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Who could be the next captain of the Wranglers?
Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers
Jul 24, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 23, 2026, 23:38 EDT
Big changes have hit the Calgary Wranglers, including the departure of their latest captain, Clark Bishop. With Bishop moving on to play with the Syracuse Crunch, the Flames’ AHL affiliate will be looking to name their third captain in team history this fall. There are multiple possibilities for this position, but the challenging part is you want your Captain to be available in the AHL most of the year and many leaders still on this team will be pushing for NHL time if they can.
Rory Kerins
Kerins shows a quieter personality to the media but it’s a loud personality with his teammates. He connects on all levels of the team including management, leadership, veterans and rookies alike. Rory Kerins is set to enter his seventh season with the Flames’ AHL affiliate and was an alternate captain option the last two seasons for select games. When he faced a longer term injury late last season, he spent all the time he could with the team to stay in the loop and support his teammates even when he couldn’t go to battle with him. That alone is a choice a seasoned leader would make. Beyond that, he has also consistently been a top scorer on this team the last few seasons and can help pull others up to his level.
Sam Morton
Morton has been praised by Wranglers staff and players for his work ethic and attitude on and off the ice and really represents buying into the system and doing things the right way. He was considered part of the leadership group last season and had a couple of games where he wore an A on his jersey. In his junior season at Minnesota State University (Mankato), Morton was an alternate captain and captained the team his senior year. Morton has a mix of verbal leadership and composure that earns a lot of respect in the locker room.
Dryden Hunt
In the role Dryden Hunt has served as a cusp player between the AHL and NHL the last few seasons, it’s hard to draw his attention away in a way that demands him to captain an AHL team. Hunt’s production hit a career high 63 points last season, and he is normally the first call to the Wranglers when the Flames are in a pinch for players. Hunt might not always play when he’s called up but he very much needs to split his focus between teams. He is undoubtedly an on-ice leader and will for sure maintain his alternate captain status, but pulling his focus farther away from the NHL just doesn’t seem fair to the 30 year old unless he and the team feel differently.
Ben Jones
Jones returns to the Wranglers this season but it is a harder sell to make a “newcomer” captain. The confirmed returning players who were on the team the last time Jones was a Wrangler were Alex Gallant, Rory Kerins, William Stromgren and Sam Morton. All core players and most who are considered leaders. It feels like Jones will for sure wear a letter but captain might be a stretch right off the bat as all the new and other existing prospects get to know him. Jones had some leadership experience in his OHL days and captained the Iowa Wild last season.
Alex Gallant
Alex Gallant, by far has earned the veteran status on this team and is the current longest standing member of the Flames’ AHL affiliate dating back to the Stockton Heat days. Gallant is very well respected by this team and looked up to for his physical play. However, he has not shown in the last couple seasons that he is able to play a full season anymore. Between suspensions and trying to get younger prospects into the lineup, Gallant has not been able to get in more than 45 games in the last three seasons. There’s absolutely no reason for him to lose his alternate captain status but he might not be available enough in the lineup to be captain day in and day out.
No captain? (At least to start)
The last thing you’d want to do to start the season is name a captain and lose him to the waiver wire or he makes an early case to spend most of the year in the NHL. When Bishop was named captain, this wasn’t decided right from the first game of the season and took about a month for it to be announced. I could see the Wranglers starting without a captain to really gauge which leader especially stands out with a mostly refreshed roster.
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