Time For A Shake Up?

With two points in the month of October, Calgary Flames sniper Jarome Iginla is now at the center of a “superstar” controversy.

Couple that with the offensive downturn of Jay Bouwmeester – four points in October – and you have two players who are being counted on to return the Flames to the playoffs, who aren’t performing.

Now, all is not lost in Calgary so far, as they sit tied for eighth in the Western Conference, and have been getting significant contributions from other sources.

Rene Bourque came back from his preseason concussion and has been on fire since he touched the ice scoring six goals and nine points in his first nine games.

The much-maligned deal that brought Alex Tanguay back to the Flames at the trade deadline last year has paid dividends so far as well.

Tanguay is trying to bounce back from an awful 2009-10 campaign, in which he scored ten goals, and 37 points – the lowest of his career.

He’s on the right path, scoring three goals and four assists in nine games so far this season.

The major problem on this team however is how to get Iginla and Bouwmeester going.

Iginla just finished his worst October in the last four seasons.  In 2007-08, he had eight points, 2008-09, six, in 2009-10, four, and now this year with two.

In that same time frame, his points per year have also decreased steadily, going from 98, to 89, and finishing with 69 points last season – his lowest since the year after the lockout.

Bouwmeester, who’s in the midst of the second year on his five-year, $6.68 million per year contract, is as much under the radar as Iginla.

Many felt, including yours truly, that the acquisition of Bouwmeester as a free agent last year gave the Flames a legitimate chance to make some noise in the playoffs.

However, what only ended up happening was the Flames missing the playoffs, and the supposed dressing room “rift” between Iginla and Dion Phaneuf, signaling the latter’s departure for Toronto.

Could the pressure of helping the Flames return to the playoffs be getting to two of the top players in the NHL since the lockout?

That’s up for debate, but the slow start for both promted Flames’ coach Brent Sutter to “call out” his best players in a post-game interview last week.

Sutter denied making the comments towards anyone specific, saying in a press conference last week “I never mentioned anybody individually.   We have a lot of top players. I want all of our players to have success.”

But whatever the case may be, and whoever the public lashing was directed at, it’s clear that Sutter believes he needs more from his top players in order for the Flames to have long term success.

Is he going to get it?

Past personal results for the aforementioned Iginla and Bouwmeester point to yes, but if the production doesn’t come, it could be time for a shake up in Calgary.