Flames Notes: Tanev, DeSimone, Dube
There has certainly been no shortage of trade speculation surrounding Flames defenseman Chris Tanev. A pending unrestricted free agent, he’s the type of shutdown blueliner that many teams would covet. However, as Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic notes (subscription link), Calgary’s preference is still believed to be to sign him to an extension, preferably a two-year agreement. The soon-to-be 34-year-old is currently injured with no timetable yet for a return which will further stall any possible trade discussions. Tanev has a $4.5MM AAV and it will likely take something close to that to get him to put pen to paper on an early extension if he decides he’d like to stay with the Flames.
More from Calgary:
- In Calgary’s last game, defenseman Nick DeSimone played in his tenth game, meaning he will now have to pass through waivers to return to the minors. With plenty of trade speculation surrounding Tanev and Noah Hanifin, it’s fair to wonder if GM Craig Conroy may be hesitant to risk losing DeSimone for free if he tries to send him back down. The 29-year-old has four assists in those ten appearances while logging a little under 13 minutes a night.
- One of the bigger questions surrounding the Flames revolves around winger Dillon Dube, opines Postmedia’s Danny Austin. After spending a lot of last season in a top-six role where he set career highs offensively with 18 goals and 45 points, the 25-year-old has struggled mightily this season, notching just three goals and four helpers thus far in 29 games. Notably, his ice time has dipped below the ten-minute mark in four of the last five games. Dube is a pending restricted free agent this coming summer, owed a $2.4MM qualifying offer with arbitration eligibility. If things don’t pick up for him in the coming weeks, his name could be in trade speculation leading up to the trade deadline.
Jacob Markstrom Skates With AHL Wranglers
- Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom practiced on Wednesday with their AHL affiliate, relays Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson. The 33-year-old has been out for the last week and a half with a finger injury but Gilbertson pointed out that Markstrom didn’t seem to be limited at all which suggests the netminder could be nearing a return. Calgary has a full roster at the moment although that can easily be addressed by returning top prospect Dustin Wolf back to the Wranglers.
Calgary Flames Announce Several Roster Moves
The Calgary Flames made several roster moves today, announcing that the team has recalled defenseman Nick DeSimone from their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers, while subsequently sending down forward Matthew Coronato. On the injury front, the team also relayed that defenseman Chris Tanev is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and will not play in the team’s game tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights.
After placing fellow defenseman Jordan Oesterle on waivers towards the beginning of the season, DeSimone quickly became a stable presence on the blue line, scoring four points in eight games, and averaging just under 13 minutes of ice time per game. As the team regained salary cap flexibility due to the trade of Nikita Zadorov to the Vancouver Canucks, the Flames would recall Oesterle from the AHL, and send DeSimone back to the Wranglers on November 26th.
Much like DeSimone, Coronato has split time this season between the NHL and the AHL, only managing two points in 11 games when playing for Calgary. One of the team’s more notable up-and-coming prospects, Coronato is having quite the season with the Wranglers already, scoring eight goals and 18 points in only 14 games. Even though the team has re-entered the playoff conversation over the last couple of weeks, the Flames are still largely considered sellers heading into trade season, meaning Coronato may earn a full-time spot with the team if the forward core is thinned out.
In the context of the trade deadline picture, Tanev is thought to be one of the more sought-after defensemen on the market, primarily being linked to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Luckily, in terms of his trade value for the Flames, Tanev should only miss a game or two, meaning the return package in any deal shouldn’t be negatively impacted by the injury.
Latest On Chris Tanev
Calgary Flames defenseman Chris Tanev did not return to last night’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche after taking a hit into the boards from Avalanche forward Ross Colton. No update on Tanev’s status was issued after the contest.
The hit appeared to drive Tanev’s upper body into the boards in a somewhat awkward fashion, which naturally leads to questions as to whether Tanev has suffered an upper-body injury. Any significant Tanev absence would come as a major blow to the Flames: not only do they rely heavily on him on the ice, but the pending UFA is also among the team’s most important trade chips should they decide to take up a seller’s posture in advance of the 2024 trade deadline.
Carl-Johan Lerby Signs In Allsvenskan
- Flames RFA Carl-Johan Lerby has joined IF Bjorkloven in Sweden’s Allsvenskan, per a team release. The blueliner spent the 2020-21 campaign in Calgary’s system, getting into 22 games with AHL Stockton before returning overseas for 2021-22. Calgary will hold his NHL rights through the 2024-25 season.
Duehr, Pospisil Out With Flu
- Per a team announcement, the Calgary Flames announced that forwards Martin Pospisil and Walker Duehr were out of the lineup tonight with both suffering from the flu. Inching their way back into the playoff conversation, Pospisil and Duehr have been effective depth forward options for the Flames this season, scoring five points and four points in 15 games, respectively.
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Flames Recall Matt Coronato, Place Jacob Markstrom On IR
The Flames have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their game tonight New Jersey. The team announced that forward Matt Coronato has been recalled from AHL Calgary and in a corresponding move, goalie Jacob Markstrom was placed on injured reserve.
