The Flames got a couple of notable skaters back in the building Saturday morning, even if they still weren’t ready to jump into full contact work.
Captain Mikael Backlund and alternate captain Jonathan Huberdeau both took part in morning skate at the Scotiabank Saddledome before Calgary’s meeting with the Detroit Red Wings. They wore yellow “no-contact” jerseys throughout the session, and both were on the ice roughly a half-hour before the rest of the group, firing pucks at emergency backup netminder Dustin Nickel. They stayed out for the full skate.
Head coach Ryan Huska said Backlund is the closer of the two injury cases.
“Backland, he’s closer,” said Huska. “Huby’s going to join us periodically.
I mean, he’s not close right now, but he’s doing the steps that we need him to take along the way. So I felt good for him out there.
That was a nice milestone for him. You can tell by the energy that he had being around the team.
But it’s going to be something that over the next while, it’ll be periodically where he’ll pop into one of our practices, depending on what we’re doing.”
Backlund has been sidelined since Sunday’s win over the Carolina Hurricane, when he took a late-game hit from William Carrier and suffered an upper body injury. He remains day-to-day.
Huberdeau’s path back is much longer. He had hip resurfacing surgery in early March after dealing with hip discomfort for much of the season, and there isn’t a timeline yet for his return. The Flames are easing him through the process and want to make sure their highest-paid player is pain-free when he’s finally back on the ice in games.
The only current absence on the skate sheet Saturday was Sam Honzek, who was not on the ice because of a lower body injury suffered on Oct. 8 against Colorado. He remains week-to-week.
Calgary hosts Detroit at the Saddledome on Saturday night in the final home game against the Red Wings this season.
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