Ever since dismissing Brent Sutter at the end of the 2011-12 season, the Calgary Flames have been (presumably) working tirelessly in their search for a head coach. So tirelessly in fact, that assistant coach Craig Hartsburg is just now rumoured to be a candidate for the position (Justin elaborates on why he wouldn't be the worst choice to coach a team in transition here).

A variety of other names have cropped up over the course of the past one and half months, from Heat head coach Troy Ward (who has been the apparent favourite) to former Winnipeg Atlanta Thrashers bench boss Bob Hartley--who may possibly spare us the agony of another Feaster retread by signing with the Canadiens any minute now.

But if the Flames aren't serious about rebuilding, and we have yet to receive any sort of indication this summer that this is not the case, then why does it really matter who the team hires as its head coach? How much can coaching influence the abilities of a bunch of players mostly on the wrong side of their prime years on a team whose overall make-up has not been altered in any extreme way since it first missed the playoffs three years ago, or even prior to that?

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With the Stanley Cup finals starting next Wednesday, the off-season is set to begin in earnest with most teams (especially those who missed out on the playoffs) focusing on the lead-up to the NHL Draft.

There is little doubt that the Flames addressed a glaring need last summer when they selected Sven Baertschi 13th overall in the draft, and in slightly less than a year's time, that selection is already looking very good for Jay Feaster and Co. Baertschi, who led the WHL in playoff scoring this spring before his Portland Winterhawks bowed out to the Edmonton Oil Kings in the league final, was very impressive in his short Flames debut, and now has his sights set on a more permanent transition to the NHL.

But a single skilled forward prospect does not a promising future make, and the Flames will need to continue to utilize their current predicament to the best of their ability in selecting the player(s) that will hopefully help them turn their fortunes around and make it out of this mess looking better than they did going in.

Enter Pontus Aberg.

Aberg is one of the trio of "Bergs" making an impression ahead of this year's draft, and the NHL Numbers mock draft by The Copper n' Blue's Derek Zona has yours truly, the Calgary Flames selecting him with their first round pick in about a month's time. After the jump, some more information about the Swedish "sparkplug."

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With the Abbotsford Heat officially eliminated from the AHL Calder Cup playoffs, I thought now would be a good time to take a closer look at another Flames prospect who continues to work his way up in the organization: Max Reinhart.

After being chosen in the third round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the Flames, the 20-year-old Reinhart has continued to put up impressive, though not gaudy numbers over the course of the past two WHL seasons.

Reinhart put together another steady season with the Kootenay Ice in 2011-12, scoring 28 times and adding 50 assists for 78 points in 61 games (a pace of 1.28 PPG) in what may have been his last junior season depending on how many over-agers the Ice have kicking around next year.

Reinhart's regular season points broke down as such:

EV Goals: 19

Assists: 27

EV Points: 46

PPG: 6

PPA: 22

PPP: 28

SHG: 3

SH Assists: 1

Total Special Teams Points: 32

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Instead of having another go at Flames management for you know, poor management, I've decided to look at another area where I think the organization is lacking, from a more personal, social perspective.

Not too long ago, events surrounding the Alberta provincial election reminded me why the fight for LGBT rights and against discrimination is not yet over, and why the You Can Play project, pioneered by Patrick and Brian Burke exists and needs representation here in Calgary.

I don't often like to get political in this space and I'm probably going to take some heat for it, as I know that this is not the place for it and politics and sports do not typically mingle well, but the promotion of a prevailing type of masculinity and the barriers inherent to open and rewarding participation in professional sports by LGBT athletes are issues that also need to be addressed at a higher level.

A few weeks ago in the campaign leading up to the Alberta provincial election, a blog post that a candidate, an evangelical pastor in Edmonton, wrote in June of last year bubbled up to the surface of the Internet. The post read as a plea for people not to accept gays and lesbians the way they are, and rather, that gay people should alter a core part of who they are and the way they live their lives, both publicly and privately, lest they be subject to eternal damnation. While not explicitly condoning what was said, the leader of the party he was running for dismissed concerns about the nature of the comments and said that the post was written nearly a year ago before her candidate became a political figure and that the views expressed were in keeping with his religious beliefs.

Then last night, a story about prejudices against gay and transgender students at a Calgary private school came to light. Students and former students at the school said they experienced resistance when attempting to establish a pride club, when striving to be recognized as a transgendered individual, or even when trying to stand up against bullying and homophobia.

As Canadians, we can sometimes get complacent. We tend to take advantage of the fact that the law that governs this country guarantees the legality of same-sex marriage as well as freedom of expression, religion, and association and attempts to protect its citizens from exposure to undue hatred and discrimination. But the fact remains that the comments in the aforementioned stories (whether religiously based or not) were still prejudiced, discriminatory, and very nearly hateful, and are indicative of an attitude that has not yet wholly vanished from any one segment of society, including the hockey community.

