00:00As we said yesterday, the offseason has kind of slowed down, and so now it's time to assess
00:04where everything is at. And we looked at who is probably going to be on the starting roster
00:09for the upcoming season. And there was one name that, quite frankly, was a little easy to leave
00:15off. And I'm wondering, and a little bit worried, that I'm potentially overlooking Hunter Brustavich
00:21for this year. Let's break down where the young defenseman could be at in the upcoming Flames season.
00:33So, like I said, yesterday we did the Flames outlook and just seeing where everyone kind
00:39of slots in for the upcoming season. And I'll pull it back up here. On the blue line, we had
00:44Ball Nemec, Parekh Whitecloud, Kuznetsov Middleton, with Hanley as the extra, or Pahal, what we'll see
00:51there. Quick aside, I feel bad for Pahal, because I really liked him a couple of years ago as kind
00:56of a number six defenseman, and it just felt like everyone passed him by. I still think
00:59there's a little bit of something there, but it's tough to make that argument. But not the one
01:03we're making today. The point is, it was very easily Hunter Brustavich off. And it's not because
01:09his name is difficult to type or anything like that. It just, it felt like when you were piecing
01:14it together, all right, well, this is where it all makes sense to me. You have the no doubters,
01:20obviously, like Ball is the best defenseman on this team. Nemec, I mean, yeah, they traded for the
01:26guy and signed him to a pretty big contract. So that's not going anywhere, obviously. Parekh,
01:30there's been some discussion, but I think he played his way into it. But maybe he didn't.
01:33We'll talk about that here. And Whitecloud is obviously there. And same thing with Middleton.
01:38So there's only a couple of spots. And I feel like with, it kind of does come down to Kuznetsov
01:44and Brustavich. And in this case, I feel like for this upcoming season, anyway, at least the start
01:50of this season, Brustavich is almost too good for his own good. Because he is, he's too good to be
01:59playing in a bottom six role consistently, right? Like, but that's where he would be on this team.
02:05Because again, like you're not, because of the development and how you would kind of want them
02:08to pair together, you're not going to take Whitecloud away from Parekh. And you're not going
02:13to take, like Ball and Nemec are pretty well locked in. You're not going to have Parekh playing
02:20six defenseman minutes. You're not going to have Nemec playing six defenseman minutes.
02:23So Brustavich right now, that's kind of the spot where he would be on the NHL roster. And I don't
02:30think that's good for him. I think while he maybe doesn't have the same kind of prospect appeal
02:35as a Parekh or as Nemec, who is 22 years old playing in the National Hockey League and
02:40playing some significant minutes at times in the National Hockey League, Brustavich isn't
02:43one of those guys. But he absolutely projects to be a top four defenseman in the NHL and more
02:50towards like one and two. Well, maybe not. But I don't think he'd be fourth. That is kind
02:56of the point I'm getting at. Like this, I think this is a very talented defenseman and one
03:00that is going to progress very, very well. And so I don't think that there is a whole
03:06lot that can be gained. Well, there's some that can be gained, but I think it'd be better
03:10for him if he goes back to the American Hockey League, just his third year of professional
03:13hockey and is able to play down there and get those top line minutes, get that sort of
03:20progression and work his way that way. Like get that type of experience being the guy
03:25on that blue line and getting all of that. I think that's better for him than playing 12 minutes
03:30a night in the NHL. I, with some other guys, we were talking about Parekh last year and
03:35like he, he had passed the OHL level, right? Like he, he had established when you're tying
03:41Bobby Roar about, sorry, Bobby Orr for records, you're doing pretty good. We've, we've probably
03:47passed that level. I don't think Brustavich is there at the American Hockey League and I
03:52liked him with the flames and this is not, it's not an indictment on him. Like I said, I think
03:57it is more, he's too good to be in the spot that he would be slotted in on this roster
04:02at this particular time. I think it changes if White Cloud ends up getting traded, right?
04:07Like I don't, I don't think you go Parekh White Cloud, but, and honestly, like maybe it
04:12doesn't, like maybe like Middleton is a right or sorry, a left shot defenseman who I would
04:16have on the right side right now. So maybe if you do move White Cloud, maybe Parekh goes
04:22over to that right side, Middleton back to his natural on the left. And then you still
04:27have Brustavich kind of stuck in, uh, that number six spot and the last one on the right
04:33side. And then we're back to the conversations we're having right now. So maybe even the White
04:36Cloud conversation doesn't fully take this one away, but I just, I still think this guy
04:42is a big part of the future. And I worry that maybe I'm overlooking him a touch, right?
