Calgary Flames Hot Start to the Morning Vol 18

Apr 11, 2014; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames center Sean Monahan (23) celebrates his goal with teammates against the Winnipeg Jets during the second period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning Calgary Flames fans! I know Saturday morning cartoons are not what they used to be but wouldn’t it be nice if the Flames produced a cartoon?

Brian Burke did accept the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge issued to him by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. The Ice Bucket Challenge is where NHL players (and now seemingly almost everyone who has a little bit of fame behind their name) pours a bucket of ice water over their heads to get people talking about ALS aka Lou Gehrig Disease.  If you wish to support this great charity, here is a link to the ALS Canada donation page.  If one or more of our Flame For Thought readers takes the Ice Bucket Challenge and would like it posted here on Flame For Thought, Tweet or Facebook the video link, I will gladly post it for you.

Kevin Hayes, the former Boston college teammate of current Flames Johnny Gaudreau and Bill Arnold, officially become a free agent yesterday.

"Hayes (6-foot-2, 201 pounds) is capable of playing center or right wing, and had 44 goals, 132 points and a plus-37 rating in 142 games at Boston College.Among the interested teams could be the New York Rangers, Florida Panthers and the Flames. Jimmy Hayes, Kevin’s older brother, plays for the Panthers."

Fansided’s general hockey site, Too Many Men on the Site, posted their Calgary Flames season preview yesterday.  Here a couple snippets from the article:

"They will make the playoffs if…The kids perform well above expectations (how often does that happen?). The next generation of Flames is the best one in two, perhaps three decades with Monahan, Bennett, Gaudreau and Baertschi among others.They will miss the playoffs if…They cannot adequately replace the 26 goals that Cammalleri brought last season. Their offense was already anemic. Losing their best goal scorer is not a good way to fix that.Prediction31-43-8 70 points, 7th in the Pacific Division, 14th in the Western Conference"

I shake my head at the last place prediction.  With Jonas Hiller aboard and Karri Ramo fighting for a new contract, the goaltending improvement alone keeps the Calgary Flames at last year’s 35-40-7 77 points.  I see forward progress, am I crazy?