Calgary Flames: 2 Breakout Candidates For Next Season

With each season that passes, it seems as though every team has players who improve significantly. They often turn out to be prospects naturally, but players who have some experience in the league also can. In this segment, we will be looking at two potential breakout candidates from each team. We will also be setting a max age limit of 26 years old, so older players are not eligible for discussion.

In our most recent piece, we discussed the Anaheim Ducks.

In this article, let's take a look at the Calgary Flames. The Flames will be a fun team to watch this upcoming season, as they will be working hard to get back into the postseason. Although a lot of their core has been around for awhile, they also have some younger players who should be able to improve moving forward. One is a young forward who saw his scoring numbers go up a little last season. The other is young defenseman who many believe has a lot of potential.

Dillon Dubé F: Dillon Dubé is a fascinating forward to pay attention to next season. In 51 games this season, the 23-year-old scored 11 goals and recorded 22 points. It was a bit of an increase from his 16-point campaign in 45 games the season before. There is a good chance that he will be able to wiggle himself into the top-six next season, especially if he's on the wing. If this occurs, it seems quite likely that he would see his offensive production go up rather noticeably. During his time in the AHL, he was a point-per-game player, so he does have the ability to make things happen.

Juuso Välimäki D: Juuso Välimäki is a defenseman who should be able to take a big step forward this season. With the departure of Mark Giordano, he stands a real shot of playing top-four minutes. He's coming off a strong season that saw him play in two leagues. With Ilves of Liiga, the 22-year-old scored two goals and had 19 total points in as many games. He then followed that up with two goals and 11 points with the Flames in 49 games. The 2017 first-round pick has a lot of potential to turn into one of the top defensemen for Calgary and this should be the year it comes into fruition.

Honorable Mentions: Two more intriguing players to watch this season are goaltender Dan Vladar and winger Matthew Phillips. Vladar was acquired from the Bruins this off-season and is expected to be the team's backup. Phillips has showed solid offensive ability at the AHL level, so perhaps it will translate to the NHL.