Ryan Pike
Ryan Pike has covered the Calgary Flames and the NHL Draft extensively since 2010 as a Senior Writer for The Hockey Writers, Senior Contributing Editor of FlamesNation.ca and a correspondent for the Sporting News. A member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, he lives in Calgary.
Author's Posts
Pike's Picks: 2019 NHL Draft Rankings - November Edition
November 5th, 2018 The 2018-19 hockey season is more than two months old, meaning that major junior players are roughly a quarter through their seasons and college hockey is in full swing. Every prominent 2019 National Hockey League draft prospect has played a good chunk of hockey, so it's a good time to update the draft rankings. This is the second...
Flames Rookie Trio Providing Key Depth
November 3rd, 2018 When training camp began for the Calgary Flames in 2017, the hockey club hoped that several seasons of improved drafting would result in some prospects making the jump to the National Hockey League level. Unfortunately for them, it didn't quite materialize that way. The Flames came into 2018's camp with similar hopes for...
Flames Season Hinges on Defensive Zone Success
October 29th, 2018 There's an old joke in hockey: "Goaltending is 50% of the game unless you don't get it, then it's 90% of the game." Since the retirement of Miikka Kiprusoff in 2013, you could make an argument that goaltending has occupied the minds of Calgary Flames hockey operations staffers roughly 90% of the time. But the 2017-18...
Flames' Bennett Is Stuck in No-Man's Land
October 21st, 2018 Hopes were high all around when the Calgary Flames drafted Sam Bennett at the 2014 NHL Draft. At fourth overall Bennett was the highest-ever pick in Calgary Flames history and the thought was Bennett would be an impact player for years to come. Unfortunately, Bennett's been the victim of some challenging circumstances and...
2019 NHL Draft: Early Season Top 20 WHL Prospects
October 17th, 2018 The National Hockey League's annual entry draft goes through cycles, with different leagues seeing different levels of representation as their own development cycles ebb and flow. The 2019 NHL Draft – coincidentally hosted in Vancouver, BC – is considered by the scouting community to be a strong Western Hockey League...
Cap in Hand is Thought-Provoking History Lesson
October 16th, 2018 Parity in the National Hockey League – or "competitive balance," as it's termed by commissioner Gary Bettman – has been a much-discussed concept since the introduction of the salary cap in 2005. The addition of cost certainty was seen as a big positive from the perspective of the NHL's owners, but was it the best thing for the sport...
