Garnet Hathaway sent down; Jaromir Jagr skating on third line

Now that Jaromir Jagr is officially a Calgary Flame, the organization has taken to a bit of housekeeping to fit him on the roster.

Garnet Hathaway, who was waived alongside Luke Gazdic on Monday, has been sent to the Stockton Heat. He cleared waivers on Tuesday but was not immediately sent down, as the Flames wanted him to play in the season opener – presumably to give them a physical edge in what they anticipated to be a tough game, for however well that worked out. A player who has cleared waivers can be sent down within 30 days of clearing.

With Jagr officially signed – his contract came into effect today – the Flames had to demote a player in order to get their roster back down to 23. Hathaway was the only one available for immediate assignment.

This doesn’t answer the question of how Mark Jankowski will be back in the NHL – the Flames would have to cut another forward in order to do that – so we’ll continue to wait on that front.

In the meantime, now that Jagr is part of the team, he’s skating on the third line alongside Kris Versteeg and Sam Bennett. This was the obvious fit for him: he was ready to accept a third line role, and Versteeg and Bennett are two very motivated, talented players in their own rights. Talk of signing Jagr heated up over the summer largely in part because the third line was incomplete and he was the best available option. On paper, it’s easy to see where the chemistry should come from; hopefully we’ll see it in action soon.

How soon, though? That much hasn’t been decided yet. Jagr missed all of training camp – and we remember how poorly that can go from the previous season’s start – and considers himself day-to-day as he works to get up to speed.

The sooner he’s able to play, though, likely the better.