As the Battle of Alberta in the Canadian Football League (CFL) quickly approaches, it made me wonder how the Battle of Alberta in hockey will shape up for the 2024-25 season. In football, both the Edmonton Elks and Calgary Stampeders are sitting at the bottom of the pile in the CFL’s West Division, and the next two back-to-back games on Labour Day and Sept. 7 will most likely determine which team will sink to the bottom and which one will go on to compete for a playoff spot. On the hockey front, the Battle of Alberta looks a bit more lopsided in 2024-25 with the Edmonton Oilers most likely competing for the playoffs and possibly another Stanley Cup run, while the Calgary Flames are in rebuild, re-tool, re-invention mode – whatever you want to call it.
Flames Focused on the Future
Fans from Calgary often laugh at Edmonton, and over the years Oilers fans have heard the same thing over and over again, “Why would anyone want to play in Edmonton?” It seems like karma had its way with the Flames the past couple of seasons with the loss of some good hockey players such as Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau aka Johnny Hockey. The loss of Tkachuk and Gaudreau hurt the Flames on the ice and was a blow to the psyche of the hockey club when both players chose not to stay in Calgary. Some people believe that Gaudreau and Tkachuk’s departures may have come as a result of their second round Stanley Cup playoff loss to the Oilers in the spring of 2022 when the Flames had home-ice advantage and a 1-0 series lead only to have the Oilers storm back with four straight wins to take the series 4-1. That of course was then, and this is now. So how are the Flames stacking up for the 2024-25 season?
The team had a successful 2024 Draft, taking defenceman Zayne Parekh ninth overall, and forward Matvei Gridin 28th in the first round. The Flames were also busy in the second round taking wingers Andrew Basha 41st and Jacob Battaglia 62nd. Calgary’s biggest free-agency signing was bringing Florida Panthers defenceman Ryan Lomberg back to the organization, signing the 29-year-old to a two-year contract. Lomberg joins a group of veterans led by Jonathan Huberdeau, Mikael Backlund, Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman.
The Flames will also count on players from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Calgary Wranglers who won their Pacific Division first round series in 2024 against the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…