Hamonic eager for return to blue-line
Injured defenceman hopes to be on ice Monday night against visiting Blues
Travis Hamonic watched Thursday’s 6-3 Calgary Flames win over the Detroit Red Wings from the press box.
While some injured players choose to watch from the dressing room area following treatment or workouts, the 27-yearold defenceman who is dealing with a lower-body injury prefers to get a vantage point from above.
“When you watch those games from up top, it’s a whole different view,” Hamonic was saying on Sunday following his first full practice since the injury last week. “When I’m out, I try to do that to get some different perspective for when you’re on the ice.”
He also noticed some areas of the game that need to be cleaned up.
“A couple weeks ago, we weren’t really scoring more than a couple a game,” Hamonic said. “But then we weren’t giving up much, it’s the ebbs and flows of the season, I guess. But if you talk to Gully (coach Glen Gulutzan) and most guys, they’d prefer 2-1 games where you really don’t give up much. From a coaching standpoint, you’d rather see a 2-1 game than a 6-4 game.
“Defensively, we want to try and reel it in as a group. We don’t want to be giving up four goals and having to win games 5-4 or 6-4.”
Hamonic could potentially be a factor in helping the Flames (9-70) right some of their wrongs on Monday as they wrap up their seven-game homestand against the St. Louis Blues (7 p.m., Sportsnet West, Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
Although he was skating with Matt Bartkowski instead of his regular defence partner T.J. Brodie — Brodie has been skating with Michael Stone since Hamonic’s injury — on Sunday at the Scotiabank Saddledome, it sounds like the Flames are close to reactivating the blue-liner from the injured reserve list.
“I’ll say this,” Hamonic said. “I felt really good today. But obviously, I’ll talk with our docs and trainers and I can’t say enough good things about the work they’ve done for me. But it’ll ultimately be me telling Gully how I feel and he’ll make the call.”
The Flames head coach said he’ll make a firm decision after Monday’s morning skate.
“If he’s ready to go, he’ll come in,” Gulutzan said. “He said to me he was feeling good on the ice (Sunday). We’ll see how he is (Monday).”
Hamonic was injured at practice on Nov. 4.
“I can give you an update. I don’t know if I will though,” Hamonic said with a smile. “I feel good. We’ve been hard at it for the past week. The medical staff — (Flames athletic coach) Kent (Kolbelka) and RVA (strength coach Ryan Van Asten) — have spent a lot of time with me during the week to get ready and I feel like I’m back where my body needs to be.
“(The injury) was kind of one of those weird things. I was skating and missed a step when I was getting going. But it’s a long year and hopefully that’s the last of it.”
The medical staff ... have spent a lot of time with me during the week to get ready and I feel like I’m back where my body needs to be.