Article content
The Vancouver Giants were waiting to see when the Calgary Flames would send Samuel Honzek back to junior. Now they’re waiting to see when their best player will be back from injury.
Article content
The 18-year-old Slovak, who was the No. 16 overall pick in last summer’s NHL Draft by the Flames, suffered an undisclosed ailment in a Wednesday pre-season game between the Flames and the Edmonton Oilers. As of Saturday morning, there had been no word exactly what Honzek had hurt, but Vancouver general manager Barclay Parneta picked up Czech forward Patrik Kral, 17, on waivers from the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday so there’s reason to believe that Honzek will be shelved weeks rather than just days.
Article content
Parneta says he’s waiting to hear a full prognosis from Calgary staff, and admitted that Honzek has been seeing specialists. He has spoken to Honzek. Parneta didn’t want to get into details about the injury.
Kral joins fellow Czech forward Adam Titlbach, 17, on the Vancouver active roster. Once Honzek is declared healthy, the Giants will have two weeks to decide which two euros they want to keep. They can only keep two on their active roster.
Article content
Kral and Titlbach were picked in this year’s CHL Import Draft and will be trade eligible if they’re on rosters after Dec. 1, according to Parneta. Honzek is trade eligible since he played all of last season with Vancouver.
The book on 6-foot, 170-pound Kral is that he has solid, two-way game. He had one assist in three games with Moose Jaw.
Kral was placed on waivers after Martin Rysavy was reassigned to Moose Jaw by the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets earlier this week. Along with Rysavy, who’s a 20-year-old Czech winger, the Warriors also feature Andrej Tomasec, a 17-year-old Slovak winger.
Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.
You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited, ad-lite access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.
Share this article in your social network