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The Calgary Flames announced today the signing of LW checker Marcus Nilson to a two year contract extension.

Nilson, an eight-year veteran, was hobbled with injuries late in the 2006 campaign and manged to played in 63 games for Calgary. His stats included five goals and 10 assists for 15 points. In 474 career games, the Sweden native has 64 goals and 99 assists for 163 points.

The Calgary Flames announced the signings of the following junior prospects: Matt Pelech (D), Gord Baldwin (D), Matt Keetley (G) and Brett Sutter (F) and free agent Brad Cole (D) have all signed entry level contracts with Calgary.

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http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=195785&hubname=nhl

Calgary acquired Brad Stuart (former Hitman), a conditional draft pick, and Wayne Primeau from the Boston Bruins for Andrew Ference and Chuck Kobasew. The conditional draft pick will likely be dependent on whether Calgary can sign Stuart in the off-season. Many teams were vying for the D-mans services, but somehow Calgary came out on top.

I can’t’ quite pinpoint who won this deal, but most of the discussion out there suggests Calgary made a steal of a deal. Mind you, two years ago Kobasew was right behind Staal in points so he can’t be that bad, and Ference is a solid 5th d man.

Stuart on the other hand is having a less than stellar season and may benefit from playing in his home province. Primeau will add much needed size to a small forward corps. Mind you, what we need are RW now since the team has endless supplies of LW.

If we can sign Stuart and Primeau works well as a checker and in the face offs then we’ve won this deal marginally. I think there is more concern to see whether Conroy fits in somewhere. Mind you, we’ve been hurting on defence and I do believe Stuart is an upgrade so only the next few games will tell.

I know I for one will miss Ference and his media persona, but I also want to win championships and Sutter knows more about hockey than me, I think.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=194096&hubname=

Craig Conroy is back, obviously to bolster our centermen. This is an interesting move as Langkow has been producing well on the 1st line, Lombardi is flash on the second, and Yelle on the third. What does this mean for the team? Perhaps Sutter knows he can’t sign speedy Lombo and Huselius in two years time and will trade one soon?

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The Calgary Flames have recalled defensemen Mark Giordano and Richie Regehr and left wing Tomi Maki. They will replace Nilson, Warrener, and Zyuzin. Yelle is not ready to come back and the first two have groin problems.

Giordano has appeared in five games for the Knights, notching two assists, 8 penalty minutes and a +4 rating. In ten games for the Flames this season, the native of Toronto has scored two goals and earned eight penalty minutes and a +3 rating.

Regehr was recalled to Calgary on Tuesday, December 5th and played in his first game with the Flames on Saturday, a 5-3 win against Vancouver. He was re-assigned to Omaha after the game. In 22 games with the Knights this season, the native of Bandung, Indonesia has five goals and nine assists for 14 points. He also has 37 penalty minutes and a +16 plus/minus rating which is tied for third best in the AHL.

Maki will be making his NHL debut when he plays in his first game for Calgary. In 21 games for the Knights this season Maki has one goal and five assists for six points and six penalty minutes. (Wow, he must be a defensive specialist….) Last season, his first in North America, Maki had 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points and 33 penalty minutes. He was the only member of the Knights to play in all 80 games.

Mark Giordano was sent down today.

The Calgary Flames announced the recall of left wing Brandon Prust and center Dustin Boyd. It is the first NHL recall for both players. Prust and Boyd will join the Flames on their three-game road trip which begins Wednesday in Detroit. At least one will factor into the game, maybe both.

Boyd leads the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights in scoring with four goals and nine assists for thirteen points in nine games. He is second in AHL rookie scoring and assists. His three game-winning goals lead all AHL rookies and are tied for first overall in the league. The native of Winnipeg, Manitoba was the Flames’ third round pick, 98th overall, in the 2004
Prust is currently tied for fourth in team scoring with two goals and four assists for six points. He has a team leading 30 penalty minutes and is tied for the team lead among forwards with a +6 plus/minus ratio. Last year, the native of London, Ontario led the Knights with 294 penalty minutes while earning twelve goals and 14 assists for 26 points in 79 games. Prust was chosen by the Flames in the third round, 70th overall, of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights are playing exceptionally well, unlike their big league counterparts, putting themselves in first place in the division with one of the American Hockey League’s best records. The Knights are now 8-0-1-0 and have won eight straight games, a franchise record. The Knights won both ends of a home-and-home series with the Iowa Stars to grab the top spot. They finished off the three-in-three week with a win at Milwaukee. The Knights will play the Chicago Wolves on Friday and the Stars again on Saturday at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.

Both Brad Ference (D) and Eric Godard (LW) have been placed on waivers. This means neither made the team, and in order to play in the minors, they need to be waived. This is due to their NHL experience since under the new CBA if you have X amount of games you need to clear waivers everytime you go down (I think that’s the rule….)

Playfair is quoted as saying, “it’s a situation where one will make the team and one will not,” (referring to the AHL squad).

Andrei T didn’t make it, yet. Darryl Sutter announced the assignment of five players to the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights of the AHL.

Goaltender (1): Brent Krahn

Defencemen (1): Richie Regehr

Forwards (3): Andrei Taratukhin, Dustin Boyd, Brandon Prust

Who does that leave up? Nystrom, who is still hurt, Giordano who made the team subbing for Warrener, and Ference B who is hte 8th D man. 3 more days till puck drop!

The Flames sent r Darryl Sutter announced Friday that the Flames have assigned 19 players to Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights.

Goaltender (1): Matt, Keetley

Defencemen (5): Tim Hambly, Steve Marr, Brett Palin, Adam Pardy, Tim Ramholt

Forwards (13): Kris Chucko, Derek Couture, Adam Cracknell, Cam Cunning, Ryan Donally, Carsen Germyn, Tomi Maki, David Moss, Chris Neiszner, Warren Peters, Aki Seitsonen , Justin Taylor, David Van der Gulik

This doesn’t mean these players will necessarily stick here as there is more room and tryouts for the Knights. Any players not making the AHL squad will likely play for the Wranglers (Las Vegas)