Injuries Force Continuation of Youth Movement in Calgary

On Tuesday morning, the Calgary Flames updated some injury statuses and for the couple of players that are in the pool, the news is quite bad. Captain Marc Giordano, already listed as on the Injured Reserve, has now been diagnosed with a broken ankle and will be expected on the shelf for 6-to-8 weeks. Forward Lee Stempniak, was on the list as out day-to-day with a lower-body injury, is now listed as week-to-week with a broken foot.

Giordano was off to a torrid start to the season, picking up 2 goals and 7 assists, playing a major part in the Flames hot start to the season.  He hasn't played in the last week and is still ranked 96th in pool scoring, which is still pretty damn good for a defenseman.  Heck, he's still ranked 6th among defensemen in scoring, despite not playing for a week.

Stempniak was also off to a pretty good start for the Flames, as he had notched 4 goals and 5 assists in 10 games, before getting hurt.  By virtue of more goals, he is ranked a tad higher than Giordano overall, sitting in 84th place after Monday's action.  His week-to-week status will likely keep him out for about 3-to-4 weeks, before he can comfortably fit in his skate boot again.

Losing the two of these guys will significantly hurt the Flames balance and offense going forward, something that some of the young kids will have to play through.

In the pool, we already knew that Giordano was going to be off the projected games played list for Wes M., but it hasn't quite hit him in the standings just yet.  After the injury, Wes was hovering around 14th place and going into Tuesday's action, he is up to 11th.

In terms of Stempniak, he belongs to Leo M., who has also seen some gains in the last couple of weeks, now sitting in 9th place, already up from Sunday's finish of 10th place.  Losing Stempniak will likely affect him more in the long-term.

Now that we're in Week Five, we're still a little ways away from the Week Eight Waiver Draft, where we'll be dropping and picking up players for a Week Nine activation.  Giordano will likely be considered for a drop, while Stempniak has a chance of being back around that time and may not be dropped.  Things to consider already...