Fireside Chat

We're halfway through the 2024 pre-season for the Calgary Flames, and this week, Dan and Matt look at who's looked good and who hasn't so far and whether anyone might be able to steal an NHL spot in the final three pre-season games.

We kick off our thirteenth season of the podcast by recapping the 2024 off season for the Calgary Flames. Who's coming? Who's going? The Flames have more NHL calibre bodies than they have roster spots, so our hosts predict who will make the NHL club out of training camp and who is most likely to be the first call-ups in each position.

On the evening of August 30, we joined our friend Kevin Olenick from the Shifts and Pucks podcast to remember Johnny Gaudreau, share our memories, discuss his passing, and discuss ways to memorialize him in Calgary. We encourage our fans to share their memories of Johnny Hockey. Feel free to leave a comment on FiresideChat.ca or any of our social media channels so we can all remember the Gaudreau brothers together.

This week's show was recorded live on June 28, 2024 during the first round of the 2024 Entry Draft.We disucss not only the draft but the Mangiapane and Markstrom trades, Brad Larsen being hired as a coach and more. This show will sound different than you're used to. We are still trying to get our setup all figured out for recording live shows and we learned a lot during this one, which we'll apply next time to make it even better.

Heading into the NHL 2024 Entry Draft, Dan and Matt look ahead to the players that they think the Calgary Flames will take with the #9 and #28 picks. With all the talk about Tij Iginla leading up to the draft, the guys discuss if he's the right pick to make if available and who the Flames should target if he's not.

We'll be hosting our first live show at Bow River Brewing on June 28th during the NHL Entry Draft. During this show, we'll have an open mic to get allow fans to chat with us and have their say during the show! Be there with us for all the picks, trades and Flames happenings on draft day.

The first season of the Calgary Flames retool is in the books. This season the guys break down the exit interviews from the Flames and what information we can gain from them (or from reading between the lines). As they do at the end of every season, Dan and Matt review the season predictions that they made in the pre-season to see how well they did.

This will be the last show on our regular Monday release schedule. We'll be back to preview the NHL Entry Draft in mid to late June, follow our social media accounts for an announcement as to when the next show will be.

The Calgary Flames had a pretty successful week, even though they didn't play very well in most games. If the NHL Entry Draft was today, the Flames would likely pick at #8. The guys discuss the good weeks for Andrei Kuzmenko and Connor Zary and answer a question from listener Al about how the decisions that have been made by the team in the past that have lead the team to where they are now.

Even with the three losses this week, there was still plenty to discuss about the Calgary Flames including where they may pick in the draft, whether Connor Zary can be the #3 Centre the team needs, whether Martin Pospisil's third misconduct in two months is worrisome, and what the workload for the two goalies should be for the rest of the season.

It's been a busy 5 game week for the Flames, but they've finally clinched a spot in the 2004 playoffs! The guys look at possible playoff matchups and who we do or don't want the Flames to take on. We discuss the season Shean Donovan is having and how some of the young guys like Kobasew, Lombardi, Saprykin, Regher and Leopold are looking and other important topics leading up to the final few games of the regular season.

APRIL FOOLS! We've wanted to do this episode for a while, and with April Fools' Day landing on a Monday on the 20th anniversary of the 2004 run, it was the perfect time. We hope you enjoyed a trip down memory lane. We'll be back with a regular episode (covering 2024) next week.

This week Jacob Markstrom returned from his injury, but Dan Vladar is out for the season with a hip injury. With Markstrom/Wolf as the tandem for the rest of the season, what do we expect the workload to look like? The guys also discuss an interview that Craig Conroy did with Frank Seravalli this week and what the GM's comments mean for the future of the Flames.

Former Flame Chris Simon passed away this week at age 52. The entire Fireside Chat team sends our deepest sympathies to Chris' family and friends. Chris was a big part of the '04 Stanley Cup run and is fondly remembered by our team and the C of Red.