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Olle Lycksell Clears Waivers

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Saturday: Lycksell has cleared waivers for the second straight month, Garrioch reports.  That will pave the way for him to be reassigned to AHL Belleville.

Friday: The Senators have placed winger Olle Lycksell on waivers, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports. He hasn’t played since Nov. 8 and has been on injured reserve while in concussion protocol, so today’s news indicates he’s been cleared to return. Because he was on IR, he won’t count against Ottawa’s active roster while on waivers and will instead carry a non-roster designation for the next 24 hours.

Lycksell, 26, was a sixth-round pick by the Flyers back in 2017. He remained in the Philadelphia organization until last summer, when he became a Group VI unrestricted free agent and signed a two-way contract with Ottawa. In parts of three seasons on the Flyers’ NHL roster, he churned out a 1-10–11 scoring line in 45 appearances with a -6 rating. On the whole, he had underwhelming possession impacts with a 49.2 CF% at 5-on-5 and averaged 10:53 of ice time per game. Combined with a relative lack of physicality, he wasn’t much of a fit in a bottom-six role and struggled to land a consistent spot despite some high-end scoring numbers in the minors. Over his three seasons with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate in Lehigh Valley, he was nearly a point-per-game player with a 52-76–128 scoring line in 134 appearances.

Since he signed a two-way deal with the Sens and he wasn’t viewed as a threat to grab a top-nine job on the wings, many expected him to land on waivers during training camp. He did just that, but wasn’t assigned to AHL Belleville, at least not immediately. He’s remained on Ottawa’s active roster for the vast majority of the season, aside from a four-day demotion to Belleville in October and his recent IR placement.

Lycksell was used sparingly as an extra forward, though. He hasn’t appeared in more than two consecutive games this season and has just six total appearances, including just one since Oct. 28. His showing was a mixed bag. He did average a shot on goal per game and recorded his second career NHL tally, but his possession impacts weren’t good in sheltered fourth-line minutes. At 5-on-5 with Lycksell on the ice, the Senators have been outscored 4-2, outshot 33-23, and outchanced 34-30. That’s despite Lycksell receiving just one defensive zone start this year.

Given his minor-league success, Lycksell might generate some interest on the waiver wire, but his poor defensive impacts this season and lack of demonstrated upside at the NHL level point toward him clearing. Since they’re comfortable enough to expose him to waivers, he might be in line for a lengthier stint in Belleville, where he went without a point in two appearances last month.

Sabres Reassign Mason Geertsen

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Nov. 21: Geertsen has cleared waivers and was reassigned to AHL Rochester, per a team announcement.

Nov. 20: The Sabres have placed enforcer Mason Geertsen on waivers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports Thursday. Once he’s removed from the active roster tomorrow, that will make way for Buffalo to activate winger Jason Zucker from injured reserve, as head coach Lindy Ruff said yesterday would be the case (via Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550).

Geertsen, 30, signed a two-year, two-way contract with Buffalo over the offseason, paying him $775K in the NHL and $425K in the AHL each season. Most expected him to land on waivers during the preseason. The 6’4″ heavyweight only had 25 NHL games to his name entering training camp. All of them came in a limited role with the Devils in the 2021-22 season. While his primary position is defense, the left-shot played as a winger to get into the lineup, recording five fights and 58 hits while averaging 6:57 of ice time per game.

The Devils waived Geertsen the following season, spending the year with AHL Utica before reaching unrestricted free agency in 2023. He signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Golden Knights but spent the entirety of it in the minors. Across his last three AHL campaigns with Utica and Henderson, the former 2013 fourth-round pick of the Avalanche had just 10 goals and 19 points in 150 games, playing about as pure an enforcer role as today’s era allows.

That made Geertsen’s inclusion as depth muscle on Buffalo’s opening-night roster all the more surprising. Modern-day enforcers at the NHL level are still usually able to put up respectable point totals when skating in the minors – Zack MacEwen and Scott Sabourin, to name a pair. Geertsen doesn’t fit that bill. As expected, his role was incredibly limited as a result. He only got into five games for Buffalo, including four of their first six contests, but has now been a healthy scratch in seven straight games – even as injuries to Zucker, Zach Benson, and others have piled up.

In those five appearances, Geertsen remained without an NHL point and recorded a -1 rating with eight hits while averaging 4:07 per game. He managed just two shot attempts and didn’t get into a fight, only logging a tripping minor and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for 12 total PIMs. Geertsen shouldn’t have any trouble clearing waivers and will play a fourth-line role, if he sees much ice time at all, in Rochester after he clears.

