When you sign a contract on the opening day of free agency, there's a certain degree of expectation for you. When it's a three-year deal worth nearly $10 million, those expectations go up. It's not first liner money, but it is a contract that says, loud and clear, "We expect you to be a good player for us."
And initially, Mason Raymond held up that bargain. He scored a hat trick in his second game in a Flames uniform; he had seven points over 10 games throughout the month of October 2014, including another three-point game. It was a great story: the Cochrane kid returning to Calgary to play for the team he grew up cheering for.