Calgary Flames’ Martin Pospisil only expected to miss a couple weeks with upper-body injury

Pospisil was injured late in the first period of Thursday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs after he accidentally tripped on the skate of Auston Matthews while the Leafs sniper was in a turning motion, and the Flames rookie awkwardly collided into the boards. Pospisil had two shots and a hit in 3:46 of ice-time before he left, with the Flames losing 4-3 to the Leafs.

The update is excellent news for the Flames, as Pospisil’s concussion history left a lot of concern when the details for the injury were unknown. Pospisil will likely return to the team during the All-Star break, meaning that he’ll only miss close to four games.

The 24-year-old is having a solid rookie season with the Flames with 4 goals and 7 assists for 11 points in 33 games. That puts him on pace for 27 points in a full season, which would actually be the most in his professional career.

This also comes despite the fact that Pospisil’s had some rough shooting luck to start his NHL career. Among all forwards with at least 350 minutes of ice time, he has the 30th-worst shooting percentage at 6.67%.

Pospisil also played 6 games for the Calgary Wranglers in the AHL this season, with 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points in his time there.

The Zloven, Slovakia product was a fourth-round pick for the Flames in the 2018 NHL Draft, and has spent the entirety of his five-season professional career in the Flames organization, making his NHL debut this season.

Pospisil is currently on a one-year, $775,000 contract, and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in the 2024 offseason.

The Flames will look to bounce back from Thursday’s loss to the Maple Leafs when they host the Edmonton Oilers this Saturday for Hockey Day in Canada at 10 p.m. EST. They sit in fifth in the Pacific Division with a 21-19-5 record, which is three points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.