Penguins’ Philip Tomasino Clears Waivers

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Nov. 20: Despite now being eligible for assignment to AHL Wilkes-Barre, Tomasino was present for practice with the NHL Penguins today and appears to still be on the club’s NHL roster.

He will remain eligible to be reassigned to the minors without needing to be placed on waivers until he plays in 10 cumulative NHL games since when he cleared waivers, or until he spends 30 cumulative days on an NHL roster.

Nov. 19: Tomasino went unclaimed on waivers and can now be assigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, per Friedman.

Nov. 18: According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Pittsburgh Penguins have placed forward Philip Tomasino on waivers today.

This move could end Tomasino’s tenure in Pittsburgh, just one year removed from when the team traded a 2027 fourth-round pick to the Nashville Predators to acquire him. The Penguins likely viewed Tomasino as a player who could potentially benefit from a change of scenery. The 2019 first-round pick was once viewed as one of the Predators’ top prospects. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked Tomasino No. 2 in the Predators’ system in 2021, writing at the time that he saw “clear top-six upside” and a player who was a “multi-faceted play-driver” that could still find a way to impact games even without consistent puck touches.

After Tomasino’s rookie season in 2021-22, it looked like Tomasino was still on track to live up to the hype he’d garnered as a prospect. He scored 11 goals and 32 points, providing useful secondary scoring to a Predators team that reached the playoffs. Tomasino would go on to score 38 points across his next 72 NHL games in 2022-23 and 2023-24, but those numbers didn’t tell the whole story.

Tomasino’s propensity for defensive lapses and inability to consistently win puck battles or play through the middle of the ice cost him the trust of Predators head coach Andrew Brunette, who took the team to the playoffs and won 47 games in his first season at the helm in Nashville. Tomasino averaged 15:36 time-on-ice under John Hynes the year prior, but his ice time fell to just 12:34 per game under Brunette.

After Tomasino scored just one point in 11 games to start 2024-25, the Predators traded him to Pittsburgh. Initially, the Penguins’ bet seemed to be paying off, as Tomasino scored three goals and four points in his first five games with the Penguins. The rest of the way, it was a relatively similar story to Tomasino’s time in Nashville. He had decent box score numbers (23 points in 50 games, a 38-point 82-game pace) but a lackluster all-around impact.

While it’s come on an accelerated timeline, Tomasino’s time in Pittsburgh appears to have followed a similar track to his time in Nashville. There were those aforementioned early flashes, followed by passable scoring numbers and a sense that he consistently left fans and coaches wanting more.

So far in his second season in Pittsburgh, Tomasino’s time has gone similarly to his later tenure as a Predator. A coaching change happened, and he’s not nearly as trusted by the new head coach, Dan Muse, as he was under former coach Mike Sullivan. Tomasino’s ice time has again declined to just over 12 minutes per night, and he’s found himself a healthy scratch on some nights, just as he was in Nashville.

Over the last few weeks, there was a growing sense in the media that Tomasino’s days on the Penguins’ NHL roster could be numbered. The Athletic’s Josh Yohe reported on Oct. 27 that the Penguins were “not thrilled with Tomasino’s current play,” and that when he was still in Pittsburgh, Sullivan “believed that Tomasino concerned himself too much with his statistics and the scoresheet and not enough with the finer aspects of the game.” Yohe also wrote that Tomasino had been “painfully invisible” in games so far in 2025-26.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel wrote earlier this month about how Muse had implored Tomasino to find a way to consistently “impact the game” and forge his own identity as a player at the NHL level. Vensel wrote at the time that Tomasino “would presumably be on a short list of players they would consider sending down” in the event that the Penguins needed to clear a roster spot if his play did not improve dramatically, and if he remained unable to impact the game in the kind of way Muse wanted him to.

Based on his placement on waivers today, it appears the Penguins may feel Tomasino is not likely to discover that identity or find a way to consistently impact the game in Pittsburgh. It’s important to note, of course, that Tomasino remains just 24 years old, and despite his struggle to establish himself as an NHLer, remains a player with legitimate offensive talents. While things haven’t worked out in Pittsburgh, there are only so many players going around who possess the ability to dazzle with puck skills and offensive ability. While Tomasino has only been able to show off those talents on an inconsistent basis at the NHL level, it’s possible another club could look to claim Tomasino and see if their coaching staff can unlock the potential Tomasino wasn’t able to realize with his prior two teams.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Calgary Flames Claim John Beecher

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The Calgary Flames have claimed center John Beecher off of waivers from the Boston Bruins, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported today.

