Jonathan Castagna has made a habit of looking right at home in a role the Calgary Flames clearly trust him to handle. The 21-year-old rookie centreman has been steady, responsible and, in Ryan Huska’s words, “very predictable. He’s hard to play against,” after Wednesday’s game against the Seattle Kraken.
That kind of praise matters because Castagna is still fresh out of Cornell University, where he finished his junior season before signing an entry-level contract with Calgary. He kept climbing at Cornell every year, then capped that run by earning ECAC First Team honors and being named ECAC Defensive Forward of the Year.
The maturity has shown up immediately in the NHL. Castagna carries himself like a player who knows exactly what he is supposed to do, and Huska has noticed that growing reliability as the games pile up.
“He’s an interesting young man, very intelligent, and I would agree, he’s much wiser for his age than most 21-year-olds would be. He just goes about his business.”
That business showed up in full on Wednesday night. Castagna went 9-4 at the faceoff dot in the loss to Seattle, while the rest of the Flames finished 11-28. When the game reached overtime, Huska sent him out for the opening draw, and he won it.
His value has also started to show on the penalty kill. Castagna is averaging 53 seconds of shorthanded ice time per game, and he has looked strong in that second-unit role alongside Joel Farabee in a few outings. Through it all, he has stayed in the lane Calgary wants from him: 26 hits, 10 blocked shots and 12:34 of ice time a night.
The offensive side is still the work in progress. Castagna has not scored his first career goal and has three assists. That has never really been his calling card, either, so the scoring pace is not surprising, even if there is still room for more.
He acknowledged the slow start offensively, along with the rest of his line, pointing to bad luck on bounces. But earlier in the week against the San Jose Sharks, the fourth line broke through, and Castagna picked up assists on both goals.
Given his role, the numbers make sense. Limited minutes and limited offensive-zone starts are not exactly a recipe for a pile of points, and the gap between his first point in game one and his next one in game 12 against San Jose was hardly shocking.
He also appears careful and selective when chances do come his way. The defensive habits are already there, and the offensive game should keep coming as he gets more comfortable in the Flames’ system.
For now, Castagna has been exactly what Calgary hoped for and then some. Even when Jonathan Huberdeau and Samuel Honzek return from injury, it may be difficult for the coaching staff and management to justify sending him down.
The one factor that could make that decision easier is that he is waiver-exempt, so there is no risk in losing him. For now, though, the Flames are getting the kind of rookie contribution that sticks out - and there should be more of it as the season goes on.
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