On Friday, in advance of Saturday’s home-opener against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Calgary Flames announced some roster moves. The club announced that they’ve recalled forward Justin Kirkland from the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers and, in a corresponding move to open a roster spot (and revealed on the NHL media portal), they’ve placed forward Kevin Rooney on the injury reserve list.
Let’s get to Rooney first. On Thursday, responding to a question from Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg, Flames head coach Ryan Huska indicated that Rooney was “doing well” and categorized him as day-to-day. That’s fantastic news for a player that (a) missed a big chunk of last season due to shoulder surgery and (b) had a really scary tumble into the boards against Vancouver after his collision with J.T. Miller and was on the ice being looked at by trainers for awhile.
We have no knowledge of Rooney’s specific medical diagnosis, but generally speaking, the return to play protocols for a player that suffered a suspected concussion takes just over a week to go through the protocol if everything goes well – each of the seven stages of the “graded return to play progression” takes a minimum of 24 hours. Given the nature of Rooney’s collision, it seems reasonable to think that this may be the path he’s on. Him being on the injury reserve list means he’s unavailable for at least seven days (with the day after his injury, Thursday, being day one of seven), and that fits with Huska’s day-to-day categorization.
With Rooney unavailable for the short term and the Flames in need of centres, Kirkland gets his first chance to play NHL games for the Flames in his fourth season in the organization. The 28-year-old Kirkland is a left shot forward that can play centre or the wing, and he’s carved out a really nice AHL career for himself over eight seasons as a pro. He earned himself NHL games in the past two seasons with Anaheim and Arizona, and his training camp performance – and perhaps Cole Schwindt being claimed by Vegas off the waiver wire – results in another NHL opportunity for him.
Rooney joins Yegor Sharangovich on the IR. The Flames’ active roster remains at the full complement of 23 players: two goaltenders, eight defencemen and 13 forwards.
Saturday night kicks off a quick set of three games in four nights for the Flames: Saturday at home against Philadelphia, Sunday on the road in Edmonton, and then Tuesday back home against Chicago.
