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The Calgary Flames will be without depth forward AJ Greer for the foreseeable future after the 27-year-old sustained a gruesome ankle injury in Thursday night's 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“The Flames don’t know yet if AJ Greer will require surgery after his horrific ankle injury last night, but they expect him to be out for considerable time,” confirmed Sportsnet's Eric Francis on Friday.
Greer fell feet first into the boards, and it was clear that a serious injury was sustained considering the angle that Greer's ankle hit the boards. We won't share the clip, but it can be easily searched up on X.
Although no decision has been made regarding surgery, the Flames expect Greer to be out for a “considerable time,” per Francis.
“Interesting to think that if the injury occurred one day earlier, then Adam Ruzicka would likely still be a Flame and wouldn’t have been exposed on waivers. Regardless, the Flames will dip even further into the Wranglers system Saturday morning, perhaps summoning Clark Bishop as their 13th forward, behind Walker Duehr,” the analyst confirmed.
“The Flames’ bottom 6 will now have five Wranglers in it due to the loss this week of the whole fourth line of Dube, Ruzicka and Greer. Jakob Pelletier will make his season debut with the Wranglers this weekend and will be a perfect fit on the Flames fourth line a week or two after the all star break. Four losses in a row at home during a crucial time makes Craig Conroy’s job a little easier as there is no longer a need to balance staying in a playoff race with making long-term moves.”
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A former second-round pick by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2015 NHL Draft, AJ Greer has compiled 13 goals, 30 points, 252 hits and 203 penalty minutes over 155 career regular-season contests.
Flames still planning a firesale?
It's no secret that multiple players on the Flames might not be calling Calgary home for much longer. Nikita Zadorov was already shipped to the Vancouver Canucks, and the futures of Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev and Jacob Markstrom are up in the air.
Now at 21-22-5 and sixth place in the Pacific Division, it's likely that GM Craig Conroy ships out all of his pending unrestricted free agents ahead of the Mar. 8 NHL Trade Deadline.
The Flames will host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night as they look to end a four-game losing skid. Calgary is six points back of the Nashville Predators for the last wildcard berth in the West.
