'Find Ways To Contribute'

Blake Coleman puts his work boots on one foot at a time.

And already this fall, he’s showing his Flames crew how to lead by example.

This preseason, Coleman has shown he’s willing to do just about anything, and go just about anywhere, to put the puck in the six-by-four.

And it’s paid off, with goals in each of Calgary’s last two home games - with a combined shot distance of about eight feet.

“When you’re a guy that’s not scoring a lot of highlight-reel goals, you’ve got to find ways to contribute,” he said. “Deflections, and being around the net is a big part of my game.”

But it’s that willingness to go to the tough areas of the ice, to take a cross-check or five in pursuit of a goal, that stands out.

Especially this early in the season, from a veteran player with two Stanley Cup rings to his name.

It’s the type of mentality that head coach Ryan Huska hopes will rub off on the younger players looking to make names for themselves as the season nears.

“I hope they notice, he had 30 goals last year and a lot of them were right from that area,” Huska said Monday. “So I do hope guys recognize that. Blake’s a gamer, that’s what you love about him. When the game’s on the line, he’ll come to play, that’s who he is.

“We use him to play against top lines a lot of the time, he’s a good penalty-killer for us, last year he raised his offensive side and it’s not because of just an incredible skill set that he has, it’s just a will to do the hard things for his line. As a result of him being around the net a lot, he’s able to put a lot of pucks in there.

“Hopefully he can match his year (from) last year, if not better.”

Coleman shrugs off any suggestion that the preseason is all about settling into form.

Fine-tuning, maybe, but for the 32-year-old, this time of year is all about setting a standard.

And that means crashing the crease, like he did for a powerplay marker Monday night against Seattle.

“I think, for me, it’s just part of my game,” he said, “I want to use the preseason to kinda get to it, part of my ways of helping the team is getting around the goalie, being around their net. Obviously, that’s a powerplay goal and special teams are going to be a big part of our season.”

Coleman won’t be part of the group traveling to Winnipeg Wednesday for the Flames’ penultimate preseason fixture against the Jets (6 p.m. MT, CalgaryFlames.com and the Flames App).

But he’ll be watching along as the battle for roster spots continues.

Huska mentioned in his Tuesday media session that his staff has a lot of big decisions ahead, with the NHL roster deadline set for Oct. 7.

And the Texas Tiger is eager to see who will earn their stripes.

It’s a good problem to have, when you have a lot of guys that have earned the right to be on the opening roster,” he said. They’ve definitely made the management and coaches’ decisions a tough one.

“The other thing about hockey is that there’s a lot of time during the year where you’re going to need to call up guys and have them come in and be impactful players. It’s nice to know that the cupboard is full, and we’ve got guys that can step in and make differences for us.”