Calgary Wranglers name 29 players to 2022–23 opening day roster

The Calgary Wranglers have finalized their roster for opening day of the 2022–23 American Hockey League regular season.

The Calgary Flames’ AHL affiliate will play its first league game since relocating from Stockton, California at 1:00 p.m. MT on Oct. 16, playing host to the Coachella Valley Firebirds at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

While we don’t yet know which Wranglers skaters and goaltenders will dress for that game, we do know the names of the 29 players the team will carry on its roster to begin the season.

Here’s the full list:

Goaltenders (3): Daniil Chechelev, Dustin Wolf, Oscar Dansk

Defencemen (10): Josh Brook, Colton Poolman, Ilya Solovyov, Dennis Gilbert, Rhett Rhinehart, Jeremie Poirier, Nick DeSimone, Yan Kuznetsov, Nicolas Meloche, Simon Lavigne

Forwards (16): Mitch McLain, Brett Sutter, Cole Schwindt, Matthew Phillips, Ilya Nikolaev, Ben Jones, Clark Bishop, Alex Gallant, Rory Kerins, Martin Pospisil, Walker Duehr, Radim Zohorna, Adam Klapka, Emilio Pettersen, Connor Zary, Jakob Pelletier.

Pettersen being included on the list of forwards is a good sign, as it indicates he’s been taken off season-opening injured reserve (SOIR) and has been assigned to the Wranglers (as CapFriendly hinted at yesterday).

The Wranglers — sans Gilbert, Meloche, Pospisil, and Pettersen — went with the following lines in Tuesday’s exhibition contest against the University of Calgary Dinos men’s hockey team:

Forward line 1: Jakob Pelletier – Connor Zary – Matthew Phillips
Forward line 2: Radim Zohorna – Ben Jones – Mitch McLain
Forward line 3: Brett Sutter – Clark Bishop – Walker Duehr
Forward line 4: Ilya Nikolaev/Rory Kerins – Cole Schwindt – Adam Klapka

Defence pair 1: Yan Kuznetsov – Nick DeSimone
Defence pair 2: Ilya Solovyov – Jeremie Poirier
Defence pair 3: Simon Lavigne – Josh Brook

Wolf and Dansk split duties in the crease against the Dinos on Tuesday. Zary and Jones both scored twice, while Sutter, Schwindt, and Klapka also found the back of the net in the commanding 7–0 victory.

You can watch Wranglers games this season on AHL TV or in person at the Saddledome — tickets are available here.