The Calgary Flames are leaving the All-Star break with another new player addition.
On Sunday afternoon, the Flames claimed defenceman Brayden Pachal off of waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights, adding to their blueline depth after the loss of Nick DeSimone on waivers a few weeks ago.
Pachal returns to the Flames organization after attending the 2018 development camp and is sure to get in some games with the team soon—especially should they decide to trade Noah Hanifin or Chris Tanev.
Brayden Pachal player profile
Pachal is a 24-year-old right-shot defensceman, signed for this season and next at a league minimum deal of $775K. He’s 6’2”, 202 pounds, and is more focused on the defensive side of the ice. He has only appeared in 29 NHL games over the last three seasons, so the sample size here is super small:
His numbers don’t jump off the page and aren’t even significant enough to judge off of yet. They do however jump off the page when looking at his junior career, where in 2018–19 he scored 15 goals, 51 points, and had 113 PIMS with the Prince Albert Raiders. A season in which he was also the captain of the team that went on to win the WHL title.
It’s an extremely low-risk add for the Flames, who could find another diamond in the rough to play in their bottom pairing. After losing DeSimone on waivers, and rotating between Dennis Gilbert and Jordan Oesterle the team is looking to add some size to their bottom pairing to try things out for a bit.
For a team that is going through change, this is a pretty smart, no-downside pick-up for Craig Conroy and crew.
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