Jim Playfair comments on Giordano (And the history of finding him)

[Phanuthier]

Courtasy of Street Pharm, which was getting partially burried in all the gifs, Sven's and Bolligs...

http://www.calgaryherald.com/touch/s...ml?id=10379274

Street Pharms summary :

“You could tell early on when I was here, he was going to be the next captain of the Calgary Flames,” the Arizona Coyotes’ associate coach said on game-day morning at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

“I mean, you could just … tell. I said that to a lot of people over the years. And that doesn’t make me a genius, by any means. It was just … obvious.

“Did I know at that time that he’d one day be this calibre of player? Of course not. But you could see the potential, the qualities, in him, almost right away. The way he carried himself, the way he worked on and off the ice. He’s got an air, a quiet demand, of excellence around him.

“So surprised? No. Not at all.”

“There are players,” said Playfair, “that, as you move along in your career, you look at them and say: ‘They get it.’

“Gio gets it.

“Remember when he didn’t get the contract he thought he deserved and went over to Russia? He didn’t make a big noise, he didn’t sit out, didn’t go home, didn’t pout. I don’t think he went to Russia because he liked the weather there. I don’t think he went to Russia to learn Russian. He didn’t go to make a bunch of money. He didn’t do it to stick it up anybody’s butt.

“He went over there to play. Because the next best tier of players in the world and he’d done it at the American League level and he wanted to be better.

“That’s getting it.

“And in doing so, he proved himself right and the organization wrong.”

As an old, dues-paying member of the defenceman’s union himself, Playfair vividly remembers seeing Giordano for the first time, at a summer rookie-development camp that maybe a dozen defencemen attended. So much about the blueliner jumped out at him.

“I remember watching Gio, Richie Regehr and Steve Marr. And you know what, two or three days in, Darryl (Sutter) asks me: ‘Who do you like?’ And I said, remember this clear as day: ‘Giordano. He’s got great skill. Great feet. Once he gets in condition, I think he has a real chance.’

“Darryl met with three or four of those kids and gave them all the same contracts: Three years in the American League, and if you works out for you, you’ve got a career. Gio took it and ran with it.”

“For a young general manager like Brad Treliving coming in here, it’s such a good situation: His captain’s his best player, his hardest work, his top citizen,” said Playfair. “Wow, just what you want, right? This is a guy you can build a youth movement around because the kids come in, watch Gio, on good days and on bad days, and learn the right way. He’s Bob can be Bob, do his thing, knowing that in the room, Gio’s gonna keep it on the straight and narrow; knowing that Gio’s got the wheel.

“I talked to Brad after he got the job here and told him ‘You’re going to LOVE Gio. You’re going to really respect everything this guy stands for.’ He called me about two weeks later and said ‘Boy, you were bang on.’ “

There have been many interviews on FAN960 (on demand) where Playfair talks about Gio and how he was always such a great leader and all that good jazz.

[codynw]

Giordano is such a great story. I hope he plays his whole career with Calgary.

[1stLand]

It's pretty obvious what Playfair thinks about Iginlas leadership skills.

I am Glad we have Giordano

[Trailer Fire]

Originally Posted by 1stLand

It's pretty obvious what Playfair thinks about Iginlas leadership skills.

Nice leap from that article.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Trailer Fire

Nice leap from that article.

Brent Sutter said Giordano was his captain for the last season he was coach.

Gelinas says Giordano is the best leader he's been around.

[Kidder]

Iginla was an amazing captain, and you heard about how hard he worked off the ice, but some games you wouldn't see that work ethic on the ice. That's the only slight I could ever come up with regarding a tremendous human being and hockey player in Jarome Iginla.

With Giordano you see the work ethic every night, and it's a treat to see. It's no secret the city of Calgary loves a hard working hockey team so it's fantastic to see it epitomized in their captain and hopefully contagious throughout the lockerroom until it's embroidered on this franchise.

I think it's been a very successful passing of the captaincy. And boy have we been spoiled here in Calgary.

[sa226]

Not this again. Let's keep it focused on Gio and how awesome he is.

[Trailer Fire]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Brent Sutter said Giordano was his captain for the last season he was coach.

Gelinas says Giordano is the best leader he's been around.

That may be so, but does this really have to turn into another Iginla thread? I love Gio as much as the next guy, but I'd like to keep the discussion on him. Maybe that's just me.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Another thread where I'll post: Could we have not asked for a better captain?

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by Trailer Fire

Nice leap from that article.

It's a leap, but reading between the lines of why Playfair only got one year as head coach, it's pretty obvious that Playfair isn't Iginla's biggest fan. It's been discussed in numerous threads, but there are dozens of rumours that the core and leadership of the team at that time didn't respect him when he was coach.

[EldrickOnIce]

Let's not sewer this thread.

Giordano is an amazing captain.

[Hemi-Cuda]

So glad there was no sour grapes after he left to play a year in Russia. Imagine if that had created a rift and we had to sit here watching him tear the league up as a Norris front runner for some other team. I'm not sure I could have handled that

[Stay Golden]

Playfair=braap. Gio=worldclass!

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Brent Sutter said Giordano was his captain for the last season he was coach.

Gelinas says Giordano is the best leader he's been around.

Neither were talking about Iginla, so why are we here?

[Stay Golden]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

So glad there was no sour grapes after he left to play a year in Russia. Imagine if that had created a rift and we had to sit here watching him tear the league up as a Norris front runner for some other team. I'm not sure I could have handled that

That is so true Gio came back with his chin up and showed quality character. Worked hard and kept climbing the roster ladder.
He is the perfect Captain especially for this team.

[SeanCharles]

I'm no expert but there are certain players that give me a feeling when I watch them play. I get the feeling that this is a player that has the potential to be a star and if everything falls into place they could be just that..

Gio gave me that feeling, back in the day, before he established himself. I liked all the intangibles that he brought as he was good at everything. I was extremely worried about losing him when he went to Russia and I remember even following him when he was over there..

I've had this feeling about Kipper, Huselius, Gio, Boyd, Keetly (wrong those times), Brodie, Backlund, Monahan, Gaudreau, Baertschi and Bennett.

I'm just happy to see that Gio has in fact reached his potential and is leading this team and accomplishing more than anyone ever thought. Thats an example of a great leader (to be fair Iggy was this during the 3 or so year span when he was the best player in the league).

It's nice to see Brodie, Monahan and Gaudreau all showing signs of reaching stardom as well. Having Gio around, to set an example, is a nice luxury for these young budding stars. Best part is there are other highend prospects outside of that group..

All those years of frustration have payed off as the hockey gods are repaying our loyalty with an up and coming team that has the makings of being a strong contender one day..

GO FLAMES GO!

[GioforPM]

I agree - Gio was always a guy I thought would not only be a good player, but was just such a good pro.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by codynw

Giordano is such a great story. I hope he plays his whole career with Calgary.

If this doesn't happen, Treliving, Burke, King etc. should all be fired...

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Neither were talking about Iginla, so why are we here?

I'm just saying, many people regarded Iginla as a terrific captain.

I think it says a lot that many of the people connected to the organization during their time would single out Giordano as being better.

If Iginla was a good captain, Giordano must be a great captain.

The evidence on the ice would seem to suggest as much.

[ColoradoFlamesFan]

I was always "a fan" of Gio, I became a "huge fan" after the game against LA where Gio destroyed Dustin Brown. I recall that he hunted him down and hit him 3 times with clean but nasty hits