Johnny Gaudreau to miss six weeks after surgery

In the aftermath of both the Calgary Flames’ 2-1 overtime win over the Arizona Coyotes and the successful surgery on Johnny Gaudreau’s finger yesterday, Flames general manager Brad Treliving held court with local media earlier today. He had an update on the timeline for Gaudreau’s eventual return.

Counting six weeks from Gaudreau’s surgery date on the handy FlamesNation calendar page, a ballpark for Gaudreau’s return to action would be just after the Christmas break.

In terms of prospective recalls, it seems unlikely that the Flames call up another body from the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat. They’ve already summoned Linden Vey, Hunter Shinkaruk and Garnet Hathaway from Stockton, and Treliving noted a pending injury return while talking to the media.

The Flames are currently carrying 13 healthy forwards (Shinkaruk was a scratch last night) and fundamentally speaking, Versteeg likely replaces Gaudreau on the active roster. While he’s a right-handed shot, Versteeg has played on the left side during his time with the Flames (and throughout his career).