Calgary — It happens every year — the perpetual, ongoing, never-ending search to find someone to play centre and/or left wing with Jarome Iginla, and perhaps take some of the scoring pressure off the Calgary Flames' captain and best forward.
This year's primary candidate for the job, Alex Tanguay, came from the Colorado Avalanche amid great fanfare, after he posted 78 points in only 71 games last season, which would have made him the Flames' leading scorer had he done it in Calgary. Tanguay is almost a point-a-game player at the NHL level (400 points in 450 career games going into the season), so it seemed logical that he would find a home on an offensively challenged Flames' team that signed him to a three-year, $15.75 million contract and would give him every chance to play in an offensive role.
After 11 games, however, it isn't working out according to plan — at least not yet. Tanguay has been on and off the top line; has just six points in that span; and frankly, none of those have had much of an impact on the direction of a game that was hanging in the balance.
Is it Tanguay? Did he suddenly just lose the touch? Or is it the system in Calgary, which begins with an emphasis on aggressive fore-checking, body contact, cycling down low and otherwise making life miserable for an opposing team? Once again, the Flames are among the lowest-scoring teams in the NHL, 14th overall in the conference, bottom five in the league, heading into Friday's date with the equally troubled Columbus Blue Jackets.
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Historically, for whatever reason, as soon as a slumping scorer departs Calgary, it seems as if he finds his offensive touch again, at least in the short term. Consider all the players that passed through Cowtown the past four years - Marc Savard, Chris Drury, Craig Conroy, Steve Reinprecht, even Dean McAmmond — all of whom went on to produce far higher numbers in their next NHL home than during their time with the Flames.
Savard may be the most egregious example. Given away for a Russian prospect named Ruslan Zainullin, Savard scored 196 points career games for the Atlanta Thrashers before leaving this year as an unrestricted free agent. There were all kinds of issues relating to conditioning and work ethic during Savard's time, mostly under ex-coach Greg Gilbert, but he blossomed as a scorer as soon as he left town.
Drury, acquired from Buffalo for Reinprecht and depth defenceman Rhett Warrener, had a 30-goal season for the Sabres last year and is currently tied for 10th spot in the NHL scoring race. Drury originally joined the Flames in a trade with Colorado that cost them up-and-coming defenceman Derek Morris. Morris never got much better and was eventually farmed out to Phoenix, but Drury had a decent first season in Calgary, before he was shipped out to Buffalo (nominally for contract reasons).
Reinprecht was a poor fit with the Flames as well, so he was traded to Phoenix last year (where he put up 23 points in 28 games for the Coyotes after managing just 29 in 52 for Calgary). The player they received in return, Mike Leclerc, had five points in 15 games for Calgary after scoring 21 in 35 for Phoenix — and is currently out of work.
Right now, that trade stands as Drury even-up for Warrener. Nice, eh?
Conroy is off to a terrible start this season in Los Angeles, prompting speculation that the rebuilding Kings will eventually trade him to a contender, but last year, Iginla's former centre managed a wholly respectable 66 points in 78 games. As for McAmmond, who played mostly left wing on Iginla's line when he was in Calgary, he was third on the St. Louis Blues' scoring list last season (37 points in 78 games) and has been a decent fit as the Ottawa Senators' third-line centre.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with asking a player to commit to a defence-style first, which is the way they play in Calgary nowadays. It's how the Flames won a division last year and advanced to the Stanley Cup final in 2004. It's just means you may need to temper the offensive expectations — and that even in the new NHL, with its emphasis on speed, attack and scoring, some teams will stick with a tried-and-true, black-and-blue approach to winning.
For better or for worse — and in Calgary's case at the moment, it doesn't take a genius to figure out which is which for the slumping NHL team.
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