After dressing against Dallas, Calgary Flames forward Martin Pospisil requires waivers now

Way back on Oct. 6, Martin Pospisil cleared waivers and was assigned to the American Hockey League by the Calgary Flames. On Friday, Pospisil’s waiver exemption expired as he dressed for an NHL game for the 10th time since clearing waivers.

Pospisil requires waivers to return to the AHL. Based on how he’s been playing, it seems incredibly unlikely that the Flames will risk it.

Pospisil played six games for the Calgary Wranglers and had six points – three goals and three assists. He was recalled by the Flames on Nov. 3 as the big club looked to get some youth and energy into their lineup. (At the time, he was among the Wranglers’ leading scorers.)

Pospisil made his NHL debut back on Nov. 4 in Seattle, playing on a line with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman. He scored a goal in his first NHL game. After a few games, he moved onto a trio with Nazem Kadri and Connor Zary, where he’s found a home ever since. In 10 games, Pospisil has three goals and five points – and a plus-5 rating.

On Friday’s edition of After Burner, Dean “Boomer” Molberg and I discussed Pospisil’s impact a bit. To me, arguably the most impressive thing about Pospisil is how unphased he seems to be about playing in the NHL. At the AHL level, he was the proverbial wrecking ball, crashing and banging and making trouble wherever he want. At the NHL level, there hasn’t been the type of tentativeness we’ve seen with some previous youngsters – sometimes newcomers dip their toe into the water, while Pospisil has dived right in while shouting “cannonball!”

Pospisil is listed at 6’2″ and 173 pounds by the NHL. He turned 24 years old last week. He’s on an extremely team-friendly two-way contract worth just $775,000 (the league minimum) at the NHL level. He’s a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer. Given his age, playing style, inexpensive contract and his potential upside as a agitator and disturber (who can score), it seems incredibly likely that he would be claimed on waivers by another NHL club.

Is there anybody else within the Flames system that can do the things that Pospisil does? And do them at his price point? For those reasons, we really doubt the Flames risk him on the waiver wire. Unless his play falls off a cliff, it seems likely that Pospisil is in the NHL to stay.