Edmonton, Alberta – On NHL draft day in 1992 at the Montreal Forum, Cory Stillman was the sixth name called in the first round. A high-scoring forward from the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, Stillman seemed on the fast track to a starry career with the Calgary Flames.
Through his first 142 NHL games, however, the formerly prolific goal scorer had only 22 goals. Stillman was the latest in a string of Flames draft busts, the critics harped.
The critics have been silenced. Stillman enters tonight’s Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals with a league-best 11-game points streak for the Carolina Hurricanes. He scored more than 20 regular-season goals for the seventh time in his career, and he has a Stanley Cup ring in his jewelry chest (Tampa Bay in 2004).
The Lightning chose not to give Stillman the kind of money he felt he deserved, and Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford was thrilled. The Southeast Division rival GM had been trying to get Stillman for years.
“(Rutherford) tried to get him on several occasions,” Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. “What I think Cory is, is a skill player who can provide offense, but most importantly makes other players better.”
Stillman, 32, credits one man, Lanny McDonald, more than any other for helping him out of the early difficulties of his career. McDonald – a former Colorado Rockies star and an NHL Hall of Famer – was a sounding board and font of advice for the impressionable Peterborough, Ontario, native.
“As long as you’re learning, you’re going to get better,” said Stillman, who has eight goals and 22 points in 21 postseason games for the Hurricanes. “But the guy who helped me more than anybody was probably Lanny. He talked to me a lot as a young kid, and I carry it on. Now, if I have a chance, I try to say things to one of our younger guys.”
Stillman expected to return to Tampa Bay after a stellar 2003-04 season in which he finished seventh in NHL scoring with 80 points in 81 games, but the Lightning walked away from an arbitration case, making Stillman an unrestricted free agent. He signed a three-year contract with Carolina, earning $1.75 million this season.
“Not only is he underrated through the league, (but) even on our team he never gets enough recognition for what he does,” Laviolette said. “You hear about Eric Staal, Rod Brind’Amour, our young goaltender (Cam Ward), and Cory always seems to slide.”
Stillman walks around the dressing room with the assured calm of a proven veteran – albeit one who wore a pained expression in describing his team’s play in Game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers. Carolina still leads the best-of-seven series 2-1.
“Overall, the game was frustrating,” he said. “We had chances to win, but we couldn’t capitalize. We have to come out (tonight) and play with the kind of urgency that we had in the second half of Game 1 and in Game 2.”
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-820-5454 or adater@denverpost.com.
