The Calgary Flames have announced that forward Jakob Pelletier and defenseman Dennis Gilbert have been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers. The two recalls fill two vacant spots on the Flames’ roster, leaving them with 22 out of 23 used spaces on their active roster.
Pelletier, 21, is the bigger name in this duo. He’s a 2019 first-round pick who is among the Flames’ top prospects, recently ranked third in their system by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler. (subscription link) Pelletier was first called up to the NHL in January and ended up playing four games for coach Darryl Sutter’s side.
Sutter’s cold evaluation of Pelletier’s NHL debut to the media made headlines, and in his first two games, Pelletier got just 6:50 and 7:36 time on the ice, respectively. His ice time ticked up in his final two games, though he didn’t manage to register his first NHL point.
Pelletier is a talented offensive player who has scored very well at the junior and AHL levels. He has 36 points in 33 games for the Wranglers this season and has been a point-per-game player in his 99-game AHL career. He’ll be able to provide an offensive spark to the Flames’ lineup as they prepare for a road trip.
Gilbert, 26, is not nearly as flashy of a recall but does have more NHL experience than Pelletier. The American blueliner has played in 34 career NHL games, nine of which have come this season. He last played in the NHL on January 27th, logging just over 13 minutes in a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken.
Now back on the NHL roster, it’s likely that Gilbert will serve as the team’s seventh defenseman for the duration of their road trip, if not longer. He seems to have settled nicely into his role as a priority call-up and number-eight or nine blueliner on the Flames’ depth chart and gives the organization top-four play in the AHL as well as competence in limited minutes in the NHL.
Eric Francis, occasionally, brings a few extra blue-tips and napalm to the media scrums. That night, after Pelletier’s first game, I didn’t expect good stuff from Darryl, and apparently, Eric didn’t either. Separated by many hundreds of miles, we both had the same reaction to Darryl’s comments. I don’t always agree with Eric’s takes, but will almost always listen to them, regardless. Darryl, more times than not, seems Hell-bent on going back to the bad old days and finding ways to lose the locker room that have been almost forgotten. He needs to re-invent himself, but doesn’t seem interested in that. If Jakob was a typical young smartass, you might think Darryl would be somewhat justified in his comments. After listening to a couple of interviews with Jakob, though, Pelletier is anything but. Poor Jakob should have known that the instant he saw the notorious measuring tape on the wall that said, “You must be *this* tall to play on Darryl’s team.”, it would be an unnecessary uphill battle. He’s a good kid that can make a difference in CGY.