[News Roundup] October 19, 2017

[MissTeeks]

Apparently I've been shirking my responsibilities. Anyhoo.

Flames netminder Smith says Gord Downie's passing will be felt throughout NHL

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...-an-old-goalie

Wednesday’s heartbreaking news — that Tragically Hip front-man Gord Downie had died after his battle with brain cancer — hit close to home for Calgary Flames puck-stopping stalwart Mike Smith.

After all, Downie was the pride of Kingston, Ont., only a half-hour south of Smith’s childhood stomping grounds.

And …

“Goalie union,” Smith said, mustering a grin on an emotional day. “You know, Gordie was an old goalie.”

Indeed, Downie was the last line of defence during his minor-hockey days in Amherstview, Ont., his crease career apparently highlighted by a provincial title as a bantam.

He’ll be remembered as a music legend, as a national treasure, as a slice of Canadiana.

“It’s tough. It’s hard,” said the 35-year-old Smith. “It’s a sad day as a Canadian boy growing up outside of Kingston and the Tragically Hip being such a big part of my life for over 25 years now. I’ve got to know some of the guys over the years.

“It’s obviously a sad day for his family, being a father and a husband, but I think for the bigger family, too — for the people around Canada that have grown up idolizing this guy. He’s been such an iconic figure for Canadian people for so many years. It’s a sombre day.

“I’m sure every dressing room in the NHL this morning was listening to the Tragically Hip.”

The NHLPA posted a heartfelt goodbye on their Twitter account: “The soundtrack of car rides to practices, bus trips to tournaments, and dressing rooms across Canada. Hockey was a part of you and you will always be a part of hockey. Thank you, Gord Downie.”

“As Canadians there are a ton of songs that resemble what we do and what we’re all about,” Smith said. “I think Gord was such a unique writer and the way he delivered his message on stage was like no one else. I think you watch the way he performs, and nobody else would be able to imitate what he did. I don’t think it’s just one song. I could be here all day naming songs that I love, but I think just how unique he was as a person, as an artist, it will live on forever.

“His performances live will be unmatched. He was an entertainer, and he’s definitely going to be missed.”

Can Jaromir Jagr end the Flames' search for a first-line right-winger?

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...e-right-winger

Calgary Flames star Johnny Gaudreau didn’t deny that an autograph from the legendary new guy is on his wish-list.

He hasn’t asked quite yet, but Jaromir Jagr might want to keep a Sharpie close by.

“I think you wait until you get a picture with him on the ice,” said Gaudreau, hopeful that photographers captured a special moment in Saturday’s 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. “I might try to find the one that he got his first assist on. Me and Monny are both in it, probably, hugging. I think that would be pretty sweet, to have me and Monny and to have him sign it. That would be a pretty special piece to have.”

If the shutterbugs missed Saturday’s celebration, Gaudreau, Jagr and centre Sean Monahan can try for another photo op Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Saddledome (7 p.m., Sportsnet Flames/Sportsnet 960 The Fan.)

After logging sporadic shifts as the right flank to the Flames’ dynamic duo during the past pair of outings, including an assist on Gaudreau’s third-period bank-shot in Vancouver, Jagr has now practised for three consecutive days with Nos. 13 and 23.

Jagr is slower than the other obvious options for that first-line role, but he’s undoubtedly the most skilled.

“I think that Johnny and Monny are just fantastic off the rush,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan after Wednesday’s practice. “And with Ferly (Micheal Ferland) being injured there for a couple of days, it was a chance to see how Jags would look in that position. For me, the biggest thing he can give them is that zone-time. He’s just so good at holding pucks in the offensive zone, and I think we’ve seen that even before he’s gotten fully up to speed.

“I think what he’s going to add is just that offensive zone-time. Johnny and Monny are the best in the league at creating off the rush and off broken plays and that sort of thing, but to create more zone-time for both of those guys would be a huge advantage.”

