Don Cherry already has a favourite for the Norris Trophy.
Appearing on Coach’s Corner with Ron MacLean, Cherry presented his case for Calgary Flames defenceman Mark Giordano.
“I knew him when no one knew him,” Cherry proclaimed. “His mother wrote me a letter how great I was. That was five years ago. Let’s start talking about (the) Norris Trophy right now with Mark Giordano.”
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Giordano’s play has been phenomenal to start the 2014-15 campaign. The 31-year-old blueliner has registered at least a point in each of his past six games and has 18 points in 16 games to start the season. To put that in perspective, he has outscored star forwards such as Evgeni Malkin, Corey Perry, and Claude Giroux.
He leads all NHL defencemen in scoring, and second on that list is his defence partner, T.J. Brodie. Giordano, a Toronto, Ont., native has been a critical component of the Flames’ unexpected early-season success. His steady play on the back end and productivity at both ends of the ice has helped Calgary pick up a 6-2-2 record in their past 10 games. Entering Saturdays games, Calgary was tied in second place in the Western Conference.
Giordano has been a quietly effective player for quite some time now. His performance on a bad Calgary team last season warranted attention for the Canadian Olympic team as a left-handed shot. He finished second on the Flames in scoring with 47 points (14 goals, 33 assists) in 64 games.
“He fit a lot of the characteristics that we were looking for, and he was a player that we talked about on a regular basis right until the very end,” Brad Pascall, formerly the vice-president of hockey operations for Hockey Canada and now an assistant GM for the Flames, told the Calgary Sun earlier this week. “That just goes to show you how well-thought-of he is in the circles of the management and coaching staff at that level for Team Canada.
