Calgary Flames Daily: Mike Smith returns, relocating to Houston?

After an 8-2 blowout loss by the Detroit Red Wings, the Calgary Flames are pleased to be getting Mike Smith back for tomorrow’s early game.

It seems that no matter how much we try to avoid it, talks of a new arena always seem to come up. The owner of the Houston Rockets has mentioned that he’s interested in an NHL team coming to Houston. And just the other day, he met with Gary Bettman. Supposedly, the Arizona Coyotes and the Calgary Flames came up in those conversations.

When the Flames ownership and the city couldn’t come to an agreement on a new arena deal, there were threats to relocate the team. A popular opinion circulating is that the Flames won’t be relocating. This is just a tactic used by the ownership to try and persuade the city to spend more public money.

We’ve talked about this a ton, here are some links here and here. But for now, I’m going to go ahead and say that the Flames will not be relocating to Houston. There is, in fact, a new arena plan called Arena Plan A. We’ll get the details for that plan in January, so looks like we’ll have to wait a little bit.

On a brighter note, after announced yesterday that Jon Gillies was being sent back down to Stockton, everyone was excited because that meant Mike Smith was returning. After suffering an injury against the St. Louis Blues and leaving the game after the first period, Mike Smith missed the game against the Detroit Red Wings. And the Calgary Flames could have definitely used him, seeing how they lost 8-2.

But the good news is that he’ll be in net tomorrow for their afternoon game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Calgary Flames

Via Calgaryflames.com:

"“It got to the point in the game where … I didn’t want it to effect the way I was playing or anything,” Smith explained following Friday’s skate at the Wells Fargo Center. “Fortunately we were able to get a big win (on Monday). Eddie came in and played well in relief. You never want to come out of a game, obviously, you never want to miss a game because of injury, but I just didn’t want it to last longer than it needed to.“It needed to happen and I feel better because of it now.”“Throughout the season, there’s going to be minor issues and I think that was an instance where I didn’t want it to fester and make it into something more than it had to be. I think it was important, and I’ve been through it (before) in my career, where if you do let it get the best of you, you can extend the injury for a longer period of time. I didn’t want that to be the case. It is what it is.“I just kind of wanted to nip it in the bud and not let it drag on for more than it needed to be.“I feel good now, I had a couple of days of rest and got some good treatment and I’ll be ready to go for tomorrow.”"

The Calgary Flames had a successful homestand going 5-2-0 and defeating some tough teams in the process. But with that loss to the Red Wings, they didn’t start their six-game road-trip as they would have liked. Let’s hope they can turn that around tomorrow.

Flames Tweet of the day

This is the funniest picture I’ve ever seen.

Hockey Tweet of the day

Some links surrounding the Flames

What happens when the Calgary Flames leave the Saddledome (CBC News).

Flames smart to replace Brouwer with Ferland on the top power play (Hockey Buzz).

Mike’d Up (Calgary Flames).

Some links surrounding hockey and the NHL

Houston’s NHL bid changes relocation, expansion landscape (Sportsnet).

Atkinson signs seven-year, $41.125 million contract with Blue Jackets (NHL.com).

Hockey fans should check out these new reads (Toronto Star).

Next: First line forward Micheal Ferland

That’s all in today’s Flames Daily! Stay tuned for when we hear what Matthew Tkachuk’s fine/suspension will be (if he gets any repercussions) and we’ll get that to you pronto.