Peepin' Foes Preview Edition: Calgary Flames

Oh, thank goodness for the Calgary Flames. Last season they took Higgins and Kotalik and gave us Jokinen and Prust. And then they took Jokinen back. Aaaaaand they still have Kotalik around (even though they passed him through waivers). It is truly amazing how they can have such a brilliant talent as Jarome Iginla and such a clueless brain trust as the Sutter brothers.

Familiar Foes: Iginla is a Scotty Hockey Hero - the best combination of offense, defense, toughness, class and leadership in the NHL. After him, well, things drop off. He still doesn't have a center, leading the Flames to bring old Craig Conroy back yet again. Rene Bourque has some talent but the Flames fortunes rely on Alex Tanguay, Jay Bouwmeester, Robyn Regehr, Daymond Langkow and Jokinen to find their long-lost form. Kipper will be a work-horse for yet another year with no real backup under contract and we know how well that has worked out for Calgary since the lockout ...

N00bz: The Sutters took Nik Hagman, Matt Stajan and Ian White back from the Flames in return for Dion Phaneuf and added Steve Staios from Edmonton at the deadline last season. The big splash in free agency was the stupidity of bringing back Jokinen for another run. But the most important n00b could be another Scandic player - young Mikael Backlund. Backlund had 10 points in 23 games last season, including five in a four game span right before the end of the season. He could be quite the fantasy sleeper ...

Last Year: Saturday, November 7th, 3-1 Flames win in Calgary.

This Year: Monday, November 22nd @ MSG.

What They Mean To Blue: We will get to see just how long the Ranger memory runs. Should they do the right thing, Derek Boogaard will beat the living hell out of Curtis Glencross for his dirty hit on Drury last year - as no one got retribution that night.