The Calgary Flames have made defenseman Deryk Engelland and center/left winger Lance Bouma available, reports Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. Neither player appears to be drawing much interest, however.
Engelland is in his third season with the Flames and has four points while averaging a career best 19:10 per night. However, he carries a cap hit that’s a little higher than $2.9MM which is pricey for a player whose reputation is that of a third pairing physical blueliner. However, as a pending unrestricted free agent, there could be more interest as the season progresses and more teams have cap space to work with.
As for Bouma, who currently is on injured reserve for a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury, he is off to a tough start so far this season. In 13 games, he has just one assist although he is averaging over 2.5 hits per game. Back in 2014-15, he had a 16 goal, 34 point campaign that also saw him rank seventh in the league in hits with 264. That offseason, he signed a three year deal with a cap hit of $2.2MM which has the remainder of this year plus one more season to go on it. Given his struggles dating back to last season and the extra year left on his deal, GM Brad Treliving may be hard pressed to find a suitor for Bouma unless he retains salary or takes back another not-so-ideal contract.
Other news from the Western Conference:
- The Jets have placed left winger Kyle Connor on injured reserve, the team announced. He suffered an upper body injury in Sunday’s victory over Los Angeles on a hit from Kyle Clifford. Clifford will not face any supplemental discipline for the hit, one that earned him a five minute major for boarding. Connor, the 17th overall pick in the 2015 draft, has played in all but one of Winnipeg’s games so far this season, collecting four points (1-3-4) while playing 13:31 per game. The team has recalled center Chase De Leo from their minor league affiliate in Manitoba to take Connor’s spot on the roster. De Leo has three goals and four assists in 12 AHL games this year.
- Avalanche center Matt Duchene was expected to skate in advance of Colorado’s practice today but those plans were aborted after Duchene didn’t feel he was ready to practice, notes Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. Accordingly, he will miss his second straight game on Tuesday against the Kings. Duchene is Colorado’s team leader in goals (six) and points (11) in the early going this season.
I can’t believe tge Flames would put up one of their playing defensive players thus far this year.