LAST LINE OF DEFENCE

Your Flames Authority George Johnson is looking back on five highlights from the past season:

"I'm an emotional guy."
That wellspring of defiance, along with the experience, puck-playing skills and an appetite for battle, were precisely why the Flames acquired the 36-year-old on June 17 from Arizona to stabilize the last line of defence.
"This is a guy … who's really, really driven," emphasized GM Brad Treliving, fully understanding Smith's strengths from their days together in the Coyotes organization. "Mike Smith has the ability to put a team on his back."

Another person familiar with Smith's M.O. - Calgary's VP of Hockey Operations Don Maloney - felt this change would be just the thing after six seasons in the desert.
"In Arizona, I always felt he was thinking: 'Okay, I've got to stop the puck, make the pass, score the goal and fight the tough guy,'' mused the long-time Coyotes' GM.
"In the same period."
That willingness to take it on, to shoulder responsibility, was evident as early as opening night, during a 42-save, 3-0 loss up north at Rexall Place, and cemented in the local imagination only five days later in the wake a 45-stop shutout at the Flames' personal House of Horrors in Anaheim, Smith extinguishing a 29-game regular-season Calgary run of anguish.
"I was downplaying it, maybe a little bit," he confessed of the Honda hoodoo. "But when you play a team that long and you're not on the winning part of it, I think it gets old pretty fast.
"I've been on teams when it's happened to me. I wanted to help this team get over that hump."
He helped them over plenty.
As vital as his attitude and ability was a genuine excitement in being here.
"After winters in Dallas, Tampa and Arizona,'' Smith promised, "I'm ready for a little snow. A little cold.
"Can't wait, in fact."

The team's undeniable MVP through the first half of the schedule, he netted a richly-deserved late invite to the All-Star Game at his former digs in Tampa Bay.
"He's such a competitor," lauded veteran pivot Matt Stajan. "A lot of guys have that in them but don't show it as much. Smitty wears it on his sleeve. It's out there in the open. And you respond to that.
"It's great to have him. To have a guy who's that competitive in our room for everyone to follow means a lot, especially when he's our last man standing back there."
Smith struggled a bit down the stretch after returning following a month sidelined after being injured on Feb. 11 in Brooklyn against the Islanders (and, typically, manned-up publicly up to the drop in quality) but the final numbers - 25-22, 2.65 GAA, .916 save percentage, three shutouts - only hint at his influence.
"After (the injury) it was kind of like: 'Let's hold on until Smitty can get back,'" said Treliving in his season-ending address.
"Expecting him to walk on water and save us the rest of the way.
"We leaned a lot on Smitty."
And will continue to, again, once September rolls around.