[Dion]

“He’s got great vision, obviously. And great patience. He doesn’t panic and just throw the puck away. He makes plays that more seasoned guys usually make.

“That second goal (Sunday) night? Where he went in, button-curled and found (Jiri) Hudler in the slot? That’s the kind of stuff you’ve got to do. He’s SO quick. And he can do things in small spaces that big players absolutely cannot do.

“That’s what makes him special.

“He’s handled the pressure really well. I don’t know if he was a guy coming out of the Western league whether he’d be able to handle that kind of hype, but being from Boston College he’s had three years of seasoning there, they play a more mature game than in the Western League, and he’s really been impressive.

“His route to the NHL was very well planned out. And obviously he’s had great coaching and you can tell from the way he talks in interviews that he’s got a great family, had a great upbringing, so he’s mature for his age.”

“He’s got some skill, no doubt about that,” lauds Fleury. “And he’s figured out pretty quickly how to play at that level. As a small player, you have to understand how to get room on the ice. And he has.

“In similarity, I see a guy who I played against most of my career, Cliff Ronning. Same kind of players. Small but really skilled.

“Cliffie almost ended up with 1,000 points in the NHL. Pretty good, right? If Johnny goes on to have a career like that, it’d be fantastic.”

“And this, the Flames, is an ideal situation for him. Young team. Bring him along. I never had that luxury. I had to come in, on what was already a very good team, and make an impact immediately. Whereas he’s coming into an organization that’s upgrading its talent level. And he’s being looked at one of those upgrade guys.”

“In this league, if you can get your team to work hard every night, from top to bottom, you’ve got a chance to win. A team like Montreal, went to the conference finals, in a city that absolutely loves them, adores them, they’re reading their press clippings right now and a team like Calgary goes in, out-competes them and beats them 6-2.

“When I played in Colorado for Bob Hartley, we had a talented team, but it was always about working hard and playing the system. And he’s changed his approach to coaching since then. You have to. When coaches move from place to place they learn, they get softer in their approach. There’s no other choice nowadays. You can’t have that old-school approach all the time anymore.

“Jacques Cloutier is a great guy. Marty Gelinas is a great guy. They’ve got good chemistry in their coaching staff and they’re playing like it. They’re playing like they believe they can win every night. When you get that going, anything can happen.”

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...506/story.html