Jagr is the latest in line, although reinforcements will be needed — he told Gulutzan before signing a one-year contract in Calgary that he’s comfortable logging about 14 or 15 minutes per night, while Gaudreau and Monahan average closer to 17 or 18.

“For me and Monny, I think we’ve been doing this for quite some time now — rotating right-wingers. So I’m a little used to it by now,” Gaudreau said earlier this week. “But still, it’s nice to find a player you can keep building with. It gets easier on the ice when you’re playing with a player you’ve been playing with for a while.

“Hopefully, we can do that with Jags.”

Typically, Gulutzan needs to sit down with his top-line right-winger to remind them not to reinvent themselves just because of their starry company.

In this case, he’s having those chats with Gaudreau and Monahan, who have combined for five goals and 15 points so far.

“They have to continue to do their thing,” Gulutzan stressed.

Jagr has been preaching the same, and the young guys ought to listen.

Not just because their latest sidekick is one of the all-time greats, but because Gaudreau is still after that autograph.

“My first few days, I could barely even talk to him I was so nervous,” Gaudreau said of Jagr. “But now it’s a lot easier — especially playing with him now and talking to him on the bench and talking to him after games a little bit and just being around the locker-room with him.

“It’s a lot more easy to communicate with him and just come to reality a little bit more.”

Peak performer: Calgary climber shares Mount Everest experiences at Flames team-building session

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...ilding-session

Each June, when a squad reaches — cue the cliché — the NHL’s mountaintop, every guy on the roster enjoys a spin on the ice with the Stanley Cup hoisted high above their heads.

When an expedition approaches the summit of Mount Everest, it might only be one or two climbers who actually stand on the peak.

That’s what the Calgary Flames learned from adventurer and motivational speaker Jamie Clarke during Monday’s awe-inspiring team-building session at a downtown restaurant.

“It was one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard, to be honest,” said Flames captain Mark Giordano. “You take away the team aspect of it and how much preparation and how much works goes into it. And I took away that at the top of the mountain when the guys get to go to the top, it’s only two out of the group that get to actually touch the summit.

“I mean, that’s a buy-in when you know that you’re not going to be the one with the glory at the end to actually touch the top of the mountain, but you put all the time and the weeks into climbing up there. Really, climbing that mountain is all about a group of people coming together and having their separate roles and buying in.

“It was a pretty moving speech, I’ll tell you that.”

Clarke provided words of wisdom and encouragement to Team Canada prior to the world juniors last winter, has spoken to the national sledge-hockey team and has addressed one other troupe of NHLers, but Monday’s audience was extra-special for a guy who has been a season-ticket holder at the Saddledome since shortly before the Flames’ run to the Stanley Cup final in 2004.

“One of the messages I was trying to get across to the group is if you have high-performance individuals, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have a high-performance team,” said Clarke, who is also author of two books, CEO of an outdoor-apparel company and has climbed each of the Seven Summits — the highest mountain on each continent. “So what does it take? That chemistry that we speak of, almost in cliché these days, how do we tap into that? The DNA of that chemistry is ultimately an unselfishness. So how do you conjure up that unselfish play by a group of high performers who are compensated very well, who come to the ice with confidence and accomplishment, yet have them buy in deeply — not just on the surface — to a system of play that is put in place by the coaches and to go out there and play that system unselfishly and turn into not just high-performance individuals, but a high-performance team?

“There’s no other way to win.”

The Flames’ climb is just getting started. Thursday’s home clash against the Carolina Hurricanes (7 p.m., Sportsnet Flames/Sportsnet 960 The Fan) marks the seventh contest on their 82-game regular-season slate.

And then, for the 16 teams fortunate enough to earn an invite to the Stanley Cup dance, the fun really starts.

“(Clarke) put in perspective what the mind can do,” said Flames centre Mikael Backlund of Monday’s message. “It’s pretty cool how strong your mind can be. When your body wants to give up, still your mind can be strong.”

