The Flames release Chris Higgins from his tryout
By Ryan Pike
7 years agoA busy holiday Thanksgiving Monday has gotten a bit busier. The Calgary Flames announced this morning that they’ve released left wing Chris Higgins from his professional tryout agreement with the club.
The move leaves them with 26 players on their roster: two goalies, nine defensemen and 15 forwards.
A longtime NHL veteran bought out by Vancouver over the summer, Higgins was brought in to hopefully help out Calgary’s awful penalty kill. Unfortunately, he wasn’t amazing – concerns about his foot-speed were probably well-founded – and his much-touted eye for detail in the defensive zone didn’t do much to elevate his teammates.
The 26 players remaining in Flames camp:
- Goalies Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson
- Defensemen Jyrki Jokipakka, Mark Giordano, Dennis Wideman, T.J. Brodie, Nicklas Grossmann, Ladislav Smid, Dougie Hamilton, Deryk Engelland and Brett Kulak.
- Forwards Linden Vey, Mikael Backlund, Johnny Gaudreau, Lance Bouma, Matt Stajan, Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan, Freddie Hamilton, Troy Brouwer, Alex Chiasson, Brandon Bollig, Michael Frolik, Daniel Pribyl, Micheal Ferland and Sam Bennett
Complicating factors?
- Pribyl and Smid are injured and likely to be declared non-roster tomorrow.
- Vey has cleared waivers and can be sent down to the AHL anytime in the next 27 days (or 10 games played by the Flames). Kulak and Bennett don’t require waivers to go down to the AHL. Bollig is currently on waivers.
- Gaudreau and Grossmann don’t currently have NHL contracts.
All NHL clubs have to file their opening rosters with the league office by 3 p.m. MT tomorrow.
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