On Thursday, the Calgary Flames lost a defender via the Nikita Zadorov trade. On Saturday, they’ve filled in that gap somewhat. The club announced the signing of defenceman Mark Pysyk to a one-year, two-way deal with a $725,000 AAV (per the club).
(Since the cap hit is below league minimum, we’re guessing it’s pro-rated based on the deal being signed two months into the regular season, but we’ve asked and we’ll update this article once we get an explanation.)
Pysyk has also been placed on waivers, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, for the purposes of assigning him to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers.
Pysyk, 31, is a right-shot defenceman originally from Sherwood Park, Alberta. He was a first-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres back in 2010, and he won a WHL Championship with the Edmonton Oil Kings and a bronze medal with Canada at the World Juniors. He’s played 521 NHL games between stops with Buffalo, Florida, Dallas, Buffalo again and Detroit. He’s spent this season on an AHL contract with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Pittsburgh’s AHL farm team, where he had zero points in eight games.
You can see the appeal of signing Pysyk from the perspective of the Flames’ farm system. He’s a rock-solid steady veteran that can provide some guidance and leadership for an AHL squad that’s pretty young right now on the back end.
More must-reads: