Around 9:30am MT this morning, the heavens opened up and the hockey world proclaimed with one confused exclamation.

The Flames announced prior to their practice this morning that defenseman Douglas Murray has joined the team on a try-out basis. He joined the team today.

A San Jose Sharks 8th round pick in the 1999 NHL Draft, Murray’s 518 NHL regular season games under his belt (and 75 playoff appearances) with the Sharks, Penguins and Canadiens. He’s hardly a points generator, though, with just 64 points over his career in the NHL.

Murray failed to catch on with an NHL team this year, playing with the DEL’s Kolner Haie team instead.

Murray is a third-pairing guy. He’s big. He’s mean. He’s not a great skater. But he’s got a left-handed shot, he’s got playoff experience and he could be useful for a young locker room. But he’s basically an older, slightly worse (left-handed) Deryk Engelland at this point in his career. Maybe the thought process is they wanted a replacement for Ladislav Smid down the stretch, perhaps?

And I’m not certain that he’s eligible to play in the playoffs at all, so if that’s the case, what’s the point of bringing him in for the stretch drive?