Calgary Wranglers series preview: Jeremie Poirier watch is on for their home series against the Eagles
1 month ago
The Calgary Wranglers return home after a four-game road trip that ended in a 2-1-1-0 finish against the Abbotsford Canucks and Manitoba Moose. They’ll play two games at the dome this weekend before hitting the road again to face the Tucson Roadrunners. Their next two opponents rank higher than them in the Pacific Division standings so if there was a time to go on a run to make up some ground, this would be it.
Projected lineups
Calgary
Ben Jones – Cole Schwindt – Matt Coronato
Emilio Pettersen – Brett Sutter – Adam Klapka
William Stromgren – Clark Bishop – Rory Kerins
Mark Duarte – Ilya Nikolaev – Alex Gallant
Colton Poolman – Yan Kuznetsov
Will Riedell – Jonathan Aspirot
Sam Jardine – Patrick Kudla
Dustin Wolf
Oscar Dansk
Colorado
Riley Tufte – Fredrik Olofsson – Tanner Kero
Ivan Ivan – Jean-Luc Foudy – Callahan Burke
Cedric Pare – Peter Holland – Ben Meyers
Dalton Smith – Ondrej Pavel – Spencer Smallman
Keaton Middleton – Brad Hunt
Corey Schueneman – Sam Malinski
Jack Ahcan – Josh Wesley
Trent Miner
Ivan Prosvetov
Leaders
Calgary
Matt Coronato – 38GP, 15G, 26A
Ben Jones – 50GP, 15G, 16A
Emilio Pettersen – 50GP, 7G, 22A
Colorado
Brad Hunt – 52GP, 14G, 27A
Riley Tufte – 47GP, 15G, 18A
Cedric Pare – 46GP, 13G, 16A
Notes and expectations
A certain centre has made his talents known in the last few games with the Wranglers and is someone to watch going into this series. That player is Cole Schwindt. Schwindt is on an active scoring streak as he scored two in Calgary’s last game against the Manitoba Moose and has put up five points in his last four games. It seems ever since his call-up to the Flames, he has realized how close he is on the depth chart and wants to do everything he can to earn another opportunity.
On the topic of watching out for players, there is also a certain someone to keep an eye out for during warm-ups and on the bench of these games. That is number four on the blue line. Jeremie Poirier. Poirier was one of the top scorers to start the season but was shut down due to a skate laceration injury. The organization has been very smart about the way they handled his injury and gave him all the time he needed to recover.
They first announced on Monday, that he was back skating with the team in a contact jersey. He continued to skate with the team the rest of the week. Hopefully, that means a return to the lineup in the near future. Maybe even as soon as for this series. He did mention post-practice that he is feeling good and taking his time. So even if he does not appear in this series, there’s still a good story around his plan to return to game action.
(Editor’s Note: The Flames acquired defenceman Artem Grushnikov from Dallas on Wednesday and assigned him to the Wranglers. Considering he has to travel to Calgary and hasn’t had a full practice with his new club yet, we wouldn’t expect him to suit up quite yet.)
This series kicks off on Friday night for an evening game at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. They’ll wrap up this two-game stretch on Sunday with a 12:00 p.m. MT game at home. Tickets are still available if you would like to catch these games in person. If you can’t make it, you can follow along with the radio broadcast on the Fan960 or stream for a fee on AHL.tv. FlamesNation contributors Mike Gould and I will have updates on X (formerly Twitter).
Get ready for the Daily Faceoff Live Trade Deadline Show, coming to you on March 8th LIVE from 11 AM to 3 PM EST!! Join Tyler Yaremchuk, Frank Seravalli and friends for 4 hours of non-stop action as they dive deep into the heart of the trade deadline. They will be breaking down every trade, discussing the impact on teams, predicting the playoff picture, and giving you the inside scoop on all the wheeling and dealing happening around the league. Tune in live on March 8th from 11 AM to 3 PM EST for the The Daily Faceoff Live Trade Deadline special you won’t want to miss!
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