@Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving provided an update on @Travis Hamonic’s injury just prior to the Flames’ game on Wednesday night against the @Los Angeles Kings.
Hamonic has missed the last two games with an upper body injury.
“He’s on IR,” summarized Treliving. “He’s not going to play on the rest of this road trip… I think we’ll get a better sense when we get home. But he’s going to miss a little time. What is that? I don’t know.”
Treliving declined to comment on the specifics of Hamonic’s injury, but ruled out a shoulder injury or a concussion. Hamonic was injured early in the second period of the Flames’ 6-2 victory over Vancouver on Saturday during a collision with J.T. Miller.
(The injury was somewhat similar to that suffered by @Austin Czarnik in late October, in as much as a somewhat innocent seeming hit turned out to result in an injury due to a bit of awkward body positioning on the hit.)
Hamonic was placed on the injury reserve retroactive to Saturday, so he cannot be activated until Sunday – that rules him out at least through the Flames’ game against Chicago.
In Hamonic’s absence, Alexander Yelesin made his NHL debut on Wednesday against Los Angeles. He played 10:54 – two minutes less than defensive partner @Oliver Kylington – and had an even plus/minus rating with two shots. He seemed a bit shaky defensively in the first period, but settled in nicely as the game wore on. He was on the ice for one goal for and one goal against.
Interim head coach Geoff Ward provided a nice summary of Yelesin’s debut when he spoke with the assembled media following the game:
I thought he was fine. He certainly was everything we thought he was going to be. Stepped up and he played hard. I think the biggest thing is he probably found tonight those guys were on top of him awful quick. I think all in all for his first game, for the minutes he played he gave a pretty good accounting of himself.
Yelesin was given the customary solo lap around the ice for warm-ups prior to the rest of the team joining him. He’s the first player to make his NHL debut for the Flames since @Dillon Dube and @Juuso Valimaki debuted in the opening game of the 2018-19 season.