Losing Kris Versteeg isn’t the worst blow that could be dealt to the Flames, but it’s still pretty bad.
With Versteeg officially deemed out month-to-month – a pretty daunting sentence – the Flames have not only lost one of their top powerplay contributors, but one of their top players on the bottom six, as well.
Let’s start with the powerplay. Versteeg has clocked in 71:43 minutes, fourth most on the team, behind Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, and T.J. Brodie. Without him, the first unit has a very big hole it has to fill, and a handful of options with which to do it.