The Flames announced Wednesday that forward Justin Kirkland underwent successful ACL surgery and will be out for the remainder of the season.
Kirkland, 28, was amid a breakout season as an NHL-level threat after spending nearly all of his professional career to date in the minors. He’d made a career-high 21 appearances for Calgary before the injury, scoring twice and adding six assists for eight points with a +6 rating despite averaging less than 10 minutes per game.
The 6’3″, 183-lb winger has frequently flexed to center at points this season for the Flames, winning 54 of his 126 faceoffs for a 42.9% win rate. His point totals were quite impressive given his high defensive zone usage, but he was likely due for some regression while shooting 22.2% on only nine shots on goal.
However, Kirkland had made a name for himself in shootouts. He scored three times on four attempts, helping Calgary to a 3-0-1 record in games that went past overtime.
Kirkland’s final appearance this season came on Nov. 29 against the Blue Jackets. He skated just 1:05 before sustaining the ACL tear and leaving the game. He’s missed the two games since with what the Flames initially termed a lower-body injury and landed on injured reserve on Monday.
A 2014 third-round pick of the Predators, Kirkland was a Group VI unrestricted free agent last summer and returned to the Flames, with whom he spent the 2019-20 through 2021-22 seasons in the minors, on a one-year, two-way pact. 2024-25 will go down as his only professional season to date without a minor-league assignment that resulted in games played.
Kirkland is the second Flames forward to have their season cut short by an ACL surgery. Offseason pickup Anthony Mantha underwent the same procedure last month after recording four goals and three assists in 13 games.
Kirkland’s interminable absence should create added opportunities for recent call-ups Walker Duehr and Jakob Pelletier, both of whom are expected to make their season debuts tomorrow against the Blues while Andrei Kuzmenko sits in the press box.
Kirkland was finally getting a shot at a full time role, too bad his season was cut short. Hope he has a quick and fullr recovery and gets another shot next season
It was a lot of fun seeing him play this year. Costco was the Flames best SO scorer and was a staple on one of the Flames best lines (be it the 4th). He was having so much fun playing in the big league. At least he gets NHL money while he recovers. Guess there is that. So sad for the guy though.