Tough task for Flames with Hanifin gone, but they’ve done this before

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That is nothing the Calgary Flames haven’t handled earlier than.

That’s to not say they received’t miss Noah Hanifin, each on and off the ice. They completely will.

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It’s simply that the Flames have been adjusting to having their teammates traded all yr. The roster’s been in a state of flux since properly earlier than the beginning of the season and the mixture of getting a bunch of veteran unrestricted free brokers and the looming commerce deadline meant that there was all the time going to be a number of motion.

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So the Flames have expertise with all of this. Hanifin is simply the newest man to be shipped out, following the trades of Chris Tanev, Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov — and Tyler Toffoli final summer season, if you wish to depend that.

And so they cope with the trades the identical approach each time.

Each participant on the roster has to do some bit extra. It’s an all-in method, and the Flames attempt to keep targeted on the alternatives which might be presenting themselves.

And so they preserve their eyes on the prize: A playoff spot.

“To me, it’s thrilling, it’s a possibility,” Flames winger Blake Coleman informed reporters in Tampa. “New faces and new guys are going to have alternative in our lineup. Wouldn’t that be an ideal story if we went on a run and located a approach into the playoffs right here?

“You lose some fairly key members of our crew all year long and groups can both strengthen themselves by adversity like this or they will crumble and it may be a protracted remainder of the season. I count on that our locker room will come collectively and discover methods to claw out video games and wins.”

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The Flames have performed an admirable job staying aggressive as their teammates have been traded away. You might argue that they’ve truly improved since Lindholm was dealt to the Canucks throughout the all-star break and of their first two video games since Tanev was traded to the Dallas Stars, they went 1-1 – previous to Thursday’s matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

No one has thrown within the towel. The Flames have fought on.

The query is whether or not there’s a breaking level or a second the place they’ve simply misplaced an excessive amount of expertise to actually keep within the playoff race.

That’s not a query that gamers or coaches have been entertaining on Thursday morning once they spoke with the assembled media in Tampa.

“This has been an ongoing theme for our crew all yr,” head coach Ryan Huska informed reporters. “I feel our guys have turn into actually resilient they usually’ve hardened a bit bit in relation to all of the stuff that’s coming together with the best way our season’s been away from the rink.

“At this time, while you have a look at the fellows, they have been in actually good spirits right this moment. Not as a result of they’re joyful that Noah’s gone or something like that, however they perceive they usually get it now and due to the expertise they’ve had all yr, it’s simply one other day for us that now we have to give attention to enjoying one other hockey recreation.”

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The primary of these video games was set for Thursday evening when the Flames took on the Lightning. Then, there are video games over the weekend towards the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.

Daniil Miromanov, acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights within the bundle for Hanifin, might debut towards the Panthers, however these are three robust matchups, with Friday’s 1 p.m. commerce deadline sandwiched in between.

Greater than most years, the Flames will certainly really feel like they will lastly take a breath when the deadline hits. At the least they’ll know for positive who’s going to be subsequent to them within the locker room for the ultimate month of the season.

“It’ll be a aid tomorrow,” Coleman mentioned. “The noise has been loud for the final month or so round our crew and on the finish of the day we simply need to play, we need to win, we need to do properly. It’s on us to drown out that noise and I feel we’ve performed a fairly good job in our room and nonetheless performed some good hockey. However on the finish of the day it’s good to type of get previous this deadline day and simply breathe and go play our recreation.”

That’s what the Flames have performed all season and whereas they could face an uphill battle to make the playoffs, they’ve surpassed the expectations many positioned on them earlier within the yr — particularly after a six-game dropping skid within the fall.

They’ve managed to remain within the battle by blocking out distractions and specializing in their post-season aim.

And that’s precisely what they’ll proceed to do now that Hanifin’s gone.

“It’s type of loopy,” admitted Flames ahead Jakob Pelletier when he spoke with reporters on Thursday. “It’s the enterprise aspect of issues however on the identical time I feel the primary aim is to make the playoffs and we’ve simply received to start out with tonight’s recreation.”

Daustin@postmedia.com

X: @DannyAustin_9

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