When: Saturday September 26th 6pm PST
Where: Pengrove Saddledome
TV: TSN2(HD), NHLN-US(HD)
Radio: Team 1040
Web stream: Flames.nhl.com claims to stream it live
Flames Blog: Matchsticks & Gasoline
In five days these two teams will meet up for real and kick the season off. But for now there's still some greenhorns fighting for jobs and old guys (not on LTIR!) still working out the summer rust.
Though it's subject to change, the Canucks should be icing the following guys:
Mason Raymond - Cody Hodgson - Michael Grabner
Darcy Hordichuk - Ryan Johnson - Rick Rypien
Tanner Glass - Mario Bliznak - Jannik Hansen
Brad Lukowich - Alexander Edler
Shane O'Brien - Aaron Rome
Christian Ehrhoff - Sami Salo
Roberto Luongo
For Vancouver there are really three guys to watch. Shirokov gets the sweet spot on the first line while Hodgson and Grabner hope to find some preseason relevancy before the next round of cuts come around. I don't see Glass or Bliznak making the roster though each have had good preseasons.
The Flames have their own prospects looking to land some NHL employment, including old friend Jason Jaffray.
We'll drop more updates in as they become available.
2:32 PM ET Update: Hey remember that stuff about Jaffray from before? Forget it. Calgary is icing a pretty veteran line-up so Hodgson and company have their work cut out for them. Here are the lines:
David Moss - Olli Jokinen - Jarome Iginla
Nigel Dawes - Daymond Langkow - Rene Bourque
Curtis Glencross - Craig Conroy - Fredrik Sjostrom
Eric Nystrom - Dustin Boyd - Brandon Prust
Robyn Regehr - Jay Bouwmeester
Mark Giordano - Dion Phaneuf
Adam Pardy - Anton Stralman
Miikka Kiprusoff
3:52 EST Update: The Flames are not taking this game lightly and are looking to "set a tone."