Before the Calgary Flames stole a 2-1 overtime victory from the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Wednesday night, the prevailing storyline seemed to be a David and Goliath affair. The pundits predicted that the Flames, now known for their competiveness, would have to work twice as hard against an elite team that would no longer allow Calgary to take them by surprise.
But the Flames were spectacularly outplayed by Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Co., and if not for a heroic 49-save effort from off-season addition Jonas Hiller, Calgary might very well have suffered their most crushing defeat of the young season. Instead, they were the upstart underdogs in the league’s biggest upset of the week.
The role of the underdog is one this young team is already familiar with. And it suits them perfectly, because many of the players that will determine this organization’s future are underdogs themselves.
When Mark Giordano was named the 19th captain in franchise history, there were many fans around the league who mocked what they thought was an obscure selection by an already laughable team. But after several seasons of quietly outstanding play, more and more observers of the game are starting to see what Flames fans have known for some time: that Giordano is an excellent player, and one of the most underrated defencemen in the league.
Calgary signed Giordano as an undrafted free agent prior to the 2004-2005 season, and he appeared in 55 games with the Flames over the next two seasons before leaving to play a year with Dynamo Moscow in the KHL. He returned to Calgary for the 2008-2009 campaign, playing his way up the defensive depth chart before the departures of Robyn Regehr and later Jay Bouwmeester facilitated his emergence as a top pairing blueliner and eventually as the team’s number one defenceman.
Seeing his ice-time steadily increase over the past several seasons, the 31-year-old has finished first or second in scoring among Flames defencemen in every full campaign since 2009. Last year, he made those who doubted his captaincy look foolish, setting career highs in goals (14) and points (47) to finish 11th in scoring among NHL defencemen, despite missing 18 games to injury. Playing against the opposition’s top lines, Giordano also had some of the league’s best possession stats, finishing second in even-strength relative Corsi amongst players with 50 or more games. The previously undrafted Giordano earned a place in Sochi discussions for Team Canada, and he was eventually told to expect a call if there was an injury to the Olympic team’s defensive core. Through six games this season, Giordano is tied with defensive partner TJ Brodie for first in team scoring with six points.
Watching their captain overcome obscurity to establish himself as a force in the league, the Flames brightest young stars will certainly need the inspiration if they hope to overcome the adversity standing between them and their NHL careers. Johnny Gaudreau is arguably Calgary’s top offensive prospect, and showed promise with a goal in his NHL debut last season and some impressive play during offseason camps and the preseason. But with no points through five games, Johnny Hockey was a healthy scratch against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night, and has seen his ice-time steadily decline since Calgary’s home opener. At five-foot-nine and 150 pounds, it’s easy to see why Gaudreau has struggled. Though the 21-year-old was a scoring phenom in college, he’s facing far larger and faster opposition in the NHL, and creating match-ups in which Gaudreau can be successful is a challenge for head coach Bob Hartley. With the Flames starting the season on a six-game road trip after their first game at home, finding those opportunities has been even more difficult, and it’s shown in the rookie’s production.
Sam Bennett will also have to overcome physique obstacles when the time comes for him to push for a roster spot in Calgary. Standing six-foot-one, Bennett doesn’t face nearly the same struggle as Gaudreau, but at 178 pounds, the 18-year-old needs to add muscle before he can compete against NHL-calibre players; Bennett was the butt of countless pull-up-related jokes after he failed to perform even one at the NHL combine this past spring. The centre finished number one in central scouting rankings, but the Flames were able to claim him with the fourth overall pick behind more towering figures like Aaron Ekblad and Leon Draisaitl. Bennett had two assists in three preseason games, but missed time with a groin injury before suffering a shoulder injury that required surgery which will sideline him for four to six months. Like Flames legend Theo Fleury, a prolific goal-scorer despite his five-foot-six frame, Calgary’s top prospects are physical underdogs that will need to rely on skill and determination to succeed.
Calgary has become home to a few former members of the Toronto Maple Leafs over the past few seasons, and now some of them have found important roles with the team after rebounding from poor past performances. When Matt Stajan arrived as part of the trade that sent Dion Phaneuf to Toronto, he was expected to play as the team’s number one centre. Having eclipsed fifty points only once in five seasons with the Leafs, it was a role he struggled with and he was heavily criticized as a result. But under Hartley, Stajan has seen movement up and down the line-up, earning appreciation from a once-hostile fan base for his hard work in each role. He has not yet matched his production in Toronto, and has yet to record a point this season, but he has developed into one of the team’s top penalty-killing forwards and is a key piece of their leadership group.
Mason Raymond is another former Leaf underdog, one looking to continue a personal renaissance that began in Toronto last season. A second-round pick by Vancouver in 2005, Raymond set career highs in goals (25), assists (28) and points (53) in his third NHL season. He managed 39 points in 70 regular season games the next year, but suffered a devastating back injury in game six of the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins. The injury kept him out of the line-up until the following November, and after his production steadily declined in the three seasons that followed, the Canucks elected not to resign him at the conclusion of the lockout-shortened 2012-2013 season.
Signing a modest one-year, $1 million deal with Toronto last September, Raymond had his best season since his career year with 19 goals and 26 assists for 45 points in 82 games. Now in the first year of a three-year deal with Calgary, Raymond already has four goals through six games this year, including a hat trick against Edmonton, and must continue to prove that Calgary management’s faith in him isn’t misplaced.
Perhaps even Brian Burke, another former member of the Maple Leafs franchise, could be considered an underdog of sorts. A former Stanley Cup-winning general manager, Burke fell from grace over the course of his days in Toronto as the team failed to make the playoffs during his tenure, and he was unceremoniously dismissed almost immediately upon the resolution of the lockout. Now serving as Calgary’s president of hockey operations, Burke must use the Flames rebuild to show that he can still build a competitor.
The Flames situation in net, meanwhile, is the stuff of sports movies. In Karri Ramo, Calgary has a 28-year-old Finnish league and KHL netminder whose 40 games last season were the most he’s ever seen in the NHL. Ramo struggled with inconsistency last season, but he also showed flashes of brilliance and an upward trend down the stretch. Coming to the NHL from the European leagues, Ramo is competing for a starting job without much experience on North American ice to rely upon. And while Ramo plays the role of the inexperienced and obscure newcomer, Jonas Hiller plays the veteran in need of a second chance. Though the 32-year-old is a former All-Star and led Anaheim to the second-round appearance in 2009, Hiller struggled down the stretch and in the playoffs with the Ducks last season, so much so that the rookie pairing of Frederik Andersen and John Gibson was able to oust him from the starter’s position and eventually the organization. Playing behind a team that allowed the seventh-most goals in the league last season and with his best years quite probably behind him, Hiller will be fighting an uphill battle to prove that Anaheim made a mistake.
After the Columbus Blue Jackets jumped out to a 3-0 lead against the Flames on Saturday night and held off a strong Calgary push-back to win 3-2, it’s clear that there will be far fewer games in which their opponents take the Flames for granted. But whether or not they take teams by surprise, Calgary remains one of the NHL’s biggest underdogs; a team that must fight tooth and nail for a victory. And with so many players who know exactly what it means to be an underdog, the Flames may be better equipped to scratch out wins than any other team in the league.
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