It appears that the most often scratched forward on the Calgary Flames roster may get a chance to play in the American Hockey League. Per The Athletic’s Chris Johnston, among others, the Flames have placed forward Walker Duehr on waivers.

The 26-year-old Duehr is in his first full NHL season after breaking through onto the NHL roster midway through 2022-23 as a fast, energetic, physical depth forward. He signed a two-year, $825,000 AAV contract at the end of last season that runs through the end of the 2024-25 season.

But this season hasn’t really worked out the way Duehr, or the Flames, had hoped. Duehr has four points in 19 games, missed a game due to illness, but otherwise has been a healthy scratch – by our count, he was a healthy spectator 24 times. Considering Duehr’s on a multi-year deal and is still fairly young – and early in his pro career – it makes sense to send him down to the Wranglers and potentially get him going again.

The Flames are currently carrying 23 players, including Duehr: three goaltenders, seven defencemen and 13 forwards. Dustin Wolf is waiver exempt (and will head to the AHL once Jacob Markstrom is good to go). Connor Zary is waiver exempt, but he’s not going anywhere. If you’re the Flames, waiving Duehr at the very least buys you 30 days of roster flexibility while Duehr’s on the roster (and longer if he’s demoted to the AHL).

With the league heading into what could be a very busy trade period leading up to the March 8 trade deadline, building some flexibility into the club’s roster makes a lot of sense if you’re the Flames.