'Great Player, Great Human'

PITTSBURGH – Like most hockey players, Noah Hanifin would rather praise others than drone on about his own accomplishments.

But this time, even he admits the latest mile-marker had a way of sneaking up on him.

“Someone saw it on the sheet there,” Hanifin laughed of his latest waypost – career game No. 600. “I knew it was early in the year but I didn't actually know it was going to be tonight until, like, yesterday.”

Unexpected? Perhaps.

Special?

You bet.

When he crossed the 500-game threshold in March of 2022, Hanifin – then, only 24 years old – became the fifth-youngest defenceman in NHL history to do so. Only Scott Stevens, former Flames captain Phil Housley, Al Iafrate and Luke Richardson were greener at the time of their milestone appearance.

Hanifin is now 26 years and 262 days old, and has appeared in all but two games over the last two seasons, quietly marching toward his next landmark.

Tonight’s game will put him as the 10th youngest defenceman in NHL history to cross the 600-game plateau, and will tie Pat Verbeek as the 37th-youngest player at any position to do so.

“Every year I've tried to make it my goal to get better in different ways,” Hanifin said. “I keep pushing myself and a lot of that is due to having good coaches and playing with guys that push you and compete with you every day. I'm lucky to have that, so I feel my game has grown in different areas since those early days in the league.”

Selected fifth overall in a star-studded 2015 Draft, where the likes of Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner headlined the graduating class, Hanifin was one of the only blueliners pegged by the experts to step in and make an immediate impact on hockey’s biggest stage.

The phrase ‘franchise defenceman’ was bandied about all winter as Hanifin – who fast-tracked his high-school education – became the second-youngest player in Boston College history, scoring 23 points (5G, 18A) as a 17-year-old freshman.

“It’s amazing,” MacKenzie Weegar said of his teammate’s rapid ascent. “When I was 18, I was barely ready to step into major junior. Now I’m going on 30 and I don’t even have 400 (NHL) games yet!”

Indeed, when Weegar was chewing up rinks as an 18-year-old, he still had a year left in the ‘Q’ with another three seasons of minor-league play beyond that before he would get a shot at the NHL level.

Hanifin, though, is a unicorn.

He’s one of the few in the modern day to buck the trend and climb the ladder like this.

“I think he's a lot older than he actually is,” Weegar said. “He's super mature. It really shows you how fast time flies and how much you've got to appreciate playing in the NHL – and he's done that.

“His maturity, his professionalism, the way he keeps his body in shape ...

“I remember him coming up and hearing about him when I was younger, too. He's a great player, a great human being and we're truly lucky to have him on our team.

“He deserves all the credit in the world.”

First, Hanifin established himself as a bona fide top-pairing blueliner with the Carolina Hurricanes. Everything he was at the NCAA level – a true, two-way defender with exceptional skating ability – he was in the NHL. Yes, admittedly, there was a rather steep learning curve. But the raw talent on display was a real treat to witness, and Hanifin quickly rounded the corner on his path to becoming one of the league’s best young stars.

“When you come in at that age, you're so young and you don't quite realize how much you have to learn until you get older,” Hanifin said. “Looking back, you're like, 'Wow! I had so much to develop on as a young player.' I've been so fortunate to play with some guys like Gio (Mark Giordano) and other older guys that I was able to look up, learn from and get better and it's helped me the whole way.

“So much of it ties into off-ice maturity. It's a man's game and, sure, it is a little different now with the game getting a bit younger, but when you come in from college hockey and you step in and are playing with grown men with families and kids, it's a lot to take in.

“It’s an 82-game game schedule and you’re going from 35 games in college. The whole adaption to the pro game is difficult, it's a grind, and even seeing Matty Coronato, he's a young kid coming from school and talking with him about it – I’m telling him, it's a long process. You've got to take care of yourself and there's a lot of little things that go into playing a long season like this.

“It's cool having some younger guys that you can relate to that way.”

‘Younger.’

Yes, time passes a bit differently in this league, which is why No. 55’s path is one to be remembered.

He arrived in Calgary as part of the blockbuster package that included Flames first-line centre Elias Lindholm in the summer of 2018. Since then, 360 of his 599 career spins have come with the Flaming C on his chest. He has 31 goals, 157 points, and is the Flames’ active leader in both total and average ice time in that span, munching north of 21 minutes per game.

So, it begs the question:

What’s next?

“I think there's more to go,” said Head Coach Ryan Huska. “You always talk about defencemen and how they take a little longer to get to where they want to be. Noah's no different. He's trying to improve and a lot of it is what he does with the puck, what he's doing away from the puck. But every year, every day, he's taking steps because he wants to be better.

“That's the big thing.

“He's not just a guy that puts his stuff on and goes out and plays. He really tries to make himself better every day, which is what we love about him.”

--

Stick tap to Eric Francis and the crew at Sportsnet Stats for sourcing the historical data used in this story