If you were a bit anxious after seeing Calgary Flames forward Martin Pospisil crash awkwardly into the boards during Thursday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, there’s some good news. Per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Pospisil is only expected to miss a couple weeks after being injury in that spill.
It’s great news for a player who is off to a fantastic start to his NHL career, but has had horrible injury luck since becoming a full-time pro. Pospisil was called up to the Flames back on Nov. 3 and has found a great home on the right side of a line with Connor Zary and Nazem Kadri. In 33 NHL games, he has 11 points and has carved out a niche as a great physical agitator… but also one that can generate great offensive chances for himself and his linemates.
Pospisil went pro in 2019-20 with the then-Stockton Heat. On one hand, he played 107 AHL games before this season. On the other hand, he missed about 118 of their 225 games during that span. His situation in the minors was not unlike fellow physical forward Micheal Ferland, who infamously once missed an NHL call-up – his first – because he was injured the same day the Flames had decided to call him up. Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson detailed Pospisil’s battles through injury earlier this season.
Ferland ended up carving out a pretty good NHL career before his unfortunate concussion history led to his career ending prematurely. Hopefully Pospisil has better luck.
The Flames are currently carrying 22 players – three goaltenders, six defencemen and 13 forwards – with the lone healthy extra forward being rookie Adam Klapka. It seems likely they’ll call up another forward prior to Saturday’s meeting with the Edmonton Oilers.
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