“He was talking about being prepared, being focused, and every little mistake can matter,” added right-winger Michael Frolik, one of four Flames with his name already engraved on the Stanley Cup. (Troy Brouwer, Kris Versteeg and just-signed Jaromir Jagr are the others.)

“Over there, every bad decision, any little thing, it can cost a life. Obviously, it’s not like that in hockey but in that same way, every little detail can matter. I think it’s the same with a run in the playoffs, too. When you go all the way, every little play, every little thing can matter.”

That’s the goal, of course — to go all the way.

Flames star Gaudreau scoring points with brother-in-law thanks to superb start

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...o-superb-start

Thousands of poolies probably invested a first-round pick on Johnny Gaudreau.

But unlike the legions of others counting on the Calgary Flames’ left-wing whiz to lead their fantasy teams to glory, this particular fan also happens to have Johnny Hockey’s cell-phone number.

He can provide encouragement and feedback.

“My brother-in-law took me early, so he’s pretty excited,” Gaudreau reported with a smile after Monday’s practice at the Saddledome. “He’s been texting me before every game — ‘Have a good night tonight.’

“I’ll be getting some heat if I don’t play well.”

Sure, it’s a small sample size, but it’s nonetheless noteworthy that Gaudreau is the first Flames skater since Phil Housley back in 1994 to have at least nine points to show for his first half-dozen contests.

The 1993-born Gaudreau, to add a bit of perspective, was a toddler then.

“It’s just nice — you don’t have to worry about the outside people giving you a hard time or anything like that, and the team is winning and everything is going well right now,” Gaudreau said of his superb start. “But there will be another month and next thing you know, you’ve gone two or three games without getting on the scoresheet and your team is losing and, you know, you’re facing some adversity.

“I try to just play my game every single night. Whether I get a point or not or get on the scoresheet, I think it’s most important if the team wins.”

“Johnny has been fantastic, even his defensive play,” praised Gulutzan, who had legendary newcomer Jaromir Jagr skating on the top line with Gaudreau and centre Sean Monahan during Monday’s practice. “I’ve watched him come back hard on the track and identify the right guys and break up some plays. I told him that this morning — I said he’s been really good in that area.

“He just looks freer and less pressure on himself. This is a player who really cares about the group, cares about the team and his teammates, and he wants to do well and he wants to win. I think last year, the business side of it can get to a guy who is pretty pure at heart of the game. I just see him a lot freer now and creating every shift and helping us in both ends.”

[AC]

This article of Ron Francis talking about Jagr is also quite funny:
http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...to-be-the-best

“I was out with an injury and I remember we played a game in Long Island and he came off and he was frustrated. Things weren’t going well, and he kind of displayed that frustration on the bench,” recalled Francis, a teammate and mentor to Jagr for eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins. “I grabbed him after and said ‘You and I need to talk,’ and our talk was basically me giving him (crap), to be honest. Not trying to give him crap, but trying to teach him that he’s a leader on the team and he can’t display that openly and he has to channel that in a different way.

“Usually when you give a guy crap for 10 or 15 minutes, they’re not happy with you. But I finished the discussion and he said, ‘Thank you.’ He said, ‘I need to hear this. Nobody tells me this. This is good stuff. I need to hear this. So thank you very much.’

[MissTeeks]

PERFECT UNION: Brodie and Hamonic becoming the standout defence pairing everyone envisioned

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/perf...on/c-292012750

It was, in essence, something along the lines of a pre-arranged marriage.

Sight-unseen, expected to create a lasting union, forming an unbreakable, airtight bond.

Make it work.

No pressure, right?

'Do you, T.J. Brodie, take Travis Hamonic to be your every-shift defence partner from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until the season do you part?'

The answer was always destined to be: I do.

And, to their credit, they have. They are.

