- Many have wondered how the struggling Calgary Flames, who have lost seven in a row, plan to break out of their funk. Lead by what seemed to be a slump-proof head coach in Darryl Sutter, the Flames have been unable to win a game since their 5-1-0 start, no matter the change or tweak. Also from Friedman this evening, it appears the Flames have been actively looking for a scoring forward. However, Friedman adds, the team has been on that search since August, meaning it’s not the team’s poor performance that has necessitated that search, but instead an offseason objective yet to be fulfilled. Not having found the player they wanted this offseason, the team eventually signed forwards Sonny Milano and Cody Eakin to PTO’s, but released the pair after underwhelming training camp performances. Flames Nation’s Ryan Pike speculates that perhaps the team had hoped the scoring forward could be found in one of those PTO’s or one of the team’s young players, and with neither of those coming to fruition, the team finds itself once again searching for that asset.
Flames Rumors
Jonathan Huberdeau Out Day-To-Day
As announced by the team Tuesday evening, Calgary Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau is sidelined day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
It’s unclear when Huberdeau suffered the injury. He played 16:14 last night against the New York Islanders, skating for the entire game. The 29-year-old left wing has just one assist in his last five games, and he has just six points in 11 games in his first season with the Flames. Last season, Huberdeau led the league in assists with 85 and finished fifth in Hart Trophy voting.
It’s also unclear what line shuffling head coach Darryl Sutter will do ahead of tonight’s game against New Jersey, but Adam Ruzicka will likely draw into the lineup in place of Huberdeau. The 23-year-old Slovak is the only extra forward on the roster and has one NHL appearance this season, coming last week against Seattle.
Any redemption game from Huberdeau will have to wait. The Flames, however, need a redemption game in a big way tonight, as they try to avoid dropping to .500 on the season against the Devils. The team is on a five-game losing streak after a 5-1-0 start to the campaign.
Latest On Chris Tanev
- Calgary Flames defenseman Chris Tanev has now missed three straight games with an injury, something that has concerned those who remember Tanev’s repeated struggles to remain fully healthy as a member of the Canucks. Tanev has been remarkably healthy as a member of the Flames, though, and it appears that Tanev’s injury may not be a major setback. Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson reports that Tanev’s injury is not related to the shoulder he had surgically repaired this summer, which is good news for the Flames, who rely on Tanev as a key defensive contributor.
- New York Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck left tonight’s game against the Flames in the first period after taking a hit from Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov. Of note is the fact that Clutterbuck missed the Islanders’ Friday practice for maintenance. Clutterbuck has a goal in eleven games for the Islanders so far this season and his absence could pave the way for Ross Johnston to get some games in on the team’s fourth line.
Calgary Flames Place Michael Stone On IR
Per the Calgary Flames twitter, the team placed defenseman Michael Stone on IR today. In a corresponding move, the team has recalled defensemen Nick DeSimone and Dennis Gilbert from the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL. The team did not disclose the nature of Stone’s injury and no word is available on the length of time he could miss. Prior to the transactions, the team had only been carrying 22 of 23 possible skaters, allowing them to call up both defensemen. The team now carries 13 forwards and eight defensemen.
It’s unclear how exactly the defenseman sustained his injury, however he did play just one 25-second shift in last night’s overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils before leaving the game. The 32-year-old has been a reliable piece of the recent Calgary build, filling the role as a seventh-defenseman in recent years. In fact, he played in just 11 regular season games last season while never going on IR or otherwise leaving the roster. The veteran had been off to a surprisingly hot start in 2022-23, receiving regular minutes. Through 10 games, he had a pair of goals and three assists.
DeSimone, 27, is a longtime AHL veteran, making his pro debut with the San Jose Barracuda back in 2016-17. Prior to his pro career, DeSimone spent three seasons at Union College. DeSimone, like Stone in the NHL, was off to a hot start this season on the blueline, recording six points in eight games with the Wranglers. Should he play with the Flames, it would mark his NHL debut.
Meanwhile, Gilbert, who just turned 26, hasn’t been around as long as DeSimone, but he has spent some time in the NHL, including 25 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, most recently in 2020-21. He’s not off to quite as hot of a start as DeSimone is, having yet to record a point in eight games in the AHL, but his NHL experience should be appreciated as Calgary tries to plug holes on the blueline as they embark on an east-coast road trip.
As a result of losing two players of their own, the Wranglers have recalled two players from the Rapid City Rush of the ECHL: forward Rory Kerins and defenseman Simon Lavigne.
Calgary Flames Sign Lucas Ciona To Entry-Level Deal
In the midst of his red-hot start to his season, the Calgary Flames have signed prospect Lucas Ciona to a three-year, entry-level deal, the team announced. According to CapFriendly, the deal carries an AAV of $925,000, which includes a base salary of $832,500 and signing bonuses of $92,500 each season. Ciona will make $80,000 in the minors.
A sixth-round selection by the Flames in the 2019 NHL Draft, Ciona had not been among the top prospects in Calgary’s system until very recently. The forward had registered modest point totals in his first four seasons as a member of the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL, which included career-bests of 17 goals and 18 assists over 53 games last season. Now at 19 years of age, and in his fifth junior season (fourth full season), Ciona is off to a blistering start, scoring seven goals to go with 10 assists in a mere nine games to date.
