CALGARY-BORN EAVES WORKING OUT WELL FOR DUCKS
This season’s best trade deadline pickup has given Anaheim’s top line a big boost
Over the course of his 12-year career, Patrick Eaves has worn six different NHL jerseys.
But despite being born in Calgary, he swears up and down he never got a chance to wear Flames silks, even when he was a toddler.
“Nope, I was really young,” said the 32-year-old Ducks forward whose father, Mike, played for the Flames from 1983-86. “I don’t really remember Calgary too much, but that’s where I was born. I just remember playing at the rink when I was little during practice days.”
Oh, there’s one other thing he remembers fondly about Calgary:
“My grandma,” he beams, through one of the biggest beards in the NHL.
“This series works out well because I get to see her.”
Things certainly have worked out extremely well of late for Eaves, who is one of the most surprising success stories of the NHL season after scoring 32 goals between two teams.
Before anyone in Calgary gets too sentimental and wants to embrace Eaves as one of their own, locals should be mindful of the fact Eaves is one of the biggest threats to end the Flames’ playoff run early.
Filling in admirably on the Ducks’ top line after coach Randy Carlyle demoted a struggling Corey Perry, Eaves has been the league’s best trade deadline acquisition to date.
Riding shotgun with Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rackell, Eaves has scored 11 times in 20 games with the Quack Pack to complete a campaign in which he scored 12 more goals than his previous high of 20 goals as a rookie with the Ottawa Senators 11 years ago.
Nice time to be an unrestricted free agent.
“The opportunity I’ve been given has been the main thing,” said Eaves, who scored in each of the last two regular-season games against Calgary.
“I’ve gotten to play with phenomenal players from the start of the year.”
In Dallas, where he started the season, his linemates were Jamie Benn and Tyler Sequin. Success with them set the table for a trade deadline swap out west where his top-line assignment in Anaheim has helped the Ducks go 14-3-3 since his arrival. The price was steep — a second-round pick that turns into a first-rounder if the Ducks make the conference final — but GM Bob Murray would surely do it all over.
“Sometimes it works and sometimes these things don’t,” said Getzlaf of trade deadline rentals like Eaves.
“Obviously that’s kudos to our scouting staff and GM — they brought somebody in they thought could fit in and Patty has done a great job. He’s a great person in general. ... He’s been a big plus.”
Fitting in seamlessly on a Ducks team that emphasizes brawn over all else, his forte revolves around being the same sort of net-front presence Perry has perfected.
Prior to this season, the only way most fans would have recognized the journeyman winger is because of the Brett Burns-like beard he’s been sporting since 2015 when his wife told him to grow it.
“I’m well-trained,” the product of Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school in Faribault, Minn., said with a laugh.
Eaves’ brief time in Calgary was limited because his American-born father left town for the U.S. every summer. Upon retirement, dad embarked on a coaching career that saw him follow up several NHL assistantcoaching gigs with a 14-year stint as coach of his alma mater at the University of Wisconsin. (Eaves coached the Badgers to a national title in 2006 with Brian Elliott as his starter.)
“He’s going to cheer for me, I’m assuming,” said a laughing Eaves when asked if perhaps his father’s allegiance would be torn due to his Flames connection. “We still have some good friends in Calgary.”
Despite leaving the last game of the season with an injury, Eaves was in the starting lineup for the opening game of the series against Calgary Thursday for his 77th playoff game, which included stints in Dallas, Detroit, Carolina and Ottawa. His experience simply adds to that of a veteran group that present so many obstacles for the Flames.
“He’s meshed really well with Getz and Racks,” said Ryan Kesler. “He’s just always open. He’s a smart player and he can shoot the puck.”
As versatile on the ice as he is at border crossings.
“I’m dual,” said a smiling Eaves, a former U.S. National team member, when asked of his citizenship.
“He’s American, obviously,” added Kesler, a Yank.
Debate all you want, but it probably won’t take long for the city in which he was born to turn on him.