5 questions for Flames in Stanley Cup Qualifiers

NHL.com is looking ahead to the Stanley Cup Qualifiers by examining five of the biggest questions facing each of the 24 remaining teams. Today, we look at the Calgary Flames.

The Calgary Flames were 36-27-7 (.564 points percentage) and will enter the Stanley Cup Qualifiers as the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. They will play the No. 9 seed, the Winnipeg Jets (37-28-6, .563), in one of eight best-of-5 series. The West qualifiers will start Aug. 1 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

Here are 5 key questions facing the Flames:

1. Will Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan return to form?

Flames forwards Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan each experienced a decline in production this season, a trend that must be reversed in this series. Gaudreau was second on the Flames with 58 points (18 goals, 40 assists) in 70 games, behind forward Matthew Tkachuk, who scored 61 points (23 goals, 38 assists) in 69 games. Gaudreau led the Flames with an NHL career-high 99 points (36 goals, 63 assists) in 82 games last season and was tied for seventh in the NHL with Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche. Monahan was fourth on the Flames this season with 48 points (22 goals, 26 assists) in 70 games, also after his NHL career-best 82 points (34 goals, 48 assists) in 78 games. Not surprisingly, Calgary's offense declined this season to 2.91 goals per game (20th in the NHL) from 3.52 goals per game (tied for second) last season.

2. Can depth forwards pick up some slack?

Though its overall production was down significantly this season, Calgary had three forwards score at least 22 goals; Elias Lindholm scored an NHL career-high 29 goals; Tkachuk scored 23; and Monahan scored 22. The rest of the top-six had Gaudreau with 18 goals, Andrew Mangiapane with 17 and Mikael Backlund with 16. Better depth scoring is needed in this series. Center Derek Ryan scored 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 68 games, and Milan Lucic scored 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 68 games to lead the bottom-six forwards. Sam Bennett scored eight goals. More is needed from each of them, and from rookie Dillon Dube, center Mark Jankowski and Tobias Rieder.

3. Who will be the starting goalie?

David Rittich and Cam Talbot will be challenged to try to match Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck in this series. Who will get the Calgary assignment is not crystal clear. Rittich was given more starts this season (48-22) but struggled after a strong first half. In Calgary's first 35 games (through Dec. 15), Rittich was 15-8-4 in 27 starts, with a 2.73 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage; Talbot was 3-5-0 in eight starts, with a 3.05 GAA and a .907 save percentage. After Dec. 15, Rittich was 9-9-2 in 21 starts, with a 3.30 GAA and an .897 save percentage, and Talbot was 9-5-1 in 14 starts, with a 2.42 GAA and a .926 save percentage.

4. Are the defensemen healthy?

Good news here at a position where Calgary has good depth. Noah Hanifin left the final game before the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, March 8 against the Vegas Golden Knights, with an upper-body injury but is ready to go. Also healthy are Mark Giordano, who missed 10 games with a hamstring injury (Feb. 6-25), and Travis Hamonic, who missed the final 14 games before the pause with an upper-body injury. The only question mark will be rookie Juuso Valimaki, who had surgery to repair a torn ACL in August and missed the regular season. Valimaki returned to skating in late January.

5. Will they feel any extra pressure?

There will be plenty of pressure on the Flames, returning from a long layoff and trying to defeat the dangerous Jets to earn their way into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but it's fair to wonder if they will feel like they have even more to prove, or something to atone for, after what happened last season. Calgary had 107 points in 2018-19, second in the NHL behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (128), but was eliminated by the Avalanche in five games in the Western Conference First Round. Failing to win this series could mean changes this offseason.