The Calgary Flames have made their final waiver moves to get their roster down to 24 players. They have placed the following players on waivers: Jakob Pelletier, Cole Schwindt, and Devin Cooley:
Pelletier is a surprise, given he’s a former first-rounder who had an injury-plagued season last year. He didn’t have a great camp, but it’s odd the team is moving on from him so soon. Given that the Flames are rebuilding, it’s a bit of an odd move to waive younger talent. We’ll see if he gets claimed. I have my eye on the Montreal Canadiens, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Pittsburgh Penguins here.
Schwindt was fighting with Rooney for the 4C role. I actually liked Schwindt better for the role. However, Rooney is the incumbent and a veteran player. I thought they’d keep Schwindt on as the 13th forward, given he can play centre or wing. Bit of a surprise there.
I had made the case for the Flames to start the season with three goalies on their roster. The team did not do that, placing Cooley on waivers. If he is claimed, their goaltending depth suddenly becomes a major red flag.
Players remaining in camp
After today’s cuts, the Flames roster is down to 24 players: 14 forwards, eight defencemen, and two goaltenders. As discussed earlier, we can expect the Flames to send one of the waiver-exempt forwards in Matt Coronato, Samuel Honzek, or Adam Klapka, down tomorrow morning before they finalize their roster.
Goaltenders
- Dustin Wolf
- Dan Vladar
Defencemen
- Rasmus Andersson
- Tyson Barrie
- Jake Bean
- Joel Hanley
- Daniil Miromanov
- Brayden Pachal
- Mackenzie Weegar
- Kevin Bahl
Forwards
- Mikael Backlund
- Blake Coleman
- Matt Coronato*
- Jonathan Huberdeau
- Samuel Honzek*
- Nazem Kadri
- Adam Klapka*
- Andrei Kuzmenko
- Ryan Lomberg
- Anthony Mantha
- Martin Pospisil
- Connor Zary
- Kevin Rooney
- Yegor Sharangovich
Question marks about the final roster decisions
I think there are some honest questions to be asked here. Keeping eight defenceman on the opening night roster is… odd. With all due respect to Joel Hanley, I really don’t understand keeping him on the roster. He’s a fine number seven defenceman, but he’s 33 years old. Same as Tyson Barrie, who just signed a one-year deal on a PTO.
These guys are fine depth options, but it doesn’t make sense to prioritize them over younger players. The only way keeping eight defencemen on the NHL roster makes sense is if they’re planning on trading a defenceman in the next couple months. Otherwise, a bit of a strange decision by the team.
