Prior to arriving in Calgary in early February, Brayden Pachal had played a grand total of 29 NHL games.
By the time the Flames finish up their quick two-game road trip on Tuesday when they take on the Nashville Predators, he’ll have played that many this season alone.
Add that to the 33 games he played for the Flames at the end of last season, and it’s pretty obvious that Pachal has proven his value as an NHL player to the organization.
It’s been quiet, but while the Flames have rotated through Tyson Barrie, Jake Bean and Joel Hanley as his partner on their third defensive pairing, Pachal has gone about his business and played in every single game this year.
And in the words of head coach Ryan Huska, that’s made him invaluable.
“He’s found his niche where he knows there was something missing on our backend and he’s filled it every night. He is our most physical defenceman and he tries to be hard to play against all the time,” Huska explained. “I think what makes him good in that role is he knows who he is. A lot of times we see a younger player and they think there’s something else and their game gets away from it a little bit.
“He has a great understanding of who he is as a player and what he needs to bring to the table on a nightly basis to help the team win. Because he has that mindset, he’s made himself invaluable for us and that’s why he’s been able to stay in the lineup for as long as he has.”
Heading into Sunday’s game against the Stars in Dallas, Pachal is third on the team in hits, with 61, but he’s the top defenceman in hits-per-60-minutes, averaging 9.47 minutes.
He isn’t being asked to contribute a tonne on the offensive end and has recorded only one assist so far this season, but he’s playing a specific role for the Flames.
It’s a role he knows well. It’s not a job that is going to see him leading many post-game highlight packages, but that’s never been his game, even dating back to his WHL days with the Prince Albert Raiders.
“I never played power-play or anything in junior, I was more playing against the top lines and shutting them down and playing hard and physical and simple,” Pachal explained. “I think my junior coach kind of instilled that in me and showed me that was going to be my path to make it in this league.
“I think I played five or six years in the minors and I feel like I paid my dues and learned a lot while I was there, but when you get here and continue to get more games under your belt you just get more confident and more comfortable to play at this level and I feel like that’s kind of what we’re seeing with me.”
The Flames coaching staff has shown confidence in Pachal since Day 1. He was picked up off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights in early February, at a time when players being traded away from Calgary was dominating the headlines.
Pachal played his first game for the Flames four days after being acquired and has never really left the lineup since, becoming a fixture on the team’s third defensive pairing.
“We know what we’re going to get out of him,” Huska said. “That’s probably the most important thing.”
Stepping away
The Flames announced on Sunday morning that assistant coach Brad Larsen will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team to attend to a family matter.
Larsen joined the team this summer after spending nine seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets, including a stint as head coach.