Shortly after their second skate in just over two weeks, Darryl Sutter declared his club as healthy as it’s been since training camp.
With the return of Dan Vladar on Monday, all 20 Calgary Flames who tested positive for COVID-19 before Christmas are now back in the swing of things.
Aside from a few days of flu-like symptoms experienced by a portion of the team, the players have come through the team’s shutdown well-rested, energetic and healed from many of the bumps and bruises that accumulated the first two months.
No more impediments.
No excuses.
After going through what the organization did to miss its last seven games, you’d hardly call them the envy of the league.
But given how things have come together since then, it’s reasonable to wonder if the Flames will have an advantage on most teams as the NHL returns to play.