GRIT AND SKILL

Jamie Pringle's ties with Chris Stewart track all the way back to their junior-hockey association, to the fall of 2004.

"Chris's bother Anthony was our captain in Kingston at the time," the Flames video coach, then a Frontenacs' assistant, was reminiscing as the clocked ticked incessantly away to the trade-deadline day moratorium Monday. "So one day over the summer he goes into our GM, Mav (Larry Mavety) and says:
'Hey, Mav, any chance you can bring my brother to training camp? He hasn't played hockey for three years. He's been playing football.'"
"Mav's kind of looking at him, like 'What …?'
"But Anthony says: 'He'll fight. Keep guys honest in camp. Give him a try.'
"Mav figures OK, why not?
"So Chris comes in at 250. I mean, he's a true 250. Just a beast. So he dusts a few guys in camp and we end up keeping him on our roster.
"He gets down to 220 and starts torching the league. Tearing it up. And we're like: 'Wheredid this guy come from?!'
"We texted back and forth just now. He's super-jacked to come here.
"He's got a skill-set. And, as everyone knows, he is one tough hombre."
That one tough hombre was in a merry-mellow mood Monday, busy packing at his St. Paul, Minn., home to fly out and meet his new teammates when they touch down in Dallas for the opener of a back-to-back road set.
"Things haven't exactly been ideal here for me this year,'' acknowledged Stewart. "It's been frustrating. So getting a second chance in Calgary with a team that's in the heat of things, making a playoff run, is just an ideal situation."
For a club aiming to become tougher as the games continue to dwindle and the stakes for playoff participation increase, Stewart is expected to inject a dose of size and a dash of physical presence.
"That's always been a part of the game I've never shied away from,'' he said. "You can ask anyone who's played with me over the years. They definitely get more space out there.
"I have no problems sticking up for my teammates. If anything, maybe I stick up for them too much.
"But if feeling comfortable out there empowers guys on your team to play free-er, though, then I've done part of my job."
Plucked off the waiver wire from his second stint with the Wild early Monday, the 30-year-old winger found himself surplus requirements in Minny, a healthy scratch for 15 games this season, including eight of the last 11.
He's scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent July 1st.

Flames' GM Brad Treliving is expecting a player ready to rock.
"Chris is a well-known commodity in this league and he'd be the first to tell you he can be dominant at times. He's big and strong and plays a heavy game. But this season hasn't gone exactly the way he wanted it to go.
"He's a player we've looked at. We weren't the only team to put in a claim. In speaking with Chris today I think we've got a really motivated player. He's on an expiring contract, he wants to continue his career. What we talked to him about is coming in and being the Chris Stewart we see sometimes in the other jersey who wasn't a whole lot of joy to play against.
"Ultimately, performance will dictate the type of opportunity and where you go in the lineup."
As difficult as this season has been for Stewart, exiting someplace that's become home always tugs on the heartstrings.
"My family and I bought a house here, put down some roots over the last couple of years,'' he said. "It's difficult walking out the door of that dressing room. I've made a lot of great friends during my three seasons here.
"So is it tough? Yeah. But having said that, knowing you're going to better situation does make it easier. My career is something I want to further and that takes first priority."
He air-lifts into a no-room-for-error-situation - the think of the battle for a playoff berth in the Western Conference.
"You look at the standings, it's going to be a dogfight right to the end," he said. "We were in the exact same situation here. There's a playoff atmosphere already and it seems like every game means everything.
"Those are the kinds of games you can't wait to play in."
As a Western Conference opponent, he's certainly no stranger to the team he'll now suit up with.
"Being on Minnesota, a team not really known for toughness, I always thought the Flames kind of roughed us up a bit,'' he confessed. "I think they have the right mixture of skill and grit.
"By grit, I don't necessarily mean dropping the gloves and fighting. I mean more of a swagger/whistle-to-whistle toughness, playing hard, which in the new NHL is very effective.
"I can't wait to get going. I look forward to playing (Tuesday).
"When I talked to Tre, he laid the cards right on the table. He knows what kind of player I am and wants me to just be me. Music to my ears.
"I'm an energy guy in the locker-room, a pretty vocal leader and I think I've proven I can chip in offensively.
"I just play a hard-nosed style.
"I want to draw guys into the fight of the game and that's what I plan on bringing to the Flames."