Hunter Shinkaruk was destined to be a Calgary Flame.
For proof, look no further than the pages of the Calgary Sun 19 years ago when Shinkaruk first took centre stage at the Saddledome with a 1997 photo so iconic it subsequently ran in Time Magazine.
In an award-winning picture that could easily have been titled Dream Big, two-year-old Shinkaruk had skated up to the Calgary Hitmen goalmouth gathering before puck drop as if to beg the towering lads to let him play.
Now he’ll get that chance, as a Flame.
“That photo is pretty cool and to have a great photo like that at the Saddledome and for me to return hopefully to the big club standing in that same spot is pretty amazing,” said Shinkaruk Monday, an hour after learning the Vancouver Canucks had traded him to the Flames for Markus Granlund.