Prominent Flames blogger D’Arcy McGrath has summed up Theo Fleury’s return hopes nicely in a piece today over at CalgaryPuck.com. Since I’ve been following the Fleury storyline so closely, I was interested in D’Arcy’s thoughts, and I think he hits the nail on the head:

The Theo Story captured Calgary, and the little bugger’s shoot out goal and then two point performance did nothing to make the tale go away. However, don’t count on Sutter over looking his struggles defensively or his inability to keep up with the play. He’ll be cut sometime next week and start off his return in Abbotsford, but has shown enough that we may see him again. In the end the whole thing was a win win for Fleury and the Flames. He went a long way through this story in mitigating some of those old wounds from his departure and struggles off the ice in other NHL centers.

Beyond that, it’s done wonders for getting Flames fans fired up even in the pre-season. The seventh man is warmed up and ready to go for the regular season as well. It’s likely that Theo will be a big draw in Abbotsford as well, so there is still a benefit to keeping him in the organization. I do sincerely hope we see Fleury play in some regular season games this season, but not at the cost of icing a competitive team. That boils down to: I hope Fleury can bring his game up to the level required of the NHL.

McGrath has some other good thoughts regarding Backlund and some of the other prospects. Of course, if you’re reading my writing, you’ve probably already been to CalgaryPuck, but if you haven’t, today’s a good day to start.

Training camps are now open in the NHL, and the pre-season gets underway in just a couple of days. Now seems like a good time to do a little re-cap of what has been a rather eventful NHL off-season.

Let’s start with the news our Flames made:

• Signings - Obviously a move towards a stronger team defence this summer, adding Jay Bouwmeester and the likes of a solid 2-way forward in Sjostrom. Generally speaking, I think the forwards should be a pretty good bang for the buck, which will be necessary with what’s being spent on blue-liners. Nigel Dawes seems the type of player who will fit in well with this organization.
• Coaching change - Brent Sutter could make this team immensely successful with his intense and seemingly hands-on coaching style. No doubt that he will shift the focus of team play to the defence and make good use of some of the new player acquisitions.
• The vintage jersey and 30th anniversary crest - Thumbs up to the jersey and down to the crest. Not that the crest is so terrible, but it looks out of place on the jerseys that are otherwise absent of black. I’d have preferred the white vintage jersey, but the red is good, too. And is it just me, or does a 30 year anniversary crest seem like we’re just trying way too hard? The 25th year crest was elegant and fit nicely on the uniforms of the day, but that was only 5 years ago. Let’s give it a rest with the anniversaries already.
• Fleury’s comeback bid - For a guy that was the face of the franchise through most of my childhood, I don’t like the thought of his parting memory being assaulting a mascot and being suspended for substance abuse. It’s good to see Theo clean, and I hope he’s got the ability to crack the lineup in Calgary this year. How awesome would it be to see #14 in those vintage reds again? Maybe not quite this good as this, but still something to bring fans to their feet. And in case you’re wondering, yes #14 is currently unclaimed.

And in case you hadn’t heard, there was some other big news in the NHL this summer:

• Dany Heatley became my new hero - Honestly, I thought that maybe this whole trade request was just an elaborate scheme to punk the Edmonton Oilers. You know, make them think that they’re going to get an elite goal scorer and dump Dustin Penner’s contract in the same deal and then pull the rug out from under them. I don’t know why Heatley was booed during the Olympic orientation camp, because I would’ve gone down for his autograph after that one. End result is that Heatley goes to San Jose today for Michalek, Cheechoo, and a second round pick (in my opinion, a better deal than Smid, Penner, and Cogliano).
• The Phoenix Coyotes - This storyline is best described as a soap opera, and it hasn’t done much for the image of the league. I’d rather see this team in Hamilton (or Winnipeg, for that matter) as much as the next Canadian, but I still don’t like the way Balsillie’s gone about this. The NHL is a collection of franchises with a set of by-laws governing their operations. If you don’t want to play by those rules, you’re going to have a tough time getting into the game. I don’t [entirely] blame the NHL for this one.
• Misappropriated funds - Boots gets eight years for the financial shenanigans he pulled to become an NHL owner, and Len Barrie may be in hot water, too. Apparently, as long as you follow the league’s by-laws you can become an owner, regardless of whether or not you choose to abide by the criminal code.
• Hudler bails for the KHL - And the loophole that caused the IIHF to allow it was that his agent signed his arbitration request, not Hudler personally. Not that he’ll really be missed.
• Habs sold back to Molson family - Good to see local hockey-passionate owners taking the reigns again. Also, glad it’s not Celine Dion.

Now comes the fun part: playing some hockey. Bring on the season, and Go Flames Go!