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Flames’ Hartley says he hasn’t settled on a No. 1 goalie

Bob Hartley

Calgary Flames’ head coach Bob Hartley calls out from behind the bench during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday April 6, 2013. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

AP

Calgary Flames coach Bob Hartley will have a lot of decisions to make this year. One of them centers around how to best replace recently retired Miikka Kiprusoff in goal.

As of now, he hasn’t made any decisions about anything.

“We’re not set yet on our 23 (man roster). We are not set on our No. 1 goalie or our No. 2 goalie,” he told reporters.

“We want to make sure that we watch those guys. We watch those guys in meetings. We watch them on the ice. We watch them in the gym. We do video with them and then we go back on the ice the next day with a certain drill that will tell us if they get it or not.”

His choices in goal aren’t exactly going to wow anyone.

Journeyman Joey MacDonald, recent KHL exile Karri Ramo, and young Swiss goalie Reto Berra are still in the hunt for the top job. Ramo and Berra have gotten the bulk of the starts in the preseason which could point at who will back MacDonald up or it just tells us the Flames want to know what they’ve got in them.

While other teams have a defined No. 1 goalie or are set to split things up, any one of those three could wind up being the top guy in Calgary. Unless someone seizes the job and comes out of nowhere, it could (will?) be a long year for the Flames.

Follow @JoeYerdonPHT