The Calgary Flames have assigned defenceman Jeremie Poirier to the American Hockey League, the club announced Tuesday.
Poirier should be able to report to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers in time for their training camp scrimmage on Wednesday morning. With Poirier assigned, the Flames now have 28 players remaining in their NHL camp.
The Flames originally selected Poirier in the third round (No. 72 overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft. He spent the last two seasons with the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs, winning the Memorial Cup with the team this past spring.
With Poirier now down with the Wranglers, here is the full list of players remaining at Flames camp:
  • Forwards (16): Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, Tyler Toffoli, Blake Coleman, Mikael Backlund, Dillon Dube, Kevin Rooney, Milan Lucic, Trevor Lewis, Brett Ritchie, Radim Zohorna, Adam Ruzicka, Sonny Milano (PTO), Cody Eakin (PTO)
  • Defencemen (9): MacKenzie Weegar, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson, Nikita Zadorov, Connor Mackey, Juuso Valimaki, Nicolas Meloche, Michael Stone (PTO)
  • Goaltenders (3): Jacob Markstrom, Dan Vladar, Dustin Wolf
Poirier now joins Yan Kuznetsov, Nick DeSimone, Ilya Solovyov, Colton Poolman, Josh Brook, Rhett Rhinehart, Simon Lavigne, Dennis Gilbert, and tryouts Quinn Wichers, Tyson Helgesen, Kenton Helgesen, and Ryan Zuhlsdorf on defence with the Wranglers.
At this point, it doesn’t appear Poirier will have to go down to the ECHL for playing time this season. Expect him to be a regular presence with the Wranglers, perhaps on a pairing with a rugged shutdown defender in Poolman.