Dan Vladar to have season-ending surgery, Jacob Markstrom cleared, Dustin Wolf to stay up

Friends, the Calgary Flames made a big goaltending announcement on Thursday morning. The club announced that Dan Vladar will have season-ending hip surgery, Jacob Markstrom has been cleared to return to practice and play, and Dustin Wolf will remain with the club on an emergency recall basis.

Vladar, 26, has played 20 games this season and gone 8-9-2 with an .882 save percentage and 3.62 goals against average. He’s played twice in March, both times falling on the wrong side of one-sided games – he allowed seven goals against Carolina and six against Colorado. He’s shown flashes of brilliance at times this season, but just hasn’t been able to string strong outings together.

Markstrom, 34, has played 41 games and gone 22-17-2 with a .910 save percentage, 2.68 goals against average and two shutouts. He’s been really good this season, and will probably garner Vezina Trophy and year-end All-Star consideration for his efforts. He’s shown long stretches of brilliance, and when the Flames were a work in progress defensively early in the season, he did his level best to hold them in games. He’s been out since Feb. 12 with a lower body injury.

Wolf, 22, has played 10 games and gone 3-4-1 with a .897 save percentage and 3.25 goals against average. The young netminder has been up and down from the AHL for much of the season, but he’s been pretty decent when he’s played. He recently played two superb outings against Vegas and Montreal, earning back-to-back wins and praise from his teammates and head coach Ryan Huska for his performance. At this point, Wolf needs to play NHL games in order to progress himself towards full-time NHL duty… and while it’s tough that it comes at Vladar’s expense, that’s the silver lining in this situation.

Even though it’s likely that Wolf will remain with the Flames for the rest of the season, he’s technically on an emergency recall because without him, the Flames wouldn’t have enough healthy goaltenders to meet roster minimums. As a result, his situation won’t impact the Flames’ four post trade deadline “regular” recalls from the AHL.

The Flames are back in action on Saturday when they visit the Vancouver Canucks.