Merry Return Things Day! I hope everyone's holidays were blah blah blah...
Anyways, the Flames return to action tomorrow night when the Vancower Canucks swing into town.
As for right now, the WJC starts up today with the Canadian Juniors looking to win their 4th gold medal in as many years. Calgary doesn't have any prospects on this season's Team Canada edition, as Leland Irving was edged out of the crease by Bernier and Mason.
The Flames do have some property playing for other countries however in Michael Backlund (Sweden) and Juuso Puustinen (Finland). The former was the Flames first round pick last summer while the latter was a late round pick in 06. Backlund's been splitting time with Vasteras J20 and Vasteras in Sweden this year while Puustinen is in his 2nd season with the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL. Thanks to being a first rounder AND a total mystery to me, I'm most interested to see how Backlund fairs. A few of the Flames recent first round picks have been somewhat disappointing (Chucko, Pelech) so it would be nice to see if Backlund has promise beyond "4th line grinder".
Puustinen has also shown offensive promise during his time in the dub, though his season thus far is a step back from his encouraging rookie effort last year. Still...a 5th rounder selected for a National team is a nice little coup for Calgary's scouts. Any measure of success he manages now and beyond is kind of like a bonus**.
**(Main reason to hope Puustinen one day makes the big team: to hear his suggstive name announced in ebullient Saddledome fashion: "Flames goal scored by #55...JUUSSOOOO PUUUUUSSTINEN!!")