The Flames held the top waiver priority slot due to their place in the standings, meaning it’s possible more teams placed a claim on Beecher, a 2019 first-round pick, than just Calgary.

Per Derek Willis, the Flames’ radio play-by-play commentator, Calgary is likely to play tonight in Chicago with freshly called up forward Sam Morton as their fourth-line center. While the undrafted 26-year-old has been a strong AHL contributor since signing out of Minnesota State of the NCAA, he has just one prior game of NHL experience.

By claiming Beecher, the Flames have added to their roster a player who is not only younger than Morton, but also brings a considerably greater level of experience in a fourth-line center role. The 6’3″ pivot broke into the NHL on a full-time basis in 2023-24, and played in a total of 52 games that year and 12 playoff games. Upon his arrival from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, Beecher was also a plug-and-play option for the Bruins’ penalty kill, averaging 1:40 shorthanded time-on-ice per game as a rookie.

Beecher maintained his fourth-line, penalty-killing role in 2024-25, a season where he set career-highs in games played (72) and points (11). But Beecher has not been able to take a step forward and become the kind of reliable shutdown defensive center who can elevate his value proposition to a team despite fourth-line usage.

With that said, despite the fact that the Bruins elected to waive him, Beecher still has some positive, valuable qualities as a player. He plays extremely fast for someone his size, and has a career faceoff win rate of 53%. For a Flames team that doesn’t figure to enter into the playoff picture in 2025-26, this waiver claim gives the team an opportunity to see if it can develop Beecher into a more valuable all-around player than the Bruins were able to over the course of his 136 games with the club.

Worth noting is that Beecher is a pending restricted free agent, carrying a $900K AAV. If the Flames elect to qualify him, he will hold arbitration rights.

Boston Bruins Place John Beecher On Waivers

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According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Boston Bruins have placed depth forward John Beecher on waivers. If he clears by this time tomorrow, the Bruins can safely reassign him to the AHL’s Providence Bruins.

The expectation is that the Bruins were making a transaction with Beecher today. Boston may need another defenseman on the active roster with Charlie McAvoy’s status up in the air. To that end, Steve Conroy of The Boston Herald relayed a note from Bruins head coach Marco Sturm setting the expectation that something would happen with Beecher this afternoon.

Unfortunately, regarding McAvoy, there is some cause for concern. Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe reported earlier that Boston’s medical staff is still evaluating McAvoy, and that surgery hadn’t been ruled out yet.

Potentially falling to six healthy defenseman on the active roster, and coupled with Matej Blumel and Riley Tufte’s recall this morning, Beecher came the odd-man out of the Bruins’ lineup to fill in the hole on defense.

Beecher had become the odd man out, realistically, before today. The former first-round pick has been dealing with an upper-body injury of late, but has only appeared in six of Boston’s games on the season, tallying one goal. Additionally, he’s seen his ATOI drop by an entire minute compared to last season.

His lack of offense has been a consistent theme for some time now. Despite being a later first-round selection, Beecher has never scored more than 11 points in any single NHL season, and 23 in an AHL campaign. He has shown flashes of quality play in the faceoff dot and on the defensive side of the puck, though not enough to overlook his offensive staleness.

Even if he makes it through waivers unscathed, Beecher’s time in the Bruins organization may be coming to a close. The 24-year-old center, who’s earning a $900K salary at the NHL level this year, is set to become a restricted free agent next offseason and may become a non-tender candidate.

Maple Leafs Claim Troy Stecher Off Waivers From Oilers

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The Maple Leafs have turned to the waiver wire to add some depth on the back end.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that they have claimed blueliner Troy Stecher off waivers from Edmonton.  To free up a roster spot, the team announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Anthony Stolarz has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to November 11th.

The 31-year-old is in his third season with the Oilers after being acquired from Arizona back in 2024.  After playing somewhat of a regular role last season when he made 66 appearances, playing time has been much harder to come by in 2025-26.  This season, Stecher has only played in six games and has been held off the scoresheet while adding three blocked shots in just under 14 minutes per night of playing time.

