Flames’ Kevin Rooney leaves game after hard hit from Canucks’ J.T. Miller

A scary incident took a player out of his first game of the season.

On Wednesday night, Calgary Flames forward Kevin Rooney had to leave the team’s season opener against the Vancouver Canucks with an injury.

The incident happened less than eight minutes into the game after Rooney mishandled a puck trying to break out of his own zone. He lost possession to Canucks forward JT Miller, who then laid a hit on Rooney, sending him awkwardly into the sideboards.

A skirmish ensued while Rooney was being attended to on the ice. The stretcher was called to help Rooney, but the 31-year-old was able to skate off the ice under his own power.

The Flames later announced that Rooney would not return to the game, as he was under evaluation. He was credited with just 1:03 of ice time across two shifts.

It was part of a very physical and chippy first period between the two Western Canadian rivals, as the Flames diverted their attention to Miller following the hit. Miller eventually answered the bell late in the frame, exchanging hands with new Flame, Anthony Mantha.

It is the second year in a row that Rooney has suffered an injury in October. During training camp last preseason, the Canton, Massachusetts native suffered an upper-body injury that kept him out of the lineup until February. He ended up playing in 33 games, scoring three goals and an assist for four points.

This is Rooney’s third season with the Flames. He signed a two-year contract with the team in July 2022, signing a one-year extension with a cap hit of $1.3 million last March.

2024-25 marks Rooney’s ninth season in professional hockey. The undrafted center started his career with the New Jersey Devils, making his NHL debut on Feb. 27, 2017. After three-plus seasons in the Garden State, Rooney signed with the rival New York Rangers, which saw him spend most of his two seasons with the big club, playing a career-high 61 games in 2021-22.

The 2020-21 campaign was arguably Rooney’s best, as the Providence College product scored eight goals and six assists for 14 points.

In 261 NHL games, Rooney has scored 27 goals and 23 assists for 50 points. He also played in 15 games during the Rangers’ run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2022, registering two assists.