Flames’ Brodie broke bone in hand, out 3-6 weeks

Nilsson stopped 17 shots – including a penalty shot by Frolik late in the second period – to help backstop the Edmonton Oilers to a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday night in a split-squad pre-season game.

Turner Elson went on his own shorthanded break immediately after, but that was pretty much it for the Flames. “Then you’ll see some skill take over”, says Oilers centre Mark Letestu, who played three-on-three OT in his AJHL days in Bonnyville.

“The good news, if you can take any, is that he won’t need any surgery”, Treliving said. “It’s big minutes, right? We draw on that experience”. Last season the Oilers posted a record of 24-44-14, which got them 62 points, dead last in the division, and Connor McDavid. Hamilton, 22, finished the season third in Bruins ice time with an average of 21 minutes 20 seconds per game.

Tough morning for defensemen around the National Hockey League on Wednesday.

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. If Nail Yakupov doesn’t show improvement in his game, he could see himself traded away, which might bring a nice player in for the Oilers.

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

They drop the puck on the season October. 7th in Vancouver.

The Flames captain felt some urgency to sort out defensive pairings with the loss of Brodie.

“I thought he looked risky and played well on both sides of the puck”, he said.

“The good news is I think we’ve got some people battling”.

Ladislav Smid has been cleared for light contact, but coach Bob Hartley doesn’t expect the Czech defenceman to play pre-season games. Even though he played a great game in Calgary and blew up Hunter Smith’s face along the way, he’s still in the Non-NHL grouping. Ben Scrivens played the first half of the game in net for Edmonton and allowed one goal on 13 shots. “The 6’2”, 210-pound rearguard skated in six playoff games for the Flames during their recent postseason run, making him the leading option to fill out the Flames’ deep blue-line corps.

Jakub Nakladal, 27, led the Czech Republic’s defencemen in scoring at the world championship with five assists in 10 games. Defenders Douglas Murray, Aaron Johnson and Ryan Wilson are now with the team on professional tryouts.

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