In his 10-year NHL career, Stecher has played in 566 games with six different teams and hasn’t been with a franchise for more than four seasons.  He has 22 goals and 95 assists to his credit along with 629 blocked shots with a 17:25 ATOI.

Knowing that a cap crunch was coming with Zach Hyman nearing a return (he was officially activated earlier today and will make his season debut tonight), Edmonton had been looking to move Stecher in recent weeks.  Clearly, no move came to fruition which resulted in yesterday’s waiver placement.  With Stecher coming off the roster, the Oilers now have $212.5K remaining in their LTIR pool, per PuckPedia.

Toronto is currently without blueliner Chris Tanev who is out with an upper-body injury sustained in his first game after returning from a concussion.  His injury has resulted in Dakota Mermis serving as the reserve defenseman in recent weeks.  It’s possible that Stecher is being eyed as an upgrade for that spot although he could push Philippe Myers for playing time as well.

Stecher is in the final season of a two-year, $1.55MM contract which carries a $787.5K cap charge, making him a low-cost pickup for the Maple Leafs.  He’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent in July.

As for Stolarz, he left Tuesday’s game against Boston due to an upper-body injury.  Initially listed as out day-to-day, he’ll now miss at least a week past the 11th, ruling him out of Toronto’s next two games.  He’s someone who could probably benefit from the rest as the 31-year-old has struggled mightily out of the gate, posting a 3.51 GAA and a .884 SV% in his first 13 appearances.  Joseph Woll was recently recalled from his conditioning stint with the AHL’s Marlies and will be in uniform tonight against Chicago with Dennis Hildeby being their other active option.

Maple Leafs, David Kämpf Mutually Terminate Contract

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Nov. 14, 1:08 p.m.: Kämpf has cleared waivers and his contract has been terminated, according to Friedman.

Nov. 13, 12:58 p.m.: The Maple Leafs officially announced Kämpf’s waiver placement. They’ll clear $1.25MM in cap space tomorrow as a result of the move, not his full $2.4MM since he’s already carrying a reduced impact in the minors. Kämpf retains this year’s signing bonus as part of the termination, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

Nov. 13, 10:13 p.m.: The Maple Leafs will place center David Kämpf on unconditional waivers this afternoon for the purpose of a mutual contract termination, Darren Dreger of TSN reports. Assuming he clears tomorrow, he’ll be free to sign a new contract with an NHL club at any time.

The 30-year-old Kämpf is in the third season of a four-year, $9.6MM contract. It hasn’t panned out as Toronto general manager Brad Treliving had hoped when he signed it in June 2023. Kämpf has not played for Toronto’s NHL squad this season. His $2.4MM cap hit and the Leafs’ flurry of depth forward additions over the summer left him out of a roster spot when training camp ended, and he landed on standard waivers. After clearing, he was assigned to AHL Toronto for his first minor-league action since the 2017-18 season.

Initially, Kämpf reported to the Marlies. He suited up for their season-opening back-to-back games but didn’t play again until Oct. 26 and 29. After that, Kämpf took a brief leave to mull his options for an NHL return, which the Maple Leafs made clear wouldn’t be in Toronto. The Leafs initially looked to find a trade partner but were unsuccessful. Soon after, they suspended Kämpf without pay as his leave hit the one-week mark. A mutual contract termination became the clear goal, but there was uncertainty over whether Kämpf would need to return a prorated portion of the $1.325MM signing bonus he was given before the season as part of the transaction.

Today’s news indicates the NHL and NHLPA have come to a resolution on that front. Kämpf will now be walking away from the remainder of the $1.075MM base salary he was owed for this season, plus the $2.4MM total compensation he was due in 2026-27.

His four-year contract with the Leafs came on the heels of a career-best season for Kämpf, who’d initially joined the franchise on a two-year, $3MM pact in free agency in 2021. The faceoff and penalty-killing specialist had averaged north of 15 minutes per game in his first two seasons in Toronto, didn’t miss a game, and reached 26 and 27 points, respectively. He’d never hit the 20-point threshold before in his career and hasn’t hit it since.

While still effective on the dot and shorthanded, Kämpf’s offensive liabilities began to contribute to a decreased role. He saw his ice time slashed by nearly two minutes per game in the first year of his extension, and it was further reduced to 12:29 last year, in which injuries and healthy scratches limited him to 59 appearances. Toronto’s trade deadline pickup of Scott Laughton from the Flyers pushed him out of the lineup entirely, and he only played in one out of 13 playoff games for the Leafs, so the writing was on the wall long before this season began.

