The Calgary Flames’ lineup is looking just about ready for opening night. The team is down to 29 skaters at camp, with at least six final cuts to get down to a compliant 23-man roster. The opening night lines are starting to come together, and aside from a few questions at the bottom of the lineup, things are starting to look set to go.
The Calgary Wranglers meanwhile, opened their camp this week. There are—to put it lightly—a ton of players looking for a job with the AHL club. 31 players are currently on the roster and that does not include Connor Mackey, Nicolas Meloche, Juuso Valimaki, Adam Ruzicka, Dustin Wolf or newly acquired Radim Zohorna. Assuming Zohorna and Mackey stay with the NHL club and the rest are sent down to the AHL, here’s who is likely to earn a roster spot with the Wranglers:
Locks to make the Wranglers
These are players who are almost certainly guaranteed lots of minutes in the AHL to start the season, but the lines may fluctuate dramatically.
Forwards
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Jakob Pelletier | Adam Ruzicka | Matthew Phillips |
| Emilio Pettersen | Connor Zary | Walker Duehr |
| Martin Pospisil | Cole Schwindt | Adam Klapka |
Assuming the Flames send Ruzicka down to the AHL, these are the nine forwards almost certainly locked in to roles this season. Zary has had an enormous summer as one of the best prospects in Penticton at the Young Stars Classic, then being quite good in training camp. Hopefully he’s due for a big year this year.
Pelletier and Phillips are probably in the conversation for a call-up this year, with Phillips looking much better than expected and Pelletier looking less good this past week.
Schwindt and Klapka are new to the Flames, and both will be in for lots of minutes this year. Schwindt saw no power play time in the Florida Panthers’ system last season, but expect that to change this year.
Pospisil, Duehr, and Pettersen are three of the Flames’ older prospects, and assuming they all stay healthy (key for Pospisil especially), they should all be in the middle-six for the Wranglers.
Defence
| Left | Right |
|---|---|
| Dennis Gilbert | Nicolas Meloche |
| Jeremie Poirier | Nick DeSimone |
Both Gilbert and Meloche are new to the Flames’ system, but have a good amount of NHL and AHL experience under their belt. DeSimone is in the same boat in terms of experience, but was one of the Stockton Heat’s top blueliners last year. Expect all three to earn heavy minutes this year.
Poirier was the best prospect in this summer’s Development Camp Scrimmage, was a standout at the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, and was the last rookie cut by the Flames in training camp this week because of his outstanding play. He turned a ton of heads these last few months, and could even earn some NHL minutes if things continue the way they are.
Goalies
| Goalies |
|---|
| Dustin Wolf |
The Wranglers will be backstopped by the AHL’s best netminder from last season Dustin Wolf. The California product put up outstanding numbers in his rookie season, finishing with a 0.924 save percentage and a 2.35 GAA in 47 starts. He also added three shutouts and a 0.929 save percentage in 13 playoff games for the Heat. He will be the starting goalie for the Wranglers this season, and should earn a call-up to the NHL at some point.
The best of the rest
The prospects
Forwards
There will be a lot of competition for minutes in the AHL for the Flames’ youngest prospects. Rory Kerins and Ilya Nikolayev will be in a particularly tough battle this season, after coming off of excellent seasons in the OHL and USHL respectively.
Kerins is more likely to translate his game over to the AHL game more quickly given just how good his production was in one of the best junior leagues in the world, but Nikolayev is a very high pedigree prospect who adapted very quickly to the North American game last year.
Defence
Assuming Valimaki does not get claimed on waivers this season, he will be facing a ton of competition for minutes this season. Trying to find a roster spot with him will be Colton Poolman, Ilya Solovyov, and Yan Kuznetsov. To make matters worse, they are all left shot blueliners and Kuznetsov has already developed a healthy partnership with Poirier from playing together in Saint John last season.
The other part of this equation is what happens when Oliver Kylington returns to the Flames and they likely send Mackey back to the AHL. This leaves even fewer minutes for the Flames’ prospects to fight over.
The signed players
Forwards
Seven players have been signed to contracts in the AHL with the Wranglers, and will be fighting for the limited minutes available on the roster.
