Calgary Flames forward Kevin Rooney clears waivers, assigned to AHL; Radim Zohorna recalled from AHL

The Calgary Flames have continued their roster shake-up. After forward Kevin Rooney cleared waivers on Friday morning, he has been assigned to the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers. Forward Radim Zohorna has been called up to the NHL club from the Wranglers.

Rooney, 29, is in the first year of a two-year deal that he signed as a free agent this summer that pays him $1.3 million against the cap. He’s played on the fourth line, dressing for 17 games and registering one assist. He hasn’t played a ton, and when he has played his line has been the victim of Darryl Sutter’s bench-shortening, so his ice time hasn’t been terribly high and you can imagine it’s been tough to play into a rhythm. So he heads to the Wranglers, where presumably he’ll play more regularly and consistently and hopefully get into a groove. While he’s on the farm, the Flames will carry a $175,000 cap penalty – they can only bury $1.125 million of his cap hit while he’s in the AHL.

Zohorna, 26, is in the second year of a two-year deal that he signed back when he was with the Penguins that carries a $750,000 cap hit. He was claimed off waivers by the Flames during training camp and after being sent to the AHL, he’s become a pretty good physical two-way forward down there. Playing with Matthew Phillips (and a rotating allotment of wingers) he’s accumulated 16 points in 20 AHL games. He’s a left shot forward who can play centre or the wing, and he’ll give the Flames some additional bottom six options.

The Flames’ roster remains at 23 players: two goaltenders, seven defencemen and 14 forwards.