During the first intermission of Thursday’s game in Tampa Bay, the Calgary Flames announced a trade. They’ve sent left-wing Emilio Pettersen to the Dallas Stars in exchange for centre Riley Damiani.

Damiani has been assigned to the Calgary Wranglers.

Damiani, 23, is a right shot centre originally from Ontario. An Ontario Hockey League product who spent time with the Kitchener Rangers, he was a fifth-round pick of Dallas in 2018. He’s been a pretty consistently productive AHL scorer – he has 23 points in 53 AHL games this season and 126 points in 204 AHL games across parts of five seasons – but seemed like he was falling down the depth chart organizationally with the emergence of some younger prospects in the Stars’ system. He was the AHL’s top rookie in 2020-21 and was named to the All-Rookie Team that season. He played seven NHL games a couple seasons ago, registering two points. He’s a pending restricted free agent this off-season.

Pettersen, 23, is a left shot winger from Norway. He was a sixth-round pick by the Flames in 2018. Pettersen’s been occasionally brilliant with the Flames’ various AHL clubs since going pro in 2020, but he just hasn’t put together his breakout season yet. He has 30 points in 54 AHL games this season and 114 points in 203 AHL games across four seasons. He’s also a pending restricted free agent this off-season.

The Wranglers have had an abundance of wingers this season but have had challenges finding consistent centres. Adding Damiani gives them a right-shot centre who, along with the likes of Ben Jones, Clark Bishop and Cole Schwindt, should give them a good amount of flexibility and versatility – and potentially give them the ability to use Bishop and Schwindt on the wing as the need arises during games.

The 2024 trade deadline is Friday at 1 p.m. MT.