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Saturday, September 11, 1999
Number crunching
"We've got a whole slew of 'em back there," said coach Brian Sutter. "And there aren't enough spots for all those bodies. So something's gotta give."
Sutter plans on carrying seven defencemen on the roster when the Flames open their regular-season Oct. 2 at San Jose. There are 10 returnees who played for the big club last season and one highly-touted rookie, Finn Toni Lydman, who skated yesterday as he tries to get over a separated shoulder.
Eleven into seven, of course, doesn't go.
A defenceman -- Cale Hulse or captain Todd Simpson -- was rumoured to be part of the Grant Fuhr trade, but Calgary wound up relinquishing just a third-round draft instead. Which gives Al Coates the option to peddle one (or more) somewhere else to bulk up a weak area.
"There's a million and one things they could do," said Hulse. "But it doesn't help to sit back and try to play GM. Worrying only makes matters worse."
Hulse is in a battle for a spot and for playing time. Butting heads with Lindros or LeClair or Shanahan or Tkachuk isn't going to be near the war he faces in carving out a sizeable role on his own team among the top half-dozen at his position.
These are the black-and-blue bruisers: the savvy Steve Smith, the enthusiastic Denis Gauthier, the newcomer Wade Belak and captain Todd Simpson. There's the old smoothie, Phil Housley. There's Derek Morris, the total package. There's the underrated Eric Charron. There's Toni Lydman, the X factor.
And waiting in the wings, Robyn Regehr and Chris St. Croix.
Pretty fierce competition.
For today, and tomorrow.
Hulse, for all his size and potential, has yet to establish himself as one of the non-dispensable defenceman in the organization.
"That," he acknowledges, "has been a bit discouraging, sure. You want to be one of those guys they have confidence in. Obviously, they feel I still need to prove it to them. That's fine. I certainly never come into camp feeling comfortable just because I'm a returning player. I also can't afford to concern myself with how many defenceman here. If there were 15 solid D, my focus and preparation would be the same.
"I feel as if I'm in the best shape of my life. This is my third year working with Rich (strength and conditioning guru Hesketh), and I've added some weight and muscle. My testing went well. I take pride in my off-season conditioning. We're four or five days into camp and I'm feeling really good."
Sutter says that's got to translate onto the ice.
"What Hulser's got to do is keep the game simple, be a bugger to play against, show a mean streak consistently, stick up for his teammates and be a reliable, dependable guy defensively.
"When he does those things, he's effective."
When challenging his younger defenceman to step in and grab a spot by the throat, the coach invariably mentions the influence of the veterans among them -- Steve Smith, Phil Housley and Tommy Albelin.
"Abbey, Housley and Smitty ... those guys consistently play to their strengths, and they're the hardest-working guys on the ice at practice. If any one of the other guys -- and I mean Simmer, Morris, Hulser, Belak, Lydman, Sorochan, Charron and Gauthier -- figure they can go out, be half-assed one practice and get away with it, good chance they won't find themselves in the lineup opening night.
"I won't stand for that. From the captain or the oldest player on the team.
"There's a lot of competition for jobs on defence and nobody's going to get a free ride."
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