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Flames roster news: forward Sam Honzek activated from injury reserve, assigned to AHL’s Wranglers

Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

By Ryan Pike

Nov 11, 2026, 15:02 EST

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In advance of the Calgary Flames’ final game of their homestand, which concludes Wednesday against the New York Rangers, the club has made a roster move. The Flames have activated forward Sam Honzek from the injury reserve list and assigned him to the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers.

The Wranglers are slated to visit the Henderson Silver Knights for a pair of games on Thursday and Saturday night.

A first-round selection by the Flames in the 2023 NHL Draft – coincidentally, Craig Conroy’s first-ever draft choice as a general manager – Honzek has made the NHL club’s opening night roster in each of the past three seasons. He’s also suffered injuries early in each of those seasons.

He suffered a concussion on a hit from Chicago defender Connor Murphy early in the 2024-25 season that cost him some time.
He collided with Mikael Backlund last November in a freak accident that ended up leading to season-ending shoulder surgery – that injury probably cost him a trip to the Olympics with the Slovakian national team.
And he suffered his most recent lower-body injury a few games into this season in a game against Colorado.

(Honzek was also injured in his draft year and his post-draft year with the Vancouver Giants of the Westerrn Hockey League.)

Honzek is waiver exempt this season, so the Flames have a decent amount of flexibility in terms of how they want to ease him back into things. (Because his deal slid a couple times due to him being a late birthday, he’ll be waiver eligible for the first time next season despite it being the final year of his entry-level deal.)

So far in his pro career, Honzek has played 27 NHL games and 54 AHL games. He has zero points in four games with the Flames this season. He’s been quite good when he’s been healthy, really finding chemistry with Mikael Backlund, but he’s missed a good chunk of time, and throwing him right back into the NHL after missing a month seems unwise.

But giving him a few AHL games to get going again could do nothing but positive things for the player… and gives the team a bit more time to figure out their roster decisions at the NHL level.

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