The Calgary Flames forward had surgery to repair his ACL on Wednesday and will miss the remainder of the campaign recovering.
Kirkland, 28, was injured in last Friday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Before that, he had two goals and eight points in 21 games after only appearing in NHL games before this season.
The Flames placed Kirkland on injured reserve on Monday and called up top prospect Jakob Pelletier to take his place.
Kirkland is the second Flames forward to be shut down for the season due to an ACL injury after Anthony Mantha, who had surgery in November.