Because literally the instant Flames' GM Brad Treliving confirmed increasing conjecture, announcing Hamonic's capture from the NY Islanders on the NHL Draft floor at the United Centre in Chicago four months ago, the inevitability of Hamonic-Brodie as a 1-1A pairing to complement skipper Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton implanted itself in everyone's minds.

After all, they seemed so impossibly well-suited: Hamonic, the well-rounded, edgy, hard-to-play-against cornerstone; and Brodie, as smooth as the felt on a billiard tabletop; who seems to skim over the ice surface carried along on some form of personal hovercraft.

"I understand that perspective,'' says Hamonic, of the anticipation among Flames' faithful. "And it's probably a cliche answer but we're hockey players and as a player you can't really control what goes on around you.

"Obviously there was a lot of hype, a lot of talk, in the summer. With TJ and myself, it's been good. Every day, every game, I think we're better understanding how we're going to play together.

"Situational play on the ice; where he's going to be; what he's going to do."

"I thought Hamonic was just an absolute beast in Vancouver," praised Treliving, as the Flames wound up a practice Tuesday morning at the Stampede Corral.

"With the penalty killing, his physical play. Such a complete player. Sometimes with Travis you don't necessarily notice him as much. He jumps up in the rush and obviously scored a goal (against the Canucks) but his game is more around his net, playing against top players, playing hard against top players.

"I think, as a pair, they've stabilized us. TJ's been exceptional so far and Travis has allowed him a degree of freedom. Hammer anchors that other side which allows TJ to do what TJ does, which is to get involved offensively."

Coach Glen Gulutzan echoed his general manager's sentiments about the pair's contribution to a 4-2 start in general and the Vancouver W in particular.

"Going through video, I thought our D as a whole was very strong, especially through the penalty-kill,'' said Gulutzan. "You can see Hammer's game starting to get to a new level. I'm glad there's some chemistry between him and Brodes. Just such a valuable part to our team right now. We knew that going in, when Tre made the deal this summer.

"He's settling in nicely.

"You always hope those things 'take.' It's just like putting two good, smart hockey players together. They're going to click at some point."

ONE OF THE BEST

Think Mikael Backlund is one of the Flames' top forwards? Delve a little deeper and it is easy to see he's one of the league's top pivots

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/one-...st/c-292050330

Mikael Backlund is good at hockey.

Like, really good.

If you've been paying attention the past couple of seasons, that statement won't come as much of a surprise. He's already back at it again this campaign: two goals, an assist, and a 54.35% Corsi-for rating, according to Corsica.hockey.

That puts him second on the Flames, right in between his linemates, Matthew Tkachuk and Michael Frolik. Though the season is still young, the 3M Line has already put together a 55.46% CF - one of the best lines of 2017-18 so far, all while being buried in defensive zone starts most other top lines don't even come close to seeing.

It's kind of what Backlund does. He takes the toughest assignments on his team, and he spins them into gold.

Backlund's rise to prominence became especially pronounced last season, his first-ever 50-point year and a fourth-pace finish for the Selke Trophy having a fair bit to do with it.

"Well, it's a cool thing, always had a goal to reach 50 points and I was happy I did it," Backlund said. "When the team plays well usually you play well yourself, too, so it usually goes hand in hand.

"But, of course, I put team goals first."

So what's changed in the past couple of years that Backlund has only just now risen to a more mainstream elite presence?

"I think it's just taking a bigger step on and off the ice, taking on a bigger role on this team," Backlund said. "Mentally, I've been growing over the years, becoming mentally stronger, and just the way I prepare myself and all that, I just take it to another level.

"It comes with age and growth and playing in this league and all that, and working on that of course off ice, too. I think definitely growing mentally over the years here."

[jaikorven]

Jagr seems to be a guy that just loves the game and doesn't give me the impression of being stuck up, not even a little bit. It must seem funny to him having guys get uncomfortable around him because he is just another player in his eyes. Jagr is just awesome!!

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

Apparently I've been shirking my responsibilities.

You're an institution!

