LINEUP NOTES - 18.12.19

For days, a decision was looming.
With Sam Bennett returning to the fold last night, and Austin Czarnik nearing a return also, it was only a matter of time before the roster got a bit of a makeover.
On Wednesday, the domino fell, and Czarnik was placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment to the Flames' AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat.

Fellow winger Zac Rinaldo was also assigned to the Heat, but this appears to be a temporary move as the Flames comply the 23-man roster limit.
In order to waive/assign Czarnik, he needed to be activated off long-term injured reserve first, thus adding him to the roster. The Flames did that this morning, necessitating a corresponding move.

"We'll get through today and see how things go with the waiver situation with Austin tomorrow," Treliving said. "But, there's a fairly good anticipation that Zac could be recalled, depending on how we get through waivers here tomorrow."
Czarnik, who's officially missed the past 18 games with a high-ankle sprain, has three points (2G, 1A) in eight games with the Flames this year.
"If he gets through, he'll go down (to Stockton) and play some games," Treliving said. "He's been off a long time and those are difficult injuries to come back from. Quite frankly, we had a couple last year and those are… they're long and they're frustrating.
"So, he needs to get back up to speed."
Czarnik remains on the Flames' roster until 10 a.m. MT tomorrow, at which a spot will be freed up. It's then when Rinaldo could be recalled.
Here are the forward lines and D pairs used at Wednesday's practice:

FORWARDS

Matthew Tkachuk - Elias Lindholm - Andrew Mangiapane
Dillon Dube - Sean Monahan - Mikael Backlund
Milan Lucic - Derek Ryan - Johnny Gaudreau
Sam Bennett - Tobias Rieder - Michael Frolik
Mark Jankowski

DEFENCE

Mark Giordano - TJ Brodie
Noah Hanifin - Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington - Rasmus Andersson
Michael Stone

GOALTENDERS

David Rittich
Cam Talbot