{"id":234392,"date":"2025-10-23T12:35:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T12:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/234392\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T12:35:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T12:35:13","slug":"on-cusp-of-lost-season-time-for-flames-to-embrace-montreal-style-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/234392\/","title":{"rendered":"On cusp of lost season, time for Flames to embrace Montreal-style rebuild"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALGARY \u2014 The Calgary Flames<\/a> are on the cusp of what almost certainly looks like a lost season.<\/p>\n

And the latest team to help put them there is a perfect example of how the Flames should proceed from here.<\/p>\n

A 2-1 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday extended the Flames losing skid to seven, giving them just three points in their opening eight games.<\/p>\n

Only 10 teams in the last 40 years have started that poorly and made the playoffs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to start looking at what a proper rebuild can look like, and there\u2019s no better example right now than Montreal.<\/p>\n

The difference in Wednesday\u2019s highly entertaining affair was a world-class play by Ivan Demidov that set up Mike Matheson\u2019s winner.<\/p>\n

Two nights earlier another gritty outing by the Flames was doused by a Mark Scheifele finish that served as a reminder of the difference between the Flames and playoff contenders \u2014 high-end skill.<\/p>\n

The Flames don\u2019t have those type of players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I can’t generate offence,\u201d said Wolf, the Flames’ franchise player, frustrated by his club\u2019s inability to convert more than one of the 37 shots directed at Jakub Dobes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI do my job, I try to keep the puck out of our net, and hope that our guys can generate a couple.\u00a0I’m glad we got one there. We got a point, but we\u2019ve got to keep working to find more offence.\u201d<\/p>\n

They couldn\u2019t find it last season, and there\u2019s no reason to believe they\u2019ll discover it in time to save this season.<\/p>\n

The loss to Montreal, in which the only Flames scorer was fourth-liner Adam Klapka, hammered that point home once again.<\/p>\n

This is Year 4 of the re-imagined Habs, who are off to a 6-2 start, good for a first-place tie atop the NHL standings.<\/p>\n

Look waaaay down, and there lies the Flames with just 12 goals, a minus-16 differential and a team shooting percentage that looks closer to the GST than to the league’s norm.<\/p>\n

It puts them on track to be the top lottery draft contenders for the first-overall pick, Gavin McKenna \u2014 a rallying cry that has already been adopted by a Flames fan base frustrated by three decades of mid-round draft picks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to get serious about bottoming out like the Habs did in 2022, just one year after a surprise run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n

That was the year they drafted Juraj Slafkovsky first overall, followed by Lane Hutson in the second round as part of two straight seasons of pain, patience, and pruning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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And now? Despite being the youngest team in the league, they\u2019re on the cusp of something real. Something sustainable. Something the Flames desperately need to emulate.<\/p>\n

Montreal\u2019s rebuild began in earnest in 2022, when Kent Hughes took over as general manager and Martin St. Louis stepped behind the bench. What followed was a masterclass in modern roster construction: a blend of savvy drafting, bold trades, and strategic free-agent signings that have transformed the Habs from a floundering franchise into one of the league\u2019s most promising young cores in relatively short order.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Juraj Slafkovsky\u2019s development curve has been gradual, but he\u2019s now anchoring the top line alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, two players who represent the heart of Montreal\u2019s rebuild. Both forced Wolf to make several huge stops to keep the game within reach early Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Second rounder Oliver Kapanen, 22, is centring the second line alongside 19-year-old Demidov, who seems destined for stardom after being taken fifth overall in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suzuki was acquired in the Max Pacioretty trade back in 2018, while Caufield was a 2019 first-rounder. Together, they\u2019ve grown into leaders and offensive stars.<\/p>\n

On the blue line, Montreal has stockpiled talent through the draft and trades. Hutson, who won the Calder last year, headlines a blue line bolstered heavily by the acquisition of Noah Dobson this off-season. It added a proven top-four defenceman, signalling the Canadiens are ready to shift from rebuilding to competing.<\/p>\n

Those close to the team say the key to the team\u2019s linear ascension has been a culture fostered by veterans like Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher, Jake Evans, Mike Matheson and Sean Monahan, who the team cashed in on.<\/p>\n

The Flames have built a similarly impressive culture, but don\u2019t have enough difference-makers in their midst.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montreal qualified for the playoffs last season for the first time in four years, and while they bowed out early, the experience was invaluable.<\/p>\n

The Flames have long been stuck in hockey purgatory \u2014 not bad enough to bottom out, not good enough to contend.<\/p>\n

It needs to end, meaning this early faceplant could be a blessing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for Calgary to stop chasing the final playoff spot and start building something meaningful. That means embracing a lost season or two leading up to the new building.<\/p>\n

The blueprint is right there in Montreal. Draft well. Develop patiently. Make smart trades. Don\u2019t be afraid to lose in the short term.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens didn\u2019t panic when the losses piled up, they stayed the course. And now they\u2019re reaping the rewards.<\/p>\n

Calgary has several pieces to build around, like Wolf, Zayne Parekh<\/a>, Matvei Gridin and Cole Reschny.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But they need more, which is why using a fruitful draft as a springboard is key.<\/p>\n

This is a star-driven league, and those teams without them get left behind, as Flames fans know all too well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY \u2014 The Calgary Flames are on the cusp of what almost certainly looks like a lost season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-234392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}