Through five games, the Calgary Flames are a .500 team. They’ve captured half of the points available to them, and their play has been somewhat inconsistent. While it may be warranted to criticize them as they head off on a five game eastern road trip, let’s also give credit where it’s due.
Through five games, the defensive pairing of Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev have been excellent.
A season ago, Tanev was in Vancouver and his primary gig was to mentor young Quinn Hughes. Meanwhile, Hanifin primarily played with Travis Hamonic on the Flames’ second pairing.
It made a lot of sense to put the two together when Tanev arrived in Calgary.