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FN’s 2026 Flames summer prospect rankings – HM: Rory Kerins

Photo credit: Jonathan Kozub / Manitoba Moose

By Paige Siewert

Aug 5, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 5, 2026, 00:47 EDT

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Rory Kerins has been a true prospect of the Calgary Flames growing through the organization since he was drafted. He’s well known for his jump from the ECHL and AHL to the NHL and had his breakout season in the AHL in the 2024-25 season. Kerins received votes on FlamesNation’s 2026-27 summer prospect rankings but due to his time in the organization and approaching graduation from prospect status by our criteria, he landed on the honourable mention list this year.

Rory Kerins

Forward; shoots left
Born Apr. 12, 2002 (age 24) in Caledon, ON
5’11”, 190 pounds
Drafted in the sixth round (174th overall) by Calgary in the 2020 NHL Draft

Kerins is really teetering the prospect graduation criteria that we have at FlamesNation which is, “Players whose NHL rights are held by the Flames, who are going to be 26 or younger as of Sept. 15 (e.g., born after Sept. 15, 2000), who haven’t played 25 or more games in a single season, and who haven’t played six or more games in any two seasons.” Kerins was ranked at number 15 in FlamesNation’s rankings last summer.

Kerins played in four NHL games last season and five NHL games in the season before. He’s still in the eligible age range and has 16 games remaining in the NHL before he hits that 25 game mark. Rory would have likely gotten more opportunities with the Flames had he not suffered a lower body injury in a Wranglers game in late February. This injury kept him out of the lineup for nearly a month but he stayed very involved with the team. His rehab and recovery went very smoothly and pushed up his timeline on what at one point may have been considered a season ending injury.

When Kerins was cleared to play again, he made a huge statement. In his first three games back, he had four goals and four assists earning him a player of the week award from the league. He referred to this time as “the most fun he’s had in a long time,” and it wasn’t long after that the Flames called him up for four games at the end of the season.

Myself and FlamesNation managing editor Ryan Pike have watched Kerins in many games over the years and Pike provided some of his insights on what he sees out of Kerins’ game:

“As a late-round draft pick, Rory Kerins was a long-shot to even get signed. Given his slow start to his pro career, he was a long-shot to play any NHL games. But Kerins earned both of those opportunities, and he’s someone who might not be great at everything, but he’s really, really good at the things he’s good at. He’s got a sixth sense in terms of knowing the right places to be to create scoring chances at the AHL level. Hopefully he gets some opportunities to utilize that skill-set at the NHL level.”

Expectations for the 2026-27 season

Rory Kerins was a scoring leader for the Wranglers last season and that expectation will remain unchanged for next season. The part where growth is really expected from him is at the NHL level. Kerins has shown bits and pieces of his game with the Flames but hasn’t really established what his identity looks like at that level. His skating showed itself to be a bit behind the NHL pace and with only small bits of time he’s had at the NHL, he hasn’t been able to build up much confidence.

He is an on and off-ice leader for the Wranglers and connects very well with the players on both teams. He’s played many games alongside other AHL graduates such as Dustin Wolf, Connor Zary, Martin Pospisil, Adam Klapka, Devin Cooley, Yan Kuznetsov and Matt Coronato. When he gets called up or sent down, the personnel side of things is not an uncomfortable position by any means. He’s worked extremely hard to get where he is now and to maintain the level of play he shows he is capable of. Now it’s time to take it to the next level.

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