Flames defence notes: Ladislav Smid done for the season, Douglas Murray on tryout

Some news out of the Calgary Flames' backend today. Nothing as earth shattering as Mark Giordano's injury, and nothing as joyous as the completely unexpected and not-gonna-happen news that Mark Giordano has inexplicably made a full recovery and can join the team again right now (dream big, friends. Don't let reality get in the way of what you want), but news.

First off, Ladislav Smid, who hasn't played since Jan. 19, is officially done for the season.

#Flames GM Brad Treliving says Ladislav Smid is done for the year after neck surgery. Doesn't believe it's career threatening.

— Scott Mitchell (@SUNMitchell) March 13, 2015

Smid sustained an injury from then-Penguins defenceman Simon Despres when Despres decided to launch himself into Smid's head for no apparent reason. Smid left the game and went on the injury reserve pretty quick, finally marking an end to the inexplicable and extremely bad Smid-Deryk Engelland pairing, signifying Rafa Diaz's full-time spot in the lineup. Smid went home, became the father of some twins who are probably adorable, returned for three games in January, and then we never saw him again.

The Flames defence already isn't great, but Smid wouldn't make it any better. So of course, we wish him well as a person, but what with his being the third-highest paid Flames defenceman (why? I don't know) and signed for another two years despite adding little to the defence, his loss doesn't really hurt the team.

I would, however, like to share one last Dancing Smid for the season.

Aw.

Probably at least tangentially related, the Flames have decided to give longtime San Jose Sharks defenceman Douglas Murray a tryout. If signed, he'd need to go through waivers, and he wouldn't be allowed to play in the playoffs (or for Adirondack, for that matter).

He should not be signed, because he is not particularly good. Murray's most recent team was the Cologne Sharks. You probably do not know who the Colgone Sharks are. They are a team in the German league. Murray played all of eight games for them and scored all of one assist.

If you can't even make it to 10 games in the German league, well... I'm not entirely sure what there is for you in the NHL. Via War on Ice, the guy's simply not an NHLer anymore:

It is possible they're looking at him strictly as an insurance policy. After all, with Smid officially done, the Flames' seventh defenceman is Corey Potter. Via our own Adkmac, Potter has been a mentor for the Flames' defence prospects in the AHL, and it's possible the Flames simply want to get him back down there rather than have him wasting away as an insurance policy in the pressbox (not to mention Adirondack is in a playoff push of their own).

With Diaz now a regular with included powerplay time and David Schlemko doing well, the only spot really available for Murray is that of pressbox insurance fodder who, just in case, could theoretically step in and maybe play, like, five minutes if one of the Flames' six goes down.

That's the only thing that would make sense, really. If they do sign him it's highly unlikely they actually play him; especially with Bob Hartley seemingly comfortable with his current pairings, no matter how illogical they may be.