It’s a new year and a fresh canvas for the Calgary Stampeders.

Here are five questions for the Red and White as we look ahead to the 2017 season:

Bo Levi Mitchell was the CFL’s MOP in 2016

Can Bo Levi Mitchell be even better?

If you ask him, the answer is an unequivocal “yes.”

The Stampeders’ quarterback was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player in 2016 and yet Mitchell will, with an absolutely straight face, tell you he still has plenty of room to grow.

Since Mitchell was just 26 during his award-winning season, he may very well be right. Anthony Calvillo was 31 when he won his first MOP award. Henry Burris was 35. Damon Allen (42), Kerry Joseph (34) and Khari Jones (30) are other mature QBs who have claimed the league’s top-player prize so far in the 21st century.

If anyone understands the career juncture at which Mitchell finds himself, it’s Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson, a former quarterback who was just 27 when he was voted the league’s top player in 2000. Dickenson, lauded for his intelligence as a player, has been the Stamps’ offensive coordinator ever since Mitchell arrived in Calgary and the two enjoy a strong relationship.

And Mitchell is hardly one of those stars who relies solely on his physical ability to prosper. He has a well-earned reputation for arriving ridiculously early to the stadium and is always eager to talk things over with coaches and teammates to fine-tune strategy or find a new angle to give Calgary an edge.

Middle linebacker Alex Singleton was a rookie standout in 2016

Who will break out for the Stamps in 2017?

The emerging stars for the Red and White in 2016 included Derek Dennis, Ciante Evans, DaVaris Daniels, Alex Singleton and Tommie Campbell.

Dennis joined the Stamps during the 2015 campaign and made his debut in October, but 2016 was his first full campaign. And what a season it was as he was voted the CFL’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman and has attracted interest from National Football League clubs.

Meanwhile, Daniels and Singleton were impact rookies. Singleton, the Stamps’ first-round pick in the 2016 draft, claimed the starting job at middle linebacker while Daniels came off the Calgary practice roster in August to earn the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie trophy with 885 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in just 11 regular-season games.

Evans, who spent most of 2015 on the practice roster, and first-year CFLer Campbell claimed the starting cornerback jobs and both earned league all-star honours.

In a different way, veteran linebacker Deron Mayo was also a breakthrough player as the departure of Juwan Simpson forced him to assume more leadership responsibilities and he emerged as the Stamps’ defensive captain.

So who will step up in 2017? Well, it could very well be that player will emerge at this spring’s draft or be discovered at upcoming free-agent camps. But a current roster players who has a chance to take the next step is the recently re-signed receiver Kamar Jorden, who played nine games in 2016 and put up numbers that pro-rated to a 1,000-yard season.

Offensive linemen Brad Erdos, Spencer Wilson and Shane Bergman

How will the offensive line look in 2017?

Two recent trends with the Calgary offensive line continued last year.

One, the unit was effective – the Stamps allowed the fewest sacks in the CFL and helped Jerome Messam win the CFL rushing title. Two, the offensive line went through a lot of adversity.

Injuries forced the Stamps to both use many different hoggies — 12 different players saw duty in the trenches in 2016 alone and not once after the 11th game of the season was Calgary able to start the same five starters in back-to-back games — and also to move players around as Spencer Wilson, for example, made multiple starts at three different positions.

Offensive line coach Pat DelMonaco has done a great job pulling everything together in the past and he’s prepared for whatever lies ahead. Both tackles – Derek Dennis and Dan Federkeil – are free agents, as is centre Pierre Lavertu, who was limited to eight games in 2016. Dennis is trying his luck in the NFL while Federkeil, who is 33, has to make a decision about whether he wants to keep playing.

Among the regulars, Wilson, a CFL all-star, is back as is left guard Shane Bergman. Cam Thorn, Brad Erdos and Randy Richards all made starts in 2016 and the Stamps will be looking for better health for youngsters Roman Grozman and Karl Lavoie.

The draft may bring more pieces to the puzzle as the Stamps have spent a total of 10 draft picks on offensive linemen over the past four years including their first picks in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Charleston Hughes needs 12 sacks to become the Stamps’ all-time leader

Can Charleston Hughes break the franchise sack record?

After four seasons in Calgary, Charleston Hughes had 25 sacks. A nice total to be sure as he at least shared the team lead in that category in all four of those seasons but, at that rate, he would have needed to play 16 years to pass Will Johnson (99 sacks) for top spot on Calgary’s all-time list.

But Hughes has really picked up the sack pace over the past five seasons with a total of 63 bagged QBs over that span including a league-leading 16 in 2016. With a new two-year contract in pocket, Hughes heads into 2017 needing 12 sacks to slip past Johnson.

The surge in sacks over the second stage of his career can be traced in part to defensive scheme. From 2008-11, the Stamps’ defensive coordinator was Chris Jones, who likes to bring QB pressure from all over the field and often relies on his defensive ends to drop back and cover for blitzing linebackers and defensive backs.

Starting with the arrival of Rick Campbell in 2012, the Stamps’ defensive approach changed and the sacks started coming like crazy for Hughes. He hit double digits in sacks in four of five seasons (injury-shortened 2014 was the only exception) and won CFL sack titles in 2013 and 2016.

In addition to a scheme that gives the defensive end more cracks at the quarterback, current Stamps defensive coordinator DeVone Claybrooks credits Hughes’ evolution as a player. Instead of relying just on speed and a quick start, Hughes has added more power and technique to his game.

Having other pass-rushing threats on the Calgary defensive line over the years – including Cordarro Law, Micah Johnson and Ja’Gared Davis on the current roster – has also helped Hughes pile up the sacks.

BC Lions quarterback Jonathon Jennings

How will the West shape up?

The West Division was not for the faint of heart in 2016 as four of the five clubs finished above .500 and qualified for the playoffs. Even the last-place Roughriders had a four-game winning streak in the second half of the season.

There’s no reason to believe the division will be any less of a minefield in 2017.

The BC Lions took a major step forward last year and the team believes dynamic young QB Jonathon Jennings will continue to get better as he matures and eliminates some of the flaws in his game.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have revamped their roster with numerous free-agent additions over the past two years and surged up the standings after Matt Nichols took over as the starting QB in Week 6.

The Edmonton Eskimos lurched out of the gate in their attempted Grey Cup defence – they were 5-7 in mid-September – but they finished strong with wins in five of their last six games and came close to earning a Grey Cup berth as a crossover team into the East Division playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Roughriders – who had five losses by a two-point-converted touchdown or less last year – look to build on the momentum of their improved second half in 2016 as well as the excitement of moving into a new stadium as they head into Year 2 of the Chris Jones era. Saskatchewan figures to be aggressive when free agency opens next month.