Chief among them is Brett Sutter, who at 35 is almost certainly going to be named the Wranglers’ first captain after spending the last five as the Captain of the Ontario Reign.
Mitch McLain and Alex Gallant are both big body energy guys who will likely become fan favorites, but there is a chance there won’t be enough room for both of them in the Flames’ lineup on a nightly basis.
Clark Bishop and Calder Brooks are both depth AHLers, who will have a lot to show this season if they want to earn minutes.
Ben Jones is probably the most interesting name on the list here, having put up 41 points in 66 games with the Henderson Silver Knights last season. At just 21 and as a centre, he could find his way up the depth chart very quickly.
Defence
Three defencemen have been signed by the Wranglers for this season. Simon Lavigne and Rhett Rhinehart were both signed after putting up half-point-per-game seasons in the QMJHL and WHL respectively. Both were also decent in the Flames’ Development Camp this year, but will have a tough battle for roster spots this year.
Josh Brook is a really interesting prospect signing. A second round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2017, he put up a half-point-per-game in 2020–21, but then had knee issues that limited him to just twelve games last season. If he’s healthy this year, he could be an enormous add for the Wranglers this season.
Goalie
It’s almost a guarantee that Oscar Dansk takes the backup job in the AHL, having come over from the KHL this season. He has a decent amount of pro experience in North America, with six NHL and 127 AHL games under his belt. There is a very small chance Chechelev is lights out in the ECHL and earns a call-up, but it’s more likely that it’ll be Dansk in the backup role.
Rapid City bound players
Alas, there will be a number of players heading to Rapid City, at least to start the season. This includes Lucas Feuk, who came over from the Swedish HockeyEttan this season. He will almost certainly be joined by Matt Marcinew, who spent last season in Sweden as well in the second division HockeyAllsvenskan.
In net, Chechelev will be joined by Brad Arvanitis. He played five games with Rapid City last season after finishing his NCAA careeer. The Wranglers will also have Garrett Metcalf on loan from the Utah Grizzlies for the time being. He will almost certainly join the Rapid City contingent.
Our projection
Here’s what we think the roster will look like, with lines very much up in the air.
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Jakob Pelletier | Adam Ruzicka | Matthew Phillips |
| Emilio Pettersen | Connor Zary | Walker Duehr |
| Martin Pospisil | Cole Schwindt | Adam Klapka |
| Brett Sutter | Rory Kerins | Mitchell McLain |
| Ilya Nikolayev | Ben Jones |
| Left | Right |
|---|---|
| Dennis Gilbert | Nicolas Meloche |
| Jeremie Poirier | Nick DeSimone |
| Juuso Valimaki | Yan Kuznetsov |
| Ilya Solovyov | Josh Brook |
| Goalies |
|---|
| Dustin Wolf |
| Oscar Dansk |
Up front, Brett Sutter likely earns the captaincy of the team, and ensures himself a roster spot. One of Nikolayev or Kerins likely slots in at centre, but I think Kerins is probably a stronger bet at this point. The problem is there aren’t many (read: any) right wingers available at the AHL level at this point unless they move one of their better centres to the right. This means they’ll have a left shot on the right wing of the bottom line, but there are worse problems to have.
Assuming he isn’t taken or traded, Valimaki almost certainly has a roster spot to start the year. I like him alongside Kuznetsov best, giving him a steady defense-first partner to lean on. This then puts Solovyov as the seventh defenceman and Brook alongside him, with his knee healthy being the big x-factor. Poolman likely gets sent down to the ECHL.
In net, no surprises here it’s Wolf and Dansk, with Chechelev in Rapid City.
Readying the Wranglers for a new era
This is going to be a very interesting first season for the Wranglers. There will be a ton of players fighting for limited minutes in the system, and the way that the Flames’ management divides them up is going to be key to watch going forward. Some Flames prospects, particularly the ones at the top of the roster are really going to shine, but expect likely one or two to really struggle to get into any games at all. The best players will play night in and night out.
Training camp has already started at WinSport, and the regular season opens on October 16 against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. How the lines shake up is going to be key to watch this week!
Photo by Marissa Baecker via NHL.com
