Things have been getting messy in Calgary. The Flames have been reeling of late, looking more and more like the team most pundits expected them to be coming into this season. They’re 3-7-0 in their last 10 contests having dropped four of the past five, including a 5-1 blowout at the hands of the Minnesota Wild. And the situation just went from bad to worse.
On Thursday morning, the Flames announced that left winger and alternate captain Curtis Glencross will be out for the next four to six weeks with a sprained knee ligament. Glencross was injured in the second period of the game against Minnesota, and the timing of his departure from Calgary’s lineup is far from ideal.
After a slow start to the season, Glencross’ play had been one of the few bright spots in the team’s recent performance; in the five games he played prior to his injury, Glencross was rediscovering his form, netting two goals and five points. In the 10 games before that he had only two goals and four points, and went pointless in five straight from Oct. 16 to Oct. 24.
With Glencross on the shelf, the Flames have not only lost one of their best offensive weapons, but must now contend with a glaring hole on their first line for the next month or so. In Thursday’s 3-2 loss to St. Louis, head coach Bob Hartley moved 23-year-old Lance Bouma up to the top line with Matt Stajan and David Jones. 21-year-old Max Reinhart was called up for his second stint with the Flames to fill out Calgary’s bottom six, after starting the year with a three-goal, nine-point performance through 13 games with the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat. Sven Baertschi meanwhile was a healthy scratch for the second straight game and third already this season.
Baertschi has been repeatedly called out by Flames coaches and management to play a more complete game and Hartley has stated that putting Baertschi in the press box plays an important role in the young winger’s development as a well-rounded player. But with Glencross temporarily out of the equation, benching the youngster might not be a luxury that Hartley can afford for much longer.
Glencross joins team captain Mark Giordano, who broke his ankle blocking a shot against Los Angeles on Oct. 21, on Calgary’s injured reserve, alongside fellow veteran winger Lee Stempniak, who hasn’t played since Oct. 24 due to a broken foot. That makes Cammalleri’s jersey the lone lettered sweater on Calgary’s active roster, which means the Flames will be looking for leadership from anyone and everyone in their lineup.
Cammalleri won’t be steering this ship on his own, thanks to the considerable veteran presence of teammates Jiri Hudler and Dennis Wideman. But Glencross’ injury creates both a golden opportunity and a serious need for Calgary’s young guns, especially wingers like Baertschi, to step up and identify themselves as the pillars of a rebuilding team that will increasingly be looking to its top prospects for leadership.
While it does seem that the Calgary Flames are getting more than their fair share of the so-called “growing pains” that come with the rebuilding territory, as personnel up and down the organization have already said, no one is going to feel sorry for them. This latest injury to Glencross, a team leader and fan favourite, will be a bitter pill for Flames Nation to swallow over the course of the next few weeks. But regardless of who’s on the ice and who isn’t, Calgary must find a way to keep moving forward, or else be left behind.
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