In advance of Thursday’s game, the Calgary Flames have made a roster move. The club announced that they’ve recalled forward Byron Froese from the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat.

Froese is Stockton’s captain. He’s 30 years old, a right shot centre, and arguably the ideal short-notice call-up forward on the Stockton roster. He’s played a ton of pro hockey and a few NHL games here and there, and he’s not a player whose development will be harmed if he’s healthy scratched or on the wrong side of a bad loss. He is what he is at this point, and that’s very useful for the Flames.

Froese had a hat trick for Stockton on Tuesday night. He has 14 points in 16 games with the Heat this season. He’s played 116 NHL games between the Flames, Toronto, Montreal and Tampa Bay during his pro career, amassing 17 points.

Froese carries a $725,000 cap hit and the Flames opened the day with a full 23-man roster and roughly $248,000 in cap space, so there has to be a corresponding move. The possibilities include:

We’ll update this story when we receive word what the corresponding roster move ends up being.