VIKING – It was a quantum leap forward.
A torrent that turned heads.
The challenge, now, is not to replicate that immense, regular-season success – but to use that as the benchmark, elevate their game, and take the next step in their quest to become champions.
The boss won’t settle for anything less.
“For me, the message when they left in the spring, was those guys in the 23 to 28-year-old age group, they had to improve,” said Head Coach Darryl Sutter, overlooking the pasture on his 3,000-acre cattle ranch. in Viking, Alta.
“They all had career years.
“But now they’ve got to get a little bit better for us. That’s what’s the team is about. It’s not about individuals and who’s going to play with who.
“I’m looking forward to seeing if they’ve made the next step.”
Add ’em up and you get 11 skaters from last year’s team that scored new high-water marks. Among those, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, along with Erik Gudbranson are now gone, but Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar arrive hungry to make a statement.
It can be argued that the Flames are a stronger, deeper team than they were last season.
And the fact is, they’ll need to be.
If the spring taught us anything about the competition here in the Western Conference – and the Pacific Division, more specifically – it’s going to be a dogfight to emerge come May and June. The Flames won 50 of their 82 games last year and racked up the second-most points in franchise history, obliterating the division with a staggering +85 goal differential.
But there’s always room for improvement.
Every player believes that in that mantra and went home with the same goal in mind: To put the work in over the summer, so that when training camp comes around and the grind begins anew, they’re better prepared for the challenge in front of them.
“It used to be that hockey was the season and then it was over.” said the NHL’s Jack Adams Award winner as Coach of the Year. “That part of it – the business part of it, the financial part and the training part – it’s pretty much all year.
“It’s the whole 365 now.
“With all this technology we have now and the size of the staff that we have – as much as you’d like to get away and be by yourselves – it’s very easy to touch base. I do it lots on Sundays. I reach out and seven, eight, 10 guys or whatever it is. Most of the time you’re checking in, seeing how things are going with their families and things like that. But I think that’s really important.”
Video: Sutter sets the bar, looks ahead to the new season
To put this into perspective, consider the ‘start date’ for the players’ off-season training:
June 21.
A mere three weeks after their season came to an end, the players were expected to be in the gym gearing up for the fall. Sutter – who won the Stanley Cup twice in three years with the LA Kings – knows a thing or two about commitment.
About what it takes to climb that dangerous mountain.
It’s clear listening to him that sees that same dedication with this group, too.
“Our guys have been awesome this summer,” he said. “We asked them to put in the work on the things we talked about them working on as individuals, and they’ve done really well with that. As far as the new guys coming in and being a part of that, and feeling as tight as they did this past season…
“Say what you want. That was as close of a team as you can play on, and we’ll do the same thing again this year.”
With training camp – still – about three weeks away, Sutter has a bit of work left on the farm before making his full-time return to Calgary. Just like the players and their rigid, off-season toil, supplying Albertans with food at the dinner table is a round-the-clock grunt for the Sutters.
But now? With the first frost lurking around the corner?
It’s time to harvest.
And we eagerly await the yield.
“I think we’ve got a really good group again,” Sutter said. “Last year was a big step in changing how guys thought and things like that. We were trying to get an identity back, or gain one in terms of the respect in the league. Now, we have to build on that and do it again. with a different cast of players, but it’s still in place.
“We’ve brought in top players. We brought in a Stanley Cup champion. … You need a goalie, you need defensemen and you need a centerman. Brad (Treliving) did an awesome job bringing in Naz and the boys from Florida, so we’re in a good place.”
Stay tuned to CalgaryFlames.com as we’ll be dropping more written and video features from our visit to the Sutter Ranch next week.
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