Noah Hanifin: Defence

Regular Season: 80 GP, 5 G, 28 A, 33 Pts, 12 PIM, +18, -1.8 CFRel%

Playoffs: 5 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 1 Pts, 4 PIM, -3

Individual Grades

MarkParkinson14= (B) Hanifin had a very solid season in his first year with the Flames. He played the second most games of his career (80), had a career low PIM (12), set a career high in assists and points (28 & 33) and for the first time in his career he was on the plus side of the ledger at year’s end. Hanifin solidified the Flames second defence pairing and should easily be a key cog on the Flames blue line for years to come. With T.J. Brodie potentially on his way out, the Flames are in good hands with Hanifin and their young talent on defence.

Madeline Campbell= (B) Hanifin was one of the players I think I was most excited to see this season—I really liked him in Carolina but felt like he hadn’t really hit his ceiling there, and was hoping he’d be able to take a step forward and at least get closer to hitting it. And he did that! He wasn’t always the most noticeable player on the ice, but that’s kind of what you want from your defensemen sometimes, you know? His offense picked up, but not at the expense of the defensive side. He brought a quietly well-rounded game, and I was pleased with with that. My only complaint would be that, on a team that, generally speaking, drives play reasonably well, he’s graded out to a negative, relative to the league average. He’s at a +.2 CF% relative to his teammates, so that’s something, at least. But I’d like to see him take another step forward in driving offense. But there’s always next year for that.

MGMacGillivray = (B) While Hanifin currently doesn’t possess (and may never possess) the offensive potential of Dougie Hamilton, he still played a vital role on the team. In my opinion he was a big part of Travis Hamonic’s bounceback season as they were a consistent pairing all season long. Their games complemented one another, and gave the Flames a really strong second pairing after the not-so-good Brodie-Hamonic pairing from 2017-18. Hanifin once again set a career high in points and seems poised to improve over the length of his contract. He’s already played 319 games despite having just turned 22 in January, leading everyone in his draft class by 30+ games.

Gordie.Taylor = (A) He checked all the boxes for what I expected of him this season, hopefully he continues to improve moving forward.

Final Grade: B+

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