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Calgary Flames seek stability, progress and playoffs with younger roster

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CALGARY – Rebuild, retool, revamp, pick your term. The Calgary Flames are a team in transition heading into the 2024-25 NHL season.

The Flames open Wednesday on the road against the Vancouver Canucks with a younger, cheaper roster that’s just a few million above the cap floor.

Calgary (38-39-5) finished 17 points out of a playoff spot last spring and endured a second straight extended summer. A 2-6-1 start combined with roster flux from traded big names unwilling to sign contract extensions impeded efforts to get on track.

Winger Blake Coleman believes the Flames can use this season’s low expectations as fuel.

Young players hungry to make a name for themselves in the league can inspire veterans to remarkable results, the 33-year-old said.

“There’s very little expectation being placed on this team right now,” Coleman said.

“It’s an exciting way to play when there’s no pressure, no expectations. Inside the room, we have a much different view of ourselves than outside.”

Said captain Mikael Backlund: “We’re here to make the playoffs, and we want to show people, prove people wrong.”

But the Flames will start the season minus their leading goal scorer of last season. Yegor Sharangovich was placed on injured reserve Monday with a lower-body injury sustained in Calgary’s final pre-season game.

A trickle-down effect means more responsibility will fall immediately onto the shoulders of players such as 23-year-old Connor Zary and 21-year-old Matt Coronato, and even 19-year-old Samuel Honzek with a team-leading two goals and five assists in six pre-season games.

But it’s the Calgary back end that’s most transformed with Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf vying for starts after Jacob Markstrom’s trade, plus newcomers Kevin Bahl, Jake Bean and Tyson Barrie settling in on defence.

“We have a lot of young guys who want to show they can be good players in this league,” Backlund said. “As veterans, we want to drive this team, and we want to get back to playoffs after missing two years.”

The teams’ fortunes rest heavily on the leadership and performances of core veterans Backlund, Coleman, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and defencemen Mackenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson.

“An enormous amount would probably be the light way to put it,” said Ryan Huska, who starts his second season as Calgary’s head coach. “We need them to be the guys that go out and lead by example all the time.”

Kadri’s team-leading 75 points (29 goals, 46 assists) in 2023-24 was the second-highest total of his career. Coleman’s 30 goals and 24 assists were a career-high as were Weegar’s 20 goals and 32 assists.

The Flames need more of that in 2024-25.

WHITHER HUBERDEAU?

Speaking of needing more, Flames fans are still waiting for Huberdeau to produce at a level befitting his US$10.5 million annual salary.

The left-winger totalled 107 points over his first two seasons in Calgary after a single-season 115 with the Florida Panthers. Huberdeau’s average points-per-game increasing from .5 to .8 in the second half of last season signals a more positive trend.

“He changed how he did things this summer because he hasn’t been happy with the way things went for a couple years,” Huska said. “He’s come back with a really good mindset, and he’s in shape right now and that’s something that we need.”

GOALIE DRAMA

Training camp didn’t definitively settle Calgary’s No. 1, so expect competition to continue and the Flames to go with whoever has the hot hand at the moment.

Vladar, 28, will try to parlay his superior NHL experience into more starts. As he has at every level of his career, the 23-year-old Wolf will try to prove an undersized goalie can cut it in the NHL.

SCHEDULE WATCH

The Flames are in Salt Lake City’s Delta Centre on Oct. 30 to face the new Utah club relocated from Arizona. Former No. 1 Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom is set to return to the Saddledome on Nov. 1 with the New Jersey Devils. The Columbus Blue Jackets in town Dec. 3 will resonate with Flames fans. Johnny Gaudreau was two seasons removed from his eight years in Calgary when he and brother Matthew were struck by a vehicle while cycling and died Aug. 29. Johnny’s absence from the Blue Jackets lineup will be felt at the Saddledome, where he was a star for so many years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

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DeMar DeRozan scores 27 points to lead the Kings past the Raptors 122-107

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.

Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.

Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.

The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.

DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.

RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.

Takeaways

Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.

Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.

Key moment

The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.

Key stat

Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.

Up next

Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.

Kings: Host the Clippers on Friday night.

___

AP NBA:

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Whitecaps take confidence, humility into decisive playoff matchup vs. LAFC

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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.

To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.

Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.

“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.

“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”

The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.

The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.

First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.

Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.

No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.

“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.

Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.

“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.

This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.

The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.

“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”

Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.

Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.

“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”

The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.

Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.

“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”

LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.

“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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PWHL unveils game jerseys with new team names, logos

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TORONTO – The Professional Women’s Hockey League has revealed the jersey designs for its six newly named teams.

Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.

The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.

Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.

“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.

“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”

Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.

Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.

Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.

Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

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