Mark Giordano won’t play a game under his new six-year, $40.5 million contract until he is 33 years old. He will enter the final year of that contract at the ripe old age 38.
After that, you’ll have to look mighty hard to find anything even remotely sketchy about the contract the Calgary Flames announced for their captain on Tuesday.
Giordano was the heartbeat of the Flames last season, often described by head coach Bob Hartley as the team’s moral compass.
“You recognize the qualities of players like Gio when you can be day-to-day with them,” Hartley said last February. “That’s where you really appreciate the human being and the player. His consistency is very impressive. The way he prepares, the way he treats the game… Every game, it seems to be his last one, and that makes him very special.”
Our esteem for Flames general manager Brad Treliving just continues to grow as he puts his stamp on this Flames club, and when you have a metronome like Giordano on your blue line it is simply imperative to install him there long-term.
That’s why Giordano gets a six-year deal today, with one year still remaining on his current deal. Because he leads the Flames in every way a leader possibly could.
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Giordano was never drafted, went to the KHL, and worked tirelessly on his way to becoming an NHL All-Star last season. He plays a puck-moving game on the back end that made the Flames so much better than anyone thought they would be last year.
And with young defencemen like TJ Brodie and Dougie Hamilton signed through 2020 and 2021 respectively, Giordano will leave a legacy behind in young defencemen (including Kris Russell) who can watch from up close to learn how the game is supposed to be played.
Remember, this is a Flames team that many expect to take a step back next year. Based on their absurdly high team shooting percentage, shot attempts statistics that were ranked in the bottom five in the NHL, a crazy amount of third-period comebacks and an inordinate number of players who posted career-highs in goals and points last season, the numbers community in general believes that Calgary will have a very difficult time duplicating its 97-point season of 2014-15.
Frankly, it’s hard not to agree.
The team is better, however, with the addition of Hamilton and Michal Frolik. And remember: this Flames team did what it did last season without Giordano from Feb. 25th on, when he went down for the season in a game at New Jersey.
Signing a player to a six-year deal that he will not begin until he is 33 years old is risky, yes. But when that player is Mark Giordano, the risk is greatly mitigated. And the reward seems certain.
With their captain healthy, signed, and playing the way he can, do you really think the Flames will take a major step back this season? That will be one of the truly intriguing stories in the coming year.
