HEART & SOUL
Matt Stajan nominated for Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
Need a lesson in taking faceoffs? Matt Stajan has taken well over 11,500 of them.
What about shooting? Stajan has hit the net 1,150 times.
Sustaining a National Hockey League career over 1,000 games? The 34-year-old, who’ll accept a silver stick on Thursday for joining an elite club of players who have hit quadruple digits, can tell you a thing or two about that. Life advice? Bring it on. The Calgary Flames pivot can also offer a few lessons in grace, professionalism, pride, passion, and a relentless work ethic. That’s more than enough to earn him a nomination for the 2018 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.
On Tuesday, Stajan was selected as the Flames’ nominee by the Calgary Chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PHWA). The award is given annually to the player who exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
“I think it means a lot when you get recognized for something like that,” Stajan said. “All we focus on as a player is the day-to-day. Over my career, I’ve just tried to do that. There’s going to be lots of ups and downs in life in hockey and you have to try and approach things the best you can, that’s been my mindset. It’s worked for me, and to be recognized by people for that is a great honour.”
Since Stajan joined the Flames on that blustery January day in 2010, a trade that sent rearguard Dion Phaneuf among other pieces to the Toronto Maple Leafs, his personal mindset and commitment to the game have been evident.
Despite being on the end of a deal that, at times, garnered plenty of negative public scrutiny, the Mississauga native pressed on. He continued to lace up his skates and go to work. He re-invented himself.
He found himself in Brent Sutter’s doghouse, played his way through it and, when Bob Hartley arrived on scene, he continued to do whatever was asked of him.
It was no different when Glen Gulutzan was hired in the summer of 2016.
“He’s accepted his role of how I wanted him to play when I got here, I put him in a penalty kill, fourth-line role,” Gulutzan said. “He accepted that and I thought he thrived at it. For me, he’s just a good veteran leader, on and off the ice.”
Gulutzan said Stajan was one of the key voices he listened to when consulting players prior to his first season as head coach of the Flames.
“When you’re coming off a 77-point season and what went right and what went wrong, in a veteran’s eyes, that becomes important for the next coach,” Gulutzan said. “He’s continued that the whole way through.
“He’s been a great pro for our hockey club.”
With a team-first mentality, Stajan has also approached his own role with pride. Battling to stay in the lineup this season, he was relegated to a checking, fourth-line role and assumed the responsibility and continued to be accountable. Through winning seasons and losing ones, through the highs of qualifying for the Stanley Cup playoffs and not — like the 2017-18 campaign — Stajan has been consistent.
“It was just the way I was brought up,” Stajan said. “I was never the best player as a kid. I had to work for everything. When you get to the best league in the world, I didn’t change my mindset even when things are going really well and you have a good season, you can’t get too high on anything because it changes quick.
“The same can be said when you’re going through a tough time and it seems like nothing is going right, you just push through. Find a way. Stick with it and eventually it’s going to turn.”
On March 21, he celebrated his 1,000th NHL game and joined the NHL’s elite “silver stick club” and became only the 319th player in league history to hit the milestone.
Through 1,001 NHL games, Stajan has scored 146 goals and 266 assists for 412 points and registered 522 penalty minutes. In eight seasons with Calgary, he has skated in 555 outings. Only 12 players have suited up more often in a Flames sweater.
Stajan and his wife Katie have also poured themselves into the Calgary community. As an Ambassador for the Alberta Children’s Hospital, the Stajans have purchased season tickets for children and families at the hospital to attend every Flames home game. They are avid participants in Children’s Hospital events including making regular visits to rooms and weekday activities. Katie Stajan also helps with the planning and organization of the hospital’s largest fundraiser, the Candy Cane Gala and Children’s Hospital radio-thon, among many other charitable committees.
After tragically losing their newborn son Emerson in 2014, the Stajans helped raise over $100,000 for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Foothills Hospital through a personally hosted event called “Night Under the Stars.”
On the ice, Stajan never loses sight of the importance of this state of the art facility and continues to donate $200 for every point he earns each year. In recognition of he and Katie’s generosity, the Foothills NICU recently re-named one of their emergency pods “The Emerson Stajan NICU Emergency Pod.”
Along with the Children’s Hospital, Stajan has also been involved with the Ronald McDonald House and is highly active in assisting with various Flames community relations events at numerous schools, minor hockey actives and charitable visits. He has been a spokesperson and ambassador for “You Can Play” and the Calgary Flames Pride activities including the Calgary Pride Parade annually in September. Meanwhile, Katie spearheads many of the Better Halves’ initiatives including the annual Toy Drive and Tiny Footprints Gala.
Stajan is a recipient of both the Ralph T. Scurfield Humanitarian Award (2013) and the J.R. Bud McCaig Award (2014), each awarded annually to a Flames player who best exemplifies qualities such as perseverance, determination, compassion and respect both on and off the ice.
“It’s just that mindset you have — and it’s helped me through good times and bad,” he said. “I’ve never wavered or questioned how I was approaching things. I always knew I had to work hard and go after it … all you can do is go to work every day and do your best.”
The overall winner of the Masterton Trophy will be selected in a poll by PHWA members, with the top three earning nominations before the NHL awards in June.