Calgary Flames' Dennis Wideman, right, celebrates his goal with teammate Johnny Gaudreau during first period NHL hockey action against the Chicago Blackhawks in Calgary, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014.The Canadian Press
Once upon a time, Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving owned and operated an entire minor league – the Western Professional Hockey League – so financial statements and quarterly reports have long been part of his business DNA. And if he were to apply business jargon to his NHL team, the Flames, who hit the quarter-point of their season last week, he'd happily report they had exceeded analyst expectations, and earnings were way up.
Two of the Western Conference's big teams – the Anaheim Ducks and the Chicago Blackhawks – visited Calgary this past week, and the Flames proved they could play with them. A centre ice corps consisting of Sean Monahan, Markus Granlund, Josh Jooris and, depending on the day, one of Paul Byron, Lance Bouma, Max Reinhart or Corban Knight has proven to be more than adequate.
The Flames defencemen lead the league by far in goals – 18, six more than the next-highest teams, Boston and San Jose. The decision to sign goaltender Jonas Hiller proved prescient, stabilizing a position that had been in flux since Miikka Kiprusoff's signing. Even the one blemish on the record – taking a flyer on a one-year contract for Devin Setoguchi – has proven worthwhile as proof that the Flames pay more than just lip service to their organizational operating mantra: Nothing given, everything earned. Even with all the injuries, the underperforming Setoguchi has frequently been a press-box sitter, or a low-minutes, bottom-six forward.
Just because preseason expectations were so modest, the town is giddy with excitement over how well things have gone, which is also why Treliving's job now is to keep everything in perspective.
"First of all, we're not getting ahead of ourselves," Treliving said. "It's a really good start. The coaches have been able to establish an identity early and, for the most part, the last 10 or 12 games, we've been doing it with players we didn't expect to be here for this chunk of time right now. That's a good sign.
"To me, these [mid-season] games … are really good indicators because the big guys start to get serious. The really good teams, in the first 15 or 20 games, are usually trying to figure out who and what they are. From now going forward, they do figure that out. So for me, it's a matter of continuing to do the things that have worked for us. It's encouraging, but there's a big difference of having a good start and growing into a good team. We've still got a long ways to go, but that's the challenge for us."
Starting the season, oddsmakers had the Flames as the longest of long shots – 100 to 1 or more – to win the Stanley Cup. Recently, they've been upgraded to 40 to 1. Now, at the very least, they have played themselves into the mix.
Year over year, the biggest difference this season is the work ethic the Flames became known for a year ago has been translated into points in the standings. The reality is, there's a lot of hockey left to play and early enthusiasm can easily fade in the grind of the regular season and before the adrenalin rush of the playoff race licks in.
It is one reason why coach Bob Hartley divides the season into a series of seven-game segments, mimicking a playoff series.
"Internally, we have that seven-game mindset, and we really believe in that and follow that," defenceman Mark Giordano said. "We're in a good spot. We're over .500. It's still early. There's still a lot of time to go both ways, so we have to make sure we maintain a good mindset. If we lose one, we try to bounce right back.
"But when you get this confidence that we have going right now, I think it's really important to pile up as many points as possible to get yourselves right in that hunt – and then stay in it for as long as possible."
The Flames left Monday for Anaheim, a destination that has been an organizational Death Valley – they last won there in January, 2004. The Ducks pose another important hurdle, but according to Hartley, it really doesn't matter who the opposition is.
"Tell me how many easy games there are in an 82-game schedule," Hartley said. "They're all tough. The day you're not ready, the day you're not skating, whoever you're playing, you're not going to win.
"I believe the beauty of our team is, it's almost like tag-team wrestling. When one line is down, the three other lines are going. We've got great consistency from our blueline, and our goaltending – Hills [Hiller] and Rams [Karri Ramo], have given us great minutes.
"It's not always the same actors that are on the main stage. It seems that every challenge, we find a way to step in and get the job done."