New Flames core emerging in training camp

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Immediately after learning of the summer blockbuster trade that sent Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt and a 2025 conditional first-round pick, Mikael Backlund went to work.

The 33-year-old Calgary Flames centre did some research, and determined that good friend Rasmus Andersson – who has yet to play his 300th career NHL game – is now the second-longest-tenured Flame (behind Backlund). 

Over the past two seasons, the Flames have undergone a massive shift in on-ice personnel and a new core has emerged. Andersson, Backlund, Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm and newcomer Nazem Kadri are part of a new group of Flames that hope to accomplish more this upcoming season than previous versions of the team.

“There’s a lot of core guys moving out and new, I guess, core players moving in,” Andersson said.

“It’s a new core and you want to get to know each other quick.”

Much of Calgary’s foundation was already built when Darryl Sutter was hired as the team’s head coach in March of 2021 and evolved as they took the league by surprise and won the Pacific Division title last season. Now, with several new faces in the lineup, they will build off of that.

Blake Coleman, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, was hanging out with “people who don’t know much about hockey” when some of the moves were confirmed.

“Huby’s one of the best in the league, really tough to defend,” Coleman said of Huberdeau. The two had battles when Coleman was playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2019 to 2021.

“A lot of run-ins with him. We were always chirping each other. I saw a lot of him being on a shutdown line, obviously him being a really good scorer…Weegs is just a really good