Hours before playing his very first game at last month’s prospects tourney in Penticton, B.C., Hunter Brzustewicz was asked if he expected to be called up at some point this season to make his NHL debut.
“I wouldn’t say I expect it,” said the Flames 19-year-old Kitchener Rangers star.
“I know what I can do, and they know what I can do. Hopefully, my play does the talking and hopefully, I can get a couple games.”
He will.
Expect it.
So seamlessly did the six-foot, 190-pound defenceman fit in for his first few pre-season games, he was given a few nights off before returning Wednesday in Winnipeg.
It was there he demonstrated the vision and composure that made him the OHL’s assists leader (with a whopping 79) and one of the Flames’ top prospects since being acquired from Vancouver in the Elias Lindholm windfall.
The evening wasn’t without its hiccups, as Brzustewicz was on the ice for four Jets goals in a 5-2 loss.
But he drew a penalty, made several excellent breakout passes and his third assist of the pre-season came on a Justin Kirkland goal made possible by Brzustewicz’s spin-o-rama in the natural zone.
No, he won’t be one of the six or seven defencemen to crack the Flames’ opening day roster Monday.
There’s just no room for him.
But the plan all along was for him to start with the Wranglers where he’ll play plenty of minutes and run the power play in preparation for an inevitable call-up at some point this year.
No doubt, he’ll be ready for it.
CORONATO: Matt Coronato started the pre-season like he did a year earlier, filling the net.
But after scoring three goals and adding two assists in his first two games, the Flames first-rounder has been relatively quiet.
And that will almost certainly hurt his chances of cracking the opening night roster.
The challenge was there for him to steal a top-nine job, which he hasn’t been able to do, making him a likely demotion sometime after Friday’s final pre-season game.
Again, the future is bright for the Harvard star, who spent the bulk of last season working on his board battles and defensive game in the AHL.
Coronato and the coaches believe he’s come a long way, and he will certainly be near the top of the list of call-ups if one of the Flames scorers is injured.
He will see plenty of time as a Flames this season.
But not at the beginning of it.
On Wednesday he had a quiet night alongside Justin Kirkland and Sam Morton, and despite more than two minutes of power-play time, he had just one shot on goal, while also being responsible for the turnover that led to the Jets’ last goal.
NET NOTES: Dustin Wolf went the distance against a veteran-laden Jets squad that forced him to make 22 saves for what amounted to the Flames’ first loss in the preseason (5-1-1). Defensive zone lapses were chiefly responsible for most of the hosts’ goals on a night that saw a roster of Flames youngsters outscored 3-0 in the final frame.
After a solid exhibition season showing, Wolf will no doubt be starting the season with the Flames with Dan Vladar, and it’s still anyone’s guess exactly how they’ll divvy up starts, as both had excellent camps.
Ryan Huska hinted he still might give Vladar some work in the final pre-season game.
What the Flames will do with third-stringer Devin Cooley will be interesting, as he must be put through waivers if the Flames want to send him to the minors — a risk the Flames likely don’t want to take given how impressed they have been with him.
The Flames’ only other goal was scored by Martin Frk, who redirected a Jake Bean point shot.
THE LINES:
Hunt-Zary-Mantha
Pelletier-Pospisil-Frk
Kirkland-Morton-Coronato
Bishop-Rooney-Duehr
Bahl-Barrie
Bean-Miromanov
Tinordi-Brzustewicz
Wolf (Starter)
Cooley