It may be too early to mark Ciona as a blue-chip prospect considering this new-found dynamic offense is just nine games old, preceded by several years of solid but modest production, however the performance is intriguing. Ciona is currently tied for 11th in scoring in the WHL, which is lead by presumed first-overall pick in the 2023 draft, Connor Bedard, who has 24 points in 14 games. Signing Ciona now gives the Flames 46 out of a maximum of 50 contracts in their system; plenty of room to work and worth securing a prospect with newly-found value.
Calgary Flames Extend Dan Vladar
The Calgary Flames have clearly loved what they have seen from backup goaltender Dan Vladar. The two sides have agreed to a two-year extension worth a total of $4.4MM. The deal, which carries a $2.2MM average annual value, will start in 2023-24.
Vladar, 25, found his way to the Flames in 2021 by way of trade with the Boston Bruins and has appeared in 24 regular season games since. While his .906 save percentage with Calgary isn’t outstanding, he has the trust of the coaching staff. When recently asked about workload, head coach Darryl Sutter told reporters including Eric Francis of Sportsnet that he plans on giving Vladar at least one start a week – noting that there are 26 weeks in the regular season.
That 26 number would be a career-high for the third-round pick, but the Flames are committed to reducing Jacob Markstrom’s workload and making sure he’s at full health by the playoffs. The 32-year-old Markstrom is coming off a brilliant campaign but faded at the end, with a .901 save percentage in 12 postseason appearances.
A two-year deal for Vladar also allows the Flames to be patient with prospect Dustin Wolf, who took home the Baz Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s best goaltender last season but is still just 21. Wolf will likely be waiver-exempt until 2025, the same time Vladar’s deal now ends.
An extension is a solid show of faith in the young Czech netminder, but also could point to the confidence teams have in the rising salary cap. The Flames now have more than $81.7MM committed to 17 players for next season, as huge extensions for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar kick in. That said, general manager Brad Treliving is getting a nice head start on next summer. Connor Mackey is now the only roster player who is currently scheduled to be an RFA in the 2023 offseason, and Milan Lucic, Trevor Lewis, Brett Ritchie, and Michael Stone are the only pending UFAs.
Three Players Clear Waivers
Oct 13: All three have cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the minor leagues.
Oct 12: The season is just getting started and waivers won’t stop. Three more players have been placed on the wire today, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, including Martin Pospisil of the Calgary Flames, Scott Harrington of the San Jose Sharks, and Pierre-Cedric Labrie of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In Pospisil’s case, he had been on season-opening injured reserve but must have recovered enough to now be sent to the minor leagues. There is little risk of claiming the 22-year-old forward, even if he did have a nice season for the Stockton Heat last year.
Selected 105th overall in 2018, Pospisil had seven goals and 25 points in 47 games for the team, while also racking up 95 penalty minutes. His size and physicality have always been his calling card, going back to his junior days with the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL where he had a whopping 253 penalty minutes in 49 games as a rookie.
Harrington, meanwhile, played in one of the two games for the Sharks overseas but now with the team needing to reduce their roster for the return to North America, there isn’t room. The 29-year-old played almost all of last season in the minors with the Cleveland Monsters and appears likely to do it again, this time with the Barracuda.
It was interesting to see Labrie even get an NHL contract, let alone stick around this long on the roster. The veteran forward is an AHL staple with 685 games played at that level, and hasn’t appeared in an NHL game since 2013. He will almost certainly spend the entire year in the minor leagues, though perhaps the team just wanted him signed in case they needed a physical presence for a handful of games this year.
Emilio Pettersen Assigned To AHL
- Forward Emilio Pettersen has been activated off of season-opening IR by the Calgary Flames and subsequently sent down (link). The Norwegian forward was a sixth-round selection of Calgary in 2018 and spent the previous two seasons with the Stockton Heat, then Calgary’s AHL affiliate.
Nicolas Meloche Clears Waivers, Assigned To AHL
Oct 12: While Johansson was claimed as expected, Meloche was able to clear waivers and was quickly assigned to the Wranglers.
Oct 11: Two more players have been placed on waivers today, including one that was only claimed a few weeks ago. Jonas Johansson finds himself back on the wire, as the Arizona Coyotes claimed Connor Ingram yesterday, and now have too many goaltenders in the organization. This waiver-hopping always seemed a likely scenario for the Coyotes, as they try to find the best possible backup (or at least the one with the most potential) for Karel Vejmelka.
Johansson will be joined on waivers by Nicolas Meloche, who has been waived by the Calgary Flames. The Flames had Michael Stone still skating with the team today despite not having an NHL contract, which is potentially why Meloche now finds himself on the way out. If he clears, he can be assigned to the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL to continue his career in the minor leagues. (Update: A few minutes later, Stone officially signed with the Flames)
For the goaltender though, things will be a little different. If no one puts in a claim on Johansson he can go to the Tucson Roadrunners, though things are already quite crowded there. The Colorado Avalanche, who he was taken from, could reclaim the netminder and send him to the minor leagues if they are the only team that puts in a claim. That seems a likely scenario at this point, given Johansson’s relationship with the organization and Colorado’s need for additional depth at the position.
Calgary Flames Have "No Need" To Name Captain
- Speaking of the Calgary Flames, head coach Darryl Sutter said today that the team has “no need” to name a captain ahead of the 2022-23 season. The Flames have not had a captain since the 2021 offseason when Mark Giordano was claimed in the expansion draft by the Seattle Kraken. New acquisition Huberdeau was a commonly discussed candidate for the role, as well as longtime Flame, Mikael Backlund.