The Flames made some major cuts today.
On Waivers Oscar Dansk, Nick De Simone, Ben Jones, Matthew Phillips and Colton Poolman.
Assigned to the Wranglers Adam Klapka, Walker Duehr, Yan Kuznetsov, Mitch McLain, Jakob Pelletier, Cole Schwindt, Ilya Solovyov, Brett Sutter, Connor Zary.
Day-to-Day With Injury Dennis Gilbert, Emilio Pettersen and Martin Pospisil.
Another tough break for Matthew Phillips. He’s only been given a two game look for two consecutive preseasons. Last year he had zero points. This year he had an assist on the game winner of the split squad game as well as some good chances against a veteran Kraken lineup.
Most are hoping he would get a better opportunity, but just one assist from a guy coming in at around 5’7… 160lbs isn’t going to cut it. The right wing Calgary native is 24 and will be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Not too many surprises beyond that. Zary, Duehr or Klapka could have stuck around a bit longer, but Wranglers head coach Mitch Love has work to do with his AHL roster as well.
Here are the lines from practice today. Courtesy of Wes Gilbertson. @WesGilbertson
Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli Mangiapane-Kadri-Dube Rooney-Backlund-Coleman Lucic-Eakin-Lewis Milano-Ruzicka-Ritchie
Poirier/Tanev Hanifin/Andersson Zadorov/Weegar Mackey/Stone Valimaki/Meloche
Markstrom Vladar Wolf
15 forwards, 10 defence and three goalies remain. Jeremie Poirier remains practicing with the Flames, but that is most likely to have a similar defenceman as Oliver Kylington practicing with the group. The smooth skating Quebecer is still a year or two (or three) away, so his presence is both non-threatening to Kylington’s job security as well as an invaluable learning experience for the first year pro.
Three preseason games remain. The Flames are set to play the Kraken tomorrow at 7pm MST. Stop by for a game day write up.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld