There is an ongoing discussion in some National Hockey League circles, and it concerns that rare, most valuable roster commodity: The No. 1 defenceman.
Consensus has somewhere between 15 and 20 true No. 1 defencemen peppered across the 30-team NHL; that 24-minute player who can run a power play, kill penalties, and is deployed in the final moments of the game whether your team is up by one or down by one.
So as we look into why the Calgary Flames have turned their season around, perhaps this is the best place to start: In Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie, the Calgary Flames might have two of them.
“Since Brodie got back in they’ve been so much better,” said a Metropolitan Division scout. “They move the puck out of their zone a lot more efficiently, far more quickly. Either by skating it out or (passing) it out, the transition is quick. They get it, and they move it. Fast.”
An injury cost Brodie Calgary’s first nine games this season. The Flames went 2-7 during that span, and are still chasing .500 to this day. Today, Brodie averages 25:32 of ice time per night, paired with Giordano, who plays 24:24.
That pairing is the difference-maker for a Calgary team that still has some bad underlying numbers to contend with, and needs better goaltending. But last season, while we wondered how the Flames were staying afloat in the playoff race, it was the D-corps that was this team’s engine.
They defend well enough, but what Calgary’s blue-line really does better than everyone else is retrieve the puck, move it to a forward, and get the play out of Calgary’s end. So the reason that Calgary’s game has come around this season is obvious, the scouts say. That defensive prowess has returned.
“Brodie is their best defenceman,” an Atlantic Division scout says. “Giordano has his game back, and Kris Russell is playing much better. (Dougie) Hamilton is getting there. But they’ve also sorted out their forward lines. At home, they check you hard with Stajan as their fourth-line centre. He’s starting to do a god job for them.
“(Johnny) Gaudreau and (Sean) Monahan had to play better as a tandem, and they are. With that, they drag (Jiri) Hudler and Frolik along. Now all of sudden you have five or six guys you can go to, and (Mikael) Backlund becomes your third line centre, where he should be.”
No story on success in Calgary is complete however, without some mention of the unsustainable. Last season it was good: a high shooting percentage and unlikely third-period comebacks. This season it’s bad: goaltending, team defence and special teams — all ranked 30th in the NHL.
The Flames power play (11.6 per cent) and penalty kill (70.9) are both ranked dead last in the NHL. The Flames also rank 30th in goals allowed per game (3.52) and team save percentage (.882).
That Calgary has put together a nine-game home winning streak — they’ve gone 7-2-1 in their last 10 — despite that level of goaltending is remarkable. Cue that old saying that goes, “Goaltending is 75 per cent of the game, unless you don’t have any. Then it’s 100 per cent of the game.”
“I don’t like their goaltending,” said our Atlantic scout, “but Ramo has found his game again.”
For either of the surging Alberta teams to be considered legit, both will have to figure out how to win on the road. Edmonton opened a four-game roadie in Boston Monday, with goalie Cam Talbot stealing an OT win despite a shots total of 49-24 in Boston’s favour.
The Flames may have won nine straight at the Saddledome, but their road record this season is an abysmal 3-9-2. Heading into tonight’s game in Nashville, the first of a four-game trip, Calgary has lost four straight and seven of their last eight away from home.
“I think we have to simplify on the road,” Flames captain Mark Giordano told the media before the trip began. “We did a lot of good things at home but, No. 1, on the road, you have to stay in games. Play simple.
“Bottom line is we have to allow less goals.”
