Greg Nemisz Autographed Card

The last time we checked up on Greg Nemisz, he had been traded by the Calgary Flames to the Carolina Hurricanes, then sustained a season-ending knee injury after posting 14 points in 21 games for the AHL Charlotte Checkers.

While rehabbing his knee at the beginning of the 2015-16 season, he accepted an offer from the Oshawa Generals to be their video coach; after realizing he would never fully recover from his third major injury in three seasons, he put an end to his playing career and became a full-time assistant coach with the Generals, a position he still holds today.

I met him in 2016-17 when I was scouting Generals goalie Jeremy Brodeur, son of Martin Brodeur, and he was kind enough to sign this 2012-13 Score card (#99 in the set) by Panini for me, in blue sharpie:

It shows him wearing the Flames' classic red (now-alternate) uniform.

So far, the undrafted Brodeur looks like he'll be a career minor-leaguer; his older brother Anthony, a former throwaway pick of the New Jersey Devils, is having a heck of a revival playing for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Greg Nemisz Autograph Card

The Calgary Flames went to the second round in these playoffs, so as an organization, they've improved a lot from previous years. They have built a sound playing structure and attitude under head coach Bob Hartley, centered around youthful enthusiasm and toughness.

The Flames have drafted well in the past couple of seasons and have developed and nurtured their talent, for the most part. They may have dropped the ball on Sven Baertschi, whom they traded away to the Vancouver Canucks at the trade deadline after stalling him in the AHL.

Another one of their formerly prized prospects is the player they selected in the first round (25th overall) in 2008, Greg Nemisz, ahead of Tyler Ennis (29th), Jacob Markstrom (31st), Derek Stepan (51st), Travis Hamonic (53rd), Marco Scandella (55th), Michael Hutchinson (77th), Adam Henrique (82nd), Braden Holtby (93rd), Dale Weise (111th), T.J. Brodie (114th), Gustav Nyquist (121st), Dustin Tokarski (122d), Greg Pateryn (128th), Mark Barberio (152nd), and Jared Spurgeon (156th).

But the 6'3'', 190-pound center had been a point-per-game player for the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL (on the same team as Henrique and Taylor Hall), and he certainly fit the mold the Flames were looking for: big and talented. He capped off his Juniors career with Memorial Cups in 2008-09 and 2009-10, as well as silver with Team Canada at the World Juniors in 2010.

Power forwards typically take a longer time to develop, so with that in mind, his lone assist in 15 games over two seasons with the offensively-challenged Flames isn't necessarily cause for concern. The fact that they opted to trade a former first-rounder for an enforcer (Kevin Westgarth) was puzzling, especially considering said enforcer now plays in Ireland.

Nemisz has already had serious injury troubles, including a hernia and shoulder injury, which may be cause for concern, but could also excuse his less-than-stellar stats (14 points in 21 games) on the Charlotte Checkers team last year.

But at 25 years old, if he is to become a power forward-type of player, now would be the time to start putting pucks in the net and bumping and grinding his way onto the Caroline Hurricanes and proving the Flames wrong for having given up on him.

Here is is sporting the Flames' red (home) jersey, from Panini's 2011-12 Contenders (card #203, the Calder Contenders sub-set, numbered ##470/800), signed on-card in thin blue sharpie with his number (48) tagged at the end: