Flames Invite Sheldon Brookbank to Camp Says Report

Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving has bemoaned the team’s lack of defensive depth all summer. He’s seemingly taken a step towards fixing that, via a training camp invitation.

Brookbank turns 34 in October and has a Stanley Cup ring and 351 NHL games under his belt. Now, considering he turned pro in 2001-02 and played his first pro with the Mississippi Sea Wolves, you can probably figure out he’s a guy that basically willed himself to as many games as he’s gotten. He’s played more AHL games in his career than NHL games.

He was Chicago’s #7 defender for the past few seasons and previously had stops in Nashville, New Jersey and Anaheim doing basically the same thing, playing a career-high 80 games for Anaheim two seasons ago. He’s a replacement-level player, and if he catches on with Calgary it’s because they want Tyler Wotherspoon and/or Mark Cundari playing regular minutes in the AHL rather than being an extra body at practice up in Calgary.

And if he’s lousy, he’s fine with sitting, and he’ll probably be a player that can go through waivers and be sent back to the AHL without anyone really fretting about it too much.

If I was a cynical person, I’d also mention that he’s not afraid to fight, with six fights last season.