Training Camp Notebook - 20.09.24

Day 2 of Flames Training Camp is in the books after another busy day at WinSport.

Offensive production was top of mind, with much of the discussion centred around making the most of opportunity, talent and newly-developed partnerships.

Andrei The Giant

To watch Andrei Kuzmenko play is to know he can absolutely rip a puck. The visual evidence might be super-ceded by the pings of cross-bars or the thwack of a puck smacking twine, but make no mistake, the Russian forward has pinpoint accuracy as well as the type of velocity on his shot that makes goaltenders quiver.

Overall, Kuzmenko’s production dipped in 2023-24 compared to his 39-goal rookie campaign two winters ago, but he’s found a home in the Flames’ top-six and since donning the Calgary crest for the first time in February, he’s produced at a near 40-goal pace.

The cheerful Kuzmenko is bent on getting back on track over the course of a full season - he’s committed to helping his teammates in any way that he can, especially if that includes scoring goals.

“Now, my focus is just this team, I want to play better, I want to help my team,” he said Friday. “I understand my mistakes from the last season, last season I (didn’t) like. I need to help this team.”

Kuzmenko skated Friday alongside Nazem Kadri and Yegor Sharangovich, who a season ago led the club in points and goals, respectively.

“I’m excited because it really is a good team, good players,” Kuzmenko said of his mates. “Leadership group is very important this year. I believe (in) this team.”

The 28-year-old spent much of the off-season in Moscow, training on and off the ice, including with a skating coach.

All with an eye on reaching new heights on this side of the Atlantic.

An unsophisticated summer program, but one he believes will bring about results.

“I need better (skating), I need (to be) faster? OK, I get a skating coach,” he said of his summer regimen. “I want more goals? I need a lot of shots in the summer.

“So simple.”

Return Of The Mack

Defenceman MacKenzie Weegar was Calgary’s representative at last week’s NHL media event in Las Vegas.

For good reason, too.

Last season, Weegar became the third Flames blueliner to hit the 20-goal mark in a single season in almost three decades - a total that included an overtime winner as well as a memorable hat-trick on Long Island.

He’s determined to prove that level of production is something he can maintain, or even exceed.

“I think I can get to another level,” Weegar said. “Expectations for me always get bigger and bigger, and that’s what I want. I want to get better and better every single year.

“I want to push the pace for young guys and for our team.”

A former seventh-round NHL Draft pick, Weegar has been defying odds for a while, enduring a season of Bantam AA, time in Junior B, even a stint in the ECHL before breaking into the NHL full-time with the Panthers in 2017-18.

It’s the type of story that showcases drive and determination, with a 20-goal season providing another unexpected anecdote.

“I don’t think I was ever thinking I’d score 20 goals, realistically that was pretty crazy,” he admitted. “But I think I can do it again, why not?

“I’ve proven myself wrong a lot of times, I’ve proven people wrong a lot of times, so why can’t I do it again?”

French Connection

Anthony Mantha and Jonathan Huberdeau are starting to develop a bond.

So much so, that Mantha reached out to Huberdeau before signing a one-year contract with the Flames in July.

In Mantha, Calgary gets a big, veteran forward with three 20-plus goal seasons already under his belt, but more importantly, a new trigger-man for Huberdeau and his passing prowess.

Make no mistake, Mantha is ready to wear out his arms putting pucks on net, too.

“(Coach Ryan Huska) and I talked a lot over the summer, and he wants me to shoot almost 300 pucks, he told me, and that’s the message he’s sending me,” Mantha said Friday. “To shoot 300 pucks in this league, I mean you need to have ice-time, you need to have some powerplay time, you need to play those extra-big minutes, 4-on-4, 3-on-3.

“Hopefully I jump in that role, I embrace it, and I make it happen.”

The combination with Huberdeau and Slovak sophomore Martin Pospisil is an intriguing one. Huberdeau as set-up man, Mantha as goal-getter, with Pospisil creating space (and let’s be honest, havoc) in the offensive zone.

It’s the type of partnership that Mantha believes could lead to sustained zone time, which would certainly help out that shot total.

“To be able to fire the puck, you need to get it back, right?” he said. “You need those second, third opportunities and I think right now, on a line with Huby and Pospy, I think we’re going to be able to get those second, third pucks in the O-zone and create chances for ourselves.”

Mantha arrives in Calgary after splitting the 2023-24 campaign between the Capitals and Golden Knights.

In D.C., he had a front-row seat to arguably the greatest goal-scorer in league history, and without drawing a direct comparison, he definitely sees the same type of opportunity in his new-found relationship with Huberdeau.

“Come tell me that one person’s mad at (Alexander Ovechkin) shooting 400 pucks a year,” Mantha said. “If Huby gives it right on the tape, why are you not going to shoot it? It’s kind of the same thing that Ovi had with Backstrom, when they were in their prime, he would get it on his tape and he would just fire.

“That’s kind of how you score goals, if you don’t shoot, you don’t score.”