Flames send Andrew Mangiapane and Juuso Valimaki to Stockton

The Calgary Flames have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their lengthy break. The club has reassigned defenseman Juuso Valimaki and forward Andrew Mangiapane to the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat.

This is primarily a salary cap-driven move. The Flames had the ability to assign two or three waiver exempt players to the farm for the All-Star Break and the extended CBA break while still meeting roster requirements: Mangiapane, Valimaki, Rasmus Andersson and Oliver Kylington were all eligible to be demoted for the break.

But considering that Andersson and Kylington have been big contributors lately for the big club, sending them down wouldn’t make much sense. Mangiapane hasn’t been playing big minutes for the Flames and Valimaki hasn’t played since Nov. 23 due to injury, so it makes sense to send them down to get a couple games in on the farm. The cap savings on the pair is roughly $8,900 per day (or around $80,000 if they’re gone for nine days).

The Flames are back in action on Feb. 1. For now, they’re carrying a 21-man roster and will be happy to bank the small cap savings they’re getting from carrying fewer bodies when they attempt to bolster their roster at the trade deadline.