On Friday night, in the Calgary Flames’ pre-season finale with the Winnipeg Jets, forward Yegor Sharangovich left the game due to an injury. On Monday morning, the Flames announced that Sharangovich is out week-to-week with a lower body injury and has been placed on the injury reserve list to start the regular season.
Sharangovich likely suffered the injury late in Friday’s game when Jets forward Vladislav Namestnikov fell awkwardly onto Sharangovich’s leg.
Yegor Sharangovich had a Jet player fall on his leg. Looked like he was shaken up on the play.
🎥: TSN | NHL pic.twitter.com/Gr3pf2UM8b
— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) October 5, 2024
The 26-year-old Sharangovich is a big loss for the Flames, even if he only misses a little bit of time, as he’s arguably the team’s most versatile offensive player. A left shot forward that can play either wing or centre, he had been pencilled into a spot on the club’s top line with Nazem Kadri and Andrei Kuzmenko to start the season.
Sharangovich was acquired by the Flames, along with a third-round selection used to draft Aydar Suniev, in a trade on the eve of the 2023 NHL Draft in exchange for Tyler Toffoli. It’s hard to argue the trade wasn’t good for the Flames, as Sharangovich really found his footing as an offensive-minded forward with the Flames.
He posted 31 goals and 28 assists for 59 points overall – easily his best offensive output as an NHLer – and carved out spots for himself in the Flames’ top two forward lines, their top power play unit and as a key member of their penalty kill. On July 1, he signed a five year contract extension (which kicks in next season) with a $5.75 million cap hit.
Placing Sharangovich on the IR does a few things for the Flames. While they don’t receive any salary cap relief, he doesn’t count against the 23-man roster limit while on IR, so functionally his placement reduces the team’s active roster to 26 players in advance of the waiver news coming around noon MT on Monday. He’s required to miss a week retroactive to his injury date, so he would be eligible for activation from the IR as early as this coming Saturday – though we would not expect that to happen, barring any additional news from the club, given his week-to-week diagnosis.
We’ll have more news on the Flames’ final roster moves and their season-opening roster as it becomes available.