Coronato broke camp with the big club and spent nearly four weeks with them to start the season before being sent down a little more than a month ago. In his ten games with the Flames, the 21-year-old picked up his first two NHL points, a goal and an assist. However, he also struggled at the defensive end to the point where the team decided he’d be better off playing a top role with the Wranglers.
That move certainly worked well for Coronato as he has been quite productive with them so far, notching eight goals and ten assists in just 14 games in his first taste of AHL action. That’s good for the second-best point-per-game average among AHL rookies. Now he’ll get a chance to try to capitalize off that momentum with this promotion.
As for Markstrom, he suffered a fractured finger earlier this week, yielding a week-to-week injury designation. Accordingly, his IR placement is largely procedural at this point as Dustin Wolf had already been brought up on emergency recall to take his place in Calgary’s goalie tandem. The Flames are eligible to backdate the placement to Tuesday if they want but considering he’s expected to be out for weeks, it’ll make no difference whether they do so or not.
Latest On Walker Duehr, A.J. Greer
- There appears to be a bit of a flu bug going around the Calgary Flames, as the team has announced that two forwards, Walker Duehr and A.J. Greer, did not skate today as a result of the flu. Greer played yesterday against Carolina while Duehr last played on December 5th, but this announcement puts into question each player’s availability for the Flames’ next game, which is tomorrow afternoon against the New Jersey Devils.
Evening Notes: Zadorov, Vlasic, Poehling
Elliotte Friedman reported today that Vancouver Canucks recent trade acquisition Nikita Zadorov never received a formal contract extension offer from the Calgary Flames. Friedman went on to add that Calgary and Zadorov had different opinions on the length of a potential extension as the Flames wanted to be cautious while Zadorov was looking for long-term security.
It’s an understandable position from both sides given the circumstance they both find themselves in. Calgary has several undesirable long-term contracts on the books and was likely hesitant to add another one, while Zadorov has never had more than two years of security on a contract (outside of his ELD). The differences were too much for both sides to overcome which led to the Flames dealing the pending unrestricted free agent to Vancouver.
In other evening notes:
- Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News is reporting that San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Édouard Vlasic is unlikely to be traded anytime soon. While that news isn’t surprising, the timing is interesting given that Vlasic was re-inserted into the Sharks lineup two nights ago after being a healthy scratch for a stretch. It seems that for the right price any contract in the NHL can be moved, however, there hasn’t been a contract situation quite like Vlasic’s. The 36-year-old has no points in 15 games this season and is playing under a $7MM cap hit for this season, and two more years after that. He has a modified no-trade clause that allows him to submit a list of three teams in which he would accept a trade. The other wrinkle in a potential trade is that if the Sharks were to retain salary, it would represent the final time they can do that until one of the current retained contracts expires.
- The Philadelphia Flyers announced tonight that center Ryan Poehling would miss their game against the Arizona Coyotes due to an illness. No word yet on whether Poehling is expected to be out of Flyers lineup for any length of time. Poehling has already missed three games this season as a healthy scratch as the 24-year-old has struggled during his first season in Philadelphia. Poehling has had a far more advantageous deployment in Philadelphia than he did in Pittsburgh last year, but his analytics and defensive metrics aren’t what they were despite being given more offensive opportunities.
Elias Lindholm Returns To Practice
Los Angeles Kings writer Zach Dooley reported today that Kings forward Blake Lizotte has progressed to a regular practice jersey today as he moves closer to the returning to the lineup. The 25-year-old missed his sixth straight game this evening but could return on Thursday night when the Kings take on the Montreal Canadiens. Kings head coach Todd McLellan told reporters today that the plan is to see how Lizotte feels after practice tomorrow before making any decisions on a potential return later this week.
Lizotte has been sidelined with an undisclosed injury he suffered in a game against the St. Louis Blues back on November 18th. He took a hard open-ice hit from Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo and immediately went to the bench and up the tunnel with the training staff. He did not return to the game.
In 16 games this season, the Lindstrom, Minnesota native has four goals and three assists and is +7.
In other West notes:
- TSN’s Salim Nadim Valji is reporting that Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm was back at practice today after missing yesterday’s practice due to an illness. All signs point to the 29-year-old dressing in the Flames game tonight against the Minnesota Wild as Calgary tries to get back to .500 after starting the season 2-7-1. Lindholm has played fine this season with seven goals and 10 assists in 24 games, but he has struggled to score goals with a shooting percentage of just 10.9%, well off his career average of 12.5%.
- Winnipeg Jets analyst Mitchell Clinton is reporting that Winnipeg Jets forward Vladislav Namestnikov will join the team on their upcoming road trip but is unlikely to play in Thursday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche. The 31-year-old has missed the Jets’ last two games after suffering a lower-body injury during a puck battle with Darnell Nurse in the Jets’ 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers last Thursday. Namestnikov signed a two-year deal with the Jets in the summer and has had a decent start to the season with two goals and nine assists in his first 22 games.