Calgary Flames first-rounder Samuel Honzek out 6-8 weeks with lower-body injury
The Calgary Flames began their regular season last Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets. However, one player that has yet to begin his 2023-24 campaign is 2023 first-round selection Samuel Honzek. Honzek has been assigned to the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants, but he has yet to suit up due to injury.
Per The Province’s Steve Ewen, Honzek will miss the next 6-8 weeks due to a lower-body injury.
.@WHLGiants GM Barclay Parneta says F Samuel Honzek (lower body) will be sidelined six to eight weeks and will rehab in Calgary. Parneta didn’t give any details on the injury. Honzek, who was a first-round pick of the @NHLFlames this summer, was hurt in an NHL preseason game.
Honzek was injured in the first period of the Flames’ 7-2 pre-season loss to the Edmonton Oilers back on Oct. 4. Noted initially as day-to-day, Honzek was re-assigned to the WHL the following day. But he’s remained with the Flames as they assessed his status. As you can imagine, Honzek’s an incredibly important piece for both the Flames and Giants, so they’re likely being cautious about how they handle his injury recovery and return to action.
Honzek was selected by the Flames with the 16th overall selection in the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville and signed his entry-level deal shortly after the draft. He’s expected to be an all-situations forward for the Giants this season, likely playing a mixture of left wing and centre, as well as a big piece of the Slovakian national junior team at this winter’s World Juniors. A 6-8 week timeline would see him return basically right in time to leave for the World Juniors.
The Giants added Czech forward Patrik Kral to their roster, for the time being, to use Honzek’s import roster spot until his return to action.
The first week of the season is in the books and as such we now have a small sample size of data to work with. Up until now Beyond the Boxscore has only focused on single game outcomes while leaving the summarization of multiple games for the reader to find themselves – not any more. Included will be a comprehensive weekly summary of the games that occurred, who ran hot, who was not, etc.
We’ve got all that – and more – at Beyond the Boxscore.
An awesome example early about how one game can skew a small sample size so the average appears different from the rest of the sample. The game Calgary played against Winnipeg may very well go down as their worst game the team will play all year – and yet it stands as their only win so far. After adjusting the lines late in Game 1 – and sticking with the changes afterwards – the Flames saw an immaculate boost in their ability to control a hockey game. The overall process is taking steps in the right direction and the Flames are getting better at controlling a matches quality share. This are not last years perimeter shooters either – the Flames are making an active effort to get more high danger opportunities instead of settling for easy pad shots from bad angles/distance. The result should dip their CF% and SCF% numbers, but vastly improve in HDCF% and xGF% in comparison to last year.
This week’s risers
- Walker Duehr – CF%: 70.60%, SCF%: 70.53%, HDCF%: 67.31%, xGF%: 72.54%
Duehr has been the most consistent Flame over the first three games, albeit in a minor role. I understand 4th liners aren’t the biggest difference in the long run, providing marginal additions to the win pool at best. Duehr though, he looks like he belongs every single shift – works his but off to get into quality areas and does what he needs to every time he’s out there. Head coach Ryan Huska has been keeping him and Greer from any offensive or defensive zone starts (see charts below for reference) making them a bit sheltered – but they are thriving in that role. Not bad for the first ever NHL player out of South Dakota.
