Josh Jooris will make his NHL debut tonight as he joins the Flames for a tilt versus the Blue Jackets tonight. His parents are making the trip down to Columbus to watch their son in his first NHL contest, and Josh couldn’t be more excited.
"A whole world of emotions. I didn't really know what to say," he said when asked how it felt to get the call. "It was obviously an unbelievable call.…
"I felt great coming out of camp ... I think overall, things came together for me. I said this in the pre-season that I discovered myself and what it takes for me to be successful here."
Josh looks to pick up where he left off during the pre-season, and he should have plenty of opportunity to make a difference as he’ll be playing the on the right side of Sean Monahan, and opposite Jiri Hudler on the Flames second line tonight.
Devin Setoguchi looks to be the odd man out as he skated with the extras during the morning practice today.
Also skating with the extras was Johnny Gaudreau.
Taking his spot on the Colborne line, Lance Bouma appears to be ready to draw back into the lineup following a nasty collision with Paul Gaustad during the Nashville game. Bouma’s also excited to be back into the lineup, even if his view might be a little obstructed for a while.
"It's great to be back out there. Obviously you're a little worried about it right after it happened but I feel pretty good. I felt good out there today.
"I feel like there's no issues at all. Obviously it's a little different wearing the cage. I haven't worn one since I was about 15. That's going to be a change but that's the only issue."
In regards to the Gaudreau scratch, coach Hartley doesn’t look at it as a punishment, but rather as a learning opportunity for the skilled rookie.
"The beauty of NHL players versus school, they get a report card every day. It’s a daily report card. It’s not about semester or anything. It’s daily. It can change, it can get better, it can get worse and it goes for everyone. I don’t coach contracts. I don’t coach age. I coach results. I coach performances. That’s where we’re at. This organization, if we’re going to move forward, accountability has to be a big, big factor."
That being said, Hartley still left the door open for some game-time adjustments to the line-up.
"We don’t know yet because there’s a few game-time decisions," Hartley explained. "We will see at the warm-up and we’ll make our decisions after the warm-up. It’s rare that we go that way, but we have two players that are iffy. We just want to make sure."
Personally, I don’t see the value in dressing Bouma, Bollig, and McGrattan all at the same time. Don’t be surprised to see Bouma dropped down to the fourth line, potentially opening the door for Johnny Hockey to reclaim his spot on the 3rd line with Colborne and Raymond.
In net, Hartley continues to alternate between goaltenders as Karri Ramo will get his third start of the season tonight. Ramo and Hiller both currently sport an identical .934 save percentage, so at this point there’s really no way to criticize any decision between the two netminders.
Catch the action on Sportsnet West and on Sportsnet Flames. Puck drop is at 5:00pm MST.