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The Calgary Flames will honour one of the greatest players in team history by retiring goaltender Mike VernonÂ’s number 30. Does he deserver it? I’d say so, ’89 was the best year for the Flames and fans.

Vernon spent 13 seasons of his 20 year NHL career in Calgary. The Flames will pay tribute to Mike Vernon by raising his number 30 jersey to the rafters of the Pengrowth Saddledome in a pre-game ceremony when the Flames host the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, February 6, 2007.

The only other player to have their number retired is Lanny. The next player will likely be Iginla if he retires a Flame. The rest of the ‘Flames’ greats will be retired by other teams no doubt.

The Calgary Flames signed defenseman Andrew Ference to a three-year contract extension. He’ll be a Flames, baring trade, until 2010.

Ference had career highs in assists (27), points (31) and games (82) last season and added four assists in seven postseason games. He was a bargain last season (making about 750K) and is probably worth more than he signed for (just over 1 million Im’ guessing.)

The Flames acquired the 5-foot-10, 189-pound defenseman from the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2003 in exchange for a third-round pick in 2004. It’s a good sign to see Sutter signing up some pieces long term. That gives us Yanguay, Yelle, and Ference in 2010 for sure… Chat about this transaction in the forum.

This sounds like a tabloid piece but it isn’t. Fans should prepare to see a smaller Iginla take to the ice come opening day. Rumours have it Iginla has streamlined his body by eating nothing but power bars stuffed with prime rib…. [That doesn't make any sense.] Nonetheless, Iggy is entering this campaign slim like the first days he came into the NHL.

Now this I have a tough time believing, they say he only lost ten pounds and early Iggy WAS skinny Iggy. (Mind you, I was driving by Country Hills gold course during Amonte’s and Iggy’s charity golf tournie and wondered out loud, “who’s the skinny Iginla looking dude?”)

Iginla has this to say regarding the new strategy, “It’s the new rules. I don’t think strength is as important as speed and agility is,” Iginla explained. “The old NHL, before the rule changes, I think a big part of it for my game was in the corners and trying to outmuscle defencemen and some defencemen were very strong. It’s not as big now. I think the focus is more on speed now.”

That’s all fine with me Iggy, you just be sure you haven’t taken your shot down 10 pounds or forget potting 50 goals this season, yes that’s right, 50. In the meantime, get ready for opening day, training camp opens in 12 hours!

Training camp opens tomorrow, officially, but Alex Tanguay has been hanging out in Calgary for quite some time.

When asked about how he prepared himself before coming into town weeks earlier to train with fellow Flames vets, Tanguay said, “I’m going to try to use certain assets of his [Iginla] game to hopefully enhance his play and enhance his scoring if we play together. We’re going to be looking for each other that’s for sure.” Rumour has Tanguay was asking fellow team members and even reviewing film trying to ascertain Iginla’s tendencies. That’s all fine and dandy for me, even 30 goals from Tanguay would be helpful. Read the rest of this entry »

I guess you can’t say cut cause we still have rights to all these players. For these guys they were just here to report, get some training programs, and head back to their junior clubs. GM Darryl Sutter announced six players have been assigned.

Defencemen:
Brad Cole – Saskatoon (WHL)
Jordan Henry – Red Deer (WHL)
Forwards:
John Armstrong – Plymouth (OHL)
Hugo Carpentier – Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL)
Devin Didiomete – Sudbury (OHL)
Juuso Puustinen – Kamloops (WHL)

The Flames now have 35 players remaining in rookie camp: five goalies, 10 defenseman and 20 forwards. Soon to come, the vets and the new Cup atmosphere. Get your flags out!

It seems the 2004 playoff Stanley Cup run did some good. TV and Flames have combined for a leading 76 televised games. Leading as in we the fans haven’t seen TV coverage like this since the glory days (wait did they even have 76 games back then?).

The schedule will break down as follows:

13 PPV games (all viewers who want to pay with cable/satellite) (Shaw Link to Schedule)

17 CBC games (all viewers with TV) (all eight Calgary v. Edmonton games!)

5 TSN games (all basic cable people)

40 SNW games (more cable people)

In total 75 games on the tube 58 on normal cable packages. Basically if you’re in the city Bell Centre Ice won’t help your cause. Otherwise, HOORAY for hockey. The remaining games may be picked up on BCI, illegal satellite (so FSN), or of course, the radio.

The Calgary Flames have announced that 2006 pre-season tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, September 1st, starting at 10:00 a.m. Be the first to check out the new members of the Calgary Flames as Alex Tanguay, Jeff Friesen and Andrei Zyuzin make their Flames debut. Also, see goaltender Jamie McLennan join his old teammates as they prepare for the 2006-2007 NHL campaign.

This pre-season your Calgary Flames will be taking on Todd Bertuzzi and the Florida Panthers on September 17th, Roberto Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks on September 19th, the defending Western Conference Champion Edmonton Oilers on September 21st and MVP Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks on September 27th. The game versus the Florida Panthers is at 6:00 p.m. while all other games start at 7:00 p.m.

2006 Home Pre-Season Schedule:

Sunday, September 17 Vs. Florida Panthers 6:00 p.m.(MT)
Tuesday, September 19 Vs. Vancouver Canucks 7:00 p.m.(MT)
Thursday, September 21 Vs. Edmonton Oilers 7:00 p.m.(MT)
Wednesday, September 27 Vs. San Jose Sharks 7:00 p.m.(MT)