It appeared the Abbotsford Heat would be juggling three goalies once again, after the Calgary Flames assigned Henrik Karlsson to their AHL affiliate on Monday morning.
But later in the day, the Flames announced they'd traded Karlsson to the Chicago Blackhawks for a seventh-round draft pick. The Blackhawks subsequently assigned the netminder to their AHL farm team, the Rockford IceHogs.
Playing time would have been tough to come by for Karlsson in Abbotsford – their current goalie tandem of Barry Brust and Danny Taylor are ranked one-two in the AHL in goals against average at 1.44 and 1.68, respectively.
The 6'6" Karlsson, who came to be known as the Calgary Tower while serving as the primary backup to Miikka Kiprusoff over the past two seasons, lost out to former Heat keeper Leland Irving last week in a training camp battle for the Flames' No. 2 job.
Karlsson's knee injury in December 2011 opened the door for Irving to make his NHL debut, and the Swede would suit up for four games with Abbotsford last season during a conditioning stint. He posted a 2-2-0 record with a 2.26 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. Karlsson's NHL resumé with the Flames included a 5-9-8 record and a 2.79 goals against average.