Team eager to bond during road trip to China
New-look team strives to build lasting foundation as camp opens in China
Stretching more than 21,000 km of ancient brick-work, the Great Wall of China is one of the architectural marvels of the world.
What better backdrop for the Calgary Flames, with a new bench staff and several key summer additions, to lay a sturdy foundation for what they hope will be a turnaround season and lengthy playoff run.
“Any other training camp when you do it in your home city, you break up into three groups usually,” said Flames defenceman Travis Hamonic. “You kind of don’t really see half the guys on your (regular) team, for the most part, until 10 days into camp. With a whole new staff, I think it gives everyone a chance to get on the road and bond.
“When you go into a season and you already have that camaraderie and bonding and chemistry built among teammates, that can really carry over onto the ice. It’s an aspect of our game and our sport that is overlooked. When you have a chance to get on the road and not just on the road but going to China, it can really help a team a lot.”
That’s what the Flames are banking on.
This isn’t a cast of prospects or PTOs travelling to China for a pair of pre-season dates against the Boston Bruins next Saturday in Shenzhen and Sept. 19 in Beijing.
This is the Flames’ core group. In fact, their roster — announced Friday — looks a lot like what you should expect when the games start to count in early October.
It’s in China that we’ll get a first hint of who will ride shotgun on right wing with the dynamic duo of Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.
We’ll get a sense of whether TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano, after skating separately for most of the past three winters, can again click on the top defence pairing.
Poolies will certainly be taking note of the power play personnel.
“I think it’s going to be outstanding. It’s a good opportunity for us,” said Flames head coach Bill Peters, one of many new faces at the Saddledome. “It’s unique because usually when you’re in your own building for training camp, you have two or three teams. You will have 70 guys. When we’re over there, we’re going to have a group of 26.
“So selfishly, as a coach, instead of sitting there and running two or three groups every day, you have one group. It’s a little bit easier for us as coaches, but it also allows us to do a bit more and to lay a solid foundation for our team.
“But in saying that, too, the story I always hear is (Brock) Boeser didn’t go to China last year with the Canucks. He stayed behind, played lots of games, lit it up in the pre-season and then made the team and had a great year. Same thing for our guys. Just because you don’t come to China doesn’t mean that you are not in our plans or in our thoughts. You just get a better opportunity, as a younger guy, to stay behind and play in situations that you wouldn’t in China.”
The itinerary for Calgary’s travelling troupe includes four practices, those two tune-ups against the Bruins — officially, the O.R.G. China Games — and an off-day opportunity for sightseeing and selfies at the Great Wall of China.
The Flames’ longest roadie during their regular-season slate is a four-stops-in-six-nights junket. This exhibition excursion spans nine days.
In that sense, this is the ultimate team-builder, and they ’re optimistic that it comes at a perfect time.
“I think the best time during the hockey season is when you’re on the road,” said Monahan, who piled up a career-high 64 points last winter despite being so dinged up that he required four separate surgeries after being shut down late in the season. “You basically spend day and night with the guys on your team, you fly together, you play cards, and you get to know each other. That’s when the real bonds kind of happen. So to start a season on that note is going to be huge.
“We’ll get to know a lot of each other and what guys get moody and whatnot. I think it’s going to be a great experience. I’m looking forward to it.”
Calgary’s general manager, Brad Treliving, was understandably in a foul mood after the Flames plummeted out of the playoff race during the home-stretch of the 201718 campaign, with just seven wins over their final 24 contests.
He axed head coach Glen Gulutzan and hired Peters as his replacement. (Geoff Ward arrives at the Saddledome as an associate coach, while Ryan Huska was promoted from the Flames’ farm club in Stockton and rounds out the bench staff as an assistant.)
Treliving’s shakeup continued with a draft-day blockbuster with the Carolina Hurricanes. He welcomed a pair of young-but-already-experienced pieces in defenceman Noah Hanifin and centre/wing Elias Lindholm, while shipping out top-pairing blue-liner Dougie Hamilton, rugged forward Micheal Ferland and an intriguing prospect in collegian Adam Fox.
The Flames were busy again during the free-agent frenzy, signing right-wingers James Neal and Austin Czarnik and right-handed faceoff ace Derek Ryan.
There are eight goners from the opening-night roster last fall.
That’s a lot of turnover for a 23man workforce.
“There are a lot of new faces here, and I think it’s going to be a great time for all of us to get to know each other a bit and connect as a team,” said Hanifin, still only 21 and recently inked to a six-year contract extension. “It’ll be a unique experience, for sure. I don’t think anyone on the team has ever been to China, but we’re all excited.”
It is, indeed, a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience, even if it is primarily a business trip.
“The way things are with the world, you never know. How often do you get a chance to travel to China, period?” said Hamonic, a new father with a knack for recognizing the big picture.
“And, to be able to do it with your team and to have training camp there, that’s just a whole different experience. The way that works, to see China and experience it in a short amount of time. When you can do that with your team, it’s exciting.
“But I think on a personal level, you’ll be 50 or 60 years old and who knows what the world’s landscape will be at that time? To say you’ve been to China and visited and had training camp there, it’s something I think in the long run, it’s going to be pretty cool.”
Not as cool, for these guys anyway, as having your name engraved on the Stanley Cup.
That’s the ultimate goal for the Flames.
They’re hoping Shenzhen and Beijing — and the Great Wall of China, of course — will be the first stops on a special journey.