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Wranglers Series Preview: Two pre-season looks against the Abbotsford Canucks

Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers

By Paige Siewert

Sep 27, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 27, 2026, 02:37 EDT

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The first preview of the 2026-27 Calgary Wranglers is coming up this weekend for a two game road exhibition series against the Abbotsford Canucks. This is a new schedule addition this year and helps break up camp for guys cut from or not involved in NHL camps to skate in game scenarios before they season kicks off. Especially with there being no Penticton Young Stars tournament this year. For the Wranglers, this will be the first look at a very different team than what we saw for the majority of last season.

Available lineups

Calgary

Forwards – Carter Wilkie, Alex Gallant, Luke Philp, Andrew Basha, Jonathan Castagna, Tyson Gross, Dryden Hunt, Ben Jones, Rory Kerins, Sam Morton, William Stromgren, Quinn Olson, Alex Young, Ryan Hofer, Alexander Campbell, Will Dineen, Ryder Boulton

Defencemen – Kyle Walker, Kent Anderson, Abram Wiebe, Hunter Brzustewicz, Axel Hurtig, Jake Livingstone, Michael Benning, Tyler Inamoto, Hunter Donohoe, Tyson Fiest

Goaltenders – Owen Say, Arsenii Sergeev, Semyon Konopskii

Abbotsford

Forwards – Braeden Cootes, Matthew Stienburg, Ty Mueller, Riley Patterson, Ilya Safonov, Chase Wouters, Ben Berard, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Vilmer Alriksson, Gabriel Chiarot, Anri Ravinskis, Austin Brimmer, Bennett Schimek, Quinn Emerson, Ryan St. Louis, Cooper Walker

Defencemen – Kirill Kudryavtsev, Sawyer Mynio, Isaac Belliveau, Cole Clayton, Jimmy Schuldt, Joe Arntsen, Tim Rego, Gavin White, Tim Rego

Goaltenders – Aku Koskenvuo, Ty Young, Mitchell Weeks

Players on the move

Alex Nylander was signed to a two way contract on Friday then placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment to the Calgary Wranglers on Saturday. If he clears by noon on Sunday, he’d be an option for Sunday and Monday’s games. Abram Wiebe was also called up to the Flames on Saturday and that was Calgary’s final pre-season game. Technically, they can send Wiebe back on Sunday and he’d be an option for these games but I imagine Monday is more realistic than Sunday based on travel and the amount of depth they have.

Andreas Englund was the only player claimed from the Flames’ Friday waiver assignments and is headed to the Detroit Red Wings. He would’ve been another option for the AHL squad on the back end had he not been picked up. The Canucks did not play any players on waivers on Saturday.

Notes and expectations

With still another week to go before the NHL regular season kicks off, neither team is really going to be at their 100% best at this point. It’ll be a mix of AHL players and depth guys on track to spend most of the season in the ECHL. These exhibition games at least allow some of the players who did not get the opportunity to skate in NHL preseason games to see some game action before the season kicks off.

After the Flames’ most recent cuts, the Wranglers roster is looking quite close to what we could expect to start the season. The rest are fresh out of junior or college hockey or are just trying to make that next jump from the ECHL. These games will be very helpful for the coaching staff to establish a calling order if and when they need to lean on Rapid City for reinforcements this season. It’ll also determine which guys may be released from their PTOs.

These games will be back to back with Sunday’s game starting at 7:00 p.m. MT and Monday’s game starting at 2:00 p.m. MT. Keep an eye out on the Abbotsford Canucks’ socials for streaming availability to follow along.