The Calgary Flames said they expect Scotiabank Saddledome to be available for NHL preseason games after it was damaged by flood in June, The Globe and Mail reported Wednesday.
"From a public standpoint, and from a hockey standpoint, we want everything to be operational," Flames president and CEO Ken King told the newspaper. "This week was the time to decide if we could proceed as planned, and the answer is yes."
Flooding from the Bow River in late June put the rink area and first eight rows of seats underwater.
The report said the Flames have established a target date of Sept. 1, which would allow the team to play four preseason games at the arena. The regular-season home opener is scheduled for Oct. 6 against the Vancouver Canucks.
The 30-year-old building has been checked by engineers. Work continues on installing seats and repairing the electronic headquarters for the video scoreboard.
"We have orders in for new ice-making equipment," King said. "We have a backup [plan] that we may not need but we have it ready. All of our event-floor equipment is new."
The report said the cost of the damage to the 19,000-seat venue has not been revealed.
The Flames have preseason home games scheduled for Sept. 14 (split squad), 17 (split squad), 23 and 25. They also have games at the Edmonton Oilers (Sept. 14, split squad), in Saskatoon (Sept. 16 against the Ottawa Senators) and in Regina (Sept. 17 against the New York Islanders, split squad).