With just under a week left before the Calgary Flames get their 2023–24 NHL season underway, the opening night roster is starting to take shape. Only a few remaining decisions are left on the docket for the team to make as it relates to filling out their NHL roster, with some interesting ones to come down the road.
That being said, the team formally announced its most recent reductions this morning, with some surprising names on the list. Let’s take a look at the moves.
Calgary’s latest cuts
The team announced the following players had been assigned to the Calgary Wranglers:
- Lucas Ciona (LW)
- Yan Kuznetsov (D)
- Jeremie Poirier (D)
- Dustin Wolf (G)
- Connor Zary (C)
Additionally, the team announced that 2023 first-round pick, Sam Honzek, was returned to his WHL team the Vancouver Giants.
Although not overly surprising, it’s still somewhat upsetting for many to see some on the list of cuts this morning. Ciona and Kuznetsov were bound for the AHL, as they are just not part of the NHL picture yet. Poirier missed a lot of time due to injury and with Dennis Gilbert returning to health, it makes more sense for him to play games in the AHL to start the year.
Honzek was going back to the WHL at some point, but after his lack of playing time in last night’s loss to the Edmonton Oilers, you wonder if there is something else injury-wise going on.
The big names, Wolf and Zary, are surely more upsetting for fans.
Wolf having a waiver exemption made him the easiest player to send down when compared to Jacob Markstrom or Dan Vladar. The team wasn’t going to put Vladar on waivers, and they will have the flexibility all season to bring him up and play him whenever they want. He will be back in the NHL.
Zary on the other hand wasn’t able to establish himself in this camp. Despite the injuries to Jakob Pelletier and Kevin Rooney, the emergence of Matt Coronato, Dryden Hunt, and Cole Schwindt made it hard to overcome the lack of organizational depth. He is still waivers exempt, but the team surely will be looking at his development moving forward. Based on Ryan Huska’s comments last night, it sounds like the team doesn’t want to just throw him in a fourth line center role at the NHL level right now, but looking at the team’s centre depth, it’s hard to see where else he would fit at this point in time.
There are still a few cuts to be made for the team over the next few days, but most won’t be a surprise anymore.
October 5, 12:00 p.m. update:
The Flames also placed Nick DeSimone, Mathias Emilio Pettersen, and Martin Pospisil on waivers.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
