CBC-Sports

Giordano the beneficiary of Phaneuf's departure

February 4, 2010 10:02 AM | Posted by   Cassie Campbell  

There is no question the Calgary Flames had to do something as their season was going nowhere. From contending for the Northwest Division title to now out of a playoff spot, one of the core four had to go. It wasn't going to be their captain, Jarome Iginla, or their best player, goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, so it was between defencemen Robyn Regehr and Dion Phaneuf.

In my opinion, Phaneuf was not an issue in the dressing room, but his trade happened because general manager Darryl Sutter could get more assets for his team than he could by trading Regehr. I am sure that Sutter didn't want to trade either player, but was left with no choice based on his team's performance.

Sutter was vocal with his leadership group in a closed-door meeting this week and had to be disgusted with Monday's 3-0 loss to Philadelphia the day after the Phaneuf trade occurred, but there is one player other than Kiprusoff he has to be happy with, Mark Giordano.

The undrafted defenceman's play this season no doubt took some of the sting out of Sutter having to trade one of his top defenceman. He simply has been the Flames' most consistent blue-liner and has provided a solid two-way game. The Toronto native comes at a great price at $1 million US for this season and just over $1 million for the 2010-11 campaign.

He gives credit for his quick development to former NHL defenceman Danny Markov. He and Giordano were defence partners in the 2007-08 season when both played in Russia with Dynamo Moscow. Markov, the hard working and consummate professional was a perfect stay-at-home defenceman that allowed Giordano to create more offensively. That same season, he spent time with Team Canada at the world championships and although he didn't play a game, getting that phone call from Steve Yzerman was a plus for his career.

No doubt the increased ice time that Giordano will receive with the absence of Phaneuf will continue to help his game

THE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I'll admit, I almost crashed my car this week when I heard Darryl Sutter's quote as I was laughing so hard. A Calgary reporter asked him what he was doing in Texas the morning the Dion Phaneuf trade went down. (great question), His answer…" I was hanging out with some Texas Rangers trying to round up some bad guys."

" Previous Post | Main
  •