Fansided’s 30 in 30: Calgary Flames

FanSided’s NHL network continues its 30 team previews in the 30 days of September with an opponent the Bruins do not see often: the Calgary Flames. Calgary is home to one of the NHL’s premier players in Jarome Iginla (whom I have advocated the Bruins acquire a number of times), as well as Jay Bouwmeester and young guys like Mark Giordano and Clay Wilson. The Flames had a horrendous start and nearly rallied to make the postseason last year, but are another year older up front.

Flame for Thought’s Ryan Patrick says this about the Flames:

"If you don’t follow the Calgary Flames that closely, you’d probably be hard-pressed to recognize the differences between last year’s team and the team heading into 2011-12. Not to say freshly announced GM Jay Feaster hasn’t done anything, in fact he played an absolute perfect hand in a very tight salary cap situation. He shipped away guys like Ales Kotalik, Robyn Regehr and Daymond Langkow, all who had large contracts they weren’t performing up to. He also locked up Curtis Glencross and Alex Tanguay to long-term deals and brought in a mix of youth and veteran presence on the blueline. In the end, the Flames now have a little over $3.6 million in cap-space heading into the season, and Feaster has made it abundantly clear he’s willing to spend that money to improve the team. Whether or not Calgary’s off-season roster tweaks can push them into a playoff spot in the insanely competitive Western conference remains to be seen."

Read the rest of Patrick’s preview at Flame for Thought. The Bruins host the Flames, on Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 7 p.m.