'THIS IS WHY YOU PLAY'

Juuso Valimaki has officially put in the miles.
In fact, you'd have to go back about five years before the step-count was even close to what it is now.
Between the 19 games he appeared in with Ilves in the Finnish Liiga, and the 45 he's played in the past few months with the Flames, the talented, 22-year-old is approaching the kind of workload that turns an apple-cheeked freshman into a big-league bulwark.

"It's awesome," the smooth-skating, left-shot blueliner said of his busiest campaign to date. "It's been a couple years since I've really done that. You'd probably have to go all the way back to my draft year. It feels nice.
"But I'm still ready to go. I want to keep going here. I'm ready for even (more games)."
It's been a rollercoaster of a year for the former first-round pick.
With the disappointment of a wasted season long in the rear-view, the repaired, right knee officially back to full strength, and an unparalleled sense of excitement about the opportunity in front of him, Valimaki knew the 2020-21 season would be a big one for him, personally.
Certainly, there were points when the rigours of it took hold.
The busy schedule and isolated road trips, daily demands, and a new voice behind the bench, all played into it.
"I think for every player during a long season, you not necessarily hit a wall, but you get that stretch where it's a little more of a battle," Valimaki said. "Your body might be sore - or, mentally, when you've already played a lot and there's a lot of hockey left …
"I think that probably happened there about a month or whatever-ish ago.
"But I think I've managed it well lately, I learned from that time and took it the right way."

Valimaki was a healthy scratch in four of five games at the beginning of April, but has been a mainstay on the roster since. He admits his game tailed off for the reasons above, and used that time in the press box to identity his most pressing areas of improvement.
That brief stretch provided a 'reset,' both mentally, and physically.
He added that Head Coach Darryl Sutter has been "hard" on him, at times, but that he supports that 100%, as both are committed to extracting every last ounce of his unlimited potential.
"He wants the best out of me every day," Valimaki said. "He wants me to play at my best, wants me to get better every day, he wants me to practice hard, and obviously as a young guy, that's a good thing because you get better and you have a long career ahead of you. That's what you want.
"I think those things, like being quick and (playing) hard, I've really been working on those things and it's really starting to come. Then, comes my confidence, playing with that and bringing other elements into the game.
"Closing quick, not giving (up) opportunities defensively, and making plays. I think I'm starting to feel like my old self again making plays with confidence, using the middle of the ice, and jumping into the rush when there's a chance and shooting the puck. Stuff like that.
"It's been better and it's starting to come again, more like it used to."
With Noah Hanifin out for the rest of the season, the Flames need their young players to step up. Sutter has said so, publicly, and has put the onus directly on guys such as Valimaki, Nikita Nesterov, and even young Connor Mackey to push the pace and take on a larger role, should the opportunity arise.
Valimaki played a season-high 20:19 on April 24 against the Canadiens, but had his minutes cut back in each of the next two, playing only 12:44 on Thursday in the first of this two-game set with the Oilers.
He knows he has to be better.
But if there's anything that gets a player fired up and ready to give his best effort, it's a primetime battle with your biggest rival, coast-to-coast on Hockey Night in Canada.
"This is always the best time," said Valimaki, who has two goals and nine points, along 67 shots on goal this year. "I always liked the April-May hockey. This is why you play.
"We wish as a team we would have won some games down the line earlier and we wouldn't be in this situation, but obviously all these games are important and I think it's great to play these.
"I remember, especially all of last year, watching all the games, it's (painful) not to be able to play.
"It's definitely really nice and I'm ready to put it all together again tonight."