Calgary Flames Daily: Mark Giordano, Jaromir Jagr, old friends

Happy Halloween everyone! Let’s check out some (spooky) news surrounding the Calgary Flames over the last 24 hours.

Alright, we lied, we don’t exactly have any spooky news. But we wanted to get into the spirit. The Calgary Flames don’t play a game until Thursday, so they have a few days off for some fun Halloween festivities. And I’m glad that the Flames finally got another Swede so Mikael Backlund and his girlfriend can go as ABBA with another couple (Eddie Lack and his wife).

But let’s talk about some hockey fun, now. Yesterday, one of our writers, Jonathan, put out a piece about how Flames captain Mark Giordano doesn’t get the credit he deserves. And it just so happens that he was talked about later yesterday as well by Calgary Sun.

Every night, Gio puts his body on the line to block shots and help his team out. As Jonathan pointed out, he’s second in the league in blocked shots right now with 35. And over the last three seasons, he’s consistently blocked over 150+ shots a night.

Related Story: Mark Giordano does not get enough credit

Via Calgary Herald:

“The first three or four games, it seemed like Gio (Flames captain Mark Giordano) had eight or nine blocks in every game,” marvelled netminder Mike Smith. “I was like, ‘Dude, you’re going to take my job soon if you keep doing that.’ ”“I think our captain is right there in the top of that category because one, he’s playing against the best players every night, and two, he’s killed probably more penalties than any other defenceman in the National Hockey League,” responded Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan.“If my sixth defenceman is leading the league in blocked shots, playing against the third and fourth line, that’s concerning. When my top defenceman, playing against the top players every night, is blocking a few more shots than other guys, that probably comes with the territory of defending the best guys in the league.”

He didn’t get captaincy for no reason, I guess. Good on him, let’s just hope it doesn’t come with consequences.

“Unreal. It’s something special, to be 45 years old and still playing.”

Let’s also talk about 45-year-old hockey legend, Jaromir Jagr. When he joined the Calgary Flames, fans were ecstatic. And he has some old pals who are impressed with how long he’s been in the league (he could potentially break the record for most amount of games played if he doesn’t get injured again). One friend includes Robert Reichel.

Via Calgary Flames:

“We played against each other since we’re six, seven, eight years old,” says Robert Reichel.“We play together, start together, on the Czech Under-16 team, then the Czech league and on the national team.“I retired in 2010 ( from his hometown team in Litvinov ) so to still see him here, still playing … it’s something amazing.“When we were young, he was always a guy people were talking about. And they’re still talking about him.“Unreal.”“You have to be in such good shape. And you have to love the game. It surprises me he’s still in the league. When he’s younger, he try and score goals, make plays, get assists, win games by himself. Now he’s more of a team player, in my opinion. He’s older. He won two Cups when he was young and after that, nothing.“He wants to win again.“It’s something special, to be 45 years old and still playing.”

Flames Tweet of the day

Some links surrounding the Flames

Block party: Flames captain Mark Giordano puts his body on the line for goaltenders (Calgary Sun).

‘It’s something amazing’. (Calgary Flames).

2017 Pumpkin carving night (Calgary Flames).

Some links surrounding hockey and the NHL

Streit announces retirement from hockey (NHL.com).

Down Goes Brown: 10 truly frightening 2017–18 NHL starts (Sportsnet).

Lightning score eight to help Vasilevskiy set record (NHL.com).

Gotta See It: NHL logos reimagined for Halloween (Sportsnet).

Next: Flames special teams: History repeats itself

That’s all in today’s Flames Daily! Stay safe tonight from the scary monsters (by that, I mean Ryan Kesler).