Flames Recall Ben Street from Abbotsford

Perhaps a bit lost in all the "Flames scoring a goal" hubbub tonight is the announcement that the club has recalled centre Ben Street from the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat, presumably to give them an extra healthy forward for the upcoming back-to-back road games in Carolina and Nashville.

Street made the Flames out of camp and was quietly effective in a bottom-six role, being one of the team’s better face-off guys. That said, he was pushed out of the team’s immediate plans as the roster got healthier. He had one assist in eight NHL games, but emerged as one of Abbotsford’s better players once he settled in down on the farm – putting up 33 points in 31 AHL contests, contributing on the power-play and racking up five game-winning goals. Street’s an AHL All-Star, but he’s also not waiver-exempt, so if the Flames decided to send him back to the farm, he’d have to clear waivers first. I’m not 100% convinced that Street, who’s proven himself a strong AHLer and a completely acceptable NHLer, wouldn’t be snatched up by an injury-depleted team with some holes in their bottom-six.

In short? I’m not 100% sure he’s going to be sent back down.

David Jones has a lingering eye infection, so Street becomes the team’s official 23rd roster player, although Jones could be played on IR retroactive to his original injury date (which is over a week ago) if the club wanted to make another move. Kris Russell, Blair Jones and Curtis Glencross remain on the IR, although Russell has been skating and is thought to be perhaps 7-10 days away from returning. That would place dates for Russell’s potential return around January 18 (in Vancouver), January 20 (in San Jose) or January 22 (at home against Phoenix).