[transplant99]

“I was a huge (Alex) Ovechkin fan,” Phillips said. “I wore No. 8 for Ovechkin. That was my number, all the way until I hit junior. I actually have an old Caps jersey, but it doesn’t fit me anymore.”

“I’d be lying if I said that it was an easy thing to turn the page here,” said Phillips, who racked up 236 points across his five winters with the Flames’ farm club and was rewarded with a grand total of three appearances in The Show. “I’ve loved playing in Calgary this whole season for the Wranglers and all my time here, doing different camps and my time with the Flames. It was definitely not an easy thing to land on. But at the end of the day, I just thought this was a good opportunity. It seems like a good fit for me.”

“I’ve said this before — that’s my goal every summer and going into every training camp is to make the NHL team and to play in the NHL,” reiterated Phillips, who averaged upwards of a point-per-game in his past two minor-league campaigns. “I feel like hopefully I have a decent chance to achieve that in Washington. By no means is it something that is going to be handed to me. It’s something I have to work for. You have to beat guys out of jobs. But I’m excited for that challenge.”

Dude gets it...even if countless others seemingly do not.


https://calgarysun.com/sports/hockey...-depart-flames