Flames Recall Tyler Wotherspoon, Use Last Regular Recall

The Flames have made a roster move, but it’s not the one you may have expected.

The team announced this morning that they have summoned defender Tyler Wotherspoon from the American Hockey League’s Adirondack Flames, using up the team’s fourth and final non-emergency recall. (We think.)

This means that Sam Bennett likely won’t be joining the NHL club, at least for the time being.

It’s Wotherspoon’s fourth recall of the season. His summons was likely due to an injury to Raphael Diaz, who played just 56 seconds in the third period of a game last night the Flames were trailing – despite Diaz being arguably the second or third-best Flames blueliner at creating offense.

And Corey Potter was not particularly great in his pair of games.

I hate to say this, but Wotherspoon’s recall is probably the death knell for Adirondack’s playoff hopes. The remainder of the AHL blueline is a mixture of injured guys, inexperienced guys and Nolan Yonkman.

In terms of recalls, it’s unclear whether or not Sam Bennett would count as a regular recall or not, because the CBA is wonderfully unclear about recalls from junior leagues once the junior season is over. If Bennett goes straight to the AHL, then the recall counts against the four, but if he is recalled from the OHL directly, it’s not immediately clear.

Per Darren Haynes, who generally knows these things: