The Flames announced yesterday before their 5-1 loss to Utah that they’ve activated rookie Samuel Honzek from injured reserve. Adam Klapka was reassigned to AHL Calgary to open an active roster spot.
Honzek had been out of the lineup since sustaining an upper-body injury against the Blackhawks on Oct. 15, which occurred on a brutal hit from Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy late in the game. He was ruled week-to-week two days later before he landed on IR. The specific injury he sustained on the play remains unclear, but it cost him five games. He re-entered the lineup last night against Utah, posting a -1 rating in 10:52 of ice time.
Selected 16th overall in 2023, Honzek had an excellent preseason and truly earned a spot on the Flames’ opening night roster. That hasn’t yet translated to regular-season success, though, as he’s been held without a point and has six shots on goal in five appearances. That’s despite seeing a small bit of power play time and spending most of his time at even strength in first-line duties alongside Nazem Kadri and Andrei Kuzmenko. He returned to the lineup yesterday in a slightly diminished even-strength role alongside Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman.
Nonetheless, his return gives the Flames a fully healthy NHL lineup that’s lost four straight in regulation after starting the season 5-0-1. It’s not an unexpected regression for the Flames, who many expected to be closer to lottery contenders than playoff ones after finishing 24th in the league last season and proceeding to trade away Andrew Mangiapane and Jacob Markström. Jake Bean and Anthony Mantha have been strong albeit inconsistent reinforcements acquired through free agency, though, and top goaltending prospect Dustin Wolf is holding his own with a .907 SV% and 1.8 GSAA through five starts.
Meanwhile, Klapka heads to the minors after cracking the Flames’ opening night roster. He’s been passed on the depth chart by veteran call-up Justin Kirkland, who’s notched five points in nine games and already leads Calgary forwards in blocks with 11. The 6’8″ right-winger was a healthy scratch in two out of their three games and scoreless in five appearances. The 24-year-old is still waiver-exempt, and his demotion was the most convenient and logical one to get Honzek back on the roster.
Funny you claim Mantha has been a strong reinforcement for thr Flames. Yesterday listening to the local sports channel they were roasting him saying if it didn’t require the 24 hour waiver wire wait to get Mantha cleared he would have been the one sent to the Wranglers instead of Klapka. He has 25 attempted shots on goal and only 9 actual shots on goal in 10 games. And is not going to keep up his 33% shooting. He has been demoted to the 4th line. Do you watch any Flames games Josh?
The second half of that sentence says inconsistent for a reason, @wreckage. Hot for the first five, ice cold for the second five.