Stajan out means it’s Jokinen’s job to lose

Calgary Flames General Manager Darryl Sutter went out and signed Olli Jokinen for his second tour explaining he will score more goals with more offensive creativity surrounding him. He went out and signed Alex Tanguay to be that playmaker for the Joker and probably thought at one point Jarome Iginla would make his way into the mix.

As camp opened that seems to be the top combination, which seemingly ruins the early season chance of Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman or Rene Bourque reclaiming the roles they had last year.

The Flames captain has yet to don the orange and red this season but his center of last year already left the ice. With the team already weak down the middle, Stajan suffered a separated shoulder during the team’s first pre-season game– a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks. The young center joins Daymond Langkow on the sidelines as top prospect Michael Backlund will presumably play on the second line between Hagman and Bourque.

Nothing went the way the team expected last season, and it would be surprising to see their off-season plan work to a T. Still there will always be value in whoever pivots the lethal Iginla so keep your eye out for Jokinen in deeper leagues as his statistics last year somewhat translated to the fantasy game and certainly has in the past.