This is where the You Can Play project comes in.

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Flames fans have been keeping a close eye on 2011 first-round pick Sven Baertschi since his name was called by Jay Feaster on draft day.

Baertschi amassed 94 points in just 47 regular season games played, good for exactly two points per game with the Portland Winterhawks.

The breakdown of those points was as follows:

10 PP Goals

25 PP Assists

5 SH Goals

0 SH Assists

In total, 40 of Baertschi's points came on special teams and 54 at even strength, which I think is a pretty good ratio. Obviously a guy of his skill level is going to be spending a lot of time on the ice, which translates into a lot of powerplay time. What is encouraging is that he must also be receiving significant minutes on the penalty kill against the opposition's top players in order to score five times while his team was shorthanded.

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Since the season's end, Brent Sutter and Dave Lowry's respective departures, and Jay Feaster's press conference, you could probably hear a pin drop at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

While Flames fans wring their hands over issues like what direction the team will choose to go in this summer and who is really making those decisions, other team's fans are grappling with the sting of playoff defeat, nerves associated with a do-or-die game seven, or analyzing their prospects in the conference semi-finals.

But all is not doom and gloom where the Flames are concerned, as hockey's second season is treating some of the organization's young prospects quite well, which is always a good sign prior to an impending rebuild, right Ken King? RIGHT?!?!?1?

Links and a preview of tonight's playoff action after the jump.

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The Abbotsford Heat closed out the 2011-12 regular season yesterday afternoon with a win over the Toronto Marlies, during which Flames prospect Maxwell Reinhart scored the first two goals of his pro career.

Reinhart scored 28 times and added 50 assists in 61 games for the Ice this past season before Kootenay bowed out to the Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL playoffs, and has many Flames fans excited about what may be just the beginning of a long and successful pro career.

Reinhart's Kootenay teammate and fellow Flames draftee Joey Leach has also oined the Heat on an ATO and prospect Gaelen Patterson has been re-called from the ECHL's Utah Grizzlies.

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Both teams are coming off of humbling losses to teams they should have beaten heading into tonight's contest, but despite losing 2-0 to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night and having won just three times in their past ten games, Philadelphia's situation is nowhere near as dire as the Flames', who must win tonight in order to keep pace with the eighth-place Stars.

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[Corsi] [H2H] [Faceoffs] [Scoring Chances] [The Enemy]

Tonight, Olli Jokinen recorded a hat trick and the Flames scored more than three goals for what feels like the first time in forever, but there was something much bigger about this game which I am about to delve into in unnecessary detail: Miikka Kiprusoff's 300th career win.

Gather round, children, for this is the story of how I became a Miikka Kiprusoff fan and, ostensibly, a Flames fan.

It was the spring of 2004 (yeah, yeah call me a bandwagoner and get it over with). Jarome Iginla was there. Calgary was playing the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the playoffs, a 3 vs. 6 match-up which they weren't expected to win.

One of my friends was having people over to watch the game (I can't remember which one it was precisely), and I wasn't really into hockey at the time (I was in eighth grade, and had what I thought were more important things to worry about), but I knew it was a big deal. After all, this was the first time the Flames had made the playoffs in seven years.

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[Corsi] [Scoring Chances] [Faceoffs] [H2H]

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The Flames are visiting the city where I spend the majority of my year away at university tonight to take on the Senators, and as such, my pride is on the line as Ottawa stands to sweep the season series with a victory at Scotiabank Place tonight.

After a dreadful showing against the Islanders last night, the chances that the team will perform better on the second half of a back-to-back are unlikely, but I can dream. Projected lines after the jump.

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Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Sporting a four-game slide of their own, the Avalanche-esque Minnesota Wild are no longer in first place in the NHL. What a crying shame.

Last time the Flames faced their division rivals south of the border, the good guys came away with an impressive 5-2 victory entirely on merit. Although they weren't the most disciplined squad, they outshot the Wild 35-21, chasing the erstwhile spectacular Niklas Backstrom in a game where all but four Calgary skaters finished in the black Corsi-wise.

This time around, the Flames seem to have their visitors exactly where they want them: missing the likes of Guillaume Latendresse, Devin Setoguchi, and possibly Mikko Koivu and coming off a 4-0 spanking last night against Vancouver. But the threat of Backstrom's otherworldly EV SV% still looms, and Calgary is icing two rookies without Matt Stajan (ankle) and Rene Bourque (suspension), who has 17 points in 25 career games against Minnesota.

Projected lineups after the jump (flames.nhl.com).

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One streak could come to an end tonight, and it's not looking good for the Flames.

