Joel Hanley totalled nearly as much ice time Saturday night as he did during the entire month of October.
That stat illustrates his rise from spare part to significant part for the Calgary Flames.
Hanley, who was the Flames’ most frequent healthy scratch at the start of the season, logged a career-high 23:55 in a nail-biting shutout victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Hockey Night in Canada.
“I got caught out there at the end and I couldn’t get off the ice, so that pumped up the minutes a bit,” Hanley said with a smile. “But yeah, it feels good. And just getting the win, that’s the biggest thing.”
Who would have thought, back in the fall, that Hanley would hobble off the ice after a blocked shot and the crowd at the Saddledome would be laser-focused on the home bench, nervously waiting to see if No. 44 would be alright for his next shift?
That’s precisely what happened in the early stages of Saturday’s third period, when a heavy slapper from Emil Heineman tagged this no-frills defenceman on the inside of his left foot.
Thankfully, he didn’t miss a beat.
If you were paying attention during the recent six-game road trip, you already know Hanley has emerged as a key piece on the Flames’ blue-line, an unlikely minute-muncher in their unexpected push for a playoff spot.
Yeah, the same Hanley who was a healthy scratch for all but two games through the first quarter of this season.
Yeah, the same Hanley who suited up only twice in October and four times in November.
It’s not uncommon to see an up-and-comer carve out an increased role as winter wears on, but that is seldom the trajectory for a 33-year-old journeyman.
Hanley has, however, proven to be the most reliable and most predictable sidekick to MacKenzie Weegar on Calgary’s second pair. He deserves a heap of credit on several fronts — for his positive and professional approach to whatever role he happens to be in, for understanding the limitations of his game and not trying to do too much, for not being distracted or disheartened by the rumours that the Flames were looking in the lead-up to Friday’s trade deadline to upgrade his spot in the lineup.
“He’s very much a competitor every time he’s on the ice,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska of a guy known in the locker room as ‘Nacho.’ “He keeps his game very simple, and he makes a great partner. What he lacks in size, I think he makes up in smarts and a lot of heart.”
Indeed, smarts and heart are part of the package.
But another crucial ingredient — perhaps, in the past, a missing ingredient — is self-belief.
“I feel really good mentally,” Hanley said after Saturday’s 1-0 triumph, when his last shift spanned a chaotic two minutes and 27 seconds as the Habs hemmed the hosts in their own zone after pulling their goalie for an extra attacker. “I feel like I’ve just been working on myself and my confidence is getting better and I have more belief in myself.
“It’s just putting me in a better spot in my own head,” he continued. “I kind of viewed myself as a seventh defenceman, and maybe that hindered my play a little bit … In Dallas, that was my role, so maybe deep down in my self-conscious, I thought I was a seventh defenceman and that’s all I was. Just getting an opportunity here, the coaches obviously believed in me and I think the next part was me believing in myself. I’ve had some help. There’s a local chaplain and we’ve been meeting and he’s been giving me lots of confidence. And my family, they tell me they believe in me all the time. So when I go home, it’s all positive.
“Coming to the rink, I think I’m in a better state of mind.”
Some Flames fans, the ones who remain unconvinced that a playoff invite would be good for the growth of a rebuilding team, were miffed Hanley wasn’t traded out on deadline day. As a pending unrestricted free agent, there were undoubtedly inquiries about his availability as a rental.
And while it still seems likely that he’ll be a goner after this season, with Ilya Solovyov on a one-way contract for 2025-26 and the Flames presumably needing to clear a roster spot for prized prospect Zayne Parekh, general manager Craig Conroy determined that Hanley is currently an indispensable.
If he’d been swapped to a top contender, he would have been settling into a familiar role as a sixth or seventh or even eighth on the depth chart.
The Flames are asking him to be much more than that. He’s doing his best to deliver.
In his 228 outings at the NHL level, Hanley has only on nine occasions been tapped for 20-plus minutes. Five of those have come in 2025, three of ’em in the month of March.
The way it’s been going of late, it would be surprising if he didn’t work 20-and-change in Wednesday’s four-pointer against the Vancouver Canucks, the final head-to-head of the season between these two wild-card hopefuls.
Maybe all those nights off in the fall will come in handy now, the wear-and-tear a lot less than what most Top-4 types are accustomed to as the clocks spring forward.
“That’s a good way to look at it. It can be a positive for me,” said Hanley, who has so far dressed for 35 games in the current campaign, nine shy of equalling his career-high in that category. “My body is maybe in better condition than some of the guys that are logging all 82. It’s a long season. I worked a lot with Rick (Davis), our strength coach, and he does a great job. So hopefully, maybe, I can keep that in the back of my mind, to understand I’m a little fresher.”