If scars and scabs were stats, Travis Hamonic would be amongst league leaders in leakage.
On this day, the rugged Calgary Flames defenceman is sporting freshly dried blood and a version of road rash on the right side of his chin thanks to a Mike Cammalleri elbow.
On his forehead is a large, spectacularly coloured bruise from a Darnell Nurse punch he earned mere seconds after he tried addressing Cammalleri’s gift.
Several stitches peek out of a cut on the left side of his bottom lip, courtesy of a cross-check he absorbed in Ottawa last week.
None of this is to mention the scrapes on his neck, the abrasion on his lip or the three front teeth in place of the ones he’s “had knocked out so many times I can’t even keep count.”
“I’m always nicked up somewhere,” chuckled Hamonic, whose latest battle wounds came just after a recent family photo shoot with wife, Stephanie, who is eight months pregnant with their first child.
“My wife was saying it was a good thing we took the pictures before that happened. The way I play and the nature of the business, you’re going to take a couple every once in awhile and you give a couple.
“I’ve already got a good wife, so I can get as ugly as I want now. But middle of the summer I get a nice tan and I look pretty good actually. I swear.”
[snippet id=3918715]
Mere talk of Hamonic’s hamburger-ed grill had assistant general manager Craig Conroy remembering coach Darryl Sutter’s take on the subject.
“Darryl used to say all the time, ‘Hey, there’s not a scratch on your face – you’re not playing hard enough. Hey pretty boy, don’t be afraid to put a mark on your face,’” laughed Conroy, who still sports a few zippers of his own.
“Hammer’s face, that’s usually a good thing. Not for him, but for us. He’s playing hard.”
It’s a normal cut count for the 27-year-old this time of year, which is about the only constant in a season of great change.
Traded to Calgary at last summer’s draft for a first-round draft pick and two seconds, Hamonic arrived to great expectations.
Many around the hockey world suggested his addition put Calgary in the same conversation with Nashville and Anaheim in terms of being the league’s most vaunted defence.
However, as the Flames’ perch outside the playoff picture can attest, things haven’t gone as swimmingly as anyone hoped, prompting critics to suggest Hamonic’s play has been underwhelming.
Fact is, anyone who has watched him play alongside T.J. Brodie on the team’s second pairing should know what he brings to the table can’t be measured via stats.
“I was worried at the beginning of the year about all the expectations because it does take time for guys to gel with their new partner and the city,” said Conroy.
“He’s done everything we thought he would do. You saw him fight Nurse the other night. He plays hard. He does everything.
“He was never going to put up a lot of points – it was never what he was supposed to do. Because a lot was given up people are going to expect a lot in return but we’re happy with what he’s done.
“We wanted him to be a hard, shutdown defenceman. He sticks up for this teammates, his plus-minus is good, he moves the puck and he competes hard.”
As his face can attest.
[snippet id=3816507]
“I think what makes you a good pro at your job, whether you are a teacher, lawyer or whatever, is knowing what you do well and fitting in and being in that role,” said the 6-foot-2, 205-pound product of a farming community in St. Malo, Man.
“I don’t need to put up 50 points on this team – we have guys who do that. I have to come in and be solid and hard to play against and good on the penalty kill, and a leader and a good teammate.
“Those are the boxes I check whenever I leave the rink to evaluate myself.”
Calgarians are well aware the freewheeling Brodie can be an adventure out there, which obviously made for an adjustment period for Hamonic.
Keep in mind, he not only played on the same Islanders team for the first eight years of his NHL career, he also did so under the same coach, Jack Capuano.
“I knew what everybody was going to do at all times,” said Hamonic, who has two years left on a very cap-friendly deal for $3.85 million annually.
“So, yeah, the first 10-12 games you don’t want to admit it was a feeling-out process, but the way my teammates play and the different system here the first 10 or 12 games I wasn’t at my best. It takes a while to find your voice and place on the team and around late November I really started feeling comfortable on the ice and in the dressing room.
“I have a pretty loud voice in the room and I like to think I’m involved in most conversations going on.”
Hamonic’s acquisition has been discussed more of late as the 2018 first-rounder sent New York’s way would be a lottery pick if the Flames miss the playoffs, theoretically upping the ante even more.
He insists he’s never felt added pressure because of the cost involved in getting him here, nor does he pay attention to critics.
“I’m pretty comfortable in my own skin and I know who I am as a person and a player and I feel like I’ve played some pretty good hockey here,” said Hamonic, who has one goal, 10 assists and 70 penalty minutes this year.
“Trust me, I watch every shift that I play so I’m my hardest critic and I think I’ve been playing my best hockey. For me, if I’m not getting noticed, I’m doing my thing. I know what I need to do and any outside noise is just that – noise.
“You’re never as good as they say you are and never as bad as they say you are. If someone thinks that because I’m not putting up 35 or 40 points a year that I’m a terrible player, well, I challenge them to watch the game a little bit closer.”
They might also be wise to keep their head up.
[relatedlinks]
