A history of Flames numbers: #7, TJ Brodie

Lucky number seven! A lot of players have donned this number for the Flames franchise. Some have been incredible; others, a little less so.

The current incarnation of #7 actually saw his career start off with #66, a number that probably harkens a little more towards greatness. Still, throughout #7’s lengthy history on this team, we may be witnessing one of the better incarnations – one in a career that’s far from over.

Brodie is the 23rd player in Flames franchise history to wear #7:

This is a pretty big list filled with an even mix of skaters. Ten of them are defencemen, so the forwards actually outnumber them with seven centres, four right wingers, and two left wingers combining.

The number has belonged to defencemen since the start of this decade, though.

It’s particularly unfair to compare forwards and defencemen in this case; Mullen completely cleans up everyone else’s efforts. The highest scoring defenceman here is actually Petit, who scored 328 points in 827 games (.340 points per game). Manery follows with 256 points in 582 games (.440 points per game), and then Konroyd with 236 points in 895 games (.264 points per game). 

T.J. Brodie jumps in right after Bryan Marchment. Marchment, with 182 points over 926 games, checks in with a relatively paltry .197 points per game. Brodie? His career is still in progress – and honestly, the only thing he doesn’t do well is shoot the puck – and his 145 points in 336 games sees him at .432 points per game.

So basically, from a purely offensive numbers standpoint, Brodie is already closing in on the crown for best Flames defenceman to wear #7. Best overall is going to be quite a bit of a task – but he probably still has at least another 10 years in him.