Flames recall Markus Granlund, Matt Stajan out six weeks

In last night’s contest against the Montreal Canadiens, Matt Stajan suffered a knee on knee hit from Jarred Tinordi. It gave the Flames one of their seven powerplays of the game, none of which the team could capitalize on. Worse than losing in the shootout, though, was losing one of their top three centres, and a player Bob Hartley had only recently figured out did not belong on the fourth line.

Stajan has been placed on the injured reserve, and is expected to be out for six weeks with a knee injury. He joins Mason Raymond on the shelf, who is out with a week-to-week shoulder injury.

To make up for Stajan’s absence, the Flames have recalled Markus Granlund from the Adirondack Flames. Granlund has scored three goals and five points over eight games for the 2-5-1-0 AHL team. He’s second in team scoring, behind just Michael Ferland.

Granlund is pretty clearly Stajan’s replacement, and so should be expected to play roughly third line centre minutes behind Mikael Backlund and Sean Monahan (although he may see the ice a bit more than Stajan did, by virtue of being a kid who needs playing time). He was one of the Flames’ best kids throughout the preseason, including having an outstanding Penticton tournament, and had one assist in three preseason games before his camp was cut short with a concussion.

He first appeared in the NHL as an injury call up last season, when he scored two goals and an assist over six games (he started a seventh game, but played just 12 seconds before a shoulder injury prematurely ended his NHL time). He looked NHL ready then, he looked NHL ready in the preseason, and he has great numbers to start the year, so we'll see how he does. Granlund is one of the Flames' top prospects.

Also injured is now-winger Joe Colborne. Colborne suffered a wrist injury in the game against the Canadiens, and is day-to-day. One of Devin Setoguchi or Brian McGrattan should draw back into the lineup until he’s ready to return. Considering their respective skill sets, it should probably be Setoguchi.

by Ari Yanover