[CroFlames]

They should change the hardest working Flame hat to a climbers helmet now. Gio said it was one of the best speeches he ever heard. Equating the quest for Stanley to climbing a mountain seems apt.

Plus the snake climbing the mountain in the snake thread.

[thymebalm]

Thank you Miss Teeks! Much appreciated!

[Vinny01]

Funny on Sportsnet yesterday I read an article about the Flames giving up a lot of shots and there was criticism of the Brodie-Hamonic pairing and then 2 articles up on the website there was the article praising the pairing for solid play.

I think they have been fantastic but the shots against needs to be brought down but thstnis more on the entire team than a si for d pairing.

[joejoe3]

“One of the messages I was trying to get across to the group is if you have high-performance individuals, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have a high-performance team,” said Clarke.

Oilers take note

[TurdFerguson]

Originally Posted by joejoe3

Oilers take note

Should read - “One of the messages I was trying to get across to the group is if you have ONE high-performance individual, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have a high-performance team,” said Clarke.

[old-fart]

Great thread as always Miss Teeks! Thank you for the summary.

[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

Apparently I've been shirking my responsibilities. Anyhoo.

I laughed when I saw that thread. I hope you didn't face a pay cut!

Anyways, thanks for this as always Lady Teeks, your work is definitely appreciated by many.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

They should change the hardest working Flame hat to a climbers helmet now. Gio said it was one of the best speeches he ever heard. Equating the quest for Stanley to climbing a mountain seems apt.

Plus the snake climbing the mountain in the snake thread.

It sure was for Badger Bob.

[MissTeeks]

A bonus article:

JAGR GUIDING FLAMES' YOUTH BY EXAMPLE

http://www.nhlpa.com/news/jagr-guidi...uth-by-example

After going up against Jaormir Jagr one-on-one in a recent Calgary Flames practice, defenceman Dougie Hamilton paid the future Hall of Famer a compliment – one he’s likely heard several times throughout his career.

The 6-foot-6 blueliner couldn’t help but marvel at the skills displayed by the 45-year-old forward and five-time NHL scoring champion who recently inked a one-year deal with Calgary.

When the opportunity for a brief chat came about, Hamilton, who had caught up to Jagr, proceeded to tell his new teammate what he had been thinking ever since the two-time Stanley Cup winner (with Pittsburgh) joined the Western Conference club.

“It’s definitely nice to have him here,” said Hamilton. “Just having played against him in the past, you realize how good he is and some of the things he does – you know why he’s had such an amazing career. He’s tough to get off the puck, tough to defend, he’s a big body and he has that ability to still make big plays. I experienced that in the last couple of practices.

“I said to him, ‘It’s nice that I don’t have to play against you in games any more,’” continued Hamilton. “Now, I just have to do it in practice, so I’ll take that. He’s definitely a special player. We’re all enjoying him being here.”

Jagr, who helped his native Czech Republic claim Olympic gold in 1998 and gold at the world championships in 2005 and 2010, got a chuckle out of Hamilton’s words.

“He laughed when I said it,” said the 24-year-old defenceman. “I told him he’s going to have to teach me some of his tricks. It will be fun to continue learning from him. But he’s helping us on the ice, too. He’s just not there to help us. He’s there to help us win games. He’s played well for us.”

Taking away the puck from Jagr, even in practice, is a much different story.
Still, Hamilton relishes the chance to test himself on the ice and receive a hockey education of sorts after practice is over.

“He’s been great with the young guys,” said Hamilton. “We didn’t really know what to expect coming in. He’s been awesome with the young guys, teaching us different things. That’s been great for us. You watch him, learn from him and you ask him questions. He’s probably one of the smartest guys in the hockey world. It’s a great tool for the young guys to use.”

[MissTeeks]

Game Day videos:

[DazzlinDino]

Thanks for the great reads! Appreciated Miss Teeks Thank you.

[Flashpoint]

Your threads are a big part of why CP is one stop shopping. Thank you.