The Chicago Blackhawks are coming into this contest boasting a four-game winning streak and an 8-1-1 record in their past ten games, while the Flames have lost three consecutive contests and will wrap up their four-game road trip at the United Centre tonight, a place where they haven't beaten the 'Hawks in their past ten games in the Windy City.

Yes, things are looking miserable for the Flames, and Jay Feaster's comments during the Tampa game indicate that he knows it too. The sitting of Mikael Backlund, an effective player despite the fact that he hasn't been accumulating points, indicates that Brent Sutter might be grabbing at straws as well.

Sitting at .500 without loser points, the visitors have been outshot in each of their past three losses, so it's not as if they've been playing well and waiting for a lucky break.

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It's no secret that Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov has been struggling this season; he certainly hasn't been shy about it, talking at length with reporters about his poor play after Philly's loss to the Jets on Thursday. 

Now, the Flyers have limited the media's access to the outgoing Russian 'tender, seemingly with the belief that excessive attention from the press is a distraction to the man between the pipes. 

As Travis Hughes says in his excellent article on the topic over at Broadstreet Hockey, this assertion is ridiculous. Professional athletes are used to speaking to reporters, regardless of whether the city they played in previously was a "hockey market" or not. 

Bryzgalov had a bad game and he owned up to it in the media; he admitted that he was lacking confidence; these are things you don't often hear coming out of a pro athlete's mouth, at least publicly. Maybe the Flyers feel that Bryzgalov admitting his weaknesses to the press makes him an easy target for the opposition, I don't know, but there's still no justification for the team's decision to limit credentialed media members' access to players. It could get especially messy when you consider that the Flyers are the subject of an upcoming HBO series in the same mould as the popular 24/7 documentary featuring the Penguins and Capitals leading up to the 2011 Winter Classic. 

Maybe pressure from one of the US' biggest cable networks will change the minds of the Flyers' brass. 

Links after the jump. 

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In some sad news today, former Flames' first-rounder Kris Chucko has announced his retirement from hockey due to ongoing concussion problems. The 25-year old appeared in just two NHL games for the Flames after being drafted out of the BCHL. 

Chucko told Dhiren Mahiban that his problems began last year after suffering his second concussion just two games into the Abbotsford Heat's season:

"My decision was based on how I felt, how crappy I felt and have felt for the last 11 to 12 months, and the six or seven months (after) the first one. When you sit at home with a headache for six or seven months straight, the decision doesn't come too hard."

"If you took out a concussion symptoms chart I was feeling pretty much all of them. Dizziness, vision, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, nausea, sickness — you can go right down the list to the very bottom, other than memory."

"On the second hit my neck just deteriorated, I can't lift a heavy bag of groceries yet, so I'm not working out or lifting weights cause I get these shooting pains down the back of my neck and it's pretty uncomfortable."

Chucko said the recent research that has been conducted and released about the effects of head trauma as a result of concussions contributed to his decision to retire. 

"I love hockey, but I love life too...I don't miss having the headache every day and I don't miss wondering if I'm ever going to get better. I don't miss worrying about my health."

"When you're playing hockey, you always know there's going to be life after hockey, but you don't really plan for it, especially at 25"

Chucko will continue to pursue a business management degree at the University of Minnesota, where he was granted a scholarship before he began his pro hockey career with the Flames' farm squad. 

Regardless of Chucko's success or lackthereof, it's always sad to see a player forced to retire prematurely from the game because of a health problem they have no control over. Chucko sounds like a smart man who is in the right frame of mind when it comes to life after his hockey career, and I think I speak for all of us here when I wish him a successful recovery and all the best in his future endeavors. 

Ah, the many pleasures of being a mediocre team. 

When people like the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch start spewing trade proposals and thinking that they know what's best for the local squad, you know you're in trouble. 

Not that he's entirely wrong, that is. 

If the Flames are officially going to blow it up and call this a full rebuild, one of the first things they need to do is shed salary, and if that comes at the expense of older players like Olli Jokinen (regardless of his recent play), than so be it. 

I don't think you'll find anyone around these parts opposed to showing Matt Stajan and his $3.5M the door, but getting rid of a player like "defenceman" David Moss and his fairly meagre salary seems counterproductive, no? 

Not only is Moss one of the cheaper players on the Flames' roster, but he also brings a certain "bang for your buck." He may be struggling in his current role to start the season, but that's not to say he isn't a valuable player who shouldn't be kept around. 

One thing seems to be for certain: Until these moves become more than just speculation and the Flames keep slipping in the standings, they will be "that team" that everyone thinks they know how to fix. 

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Ahead of the upcoming NHL season, Derek Zona of The Copper n' Blue recently conducted a survey of SBN's Western Conference bloggers, asking each manager to estimate where all 15 teams will rank when 82 games are in the books come April. 

