He's big, he's talented, but Ruzicka's inconsistent effort has brought the Flames to a crossroad for his career in Calgary

One of the Calgary Flames’ longtime project players may be another NHL team’s property as early as Thursday. The Flames waived Adam Ruzicka on Wednesday after he was a healthy scratch the previous night.

Defenceman Nick DeSimone was also waived, which is positive news about the impending return of Oliver Kylington. But the Ruzicka move is purely performance based.

The 24-year-old forward has been looked at as a diamond in the rough for years. He’s had some success in spurts as a top-six forward but doesn’t bring the same battle when asked to make a difference in the bottom six.

It looks like he’s been supplanted by Cole Schwindt, who made his Flames debut on Tuesday on a line with A.J. Greer and Adam Klapka.

Another team may be intrigued by Ruzicka’s size and skill set based on some of the smaller sample sizes of performance in previous years. He looked good in the AHL and started the 2022-23 season strong with 20 points through his first 25 games in a top-line role. But he landed in head coach Darryl Sutter’s doghouse and was relegated between the lower lines and the press box for most of the rest of that season.

He got into just 19 more games and made little to no impact.

With Sutter gone and the Calgary Flames determined to give Ruzicka every opportunity to shine, he started strong. But his fading consistency in producing and, more importantly, details and effort, have led to this moment.

If not claimed by another team, he can be re-assigned to the AHL Wranglers at any point over the next 30 days. It may also be a move to inspire him into more consistent efforts — making him work his way back to the NHL.

Ruzicka could also be a piece to dangle at the NHL trade deadline. He’s a pending restricted free agent who might break out with a change of scenery.