Series preview: Calgary Wranglers close out homestand with hopes of LTIR reinforcements
6 months ago
The Calgary Wranglers are ending their homestand with a lot of hype around the team. They come off of a two-game and a season series sweep of the Henderson Silver Knights and promising roster announcements from the last few days. Numbers-wise, these teams are pretty evenly matched in head-to-head match-ups and season standings. They sit at a 1-1 record against each other. They haven’t seen each other since mid-November when the Wranglers won 5-4 in a shootout in game one then were shutout 4-0 in game two.
Projected lineups
Calgary
Emilio Pettersen – Clark Bishop – Matt Coronato
Mark Rassell – Ben Jones – Adam Klapka
William Stromgren – Cole Schwindt – Mitch McLain
Lucas Ciona – Ilya Nikolaev – Alex Gallant
Ilya Solovyov – Mark Pysyk
Jonathan Aspirot – Colton Poolman
Jarrod Gourley – Brady Lyle
Dustin Wolf
Oscar Dansk
Additional possible lineup options – Rory Kerins, Jakob Pelletier, Oliver Kylington and/or Kevin Rooney.
Ontario
Charles Hudon – T.J. Tynan – Samuel Fegemo
Taylor Ward – Akil Thomas – Tyler Madden
Andre Lee – Francesco Pinelli – Martin Chromiak
Hayden Hodgson – Samuel Helenius – Jacob Doty
Jacob Moverare – Cody Haiskanen
Kim Nousiainen – Steven Santini
Cole Krygier – Wyatte Wylie
Erik Portillo
Jacob Ingham
Leaders
Calgary
Matt Coronato – 25GP, 12G, 16A
Emilio Pettersen – 33GP, 7G, 19A
Ben Jones – 33GP, 11G, 12A
Ontario
Brandt Clarke – 30GP, 7G, 25A (Inactive on NHL call-up)
Samuel Fagemo – 22GP, 18G, 13A
T.J. Tynan – 33 GP, 5G, 23A
Notes and expectations
It was an exciting week for the Wranglers roster. Not only did they get a few extra days to recover from their four-game week last week, but their pool of available players also opened up. Jakob Pelletier was activated off the IR and pending his progress from practice this week, he may play in this series. Kevin Rooney was also placed on waivers and cleared. He has since been assigned to the Wranglers.
While it is very exciting to consider the possibility of a lineup with Pelletier, Kylington, and Rooney this weekend, it also needs to be considered that they are all on individual paths for their return-to-play plans. Some may be available sooner than others. If any or all of them can play this weekend the lineup shifts would be significant and regular players that have played most of the season may be scratched for a stretch.
The fight to get into the lineup gets that much harder for these players. Especially for the forwards. Ilya Nikolaev and Rory Kerins have been swapping time in the lineup as of late. Both may not be an option with Pelletier and Rooney back. If Pelletier is the closest to return, how does that look in the lineup? Do you break up the Pettersen, Bishop, Coronato line that has been very promising the last few games or put him on a line with Jones, who he played with last year for stretches alongside Matthew Phillips?
Rooney on the other hand, was a depth player for the Wranglers last season and took more of a third-line role on a veteran line with Brett Sutter and Clark Bishop. Sutter is out with an injury and Bishop has earned more ice time so it is more likely he finds himself among new linemates if he is to come back for this series. However, Rooney has yet to participate in a team practice so his return appears to be farther out than that of Pelletier or Kylington.
On the defensive end of things, even with Yan Kuznetsov up with the Flames, slotting into the blue line won’t cause a significant ripple if Kylington is close to returning. Jarrod Gourley has been the extra d-man for the team and has only appeared in three games this season. He would be the likely one out of the lineup and Kylington could benefit from some time with someone right on that bubble between the AHL and NHL like Ilya Solovyov. They are both left-handed shots but Solovyov can play both sides depending on who he is paired with. The Flames announced that Kylington is “trending towards” playing on Thursday, so we’ll see what adjustments the Wranglers end up making.
With or without the reinforcements, it should be an exciting two games for Calgary. This series kicks off Thursday night and continues into Friday to wrap up the Wranglers’ eight-game homestand. They won’t be back at the dome until the second week of February so now is the time to see them if you want to catch some live Wranglers action. Both games have a start time of 7:00 p.m. MT. If you can’t catch the games in person, you can stream them for a fee on AHL.tv or follow along with the radio broadcast on the Fan960. FlamesNation contributors Mike Gould and I will also have updates on X (formerly Twitter).
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