Rookie hopeful suffered a nasty looking injury in pre-season loss to Seattle
After the morning skate, Jakob Pelletier cracked what may be the joke of the season.
Pelletier, who changed his sweater number prior to the season, quipped, “I think it’s easier for the coaches to know the No. 22 to the No. 49”, a reminder of when former head coach Darryl Sutter caustically asked what number he donned in his NHL debut last season.
Unfortunately, the mood surrounding Pelletier was nowhere near as jovial before the first period was in the books in Monday’s 5-3 pre-season loss to the Seattle Kraken at the Saddledome in one part of a split-squad meeting.
Pelletier, the 2019 first-round draft pick who collected an assist on the game's first goal, had to be helped off the ice with his left arm hanging limply following a hard check into the boards from Marian Studenic, for which he was assessed a major for boarding and a game misconduct.
The Flames said Pelletier, looking to claim a roster spot out of training camp, suffered an upper-body injury but little else after the game.
“Doctors will do some stuff with him (Tuesday) and we’ll have a better idea of what it actually is,” head coach Ryan Huska said.
Calgary intends to implement more youth into the lineup, and the affable Pelletier was likely pencilled into one of those positions, but his golden opportunity appears to be delayed.
Maybe — just maybe — the news will be good, but it sure looked more on the serious side.The regular season opens in just over two weeks.
“You never want to see that, especially in an exhibition when he’s really trying to showcase himself,” forward Walker Duehr said. “You never want to see a teammate, especially a good friend, get hurt. I hope he’s doing well.”
On a night where special teams dominated the affair, here are a few other thoughts about the action.
Rough time for Wolf
Dustin Wolf, the AHL’s top goaltender for the past two seasons and last year’s league MVP, has an uphill battle to claim the backup spot in Calgary with Jacob Markstrom set at number-one with Dan Vladar holding the second spot and a new, two-year contract that’s kicked in this season.
Wolf, 22, surrendered all five goals — two while his team was shorthanded, including one during a five-on-three Seattle power play — in his first action of the pre-season.
“A learning opportunity,” he said. “As the game went on, I felt more confident and more comfortable in net there. Maybe the score doesn’t indicate how I think I performed, but at the same time you want to win games and giving up five is not the most ideal scenario.”
Wolf, who made 23 saves, said his movement wasn’t “crisp” and he was off with “little details” — which should surprise nobody after a five-month hiatus from real game action.
“I know he would want to come in his first game and not give up anything,” Huska said. “But the way he is, he’ll look back at all the goals that went in on him and he’ll find a way to approach it differently next time.”
For what it’s worth, Vladar stopped 35 shots through overtime and both opponents in the shootout as the Flames claimed a 3-2 win in Seattle in the other half of the split-squad action.
Looking at the kids
With all of the power plays — the Flames had four advantages and the Kraken had eight — it was a tough game to assess for a Flames team that had inserted a trio of youngsters skating in their first pre-season game, 2023 draft picks Etienne Morin and Jaden Lipinski, as well as 2021 second-round pick William Stromgren.
All three definitely need seasoning to have a legitimate shot at a NHL gig, but had some positive moments.
Morin saw more ice time than expected after MacKenzie Weegar received a game misconduct early in the second period. He was victimized by a bad break on Seattle’s fourth goal when his stick cracked in two at the offensive blueline earlier in the play, but drew praise from Huska.
“He told Dan (Lambert, one of the assistant coaches) before the game … ‘I’m really nervous’ which is to be expected for a young guy that’s just been drafted,” Huska said. “I thought as the night went on, he did a good job. We gave him some power-play time when MacKenzie got tossed out and I thought he handled it well.”
ICE CHIPS: Of the young players, Mathias Emilio Petersen didn’t register a point but was very visible from start to finish. “He was ready to play with whatever came his way, which is a good thing,” Huska said … Duehr, who finished last season very strong and is poised to be a key part of the fourth line, kicked off his pre-season with the game’s first goal. Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane also scored for the Flames at the Saddledome … D Ilya Solovyov scored twice and added and assist in the victory in Seattle. Dryden Hunt also scored in regulation, while Yegor Sharangovich netted the shootout winner … The Flames will be off on Tuesday, with a pre-season game scheduled for Wednesday in Winnipeg. Don’t be surprised if some players are assigned in the next day or two, especially those ticketed to go back to their junior teams.
