Glencross Out with Knee Injury

 

Stepping away from political debate, it’s been revealed today that Curtis Glencross is out with a knee injury for the forseeable future. According to John Down of Inside the Flames, Glencross was seen on crutches this morning and won’t be playing against San Jose this Friday.

That means Mikael Backlund is mostly likely to draw back into the line-up, with either Conroy moving down to center the fourth line or Nystrom moving over to make room on the "energy" trio. That also ensures Nigel Dawes will remain on the active roster a bit longer, which, I think, is nothing to be angry about. In his first two games back, Dawes has an assist, is +2 in terms of scoring chance differential and boasts a +11 corsi rate. His line with Conroy and Moss has been one of the more consistent forward groups since his return. 

On the negative side of the ledger, Curtis Glencross had been a strong component of Calgary’s highly functional 4th line including Eric Nystrom and Jamal Mayers. That unit has averaged more than 10 minutes a night recently and pitched in with some timely goals. They’ve also been taking a bunch of defensive zone draws, which helps free up the other "scoring" lines for offensive zone starts. There’s a good chance that neither Craig Conroy nor Backlund are as effective as Glencross at this point in their respective careers, so look for that line to get a bit less ice time in his absence (not matter which player fills the void).