Brandon Davidson and Zac Rinaldo are Flames for the rest of the season

Sunday morning was the final day for players to be placed on waivers for the purposes of sending them to the American Hockey League to stay eligible to play in that league this season. Well, the waiver wire announcement came and went and there were no Calgary Flames on it.

So what does that mean?

Well, first, a summary of the AHL roster rules for the playoffs from Inside AHL Hockey’s Tony Androckitis:

There are a handful of players on the NHL roster that won’t require waivers to be sent to the AHL to stay eligible to play down there:

But aside from that quartet (who, again, would need to go down tomorrow to be eligible), nobody on the current NHL roster can play for Stockton after the trade deadline. This means that Zac Rinaldo and Brandon Davidson won’t be sent to Stockton and are going to be with the Flames for the rest of the season. (Both cleared waivers in September, but both have been on the NHL roster for more than 30 days.)

It also means that – unless there’s an exception or loophole for injured players, we’re checking with the league – Juuso Valimaki won’t be allowed to play in the AHL for the rest of the season if he’s not assigned to Stockton tomorrow. (He will be eligible for a conditioning stint, but that may be it.) If Valimaki does get fully cleared for action, and cannot play in the AHL, it really complicates both the Flames’ roster situation, their cap situaton, and Valimaki’s developmental situation.

All of this adds another wacky layer to what’s already been a complex and challenging season for the Flames from many, many perspectives.