[Machiavelli]

Good article:

“I love Matty,” the Calgary Flames head coach was saying Monday morning as the players packed up for the charter flight to Minnesota. “I think he’s a great student of the game. He’s a great hard-worker. And it seems that he wants more.

“I have absolutely no problem with this. I’m very happy with him.”

“He’s been unbelievable,” Hartley gushed. “He’s been on pucks. He’s forechecking. He’s winning big faceoffs. He’s a great penalty-killer.

“Five-on-five, I use him against the top forwards of the other team.”

“Obviously, confidence is a big thing,” Stajan said, pointing out the very thing he has lacked in years past. “I know it’s on the player to have confidence. But when a coach shows confidence in you the way this coaching staff has early this year, I think it speaks volumes to any player.”

“It’s no secret my first couple of years here didn’t go the way I wanted them to,” Stajan said. “You can point to a number of reasons why that was, but that’s behind us.

“We move forward...I came in here with an open mind and to work hard and to embrace any role that I’d be given.”