That said, Kämpf shouldn’t have much trouble finding a new deal. He has 48 goals and 143 points in 536 career NHL games. Considering he’s only started 31.6% of his shifts at even strength in the offensive zone, his relatively tame -16 rating is indicative of his legitimate defensive skill. He’s not overly physical, averaging under one hit per game for his career, but has a 51.4% lifetime average on draws. If he’s willing to take a deal close to league minimum, he should have a multitude of options. Teams plagued with injuries up front – the Canucks and Sabres, in particular – could be among the first to call.

Image courtesy of Alan Poizner-Imagn Images.

Oilers Place Troy Stecher On Waivers, Reassign Isaac Howard

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The Oilers announced they’ve placed defenseman Troy Stecher on waivers for the purposes of assignment to AHL Bakersfield. They also demoted rookie Isaac Howard, sending him directly to Bakersfield.

Stecher, 31, was acquired from the Coyotes back at the 2024 trade deadline before signing a two-year, $1.575MM extension to remain with Edmonton through this season. An undrafted free agent signing by the Canucks in 2016, Stecher immediately broke into a top-four role with Vancouver but peaked early on, never eclipsing the 24 points he put up in his rookie year.

The puck-moving blue liner ended up stabilizing as a more useful third-pairing piece, leading to him moving around quite a bit. He was picked up by a contender for added depth at three straight trade deadlines – going from the Red Wings to the Kings in 2022 and the Coyotes to the Flames in 2023 before returning to Arizona in free agency and being dealt to the Oilers in 2024. Over those three years plus last season in Edmonton, Stecher put together an 8-31–37 scoring line with a -6 rating in 230 appearances.

Those numbers were brought down by a difficult 2024-25 campaign for Stecher in Edmonton, in which he was limited to seven points and a -2 rating in 66 games and averaged just 13:52 of ice time per contest. He was a frequent healthy scratch in the postseason, although for his six-figure cap hit, he wasn’t being paid as much more than veteran insurance. Edmonton’s pickup of Jake Walman at last year’s deadline and the emergence of Alec Regula into a semi-regular role have pushed him further down the depth chart, though.

Stecher has now been a healthy scratch in seven straight and has only played in six of 19 games this season, going without a point. As a result, Edmonton has been looking to find a trade partner for him. With no success so far, they’re letting him hit the wire to see if another team wants his services at an affordable $787,500 cap hit for the remainder of the season.

Howard’s demotion is more related to Zach Hyman’s anticipated activation from long-term injured reserve tomorrow, but it won’t be the worst thing for his development, either. The 2022 first-round pick is in his first professional season after initially telling the Lightning he wouldn’t sign with them, which ultimately led to Edmonton acquiring his rights over the summer and subsequently inking him to his entry-level deal. Howard was left off Edmonton’s opening night roster for cap purposes, but was recalled before they played their first game.

As a result, Howard has played in all 17 contests for the Oilers but hasn’t been terribly effective. Part of that is because he hasn’t had a chance to play with premier linemates as he may have hoped. There was speculation the 21-year-old lefty might get a trial in top-six minutes alongside either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, particularly with Hyman sidelined to start the season, but that never came to pass. He’s spent virtually the whole season in fourth-line duties, averaging 9:30 of ice time per game. His production has been limited to two goals and one assist with a -2 rating.

Howard should receive first-line minutes with Bakersfield. The Wisconsin native had a 2024-25 season for the ages before turning pro, taking home the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey, as well as a Big Ten championship with Michigan State, while recording a 26-26–52 scoring line in 37 games.

Rangers Sign Spencer Martin To Two-Year Deal

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Nov. 13: The Rangers announced that Martin has cleared waivers and has been reassigned to Hartford.

Nov. 12: The Rangers have signed goaltender Spencer Martin and immediately placed him on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Hartford, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It’s a two-year contract, according to Mollie Walker of the New York Post.

Martin, 30, is a longtime AHL depth piece who’d seen NHL action as a backup/No. 3 option in four straight seasons leading into 2025-26. While the 6’3″ netminder has a strong minor-league track record, his NHL results have been highly underwhelming. He made his NHL debut with the Avalanche back in 2016-17 and didn’t get another look until getting called up to the Canucks in 2022, posting a .950 SV% in six appearances and positioning himself as Thatcher Demko’s backup to start 2022-23. He couldn’t sustain his hot streak from the previous year, though, posting a nearly unplayable .871 SV% and .296 quality start percentage in 29 appearances until landing on waivers midway through the season.

