Calgary had only two of the defencemen on the NHL roster signed beyond this season and the trade winds ready to blow through
With defencemen at a premium, the Calgary Flames made a wise move in claiming Brayden Pachal off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.
As the Flames, with their flickering playoff hopes, head toward the March 8 trade deadline, they had only two blueliners on their NHL roster signed beyond this season: MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson. The five others — Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Oliver Kylington, Jordan Oesterle and Dennis Gilbert — are all pending unrestricted free agents, with it very likely any, or even most of them, could be traded by the deadline.
Pachal, the 6-foot-2, 202-pound product of Estevean, Sask., with 29 career NHL regular-season games, plus one playoff game, under his belt, provides a much-needed defenceman.
It’s an added bonus he is signed through the 2024-25 season with a $775,000 salary cap hit.
“Brayden is a big, strong right-shot defensive defenceman who increases our team’s physicality and will be an asset to our penalty kill,” Flames general manager Craig Conroy said in a statement. “At 24 years old, he has been the captain of his AHL team and is a character player joining us from a winning program.”
Pachel, who was also captain of the Prince Albert Raiders when they won the 2019 WHL crown, spent four-plus seasons in the Golden Knights organization. He skated in one game during last season’s championship run, and has his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.
In 17 games this season, he has one goal, his lone NHL tally, and 12 penalty minutes.
By claiming Pachal, and then summoning a trio of forwards from the minors in Jakob Pelletier, Kevin Rooney and Cole Schwindt, the Flames have a full 23-player roster for Tuesday’s first game after the all-star break against the Boston Bruins.
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