Word coming down this morning that the Flames have traded Joe Piskula to the Predators organization for enforcer Brian McGrattan. This will be the tough guy’s second tour of duty for the Flames, previously donning the Flaming C for 34 games in 2009-10.

McGrattan is a pure enforcer with little value outside of dropping the gloves. He can’t play more than 5 minutes a night and is a liability even against other 4th liners.

There’s no word if McGrattan is a purely an AHL pick-up right now or if he’s destined to patrol the Flames 4th line. If the former, then it only means the Heat have gotten worse (Piskula was a top-4 defender for them). If the latter, it means the Flames get a little tougher, but also a little worse as well. It also means the Flames management is busying themselves with things that don’t really matter, which is a little more concerning.

We’ll see this week which it is.