In advance of Saturday’s clash with the Vancouver Canucks at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Calgary Flames have made some roster moves. The club announced that six players are headed to the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers.

The six players headed to the AHL are defencemen Joni Jurmo and Jeremie Poirier, and forwards Parker Bell, Lucas Ciona, Jaden Lipinski and William Strömgren.

With the club seemingly looking to get down to the core group so they can start working on some technical details of their systems – when asked about the power play on Saturday morning, head coach Ryan Huska noted that they’re hoping to dress their full power play groups in two of the remaining pre-season games – some players needed to be sent to the Wranglers. These six players include first-year pros in Jurmo, Bell and Lipinski, a couple second-year pros in Ciona and Strömgren, and Poirier, who’s hoping to build back his swagger after a nasty injury last season that cost him time.

Bell hadn’t dressed for any pre-season games, though the other five players re-assigned had dressed for at least one each.

The likely hope is that Strömgren and Poirier can be big pieces for the Wranglers this coming season, and that Lipinski can carve out a spot for himself with the Wranglers rather than head back to the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants as an overage 20-year-old player.

These moves bring the camp roster down to 40 players, including Jonathan Aspirot and Clark Bishop, both reportedly placed on waivers on Saturday afternoon.