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New Jersey Devils Claim Nick DeSimone Off Waivers From Calgary

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The New Jersey Devils have claimed defenseman Nick DeSimone off of waivers from the Calgary Flames. The 29-year-old has appeared in 23 games with the Flames this season, netting five points and a -4. He’s also appeared in 10 AHL games, recording eight assists and a +7.

DeSimone is in his eighth professional season since making his AHL debut at the end of the 2016-17 season – signing a two-year contract as an undrafted free agent with the San Jose Sharks. DeSimone served as a locked-in lineup piece for the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda for five seasons, before moving to the New York Rangers organization in the three-team trade that sent Mattias Janmark and Brett Howden to Vegas. DeSimone signed with the Calgary Flames soon after this move, continuing to serve as a minor league option for a variety of AHL clubs.

The Flames finally rewarded DeSimone’s long tenure in the minors with four NHL games last season. The defender went without a point, adding two penalty minutes and a -4. He’s gotten a chance at a much bigger NHL role this season, finally playing a majority of the year in the top league. He will look to continue carving out an NHL role on a Devils team that’s currently missing top defenseman Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler, as well as depth option Brendan Smith. The Devils also granted defenseman Callan Foote a leave of absence on Wednesday, effectively sliding DeSimone into the role of seventh defenseman.

Arizona Coyotes Claim Adam Ružička Off Waivers From Calgary

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The Arizona Coyotes have claimed Calgary Flames forward Adam Ružička off of waivers. Ružička has appeared in 39 of Calgary’s 47 games this season, netting three goals and nine points. He’s also recorded six penalty minutes and a -8.

Ružička has slowly established his place in the NHL over the last four seasons, making his debut with the Flames in 2020-21. He’s since totaled 114 career NHL games and 40 career points, adding 26 penalty minutes. He is one of seven players from the 2017 NHL Draft’s fourth round to play in at least 100 NHL games, alongside players like Ottawa’s Drake Batherson and Buffalo’s Jacob Bryson. Ružička has also appeared in 98 AHL games across three seasons, totaling 68 points.

Ružička provides much-needed center depth to a Coyotes team that currently has Barrett Hayton and Travis Boyd on injured reserve. The team has turned towards Dylan Guenther in light of their injuries, with the 20-year-old winger managing six points in nine games this season. Guenther also leads the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate in scoring with 28 points in 29 games – despite the team playing in nine more games since the winger’s call-up.

Now without Ružička, the Flames will need to turn towards one of Cole Schwindt, Adam Klapka, or Walker Duehr to takeover the open bottom-line role. Schwindt and Klapka have only played in one and two games respectively, while Duehr has seen 19 appearances and scored four points. Calgary also has Matthew Coronato currently in the NHL lineup. The former first-round pick is 13 games into his rookie NHL season, boasting just two points, four penalty minutes, and a -9.

Calgary Flames Recall Walker Duehr

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The Calgary Flames have recalled forward Walker Duehr from the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL a week after the team had assigned him there. Duehr was placed on waivers on January 17th and was assigned to the AHL the next day, after he had cleared.

The 26-year-old had an assist in two games during his quick assignment to the AHL and is being called back up after the Flames placed both Adam Ruzicka and Nick DeSimone on waivers yesterday.

This season was supposed to be Duehr’s first year as a full-time NHLer after he was signed to a two-year, one-way contract extension in the offseason with an AAV of $825K. Duehr started the season in Calgary, dressing in the Flames first 12 games, but his struggles with consistency kept him out of the lineup for most of December and January as the Sioux Falls, South Dakota native played just five times in two months. Throughout 19 NHL games this season, Duehr has just a single goal and three helpers and has averaged less than eight minutes of ice time per game.

Duehr’s call-up is likely an insurance policy in case Ruzicka or DeSimone are claimed, or if the Flames were to lose a player to illness or injury during the day. Calgary is in action tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets as they try to climb back into the playoff picture in the Western Conference.

Flames Place Nick DeSimone, Adam Ružička On Waivers

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The Flames placed defenseman Nick DeSimone and center Adam Ružička on waivers Wednesday for the purpose of assignment to AHL Calgary, per TSN’s Chris Johnston.

