D-namic duo reunited after Hamilton trade
BEIJING It has been nearly three weeks since Calgary Flames blueliner TJ Brodie last cradled his baby daughter Severn before heading west for his final training camp preparations.
A first-time father, he feels like he has missed a lot.
“It was nice to be able to be home in the summer to see all the changes while she was so young,” said the 28-year-old Brodie of the bundle of joy that he and wife Amber welcomed in late May. “She has definitely changed a lot since I’ve been gone and since the last time I’ve seen her and she’s grown, so it’s exciting to know I’m going to be able to see her again soon.”
It has been three seasons since Brodie last skated with captain (and fellow left-hander) Mark Giordano as his regular defence partner.
Now reunited, the Flames are hoping they won’t miss a beat.
“I think that chemistry is still there,” Brodie said. “I think the biggest thing is re-adjusting to playing the right side. You’re on your backhand a little bit more and by the time you pull it from backhand to forehand, sometimes you’re out of time. So just getting used to that time and space and that adjustment, I think that’s going to be the big thing.”
The Flames have done some major roster remodelling since a cringeworthy collapse in the final six weeks of the 2017-18 campaign.
In the case of their lead defence duo, it’s not so much a reno than a rewind.
Brodie and Giordano were finally starting to get their due as a top tandem when they were split by Dougie Hamilton’s arrival in 2015.
As Giordano’s sidekick, Hamilton was the NHL’s leading goalscorer among defencemen last season.
He now has a new address, though, traded to the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the draftday doozy that brought rearguard Noah Hanifin and right-winger Elias Lindholm to the Saddledome.
Hanifin and Travis Hamonic will operate as the Flames’ second pair.
The smooth-skating Brodie is back with Giordano, a close off-ice pal and his partner for the most successful stretch of his career to date.
“The last couple of years have been a little bit of a disappointment for me,” said Brodie, who posted minus-16 ratings in consecutive campaigns, the worst mark among Flames back-enders in both cases. “To try to get back to the way I was when I was with Gio, that’s important to me.”
Being back with Giordano has to be a good start.
Giordano, 34, was one of just two Flames to score during their exhibition adventure to China.
The captain struck twice in Saturday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins in Shenzhen (firstline centre Sean Monahan provided the rest of the offence, including Calgary’s lone marker in a 3-1 defeat in the rematch Wednesday in Beijing).
In what must have been an encouraging dose of deja vu for Flames fans, Brodie teed up No. 5 for the game-tying tally — a onetimer from the top of the right circle — in the final minute of their odyssey opener.
Certainly, a rekindling of that past chemistry is one of the keys to the Flames’ season.
“We just have to get better and better as camp goes on,” said Giordano, who also has an infant daughter — his second child — at home. “To get a ‘new’ partner who I’ve played with for a bunch of years is a huge advantage. But again, we need to have a good camp and make it work and be successful, so that A) we will continue to play together and B) we help our team.
“Obviously, we’re a big part of our team’s success and we know that. And we have to take that responsibility.”