Flames opening night lineup nearly set after latest roster trim
The Calgary Flames trimmed up their roster to a tidy number Thursday, painting a much clearer picture as to who will make up the 2022-23 edition of the squad.
The Flames released forwards Cody Eakin and Sonny Milano from professional try-outs and optioned prospect goaltender Dustin Wolf to the Calgary Wranglers of the American Hockey League — leaving two goalies, nine defencemen and 14 forwards in camp.
Rosters, with a maximum of 23 skaters, have to be submitted by 5 pm ET on Monday.
The remaining list of players, 25 in total, includes longtime Flames blueliner Michael Stone, who remains in camp on a PTO, as well as newcomer Radim Zohorna, who was acquired off waivers via the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this week.
The list, however, does not include rearguard Oliver Kylington, who has missed the entirety of camp because of a personal matter.
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With that, the Flames need to make two additional cuts at minimum.
Goaltending is set with the combination of Jacob Markstrom, a Vezina finalist from a season ago, and backup Dan Vladar.
Defence remains a hotly contested battle.
With Kylington out, the Flames have two positions open. Stone, who leads the Flames in preseason scoring with four points (three goals, one assist), and Connor Mackey in particular have seemingly moved to the forefront of the pack with Nicolas Meloche and Juuso Valimaki, both of whom require waivers to be assigned to the AHL, looking to make up ground with little camp time remaining.
There remains a top-nine position available on Calgary’s forward corps, too.
Milano, expected to compete for a spot alongside Nazem Kadri and Andrew Mangiapane, faltered to lay claim. Kevin Rooney, expected to anchor down fourth-line centre duties, is an option to skate alongside Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, as is the newcomer Zohorna.
It’s not impossible to see Trevor Lewis slot on that line, too. Adam Ruzicka, who also requires waivers to be assigned to the minors, might also get a look.
Flames preseason roster
Forwards
- Jonathan Huberdeau
- Elias Lindholm
- Nazem Kadri
- Andrew Mangiapane
- Tyler Toffoli
- Dillon Dube
- Mikael Backlund
- Blake Coleman
- Kevin Rooney
- Milan Lucic
- Trevor Lewis
- Radim Zohorna
- Brett Ritchie
- Adam Ruzicka
Defence
- MacKenzie Weegar
- Christopher Tanev
- Noah Hanifin
- Rasmus Andersson
- Nikita Zadorov
- Connor Mackey
- Nicolas Meloche
- Juuso Valimaki
- Michael Stone*
Goalies
- Jacob Markstrom
- Dan Vladar
*professional try-out
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