Dillon Dube, a Calgary Flames prospect, has been making a name for himself this pre-season.
And it isn’t going unnoticed.
Brad Treliving, Flames general manager, says he will play for the Flames this season and it isn’t the if he will play, it’s the when he will play according to the Calgary Flames.
This guy is an amazing package, he can score, skate and he backchecks.
Not only is he a triple threat, he can be physical when he needs to be.
He will be a great powerplay and penalty kill threat with the way he plays the game.
This pre-season, he lead the team with four goals, two assists and had a load of energy on the ice.
Last pre-season he had a great training camp.
He worked hard, but that work didn’t pay off as he was sent back to the Kelowna Rockets in the Western Hockey League.
He scored 38 goals and 46 points totalling his points to 84 which is a career high for Dube in the WHL.
Dube also captained Team Canada to a gold medal in the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championships.
In the two rookie games, Dube scored three points against the Flames rivals the Edmonton Oilers.
When he made his pre-season debut, he scored a hat trick while looking like one of the better players on the ice.
In other pre-season action, Dube assisted on Flames forward, Andrew Mangiapane, shorthanded goal against the Vancouver Canucks and scored a power-play goal against the Winnipeg Jets.
However, not all was great as he took a late holding penalty against the Jets which lead to the tying goal where the Jets ended up winning the game in overtime.
He still needs to improve, but that will come with experience playing at the NHL level.
Last night was his last chance to show Bill Peters, head coach of Calgary Flames that he deserves to be taken to Edmonton for the pre-season finale on Saturday against the Oilers.
Most likely, the roster that is set for the game against the Oilers will be the roster for the first game of the regular season.
Dube went scoreless and didn’t get a shot off in the game against the San Jose Sharks.
Now we just have to wait for Saturday and see if he is in the lineup.
But with his excellent performance throughout the pre-season, expect him to be on the fourth line.
Dube deserves better.
He deserves to be playing in the big leagues.