After a dozen NHL seasons, the former Flames defenseman has plenty to teach the club's prospects
Michael Stone’s foray into the coaching ranks was an easy decision once he decided to retire from the Calgary Flames.
With more than 550 NHL games on his resume — and a multi-faceted career arc — Stone has a treasure trove of experience to help him guide the club’s defensive prospects in his new role with the club’s player development crew.
“I think it helps that I just recently stopped playing,” Stone said after the first experience in his new role during the club’s summer prospects camp. “The game has evolved and is still evolving and every kid’s going to be different, but I think I can be a good judge of the little subtleties in their game that need to be better or fine tuned.
“I’ve watched enough from the press box to see little things that can be better.”
Stone, 33, was a seventh, and at times eighth, defenseman for the Flames the past handful of campaigns, but that aspect of his career is an important part of what he can teach the organization’s up-and-coming skaters.
After all, in his 12 NHL seasons, which included 228 regular-season contests and nine playoff clashes with the Flames, Stone experienced a wide variety of roles.
On top of the ability to teach prospects the Xs and Os of the game, he has first-hand knowledge of perseverance’s importance to success, including overcoming a scary bout with blood-clot issues, which will be a boon to young players who always can use another sounding board and even a confidante.
“I’ve experienced all of it,” he said. “I was a point guy in junior, played on the power play and all that. When I turned pro, I was told I needed to be better defensively and worked on that. Then I was a young player in the NHL, getting an opportunity. Then I was a top-four guy, and then things trended the other way.
“There was a point I would have been frustrated my career was going in that direction and probably deserved a better opportunity, but there’s also a point it changed and I decided to come to the rink every day with a positive attitude and enjoy myself, because this is the National Hockey League and I want to stay here. Was I OK sitting in the press box every game? No. Was I going to pout about it? No. There’s a balance to find.”
All of those lessons, and belief in what he can offer, has Stone looking forward to the next chapter.
“I’m not looking to get into the full grind of a season. My kids are young and that’s one of the reasons me not playing next season was beneficial. I get to coach my kids and be around them more,” said the affable father of three.
“I think coaching would be a good opportunity that I think I’d enjoy and be good at.”