When National Hockey League teams send players to the American Hockey League, the message is usually pretty simple: stay ready. Now, just a week into the 2026-27 regular season, the Calgary Flames look poised to summon a pair of Calgary Wranglers players for an NHL opportunity.

On Tuesday, the Flames assigned Connor Zary and Brayden Pachal to the AHL. Our expectation is that they’ll call up one or two forwards from the Wranglers on Wednesday. (Sorry, Hunter Brzustewicz, but the Flames are already carrying seven defenders and it doesn’t make sense to bring up an eighth D.)

So… which Wranglers forwards could get the call?

The Flames have scored just three times through three regular season games. Why not bring up Aydar Suniev, the last player cut at the tail-end of training camp, to see if he can help create some scoring? Suniev was really effective during the pre-season, and he didn’t do anything over the weekend set against Abbotsford to suggest he shouldn’t be the first guy up.

Tyson Gross is a local product. He played a bunch of games as fourth-line centre at the end of the 2025-26 season and he was pretty effective. He scored his first AHL goal in Friday’s season-opener for the Wranglers – a laser-quick conversion of an Alex Nylander pass to the slot. And he’s a right-shot centre, something the Flames don’t have in abundance.

Jonathan Castagna is a left shot forward who can play centre and the wing, and he spent the first weekend of the Wranglers’ season playing fourth line centre. But he was really good at it, killing penalties effectively all weekend and scoring twice in the opening game. His versatility is a plus, as is the opportunity for the Flames to evaluate a young forward that they didn’t get to see in NHL games last season due to a minor injury.

Alex Nylander has been a really reliable AHL forward throughout his career. He was a big part of a Calder Cup championship team last year with the Toronto Marlies. He knows how to score. And for a Flames team that has struggled to generate much this year so far, why not bring up a steady veteran who can score?

The newly-minted captain of the Wranglers, Rory Kerins has become a strong AHL player who can finish around the net. He’s gotten a few NHL games, but why not reward one of their system’s key players with another NHL opportunity? Kerins could be a Group 6 free agent at the end of this season, so giving him another NHL look would be a prudent move, especially with several of the organization’s NCAA prospects expected to go pro late this season.