Flames assign Gillies, Mangiapane, Peluso and Andersson to Stockton

The Calgary Flames began the day with 27 players on their National Hockey League roster. Now they have 23. General manager Brad Treliving has confirmed which four players will be sent to the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat prior to the NHL’s roster deadline.

Headed to the AHL are goaltender Jon Gillies, defenseman Rasmus Andersson, and forwards Anthony Peluso and Andrew Mangiapane.

Gillies, 24, played well in camp but had the unfortunate designation as waiver exempt while David Rittich would need to clear waivers to head to the AHL. Gillies will split time with Tyler Parsons in Stockton, but his pro and NHL experience gives him the obvious edge in the event a Calgary goalie gets hurt and they need to call somebody up.

Andersson, 21, was very good in camp but is a victim of the team’s numbers game. With three right-side defensemen on the NHL roster (TJ Brodie, Travis Hamonic and Michael Stone), there was no place for the young Swede to play. He’s this season’s version of Mark Jankowski, and it didn’t take him long to migrate to the Flames roster last season.

Peluso, 29, was signed over the summer and always seemed destined for a depth role – he was either going to be a healthy scratch in Calgary or a veteran mentor in Stockton. He was solid if unspectacular in camp, but youngsters pushing their way onto the roster effectively pushed him to the AHL.

Mangiapane, 22, had a strong camp but arguably lost out on the bottom six winger job to Dillon Dube. He’s still extremely young and will undoubtedly be one of the offensive leaders for Stockton. As with Andersson, it’s likely a matter of “when” Mangiapane factors into the NHL lineup, not “if.”