[News] Flames recall Breen and Cundari. Wotherspoon has season ending surgery

[PeteMoss]

Both of these guys are playing to earn a contract, will be interesting to see. I figured Cundari was done here when they moved him from the Heat so a bit surprised on his recall.

[bubbsy]

breen's absolute last chance to prove himself at the NHL level i hope. I know folks say he is great at the AHL level, but appears sub-par during his brief times on NHL ice.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

breen's absolute last chance to prove himself at the NHL level i hope. I know folks say he is great at the AHL level, but appears sub-par during his brief times on NHL ice.

So far he has played very little for the Flames, playing 2 or 3 shifts per period is really tough to get a gauge on a player IMO.


Games played = 6
Avg Ice Time= 8 minutes

[ForeverFlameFan]

I really hope Kanzig pans out since Breen hasn't really met expectations at the NHL level.

More excited for Cundari, 3 points in 4 games is awesome. He likes shooting the puck too and am glad he is getting a second chance.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I am not sure what the organization's view on Cundari are right now. Either they want to have a final look at him before deciding what to do in the off-season with him, or they are just looking out for the Heat and would rather pull a defencemen from another team and try to leave more on the farm as the Heat are gearing up for the playoffs. Maybe both are fairly accurate.

[FlamesAddiction]

I'm glad Cundari is getting a second look before we cut ties to him. I realize that putting up a few points in his first stint isn't a huge deal, but aside from that, he looked like quite the cannonball out there.

I think the fact that it was a loan and not a full trade indicated that there was still a door open for him, so no surprise that they are bringing him back.

[killer_carlson]

With this call up I actually want to see how Breen does with 15 minutes of ice per game, over a three or four game stretch

Let's see if he can sink or swim.

[EVERLAST]

Happy for Cundari....hope he impresses enough to shut some people up.

I like a player like Mark who looks to have all the tools but may just need to be given the time and patience.

I hope he gets in some good big hits and shots as hes shown he can do both in the past.

Breen is interesting but I wonder if he is just not an every day NHL er ...I guess we will see.

I wish Sieloff was healthy enough to play and that he can pick up where he left off prior to his serious injury

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

breen's absolute last chance to prove himself at the NHL level i hope. I know folks say he is great at the AHL level, but appears sub-par during his brief times on NHL ice.

people are so impatient

he was really good last year.

this year, he missed camp and fought an abdominal injury all year - never got going. Bad year - it happens.

assuming we have room on the 50 contract limit (almost certainly plenty of room) why not wait and see if he rebounds next year? 6'7" and 24 years old. If he pans out, it is a god-send

[flamesfan55]

Wotherspoon shut down for the year, will have shoulder surgery.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

And according to Pat on the Fan960 they would have liked to scratch him last game against TO but couldn't get a recall in time so he played through the injury.

[ForeverFlameFan]

We just can't catch a break with the injuries, especially the dmen... Smid and Wotherspoon were a good pairing, and Wideman still out for the rest of the season.

[Gaskal]

Plus we lost Gio and Russell for a while earlier this year, that's a lot of good quality man-games lost dman wise.

[djsFlames]

Baby Giordano is back!

Liked him the first time around.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Plus we lost Gio and Russell for a while earlier this year, that's a lot of good quality man-games lost dman wise.

Failed to mention that too. If we only have an injury or two next year on the blue line players, then we can be really decent. Shouldn't give a free pass to our forwards either, they should stop getting injured too. If we cut our injuries down in half for next year, we have a good chance of taking the 7th or 8th spot in the playoffs next year, with a couple of free agent signings. But that's a stretch.

In a way, this year was fine with injuries because we were able to experience a lot of young player debuts. And I think all Flames' fans can agree that we have a lot to be excited about in the next couple of years.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Failed to mention that too. If we only have an injury or two next year on the blue line players, then we can be really decent. Shouldn't give a free pass to our forwards either, they should stop getting injured too. If we cut our injuries down in half for next year, we have a good chance of taking the 7th or 8th spot in the playoffs next year, with a couple of free agent signings. But that's a stretch.

In a way, this year was fine with injuries because we were able to experience a lot of young player debuts. And I think all Flames' fans can agree that we have a lot to be excited about in the next couple of years.

Well there is still a lot of considerations. First off, I don't see this years injuries being that much worse than previous years....

The other consideration is we're still viewed as a 2nd tier team, we get the other team's backup goalies etc.... while I enjoy the way this team has played, there is a big difference in who the other team plays and how for a bottom dweller vs a playoff team..... so I think we're still a long ways to go, but at least we're headed in the right direction.

[FlameZilla]

Wotherspoon: what a trooper!

[btimbit]

Excited about these recalls. Breen has still never gotten that good look that Burke mentioned weeks ago, and Cundari I always liked.

Sucks about Wotherspoon, but I think at least he showed what he needed to show, just too bad he won't be able to keep developing and playing this year.

[FireGilbert]

Breen couldn't handle 5 minutes of ice time, I'm not sure why people think he should be given more. I hope he has improved but he won't be getting 15 minutes of ice time until Hartley sees he can play 5 minutes without being a total liability.

These injuries have really shown that although the Flames have some good young defensemen a lack of defence depth in the organisation is a big concern.

[btimbit]

^I won't pretend to know or see more than Hartley, but is 6 games really enough to judge? It wasn't even 6 games in the same stretch, it was 3 different callups iirc?

Not saying he'll be a stud, but lets be sure. Must be some reason he keeps getting recalled, whether it just be a brutal lack of defensive depth, or coaches in Abby and here think there's something there.