The results probably won't surprise many regular readers; when the votes were counted, the predictions for the Flames averaged out to a grim 13th place. 

After the jump, a look at why the Flames could potentially fall to third-worst in the West in 2011-12.

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After a long summer, the Flames finally hit the ice tonight in split squad games against the Vancouver Canucks. 

I know it's pre-season, but against the Canucks, it always counts. 

Rosters and game previews after the jump. 

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After the Young Stars tournament wrapped up last week in Penticton, main camp is now officially underway at the Saddledome without Flames captain Jarome Iginla, who remains out of commission with tightness and muscle spasms in his back. 

This condition is not unfamiliar to Iginla, who told the Fan 960 that he is "day-to-day," although he feels much better today and hopes to get back into the lineup soon. 

The players who survived Saturday's roster cuts participated in an intra-squad scrimmage today at the 'Dome, which saw Team White come away with the 'W' thanks to goals from Mikael Backlund and Jay Bouwmeester. The real action begins tomorrow evening in split-squad games against the Canucks, with the victorious Team White representing the Flames at Rogers Arena in Vancouver (8PM MT, Sportsnet West) while Team Black will aim for a better result on home ice (7PM MT, Fan 960). 

After the jump: Split squad rosters and who to watch as players compete for spots and prepare for the season ahead. 

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After news broke of the trade that sent Daymond Langkow to the Phoenix Coyotes this afternoon, I decided to bid farewell to a well-loved player the only way I know how: in rhyme. Read on after the jump for my tribute to Lanks. 

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With less than a month to go before training camp opens league-wide, excitement for the upcoming NHL season should be building, but instead, it seems that the summer will continue to drag on marred by sadness and question marks off the ice. 

After the death of Rick Rypien last week, the second player death of the summer for the league, scrappy veteran Dave Scatchard announced his retirement today because of ongoing concussion problems after 659 games and 11 seasons in the NHL. After the league was forced to re-evaluate its policies and attitudes towards head injuries and their ramifications after criticism from current and former players whose lives and careers were altered by concussions, it must now re-examine the way it handles players dealing with non-hockey related problems after the deaths of Derek Boogaard and Rypien, both known for their knuckle-chucking abilities on the ice.

Testimonials from others who have made a career out of pounding the opposition into a bloody pulp have revealed just how much of a toll fighting for a living can take on the mind as well as the body, and it has taken two player deaths to alert the NHL to the fact that it needs to make changes to its behavioural health program. Thankfully nobody has yet had to lose their life for the league to recognize the danger of hits to the head, but it remains to be seen if action on the latest round of issues will be more expedient as a result of these tragedies. 

Links after the jump. 

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After all the hullabaloo about the Flames' blueline strength following the Regehr trade, it appears they've finally found their man in mid-August, as the club announced the signing of former Avalanche defender Scott Hannan to a one-year deal worth $1M today. 

32-year old Hannan scored once and added four assists in 55-games with the Washington Capitals last season and has 830 NHL games to his name. Whether or not he will be capable of filling the void left by Robyn Regehr at his age is up for debate, but at one year and just $1M, it's hard to complain too much about this low-risk signing; it definitely leaves the Flames' backend in better shape than it was before with little more than a month to go before training camp begins. 

Hello all! I bring you this special long-weekend edition of Monday's Hot Coals live from sweltering Toronto, Ontario where I am currently vacationing. Toronto is a city rich in hockey history, and one whose fans we don't necessarily have a consistently heated rivalry with more than twice a year when the Flames and Leafs square off in their respective barns (and when the occasional lopsided trade goes down, usually at the Flames' disadvantage). As such, since there's not too much going on in Flamesland at the moment, I thought I'd add a little love for our friends out east to today's links, while the off-season warm-and-fuzzies are still going strong. 

Links after the jump. 

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Not too long ago, Kent examined the Flames' various options at the centre position, which has suddenly become over-crowded again with the (re)-addition of Brendan Morrison. If there's another area of the roster where there seems to be some confusion over who fits in where, it's almost certainly the blueline. 

After the trade that sent Robyn Regehr to the Buffalo Sabres, the best of the available UFA defenders were quickly snapped up by teams with money to burn while the Flames have attempted to separate out the players with potential to be a top four rearguard from those stuck at the bottom end of the rotation.  

The top three players left to bear the responsibility of filling in for the departed Regehr are obvious; Jay Bouwmeester will no doubt continue to carry a heavy load while Mark Giordano will likely see his ice time and his quality of competition increase; and Cory Sarich will probably be relied upon to stay healthy and not suck either in a first pairing role with Bouw or anchoring the second pairing. That's where things get a little fuzzy, from 4-7 on the Flames' defensive depth chart. 

After the jump, I'll assess their options. 

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