Ahead of the Calgary Flames’ final clash of the season with the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, they announced some injury news. Blueliner Joel Hanley was absent from morning skate and did not have a stall in the locker room. And there’s a good reason for that: Hanley sustained an injury in Thursday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks and is out for the remainder of the season with an upper body injury.

Flames head coach Ryan Huska announced Hanley’s absence after morning skate.

“Joel is out tonight,” said Huska. “Joel’s going to be out for a while. So unfortunately, we likely won’t see him again.”

Hanley was credited with four shot blocks in the Flames’ 3-2 overtime loss to Anaheim on Thursday. All indications are that one of those shot blocks has knocked Hanley out of the lineup for the remaining 10 games of the season.

The 34-year-old Hanley joined the Flames as a waiver claim late in the 2023-24-season. He found a really niche with the Flames as a utility defender, basically able to slot in on any pairing – often at short notice as an injury or illness replacement – and provide quality minutes and a reliable defensive partner for whoever he’s with.

Hanley spent the bulk of this season on the third pairing, playing with a rotation of partners including MacKenzie Weegar, Zayne Parekh, Hunter Brzustewicz and Brayden Pachal. In 68 games this season, Hanley had zero goals and seven assists. He’s finishing up the first year of a two year contract that carries a $1.75 million cap hit.

With Hanley done for the season and Yan Kuznetsov still a bit banged up, the Flames have six healthy defenders available: Kevin Bahl, Zach Whitecloud, Olli Maatta, Brzustewicz, Pachal and Parekh.

Hanley joins Sam Honzek, Jake Bean, Jonathan Huberdeau, Connor Zary and Kuznetsov on the sidelines for the Flames due to injury. Honzek, Bean, Huberdeau and Hanley are all out for the remainder of the season, while Zary and Kuznetsov are day-to-day.