On trade deadline day, the biggest move the Calgary Flames have made was picking Chris Stewart off of waivers from the Minnesota Wild.
It’s been a busy morning in the world of hockey but not so much for the Calgary Flames so far. While trade deadline still has a small amount of time left and lots of info gets released after deadline anyways, the biggest splash the Flames have done was picking Chris Stewart off of waivers from the Minnesota Wild.
Yesterday morning, the Wild placed Stewart on waivers. This season, Stewart has nine goals and 13 points in 47 games. He also has quite a low CF% compared to his OZS%. His CF% this season is at a mere 40.5% with an OZS% of 52.0%. Basically, he has quite low puck-possession stats and the other teams get more shot attempts than his teammates do when he’s on the ice (at 5v5) even though more than half of the starts he has have been in the offensive zone.
Basically, he’s bad at puck-possession, to put it bluntly.
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Since he’s a right-winger with a right-handed shot, this could mean that Micheal Ferland is out for longer than we had originally thought. However, Kris Versteeg is also an RW with a right shot and he’s set to return soon. This could also mean that the Flames are somehow moving Troy Brouwer and are using Stewart as a replacement, but that is highly unlikely based on Brouwer’s contract and the fact that he’s on an NTC and can’t be traded unless he gives the Flames permission to move him.
Flames Twitter isn’t too happy about this move. I asked a friend who works within the Wild organization and this is what she said about Stewart:
"He’s very good on the road for his role, and clutch in the shootout. 75% this year. Great guy in the room too. Is he going to score 50 points? Hell no. But he’s great at what he does."
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While he may be an upgrade over Brouwer or over Garnet Hathaway, this could mean that the Flames are also planning on waiving Hathaway. But again, this is all speculation.
Welcome to Calgary, Chris!