The Flames make nine more cuts
By Ryan Pike
7 years agoAfter much speculation, the Calgary Flames made nine cuts to their main training camp roster today.
Headed to the Stockton Heat of the American Hockey League are goalie Jon Gillies, defensemen Ryan Culkin and Oliver Kylington, and forwards Matt Frattin, Mark Jankowski, Morgan Klimchuk and Emile Poirier. Cut outright are professional tryout blueliners Colby Robak and Mikhail Grigoriev.
After the moves, the Flames are down to 32 players on their camp roster: three goalies, 11 defenders and 18 forwards.
WHO’S GONE?
Let’s break this down by position.
In goal: Gillies gets cut (but David Rittich remains), presumably because the Flames want Gillies to play a ton in the AHL and it makes some sense to get him down on the farm and ready for action now rather than later. He was really solid in his two preseason appearances. Rittich will presumably get some more action before he joins Gillies in Stockton.
On the blueline: Culkin didn’t really get himself embroiled in the race for the open NHL job, so it makes sense that he goes down to get ready for the AHL season. Kylington showed well and was probably a dark horse for the NHL gig, but he’s barely 19 and will benefit from playing a ton in Stockton. Robak and Grigoriev looked decent in limited exhibition action, but weren’t going to supplant any NHLers (and didn’t do enough to really outshine any AHLers, to be honest).
Up front: three first round selections (and Frattin) are headed down. Jankowski is a first-year pro and needs some seasoning. Poirier was inconsistent in his exhibition outings and needs some work. Klimchuk looked fine but, like Jankowski, could use some time in the AHL to round out his game. Jankowski was better than I thought he’d be in camp, but struggled a bit with the speed of the game.
When you consider preseason performances, none of the moves were terribly shocking.
WHO’S LEFT?
With the roster further reduced, here’s a glance at who is left in training camp:
Goalies (3):
- #1 Brian Elliott
- #31 Chad Johnson
- #40 David Rittich
One cut to go, and it’ll be Rittich.
Defensemen (11):
- #3 Jyrki Jokipakka
- #5 Mark Giordano
- #6 Dennis Wideman
- #7 T.J. Brodie
- #8 Nicklas Grossmann [PTO]
- #15 Ladislav Smid (injured)
- #26 Tyler Wotherspoon
- #27 Dougie Hamilton
- #29 Deryk Engelland
- #53 Kenney Morrison
- #61 Brett Kulak
Smid will be placed on LTIR, so functionally there are three assignments left to make. The open job is likely going to one of Grossmann, Wotherspoon, Morrison or Kulak.
Forwards (18):
- #10 Linden Vey
- #11 Mikael Backlund
- #17 Lance Bouma
- #18 Matt Stajan
- #19 Matthew Tkachuk
- #20 Chris Higgins [PTO]
- #21 Lauri Korpikoski [PTO]
- #23 Sean Monahan
- #25 Freddie Hamilton
- #36 Troy Brouwer
- #39 Alex Chiasson
- #49 Hunter Shinkaruk
- #52 Brandon Bollig
- #64 Garnet Hathaway
- #67 Michael Frolik
- #74 Daniel Pribyl (injured)
- #79 Micheal Ferland
- #93 Sam Bennett
And also restricted free agent winger Johnny Gaudreau.
Presuming the Flames carry 14 forwards and that Gaudreau is one of them, we’ll see Pribyl placed on non-roster injured reserve and then four more assignments.
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