Flames recall Tyler Wotherspoon amid ‘speculation’ that Giordano may be out long-term
9 years ago
Sometimes no news is bad news.
It was two days ago that Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano left a game against the New Jersey Devils after being hooked by Devils winger Steve Bernier. The Norris Trophy candidate fell awkwardly, but the Flames had no update on his status after the game. They still don’t.
On Friday, the Flames recalled defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon from the Adirondack Flames of the American Hockey League. Meanwhile the club still had no update on Giordano’s status on Friday morning, even as rumours about his injury being a long-term situation became amplified.
“Gio’s still going through tests,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said in an appearance on Sportsnet the Fan 960’s Boomer and Rhett morning show. “We have nothing to report at this time. We’ll let the medical people do their thing.”
That, two days on, there’s no update on Giordano’s status has to be concerning. Just from my five years of experience covering hockey professionally, I can tell you that when a team waits to share information like this, it’s generally for one of three reasons:
- Because a player is getting a second opinion.
- Team doctors are waiting for swelling to go down so they can properly diagnose the extent of the injury.
- The injury may require surgery, but they’re going to wait and try to avoid it.
Either way, it’s not good. It’s especially ‘not good’ when TSN’s Bob McKenzie, who may couch a tidbit of information as idle speculation but doesn’t actually engage in idle speculate ever, is passing along news like this:
Meanwhile Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is reporting that the Flames are ‘bracing for an absence.’
Giordano, 31, has managed 48 points in 61 games this season and was thought to be among the Norris Trophy contenders this season, if not the all-out frontrunner. If this is the end of his regular season, it’ll still have been the best season of his career. Let’s hope a truly remarkable campaign, both from an individual- and team-performance perspective, doesn’t end like this.
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