SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Hockey
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
COLUMNS
NHL
The Teams
Full Schedule
Monthly Schedule
Standings
Statistics
Rosters
Injury list
Movement
Trades
Hits Gallery
INTERACTIVE
JUNIOR
MORE HOCKEY
ALSO ON SLAM!
Saturday, September 11, 1999
It's Cory's time
Stillman looked up to as leader
He knows he can't afford to.
Even as the team's leading scorer from last season, Stillman knows too well how thin the line is between success and failure in this league.
Two seasons ago, Stillman, the club's 1992 first-round pick at No. 6 overall, was barely invited to training camp.
He had no contract and, quite frankly, he didn't deserve one.
Four years into his pro career and Stillman was poised to join the long list of Flames first-round busts, Jesper Mattsson, Niklas Sundblad, Bryan Deasley, Chris Biotti, Chris Dingman ...
He had a six-goal, 26-point season.
Hardly the stuff of a first rounder.
But then something changed with Cory Stillman.
He no longer took his career for granted. He rebounded with a 27-goal season.
Then last season, with the doubters still in abundance, he followed it up with another 27-goal campaign.
It took longer than anyone, including Stillman, expected.
But in this training camp, he is now a leader, a 25-year-old whose promise is due.
"I have increased my points totals the last three years, but 26 points in that first year is a good reason I came back to camp without a contract," said Stillman.
"I want to improve every year. I hit that plateau at 27 goals the past two years and I'd like to increase that this year and maybe see more ice with the departure of Theo (Fleury) and Andrew Cassels.
"If I take advantage of that opportunity, that ice time might be mine. I think I showed last season I was ready to step up and play in key situations."
Centering a line with Russians Val Bure and Andrei Nazarov, Stillman's unit proved a solid scoring unit to complement the No. 1 line of Jeff Shantz, Jarome Iginla and Rene Corbet.
Early in camp, coach Brian Sutter has experimented with Stillman at right wing. But with Bure and Iginla already there, don't expect to see him there when the season starts.
For his part, Stillman is no longer content just to be here.
Armed with a new contract that still has two seasons left, he knows he can't afford to become comfortable.
"I went home this summer knowing I had another two years left, but that doesn't mean I'm satisfied with it. You are at ease with a contract in place, yet you also know at camp some kid is trying to take your job.
"Sure there is more pressure now, but it's nice to be included in the talk of who needs to succeed to help this team.
"Obviously Cory Stillman was a leader last year and is going to have to lead again and I want that challenge.
"It is different because it's my fifth year (in Calgary) and I'm ready to step up, to lead the team and get in the top 30 or 40 for this season in league scoring."
Stillman's mantra of 'the time is now' is the familiar refrain this training camp. It's coming off the lips of each and every player.
Talk has been cheap and meaningless in this city for a number of years. But still, there is a sense that this team is ready to take the step up, some of it due to GM Al Coates laudable move to bring in veteran goalie Grant Fuhr.
This is a team that for years has been billed as 'The Young Guns.'
It's a moniker which now evokes underachievement. And quite frankly, one the players themselves are tired of.
"The Young Guns were here and gone," says Stillman.
"We still are young with a lot of guys under 26 but it is time for us all.
A guy like Derek Morris is only 20 but it's his third year here now. We have to win now.
"Guys are starting to get into their prime years and we have some veterans in Phil (Housley) and Steve Smith and Tommy (Albelin) and now Grant, but for guys like me this is the time you have to perform your best."
And even though he's finally established himself as a solid NHLer, there's a more important reason Cory Stillman knows he can't rest on his laurels.
It's not just his career at stake anymore.
The weight he and his teammates carry in this, the most important year in Calgary's NHL history, is that of an entire franchise.
 Bert's back on blades Blue Jays boot game Bombers drop Peterson Felicien rebuilds race | Visit our Polls Archive |