The Calgary Flames will be without budding defenceman Oliver Kylington to open their training camp. The team made the following announcement on Kylington.
Following yesterday’s medical and fitness testing, it was determined that Oliver is unable to participate in the opening of training camp today. As this is a private personal matter, no further information will be provided.
Kylington’s health remains at the forefront
With all signs indicating that Kylington would return to the Flames this upcoming season, this update is hopefully a minor setback and not a long-term one. Let us all hope that Kylington can handle the personal matters and respect his privacy at this time.
Options for the Flames
This may mean that the Flames will be without the expected pairing of Chris Tanev and Kylington. The duo was stellar two seasons ago and it made sense to keep them together. If Kylington is only gone for a short duration, then this will likely remain a go-to pairing later on, either in the preseason or as the regular season gets underway.
However, if it’s an extended period, this is an opportunity for newly-signed Flame Jordan Oesterle to provide a veteran presence or for Dennis Gilbert to slot into the lineup. Gilbert did feature in 23 games last season. Keep in mind that Oesterle carries a cap hit of $925K while Gilbert is $762.5K. The difference in cap hit may give preference to Gilbert as the Flames are tight against the cap ceiling.
This also opens up the option of playing Tanev with other Flames. Between the four of MacKenzie Weegar, Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin, and Nikita Zadorov, there can be some rotation in pairings throughout camp to optimise the pairings. Keep in mind that Tanev is an RD while the options for LD for the Flames include Weegar, Hanifin, Zadorov, Oesterle, and Gilbert. To say some experimentation is expected is an understatement.
Barring significant changes in philosophies, it doesn’t seem likely that other players lower down in the depth chart would get reps quite yet.
A rocky start
This isn’t the news that anyone hoped for from the Flames to open up the new season. Again, it’s worth repeating that respecting Kylington’s privacy needs to be upheld and that the team will figure out whatever they need to navigate the situation.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
