Mike Smith starts on Saturday afternoon, Frolik close to return, Robinson to AHL

The Calgary Flames hit the practice ice for their last prep before their Saturday afternoon tilt with the St. Louis Blues. The skate also led to a bit of lineup news for the club.

Mike Smith hasn’t played since leaving the Flames’ 6-5 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers back on Dec. 12. Since then David Rittich has started four games in a row, going 2-1-1 in that span. Given the gap between games during the holiday break, it makes a lot of sense to get Smith back into action against the Blues.

In other news, Michael Frolik reportedly skated on a regular line; he was on the left side of Mark Jankowski and James Neal on the third line. He was originally expected to return following the holiday break, but seems likely to return against the Blues.

(Travis Hamonic had a maintenance day and is expected to play in his normal spot against the Blues.)

To potentially open up a roster spot for Frolik – and to get some cap savings as well – the Flames have returned Buddy Robinson to the AHL’s Stockton Heat. Robinson was up as an insurance policy in case Sam Bennett or Neal were unable to play on Thursday against Tampa Bay. The Flames now have 22 players on their active roster and so there won’t be any other moves necessary to activate him off the injury reserve list.