Flames Forward To Miss Considerable Time After Gruesome Injury

The Calgary Flames will be without gritty forward AJ Greer for the foreseeable future after he suffered a gruesome-looking ankle injury on Thursday night.  

The Flames don’t know yet if AJ Greer will require surgery after his horrific ankle injury last night, but they expect him to be out for considerable time.
Interesting to think that if the injury occurred one day earlier, then Adam Ruzicka would likely still be a Flame and…

— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) January 26, 2024

The "horrific" injury occurred after he fell feet first into the boards and it was obvious that it was serious right from first glance. A warning about the gruesome nature of the injury should be considered before you view it:

Do not look at the replay of the AJ Greer injury. Good lord.

— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) January 26, 2024

AJ Greer goes awkwardly into the boards and leaves the game.

Hopefully it's not as serious as it initially looked.

📽️: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/t3gRLSneNd

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) January 26, 2024

Per beat writer Eric Francis, a decision hasn't been made yet about surgery, but the Flames certainly expect him to be out for a "considerable time". 

Greer, 27, is a former 2nd-round pick (2015, Colorado Avalanche), and in 155 career NHL games, he's posted 252 hits, 203 penalty minutes, along with 13 goals and 17 assists for 30 points. 

The loss of Greer comes at a very inopportune time for Calgary, as they're also without Dillon Dube for an indefinite period while he's on a leave of absence, and they also just lost Adam Ruzicka on waivers this week as well. That's the entire fourth line, gone. The Flames bottom-six will now feature five players who were regulars with the AHL affiliate Calgary Wranglers.

The only silver lining amongst all these dark clouds for the Flames is that they no longer have to straddle the fence about whether or not to be buyers or sellers come the trade deadline. As Francis notes, "Let the trading begin".

Photo: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports