The Fifth Liners

Ever since long time star, Jarome Iginla packed his bags and said goodbye to the circus, fans of the Calgary Flames have endured a bleak season in Alberta. Last season was truly one to forget because aside from surprising yet massively amusing line brawl that broke out against Vancouver, they finished only 6th in the Pacific Division with a depressingly low goal total of 209 and a whopping 241 goals against! Along with the retirement of hero goalie Miikka Kiprusoff , the atmosphere at the Canadian Tire Centre had turned barren and many experts wrote the Flames off as a lost cause. But in this off season, a few key acquisitions have paved the way for a possibly brighter 2014-15 season. The first step was drafting young star centre Sam Bennett fourth overall at the 2014 Draft. Touted by many as 1st overall pick, Bennett surprisingly was passed over by Florida in favour of defense-man Aaron Ekblad . Although he may have been disappointed at being denied this distinction, the Flames h...

With the  retirement of Miikka Kiprusoff , the Calgary Flames are left without a starting goalie. At a time when the Flames are rebuilding the franchise, this is a headache that Jay Feaster can really do without. So who can step up and take the number one spot? The Flames played four goalies last season. Kiprusoff and Joey MacDonald took most of the games, while Leland Irving and Daniel Taylor played eight between them. This leaves Feaster with two likely outcomes, does he promote MacDonald to the number one spot and allow Irving or Taylor to back him up? Or does he spend some money and bring in another experienced goalie. Either option is risky. The Flames aren't exactly on solid ground right now. MacDonald is only entering his second season with the Flames but he's an experienced goalie, having defended the nets for Detroit, Boston, Toronto and the Islanders, as well as some affiliates. I've no doubt he'd make a decent number one goalie. The other option ...

The Calgary Flames have been dealt another blow with the season only weeks away with the announcement yesterday that goalie Mikka Kiprusoff has officially retired! According to Kiprusoff in a statement officially released by the team “"I decided to retire at the end of last season; I appreciated Jay Feaster and the Flames organization permitting me to take the summer to be 100 percent sure. It's an important decision for me personally, my family, the Flames organization and fans. Jay and I had conversations over the summer and nothing had changed for me and upon returning to Calgary last week, I once again spoke with Jay and confirmed with him that I would be retiring.” Kiprusoff leaves Calgary with a record of 305 wins from 576 games, 41 shutouts and a save percentage of 0.912. Acquired in a trade from the San Jose Sharks in 2003, Kiprusoff made an immediate impact and guided them to a Stanley Cup final in 2003. But his best season came in 2005-06 when his remark...