The following two seasons saw Martin serve as a stopgap for the Blue Jackets and Hurricanes while they dealt with injuries in the crease. Neither of those stints was much different than his time in Vancouver. He made 16 starts and 19 appearances for Columbus and Carolina in 2023-24, logging a 7-9-2 record with a .889 SV% and 3.30 GAA. Martin played just nine games for the Canes last year with an even further degraded SV% of .846 and a GAA of 3.89, although he did record his first career shutout in the process.

That decline led Martin to pursue an overseas opportunity for the first time. He signed a two-year contract with CSKA Moscow in the Kontinental Hockey League back in July. He was clearly positioned as their starter but was quickly usurped by Islanders prospect Dmitri Gamzin, who has a .933 SV% and 7-5-2 record through 13 games compared to Martin’s .905 SV% and 5-6-2 record in 14 games. With CSKA handing the reins to Gamzin and also having Blue Jackets 2025 first-rounder Pyotr Andreyanov as a recall option from the Russian minors, they terminated Martin’s contract on Monday.

Martin shouldn’t have much of any trouble clearing waivers on his way back to the NHL. The Rangers were looking for a veteran name to supplement their current AHL tandem of prospects Talyn Boyko and Dylan Garand, neither of whom has been particularly convincing to start the year. Martin’s .909 SV% in 30 appearances with AHL Chicago last season is better than what both of them have put on offer so far.

Flames Reassign Justin Kirkland, Recall Rory Kerins

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Nov. 13: Kirkland has cleared waivers and has been sent to the AHL, the team announced. The corresponding transaction isn’t an activation for Pospisil, though. They announced earlier in the day that they’ve recalled Kerins from the minors, and he’s expected to make his season debut tonight against the Sharks in place of Yegor Sharangovich, who’s headed for the press box, per Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960.

Most had penciled Kerins into an opening-night job for the Flames because they’d have to waive him to send him to the minors. After he had four assists in his first five NHL games last season and was nearly a point-per-game in the AHL, the thought was that he wouldn’t make it through. They were able to sneak him through the wire, though, and he’s continued to roll at an elite scoring pace in the minors. Now 23 years old, the 2020 sixth-round pick has five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 13 games to lead the Wranglers in scoring.

Nov. 12: The Flames have placed forward Justin Kirkland on waivers, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 reports. He’ll be assigned to AHL Calgary if he clears tomorrow.

It’s possible Calgary is clearing a roster spot to activate winger Martin Pospisil from injured reserve. Pospisil has yet to play this season due to an undisclosed injury he sustained during the preseason. He’s been skating on his own for a few weeks and could be an option for tomorrow’s game against the Sharks if he’s activated.

Kirkland being the odd man out is a disappointing resolution, but not an unexpected one. The 29-year-old was essentially a career minor-leaguer until last season, when he earned an early-season recall from the Flames and carved out a fourth-line role for himself. Through 21 games, he posted two goals and six assists for eight points while averaging 9:42 per game. He had some underwhelming possession impacts despite a +6 rating, but gained cult status with Calgary fans through his shootout performances, converting three times on his four attempts. His moment in the sun came to an end in late November, when he sustained a knee injury against the Blue Jackets that required season-ending ACL surgery.

The Winnipeg native could have been an unrestricted free agent last summer, but the Flames liked enough of what they saw to re-up him on a one-year contract worth $900,000 in late June. Kirkland held on to an opening-night job for the first time in his career, but he only lasted two games before being healthy scratched for the first time. He was in and out of the lineup until late October, when he made a season-high four consecutive appearances. He hasn’t played since that stretch, sitting out for five in a row since Nov. 1.

In his nine showings this season, Kirkland has been limited to one assist and a -1 rating. His ice time remained limited at 9:34 per game. The 6’3″ center showed improvement in the faceoff dot, though, winning 54.5% of his draws compared to 42.9% last season. He also posted improved possession metrics, controlling 56.5% of shot attempts when he was on the ice at even strength.

His six-figure salary and expiring contract make him a legitimate target for a claim. The Flames have comparable veteran names in the system, like Clark Bishop and Dryden Hunt, who can be called up if needed, though, while prospects Matvei Gridin and Rory Kerins are off to strong starts in the minors and banging on the door for a recall. Clearly, they’re comfortable with the risk of losing Kirkland because of their existing depth.

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