Ružička seemed like a candidate to challenge for a top-nine job with the Flames to start the season after logging 20 points in only 44 games last season. However, the 24-year-old cooled down significantly after recording four points through his first four games of the year, and his offensive pace is now down by half from 2022-23. He’s without a point in his last ten outings and was a healthy scratch in yesterday’s 4-3 loss to the Blues. He has three goals and nine points in 39 games on the year and is averaging a career-low 10:10 per game.

Still, the 2017 fourth-round pick could garner some interest on the waiver wire. Being in the second year of a two-year, league-minimum deal means his cap hit is $762.5K, $12.5K less than this year’s minimum salary. While he’s slated for RFA status with arbitration rights at the end of the season, opting not to issue him a qualifying offer would relieve a team of going to arbitration with him if they’re not impressed with his play.

DeSimone lands on waivers after his most recent call-up lasted nearly six weeks. The 29-year-old played in 15 of 19 games since his Dec. 12 call-up but has been a healthy scratch in each of the last two games, falling behind depth defenders Dennis Gilbert and Jordan Oesterle on the depth chart. His lack of role becomes more apparent with Oliver Kylington set to return from a year-and-a-half-long absence for mental health reasons against the Blue Jackets tomorrow.

Like Ružička, DeSimone is on an expiring deal carrying a $762.5K cap hit, although he’s slated for unrestricted free agency this summer. The right-shot blueliner has a career-high 23 games with Calgary this year, recording a goal and four assists while averaging 12:02 per game.

Calgary Flames Recall Cole Schwindt

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The Calgary Flames have recalled forward Cole Schwindt from the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL. Schwindt was one of the pieces that came over to the Calgary Flames as part of the Matthew Tkachuk trade with the Florida Panthers alongside Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, and a 2025 lottery-protected first-round draft pick.

Schwindt has yet to suit up for the Flames but does have three games of NHL experience with the Panthers back in 2021-22. He was held scoreless during that stretch and was -4. At the AHL level, the 22-year-old has been a productive player with 42 goals and 52 assists in 189 career games.

Schwindt has plateaued offensively in recent years as he has seen his offensive numbers drop from his career-best season in 2021-22. The former third-round pick had 19 goals and 21 assists in 72 games that year with the Charlotte Checkers but hasn’t been able to duplicate that success or come close to the 17.9% shooting percentage he posted.

This season with the Wranglers, Schwindt has eight goals and 12 assists in 37 games which is a tick below his career-best numbers, but he has yet to take the next step offensively. While his offense hasn’t taken off, the defensive side of his game has steadily improved over the years and that is likely the reason he could get his first taste of NHL action in two years.

Calgary could be looking at some major moves over the next few weeks and if Schwindt can show he belongs at the NHL level he may be able to extend his stay with the Flames.

Oliver Kylington, Jacob Markström Nearing Returns

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  • Flames defenseman Oliver Kylington is inching his way back toward playing in his first NHL game since April 2022. He practiced with the Flames today for the first time since being recalled from his AHL conditioning stint over the weekend, clearing a path for him to return just before the All-Star break or soon after. The 26-year-old took a leave of absence for mental health reasons that lasted the entire 2022-23 campaign before landing on LTIR to begin 2023-24.
  • Also nearing a return for Calgary is starting netminder Jacob Markström, who was a full participant in practice today for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury last week, per Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg. He’s missed three games but will return to at least back up Daniel Vladař against the Blues tomorrow, if not start. The 33-year-old is having a solid bounce-back season, posting a .912 SV% and stopping 6.7 goals above average in 26 appearances. The Flames went 1-2-0 in Markström’s absence and sit four points back of the Predators for the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

Dustin Wolf Reassigned To AHL

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  • The Calgary Flames have reassigned netminder Dustin Wolf to their AHL affiliate the Calgary Wranglers. With starting goalie Jacob Markström set to return after an absence of just over a week, Wolf’s reassignment to the Wranglers will allow him to get some game action, the kind that is unavailable to him when the Flames have a fully healthy crease.

Calgary Flames Make Several Roster Moves

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With less than an hour to go before the Battle of Alberta, the Calgary Flames made a few transactions earlier today that will shape their roster for this evening’s matchup against the Edmonton Oilers. Today, the team announced that forward Martin Pospisil would be placed on injured reserve, and defenseman Dennis Gilbert would be activated off of injured reserve. Furthermore, in the same announcement, the team has recalled defenseman Oliver Kylington from his LTI conditioning loan in the AHL, meaning he could be activated off of LTIR very shortly.

