Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Calgary Flames Next Year

05/12/2015 at 8:02am EDT

from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

There are some good young players in place – Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett, the fourth player chosen in the 2014 NHL entry draft, who made his NHL debut in April and looks to be a keeper. The Flames will have to sort out their goaltending – Karri Ramo, who was the de facto No. 1 at the end of the year, is an unrestricted free agent, and it appears that he has greater potential than Jonas Hiller, who was on the bench at the end. But Hiller has a year left on his contract at a tidy $4.5-million (U.S.).

Hartley has been around the block enough times to know that duplicating this year’s magical run won’t be easy. He is, after all, a former Colorado coach and still has close ties to Roy, Joe Sakic and others in that organization.

Pointing to the future, Hartley used the diminutive Gaudreau as an example of “the kind of culture we’re trying to bring in Calgary. Johnny wants to be a difference-maker. In life, as in sports, you have to be ambitious. It’s so easy to satisfy yourself with very little. Mediocrity is not part of our standard.”

The coach went on to add: “We’re always talking about our young talented players and leaders, but they’re also good people, and what I’ve learned is, good people make good teams. I’ve believed that my whole career: It wasn’t only about the talent – it was about the preparation, the desire to be the best, always striving for more.”

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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