In advance of their final two games of the 2025-26 season, the Calgary Flames have made a roster move and used up their final “regular” recall following the 2026 trade deadline. Per the club, they’ve called up forward Rory Kerins from the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers.

It’s the second NHL call-up for Kerins this season and third of his career.

A 24-year-old product of Caledon, Ontario, Kerins played his junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey League’s Soo Greyhounds and had a heck of a junior career. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Draft after a 17-year-old season that saw him pot 30 goals and 59 points in 64 games. He only played a handful of games in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, practising with the AHL’s Stockton Heat as an 18-year-old due to the OHL’s shutdown and playing four AHL games.

But the following season, Kerins exploded offensively, posting 43 goals and 118 points over 67 games – he was sixth in the OHL in goals and second in points. He signed an entry-level deal with the Flames and went pro in 2022-23 as a 20-year-old.

Kerins’ first two pro seasons in the Flames system saw him show flashes of brilliance, but fail to string them together often enough to really gain traction. In 2022-23 he spent the season primarily with the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush (where he had 37 points in 38 games) but he got into just six AHL games with the Wranglers, posting two points. In 2023-24 he was a full-time AHLer, but had just 22 points in 54 games. Heading into the final year of his ELC, it seems unlikely that he would earn a qualifying offer without a big season.

Well, he had a big season, scoring 33 goals and 61 points over 63 games and earning a five game NHL call-up where he posted four assists. So far this season, he has 22 goals and 54 points over 55 games. He was called up in November and played two games, but didn’t hit the scoresheet.

Kerins is a pending restricted free agent. He’s 24, and he’s a left shot forward who’s played a mix of centre and left wing in the AHL and primarily left wing in the NHL. He’s a really talented offensive player, particularly in finding open space around the blue paint to score goals. He’s not a complete player by any stretch, but he’s quite good at doing the hardest thing to do in hockey. We’ll see if he can showcase that skill over the final two games of the Flames season.

With Kerins’ call-up, the Flames’ active roster is now at 28 players: two goalies, eight defencemen and 18 forwards. They’ll conclude their season with home games against Colorado on Tuesday and Los Angeles on Thursday.