It is hard to find a happier bunch in the NHL these days than the Calgary Flames, a team on a 12-1-4 run that’s moved them all the way to top spot in the Northwest Division (although the second-place Vancouver Canucks hold two games in hand). The Flames swept a pair of games in southern California and now have almost as many road wins in half a season (12) as they did in 82 games a year ago (13).
Jarome Iginla is challenging for the goal-scoring and points title, while his line-mate Kristian Huselius was named Monday as the second star of the week, recording nine points in four games to lead all scorers this past week. Huselius is now second on the Flames in scoring and has moved all the way to 13th spot in the NHL with 47 points (20 goals, 27 assists) in 43 games. He and Iginla have developed an astonishing chemistry this season and it means less time on the top line for Alex Tanguay, who is earning $5.25 million per season not to play with the Flames’ captain.
The only downside to Huselius’s scoring surge: Every time he and Iginla put on a show, it only increases his value on the open market, if Calgary cannot get him signed to a contract extension before July 1, at which time he would become an unrestricted free agent. Huselius carried a lot of baggage when he arrived in Calgary a couple of years back. Only weeks before, he’d been placed on waivers by the Florida Panthers and every NHL team gave him a pass (something they also did with Daniel Briere in his Phoenix Coyotes days). The Flames eventually took him, after Florida agreed to take defenceman Steve Montador and his one-way contract off their hands.
How good has Huselius been in Calgary? Good enough to score 153 points in 178 games with the Flames. It may well be that Iginla’s contribution to his success will keep Huselius from cashing in Briere-like this summer, but in a goal-starved league, it is hard to imagine that there won’t be some team willing to step up and offer huge sums to get Huselius to sign. That is, unless Calgary gets there first and locks him up.
