Calgary Flames On Fire...For Now

December is always when the Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla seems to find a spark, and up his play. 

The captain, along with the other members of the top line which include Kristian Huselius and both Daymond Lankow, and Craig Conroy on alternate nights. 

These four elite players have shown the league that Calgary is a true contender this year.  After a dismal November, and the Flames sitting in the basement of the Northwest division atin 13th place overall, the Flames rebounded by going throughout December with just one regulation loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

The Flames continued that success into January, recording wins in their first three games. 

Many questions were starting to circulate after the dismal November about possible tensions between Mike Keenan and one of the top stars on the team Mikka Kiprusoff.  Kiprusoff had just been signed to a long term deal with the Flames, and had backstopped the Flames with two forty win seasons in a row. 

Keenan was not afraid to call out his goaltender in the media, nor was he afraid to pull him from the game in a lacklustre performance.  Both sides have confirmed nor denied the reports.

Coming up to just past the halfway mark of the season, the Flames have proven they deserve to be where they are, and the star players have all stepped up and contributed to the team's success.  The main question is whether General manager Darryl Sutter needs to add some fire power before the trade deadline. 

The Flames have not shown much consistency, and sportscasters often refer to them as the "Streaky Flames".  The Flames have suffered early playoff exits in the past two years after their unlikely  run for the cup in 2003-2004.  So the answer is yes. 

At the same time last season, Iginla was injured, and right now the team is really relying on its big guns to score.  Secondary scoring is an issue, players like Alex Tanguay and Matthew Lombardi need to shoot the puck more, and create more offense.

If a blockbuster trade were to occur, I believe these two players with a first-round pick might bring a hungry Mats Sundin to a team which is on the cusp of greatness.