The Calgary Flames announced on Monday morning that they have reassigned Rory Kerins to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers.

The 22-year-old Kerins was one of the best Wranglers players through the early part of the AHL season. He sits with 34 points in 34 games played, one of only two players on the Wranglers roster to be a point per game. The other is Dryden Hunt, who has posted 40 points in 39 games so far in 2024-25.

Kerins is also the Wranglers’ leading goal scorer. He’s the only player on the roster to have eclipsed the 20-goal mark to this point in the season.

The work Kerins put in at the AHL level earned him playing time at the NHL level with the Flames. In five games, he tallied four assists playing with a mix of Yegor Sharangovich, Jakob Pelletier, Andrei Kuzmenko, and others since his debut on Jan. 13.

Kerins’ debut was as strong a first showing as one could want. He played almost 15 minutes, registered multiple points, and had a handful of scoring chances attached as well.

While Kerins’ demotion might seem a little out of the blue, considering his production as a depth player, there is a more significant reason for this decision. With the AHL All-Star game festivities coming up on Feb. 2 & 3 and Kerins being selected as a member of Team Pacific, the Flames likely needed to send him down so he could participate in the event.

Kerins posted both solid underlying and box score numbers while he was with the Flames. It was an encouraging start to his career at the NHL level, and he will surely be back before the season is all said and done. But for now, Flames fans will have to wait as he returns to the American League to display his talents in the All-Star festivities.