Flames blueliner TJ Brodie sidelined with hand injury

The 25-year-old said it happened in Monday’s pre-season game against the Edmonton Oilers.

As is tradition with preseason, in split squad games, teams tend to keep their top players at home. It was determined the following day he broke his fifth metacarpal, which is the bone attached to his right pinkie finger.

Week-to-week, according to the Flames, means he’ll miss about three-to-six.

Brodie was a big part of Calgary’s offence last season. “Offensively, I think I’ve proven a lot of good things there, but to make another step, you need to improve in both areas of the game”. Solid game from Schultz; I’m excited to see how he will play this season. Hamilton, 22, finished the season third in Bruins ice time with an average of 21 minutes 20 seconds per game.

Head coach Todd McLellan says, “We will begin to look at it at the NHL level and see if we’re applying some of the American League principles”.

One major question coming into training camp was where Hamilton fits, given Giordano and Brodie were Calgary’s top pairing and Russell and Wideman complement each other so well. He has all the makings of a late-round steal, assuming he can follow in the footsteps of fellow undersized teammate Gaudreau and prove his elite skill-set can make up for his lack of size.

That combination continuing is a strong possibility in Brodie’s absence.

The Flames open their regular season schedule at the Scotiabank Saddledome on October 7 when they welcome the Vancouver Canucks.

The Flames captain felt some urgency to sort out defensive pairings with the loss of Brodie. “I’m trying to get there too, I suppose”, Michaels said.

“He came in with pretty good speed there and tried to go back and forward and put it low blocker”, said Nilsson. Smid, who has a one-way contract, had surgery on a herniated disc in his neck in February. And he, like the rest of the Oilers, needed to wait until the third period (and, like, seventh powerplay) in order to break out, as the Oilers surged in the final frame to take down the Flames, 4-2. They’ve had quite a few first overall picks in the last few years, in fact they’ve had four out of the last five, with the most recent one being Connor McDavid.

Tyler Wotherspoon, 22, appeared in six playoff games for Calgary last season.

Any decisions on defence will now have to be reconsidered, including the status of tryout invite Ryan Wilson and Czech Republic import Jakub Nakladal.

The Flames next preseason game is Thursday, September 24th in Denver, Colorado.