Jakob Pelletier has had surgery and Kevin Rooney’s injury will ‘not be short-term’

The Calgary Flames will begin their 2023-24 regular season next Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets. But don’t expect to see forwards Jakob Pelletier or Kevin Rooney in the lineup when the puck drops.

Flames head coach Ryan Huska provided updates on his injured players following Wednesday’s morning skate.

According to Huska, Pelletier has undergone surgery for his shoulder injury that he suffered last Monday against the Seattle Kraken. While Huska didn’t have an official timeline to share, he noted that “he’ll be a few months, for sure, to recover from a surgery.”

Huska also provided an update on Rooney, who left Sunday’s practice early after crashing awkwardly into the end boards.

“You know what, he will not be short-term is what I can say,” said Huska. “I don’t officially know a timeline yet, but it won’t be something that we’ll see him next week.”

Pelletier is in the third season of his two-way entry-level deal with an $863,333 cap hit. While he’s injured, he’ll carry a pro-rated cap hit based on how much of last season he spent on the Flames’ NHL roster of $406,000. Rooney is in the second season of a one-way deal with a $1.3 million cap hit. Because he’s on a one-way deal, he’ll continue to count fully against the salary cap.

The Flames must file a cap compliant roster of between 20-to-23 active players with the league’s central registry by 3 p.m. MT on Monday.