Calgary Flames: Five Pairing Options for T.J. Brodie
By Ramina Shlah
This off-season, the Calgary Flames need three things: A solid goaltender, a couple of bottom-six wingers, and a defence pairing option for T.J. Brodie. Let’s look at some options for Brodie.
Like I said, the Calgary Flames have two major problems they need to address: a starting goaltender and a top-four defenceman to play alongside T.J. Brodie (The Flames also need a couple of bottom-six wingers, but that’s the least of their priorities right now). In the 2014-2015 season, Brodie and Mark Giordano were unstoppable and arguably one of the best defence duos in the league.
But it’s not 2015 anymore and things changed.
In the 2015-2016 season, people were hopeful for that pairing. But they somewhat fell apart. Along with the entire team basically. Then this season rolled around and the defence was a little better. I say that with a grain of salt because even though Giordano and Dougie Hamilton were a dynamic pairing, we all know how the season started out (cough cough Nicklas Grossmann cough cough).
But luckily for Brodie, who had Dennis Wideman basically bring him down most of the season, the Flames made a trade for Michael Stone and things drastically improved for not only Brodie but the entire team. However, we’re not quite sure yet if Stone is good enough to be and remain a top-four defenceman to be Brodie’s partner. On one hand, he was decent and good enough at the time for a top-four pairing, but on the other hand, basically anything at the time was better than Dennis Wideman (who Flames are finally free of).
That being said, let’s look at five defence options for the Flames to play alongside Brodie.