Just last week Stajan was the subject of a chorus of cheers echoing throughout the Flames’ inner sanctum. Exclamations of “Staj is on! Staj is on!” punctuated the day as Johnny Gaudreau and Co. caught sight of their teammate — now plying his trade for EHC Red Bull München in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey League — on a locker-room TV, taking on the Malmo Redhawks in an afternoon tilt.
Their response says all you need to know about the admiration Stajan’s former mates still have for him, according to assistant GM Craig Conroy.
“Even though he’s over in Europe now, I think to hear those guys — once they saw him, they just light up. That’s when you know,” Conroy says. “Even as he’s playing an early-afternoon game, the guys were all watching. It was on every TV in the locker room, training room, everywhere.”
Anyone who’s hung around the Flames over the past eight and a half years won’t be surprised to hear Stajan still has plenty of fans on the team. The 34-year-old became a stalwart, steadying presence among the club’s forward corps, and served as one of the few links between the Jarome Iginla era and the young-guns era the team finds itself in now.
The Following 23 Users Say Thank You to sureLoss For This Useful Post:
-1 000 000 points for mentioning "young guns" in conjunction with the Flames. For shame.
Came here to say this, any mention of young guns instantly gives me horrible flashbacks. Also my girlfriend at the time loved todd simpson... so much pain.
The Following User Says Thank You to sekimet For This Useful Post:
Why former NHLer Matt Stajan isn’t ready to hang up the dream
