The Calgary Wranglers did not play hockey last night, but they received great news thanks to the out-of-town scoreboard. After beating the San Jose Barracuda on Friday, the Wranglers were off on Saturday before facing them again.
In Saturday night’s AHL action, the Tucson Roadrunners defeated the San Diego Gulls 7–3, which clinched the Wranglers their playoff berth.
The Wranglers have been resilient all season long
Since moving to Calgary, the Wranglers haven’t had a season without playoff hockey. Yes, it’s only been two seasons, but that’s still a great mark for any team. The Stockton Heat also made the playoffs in their final season.
This 2023–24 has been much tougher for the Wranglers. They were the best team in the AHL last year but with faced a ton of turnover in personnel. This includes NHL graduations for Flames prospects like Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil, Jakob Pelletier being slated for the NHL but being sidelined with a shoulder injury, Matthew Phillips signing with the Washington Capitals and seeing his career in flux, far fewer games with Dustin Wolf in the net with his various NHL stints, and of course, a new head coach in Trent Cull in place of Mitch Love.
That’s not even all the change the team underwent. Top defence prospect Jeremie Poirier was sidelined for most of the season with his laceration injury. However, despite all the changes, the team also got some added help.
Matthew Coranato has chipped in 15 goals in 40 appearances, Adam Klapka has been outstanding too with a 20-goal season in his sophomore year, and newly-signed Sam Morton already has two goals and two assists in seven games.
The Wranglers have shown resiliency through the adversity they faced, and while they may be entering the playoffs this time around not as a top team, they’re not a team to scoff at either.
The AHL playoffs
For a quick refresher, the AHL playoffs work very differently due to divisional disparities. Instead of 16 teams like the NHL, 23 out of 32 AHL teams will participate in playoff hockey. The AHL has unequal divisions as there are seven teams in the Central and North Divisions, eight teams in the Atlantic, and 10 teams in the Pacific Division where the Wranglers play.
Because of this disparity, the top five teams in the Central and North, top six teams in the Atlantic, and top seven teams in the Pacific qualify.
The Wranglers won’t be receiving the first-round bye the top team in the Pacific earns. Instead, they’ll be playing in the first round in a best-of-three series as a lower seed. Depending on where they finish, they’ll either be in the #2 versus #7, #3 versus #6, or #4 versus #5 matchup. Currently, the Pacific is too closely contested to really know where the Wranglers will finish.
While the Coachella Valley Firebirds are nearly locks to clinch the division with 89 points currently, there’s very little separation below them. The Ontario Reign have 79 points in second place while the Abbotsford Canucks have 74 points in seventh. The Wranglers sit fifth with 76 points. This can all change as early as today, but the race for home-ice advantage in the first round will last all the way to the final week of AHL action.
Focused on the future
The Flames have reached the point of their season where they’ve accepted their fate of not making the playoffs. They’re getting better odds at the lottery with each passing day. As NHL season plays out, there will come a time for the organization to make a decision about which players they want playing in the NHL versus which ones they want in the AHL for a potential playoff run.
Getting some reinforcements for the postseason and netting more experience in heightened atmospheres is never a bad thing, and the Wranglers could be a force to reckon with depending on who slots into their postseason lineup.
