeous goal. It was the look of a guy who knows he’s inching closer to realizing a dream.
“You know that cuts are happening and I’m between the last guys to be decided, so it’s getting harder,” Honzek said. “The pressure is kind of coming up because I know two pre-season games are left. I’m just trying to put everything I have in it.
“If I make the team (or) if I don’t, I leave everything here.”
Even if he starts this season in the minors, this power-forward prospect has shown that he deserves a look sooner than later.
“Just continue to do what you’re doing,” Huska said. “You can’t be anything but happy for the young guy. I know, after last year, everyone was talking about, ‘Oh, jeez, where is this Honzek guy? Is he going to be a player?’ Well, he is a player. He’s a pretty good player. We’re pretty excited about where he’s at right now.”
CONVINCING CASE
Barrie, on the other hand, was busy bolstering his case for a contract offer from the Flames.
The 33-year-old picked up a pair of assists in the opening period against the Kraken. On Pachal’s potting, Barrie made a smart play to help seal the blue-line. He later wired a shot through traffic on the power-play, leading to a greasy goal by Coleman.
Just as important, Barrie looked relatively comfortable on the left side of the third pairing, especially impressive since the right-hander revealed that he hasn’t been asked to do that since his junior days. This feels like a good time to remind you Huska was his bench boss with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets.
“I think it’s a chance to add something to your game and work on your craft and show them you’re versatile and you can kind of fit in where they need you to,” Barrie said. “That’s my mindset, for sure, not so much getting stuck about playing on the right.”
That versatility could be a determining factor on a Flames’ defensive depth chart that is already loaded with righties in regular roles, with Rasmus Andersson, MacKenzie Weegar, Daniil Miromanov and Pachal all having that same curve on their stick-blades.
Kevin Bahl and Jake Bean seem locked in as lefties, which leaves Barrie in the battle for the remaining job on the back-end. Also in that mix are Joel Hanley, Artem Grushnikov, Ilya Solovyov and Jarred Tinordi. There are stay-at-home sorts and toughies on that list, but Barrie’s edge can be his offensive acumen and it showed Monday.
ROUGH NIGHT
Plus-minus isn’t always the most insightful stat but if you’re one of the bubble boys, you don’t want to finish the evening with a dash beside your name.
Jakob Pelletier posted a minus-2 rating against the Kraken. Not ideal, especially since the 23-year-old was auditioning with Backlund and Coleman on Calgary’s shutdown line.
It’s been an underwhelming pre-season for Pelletier, perhaps not unexpected since injuries limited the should-be buzzsaw to 31 appearances — including just 13 in the NHL — during the 2023-24 campaign.
After Monday’s morning skate, Huska was asked about Pelletier’s performance in three previous tuneup twirls and offered a lukewarm review.
“I think he’s been a little bit in and out at times,” Huska said. “We want to see that consistency from him. What separates Jakob from everybody else is his ability to skate and pressure teams into mistakes. So when he’s on the ice, that’s what we want to see. Whether it be a penalty-kill role or a five-on-five role, that’s how he’s most effective, so that’s what we’re looking for.”
Pelletier wasn’t among the shorthanded staffers Monday evening, so he ultimately logged only 11:12 of even-strength in a penalty-filled affair. He was credited with one hit and one shot on net.
What’s complicating matters with Pelletier is he now needs waivers to be reassigned to the minors. Would the Flames take that risk with their first-round pick from 2019? They could benefit from Pelletier’s speed and his positivity, but has he earned a spot?
BONUS TAKEAWAYS
Any sort of injury to Backlund would be a major blow to the Flames, with Kadri and Kevin Rooney as the only other experienced pivots on their roster. They are already auditioning Martin Pospisil and Yegor Sharangovich to skate up the middle, while college free-agent signing Sam Morton has made a positive impression in his first pro camp. At 25, Morton is more mature than your average prospect, but it would be a big ask to try to slide him into Backlund’s slot … Huska was satisfied with the results of one experiment Monday — sending Kuzmenko over the boards in overtime. “That’s the first time we’ve used him in three-on-three,” Huska grinned. “So we’ll probably do it again” … Vladar, who should see one more start before the end of the pre-season, on his surgically-repaired right hip: “Every day, I feel better and better, and I just know it’s going to get better and better. I’m super positive and confident about that, so let’s go.”