Raymond looks forward to life after Calgary
About his new coach, whom he knows well, Mason Raymond raves.
How the man is honest and direct.
Fun-loving and wellmeaning.
About his old coach? Descriptors, if he’d cop to any, would be somewhat less than sunny.
Of course, this stuff does happen.
People don’t always get along, even in the nice-and-neat hockey world. But this spat festered. Raymond and Calgary Flames’ then-skipper Bob Hartley fell out — and stayed out — for nearly two seasons. Now they’re both gone. “I don’t think it was any hidden secret — Bob and I didn’t see eye to eye,” Raymond says after skating in Tuesday’s informal session at WinSport, where a couple of dozen professionals — from Jon Gillies to Ladislav Smid, from Mark Jankowski to Rasmus Andersson, from Troy Brouwer to Matt Stajan — had taken part. “That was my biggest obstacle. I tried my best to make it work. It didn’t happen. On the brighter side, I learned a lot … as terrible and as awful as it was at times.
“Were they my funnest few years of hockey? Probably not. But I learned a heck of a lot in those two years. It definitely made me a better person off the ice. You hope that you can translate that onto the ice.”
Now Raymond is itching to get to Anaheim, for a reunion with the aforementioned skipper, Randy Carlyle, for whom he scored 19 times in 2013-14 in Toronto. (Presumably, it’s merely a bonus that his new employers are Flames wreckers.)
“I thoroughly enjoyed Randy,” he says. “He was a big reason why I was able to go (to Anaheim) — he vouched for me.”
Raymond’s time with the Flames, however, was marked — defined, actually — by his extended residence in Hartley’s doghouse, where there are no squatters. Once you’re in, you’re in — ask Blair Jones, ask Sven Baertschi — always with room for more bodies.
His ties these days to the Flames are limited to a white practice smock and black pants.
Already, he’s wearing a Ducks helmet.
“I’ve moved on, I’ve carried on,” Raymond, who turns 31 in a couple of weeks. “I come out here and still skate with these guys. I’ve made good friends. But I’ve moved on. If you’re going to dwell on that … maybe there’s more of a sore spot with him or somebody else, I don’t know. But for me, I’ve moved on. It was an obstacle. It’s old news.”
And after such a fruitful start, too.
In his first taste of the Battle of Alberta — only his secondever spin for the Flames — the swift-skating forward scalded the home-ice Edmonton Oilers with a hat trick. Through seven dates, he scored five times.
But, marginalized, he ended the campaign on a goalless stretch of 25 games, including playoffs. Last winter? Even worse. Four goals with the Flames before clearing waivers and being banished to Stockton, Calif.
“I wasn’t playing where I wanted to be,” says Raymond. “I’m not going to elaborate. We could go on forever about it. It just didn’t work. There were many factors — Bob was one of them.”
Pressed for insight into the stormy relationship with the skipper, such as the first signs of trouble, Raymond declined to provide details. “I’ll leave it there,” he says politely.
“What happened, happened. There could be many things. You could point the finger a million ways. But, at the end of the day, I’ve got to take responsibility myself.”
Brad Treliving, himself, did take responsibility.
On May 3, the general manager fired the coach he’d extended.
On June 29, he bought out the left-winger he’d signed (to a three-year deal worth $9.5 million).
“Kind of too little, too late,” says Raymond, considering the likelihood of him remaining with the Flames after Hartley had scrammed.
“Did I know (a buyout) was possible? Sure, I knew it was possible. So when it happened I wasn’t super-surprised. Do I feel I still had more to give here? Yeah. Again, that’s come, that’s gone. Was it a relief? I don’t know if I’d say relief.” Raymond did not twist for long.
The Ducks quickly reached out, offering a one-year (twoway) deal worth $675,000 at the NHL level. The Cochrane native, acknowledging his less-than-hotcake status — “I wouldn’t say (interest) was high, like when I signed two years ago” — leaped. He joins his fourth team. “Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned in Calgary,” says Raymond. “Met a few hurdles — crossed a few, but maybe didn’t cross enough to continue my path here. But that’s hockey. That’s life. You move on, get ready for the next opportunity.
“I’ve got to where I am in my career because I’ve stuck to my strengths and, more importantly, believed in myself.
“I need to continue to do that to hopefully stretch out my career a little longer.”