Pospisil is dealing with an upper-body injury suffered in the team’s most recent game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it will likely keep him out until after the NHL All-Star break in a couple of weeks. Primarily serving as a bottom/middle six player for Calgary this season, Pospisil has scored four goals and 11 points in 33 games up to this point in the year.

Also suffering from an upper-body injury, Gilbert had been out for a couple of weeks, having not played since the team’s January 4th game against the Nashville Predators. Gilbert will draw back into the team’s bottom-pairing on defense, a role that has seen him score one goal and seven points in 28 games this season.

Most importantly, the Flames are nearing the long-awaited return of Kylington, who has not played in an NHL game since May 26th, 2022. Feeling ready to return to hockey, he received a two-game stint with Calgary’s AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers, but was unable to score a point throughout his conditioning loan.

There is by no means that Kylington will come back into the lineup and become a new groundbreaking defenseman for the Flames, but with a plethora of defensemen set for unrestricted free agency this upcoming offseason, a strong start from Kylington may make the team more comfortable to sell off some of their defensive core by the time the trade deadline comes around.

Flames Recall Matt Coronato

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With Martin Pospisil’s injury, the Flames were expected to bring someone up to take his place before tonight’s game against Edmonton.  That move has now been made as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Matthew Coronato has been recalled from AHL Calgary.

The 21-year-old was the 13th overall pick by Calgary back in 2021 and he has been viewed as a key part of their future core since then.  He turned pro after two strong years offensively at Harvard where he averaged more than a point per game and this is his first full campaign in the pros.

Coronato broke camp with the Flames in training camp but the offensive success wasn’t there as he managed just one goal and one assist in his first ten games of the season.  Calgary then decided to sent him to the Wranglers for more playing time and he has been there since then, save for a brief one-game recall last month.  The move made a lot of sense as it allowed Coronato to play a much bigger role, one that he has been accustomed to throughout his career at the lower levels.  He found his offensive touch in the AHL, notching 12 goals and 17 assists in 27 games at that level, earning himself an All-Star nod for his efforts.

It will be interesting to see how high the Flames will deploy Coronato in their lineup.  Will they try to limit his minutes like they did in his first stint where he came in just under 14 minutes a night or will they put him in a scoring role to see if he can contain his hot stretch offensively?  If it’s the latter, he might have more success than he did at the beginning of the season.

Morning Notes: Lindholm, Varlamov, Anderson

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Mans Karlsson of Hockey Sverige is reporting that Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm spoke regarding his pending unrestricted free-agent status. Lindholm is less than six months away from hitting the open market and is currently sitting at number one on most hockey pundits’ trade target boards.

Lindholm conceded that he has had a hard time shutting out the noise around his contract status and the trade talk and it may have impacted his performance on the ice. The 29-year-old has just eight goals this season after posting 64 goals combined over the last two years. His assist numbers are in line with his average over the last two seasons (he has 22 helpers so far this season in 45 games) but he has been plagued by a shooting percentage of just 6.6%, which is far off from his career average of 12.1%.

There was talk earlier in the year that Lindholm was seeking a long-term deal with an average annual value of around $9MM, but that number might be a bit ambitious if the former fifth-overall pick continues to struggle to put the puck in the net.

Lindholm told reporters that he and the Flames have not discussed an extension since last summer, and while extensions can be worked out in a matter of days, it seems probable that the Flames and Lindholm could be headed in separate directions sooner rather than later.

In other morning notes:

  • Ethan Sears of The New York Post is reporting that New York Islanders’ injured goaltender Semyon Varlamov is back skating daily as he tries to work his way back into the lineup. Varlamov has been out of action since January 2nd with a lower-body injury and is progressing slowly. Ken Appleby has been replacing Varlamov in his absence but has seen just one period of action so far. Varlamov has been good this season posting a 6-4-2 record with a 2.78 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
  • Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports is reporting that Montreal Canadiens forward Josh Anderson is practicing this morning with the team and could return to the lineup tonight against the Boston Bruins after a four-game absence. Anderson has been out with a lower-body injury and practiced today on a line with Brendan Gallagher and Jake Evans. The 29-year-old has struggled this season with just seven goals and five assists in 41 games as his shooting percentage has fallen to just 7.5%, far off his career average of 11.2%. Anderson will reportedly be a game-time decision for the Canadiens today.

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