Mark Giordano

Mark Giordano (born October 3, 1983) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL).

He previously played with the Calgary Flames for fifteen seasons, where he was the team captain for his final eight seasons, and the Seattle Kraken, where he served as captain during the first six months of their inaugural season.

Mark Giordano was born in Toronto, Ontario on October 3, 1983.

His father, Paul, was a real estate agent and his mother, Anna, a hairdresser.

He is of Italian descent.

Giordano has an older sister, Michelle, and had another older sister, Mia, who was killed in a car accident when he was 14.

He taps his helmet twice with his stick at the end of the national anthems before each game as a quiet tribute to his sister, whose death had a lasting impact on Giordano and his family and brought them closer together.

As a youth, Giordano played both hockey and baseball, but focused on hockey as the demands of both sports on his time increased.

Giordano played minor ice hockey in North York and attended Chaminade College School.

He played in the 1997 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a team from Richmond Hill.

Giordano played one season of Junior A hockey with the Brampton Capitals of the Ontario Junior Hockey League in 2001–02 where he scored 24 goals in the playoffs to help lead the Capitals to the Ontario provincial championship.

He then moved up to major junior, playing two seasons with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

He was the top scoring defenceman on the team for both years.

As a 19-year-old rookie, Giordano recorded 48 points for Owen Sound in 2002–03 and, as one of the top first-year players in the league, was named to the OHL First All-Rookie Team.

Despite his offensive success in junior, Giordano went unselected at the NHL Entry Draft.

He accepted an invitation to attend the Phoenix Coyotes' training camp where, according to then-Owen Sound General Manager Mike Futa, Giordano impressed team officials but believed that he would be best served by playing a second season in the OHL.

Giordano finished the 2003–04 season with 49 points.

After graduating from junior hockey, Giordano enrolled at York University and planned to study at its school of business when he received a late invitation from the Calgary Flames to attend their summer camp.

Former Flames coach Jim Playfair recalled that Giordano stood out among the group of invitees and said that his skill and skating ability set him apart: "Darryl (Sutter) met with three or four of those kids and gave them all the same contracts: Three years in the American League, and if it works out for you, you've got a career. Gio took it and ran with it."

The Flames signed him to a contract following the camp.

An undrafted player, Giordano signed with the Flames as a free agent in 2004 after playing two seasons of major junior ice hockey with Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

The Flames assigned Giordano to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters, for the 2004–05 season where he scored 6 goals and added 10 assists in 66 games.

He remained in the AHL for much of the 2005–06 season, transferring to Calgary's new affiliate, the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights.

Giordano led the Knights in scoring, recording 16 goals and 58 points in 73 games.

Additionally, he was second among defencemen in the AHL in goal scoring and fourth in points.

The Flames recalled him to Calgary at mid-season, and he made his NHL debut on January 30, 2006, against the St. Louis Blues.

Giordano appeared in seven games with the Flames, and recorded his first NHL point with an assist on April 8, 2006, against the Vancouver Canucks.

In the 2006–07 season, Giordano played only five games in Omaha as he spent the majority of the campaign in Calgary.

In 48 games with the Flames, he recorded 7 goals and 15 points.

Giordano scored his first two NHL goals on October 14, 2006, against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Unable to come to terms on a new contract with the Flames prior to the 2007–08 season, Giordano left the NHL to sign with HC Dynamo Moscow of the Russian Super League.

According to Playfair, Giordano did not sign in Russia over money.

Instead, he left because he felt he had proven what he could do in the AHL and, lacking a guarantee that he would be in the NHL, sought a higher-calibre league in which to play.

He scored 4 goals and 13 points in 50 games with Dynamo, and played with the winning Canadian team at the 2007 Spengler Cup.

The Canadian national team named him an alternate at the 2008 IIHF World Championship in case of injury to a roster player, however he never appeared in a game.

Though he feared his decision to leave for Russia would damage his relationship with the Flames, Giordano and the team came to terms on a three-year contract that brought him back to Calgary for the 2008–09 NHL season.

Internationally, Giordano played with Team Canada at the 2010 IIHF World Championship and was a member of the 2007 Spengler Cup winning team.

The Flames have also honoured him for his charitable contributions; he was named recipient of the J. R. "Bud" McCaig Award in 2012.

Praised for his leadership, offensive, and defensive skills, Giordano is one of the NHL's top defencemen and was named to play his first NHL All-Star Game in 2015.

In 2019, he was awarded the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman, while having a career-best performance at the age of 35.