04:48Like I, like I said, it was easy to leave him off. Oh yeah, just get that experience.
04:51But he was solid with the flames. There were some mistakes, but there was also some growth
04:55and some learning from those mistakes. And I I've said before that the playing time thing,
05:00it can be a crutch that we lean on sometimes because sometimes it's just good to see what
05:06NHL speed is like. And one of the things some people kind of pointed out that he could work
05:11on is the skating. The only way to know what NHL speed is like is to play at NHL speeds.
05:15So there would be some benefits to him playing at the National Hockey League level, but I
05:22think he gets more of them still where he is at developmentally right now, playing in
05:27the American Hockey League. The one kind of yeah, but to all of this is Zane Parekh. He
05:33would be eligible to play in the American Hockey League this year. Now Parekh is, or sorry,
05:38Bristevich is waiver exempt. So you're not risking losing him or anything like that. Obviously
05:42the Parekh situation was a unique one because he was too good for the OHL. He was too young
05:46for the AHL and maybe not good enough for the NHL when he came up this last time. And
05:51so I think before the last month-ish of the season, I think there was a pretty compelling
05:56case that Parekh was going to start the season in the American Hockey League. And I think you
06:01could cut back to that if training camp is just a disaster, right? Like if he is just getting
06:06worked over by some dudes in the four preseason games and Bristevich looks comfortable and looks
06:13more ready, then you kind of adjust. Maybe Whitecloud has to go to the left for a little bit
06:17or Whitecloud's your number three on the right side. Bristevich moves into that two with a
06:23Middleton and you go from there. So it's not necessarily a lock that Parekh is on this team
06:29and Bristevich isn't. I just think they aren't starting at the... I'm so excited I'm knocking
06:34microphones over. They're not starting at the same starting line, right? Like they aren't at
06:38the same starting block when it comes to their place on this team. Bristevich would have to win
06:44that job in training camp, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Like I think for me,
06:50like just doing some internal thought, which I guess is most thoughts. But anyway, the one thing
06:56I need to kind of check myself on is it's not a stone-cold lock that Parekh makes this team.
07:01I think it's close. It's certainly closer than it was when he was struggling at the start of the
07:07season. But you could see that progression from him and then the fantastic move he made on the
07:11last day of the regular season to get that goal. The nice spin move over off the wall and then
07:16walks
07:16in front and scores. Like there's... most forwards in the organization can't do that. So he provides a
07:22bit of a dynamic that this team doesn't have. And I think it's probably pretty close to a lock that
07:28he makes it. But Bristevich could absolutely win this job out of camp and all of a sudden I'm
07:34looking silly. So that's just one thing I wanted to kind of address is, like I said, I feel like
07:38this guy is just... it's been too easy to overlook him. And I do think that there is a real
07:45path to
07:45him making this team. It's just going to be a little bit hard. But it doesn't affect the future,
07:49right? Like he is... he is obviously a big part of where this team is going, I think,
07:54in the not too distant future. Like I think... I'm going to do a thing a little bit later on
07:57this
07:58week about like who's... who's on the team when this thing starts in the new arena. And he's there,
08:04right? Like there's... I don't think there's a question about that. It's just where is he at
08:07this season. So that's where I'm at with him. What do you guys think? Are we overlooking
08:11Hunter Bristevich a little bit too much? Let me know in the chat if you're watching this live.
08:15Let me know in the comments if you're watching after the fact. And if you're listening,
08:18hit me up on social media. I am at PrimetimeKline on Instagram, TikTok threads, and Blue Sky. And
08:24hey, while we're here, hit that share button. Like I said, the support has been phenomenal
08:28for the show so far since we've kind of got back to it here the last couple of days. You
08:33guys have
08:33been great. It's been so much fun chatting with Flames fans and sports fans in general over the
08:37last little while. I just want you guys to have more people to talk with. So hit me up or
08:41hit that
08:42share button. Send this to a few Flames fans friends and just like a couple people you don't like
08:46just to throw them off a little bit. But let's keep those conversations going.
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