Rory Kerins was one of only five players under contract with the Calgary Flames who didn&#8217;t appear in a single game during the 2024 pre-season.
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The other four — Parker Bell, Ilya Nikolaev, Étienne Morin, and Jonathan Aspirot — are all either career minor-leaguers or extremely untested at the AHL level. Kerins doesn&#8217;t fit cleanly into either of those groups.
After spending almost the entire 2022-23 season with the ECHL&#8217;s Rapid City Rush, Kerins played his rookie season with the Calgary Wranglers as a 21-year-old in 2023-24 and tied for third on the team with 16 goals in 54 games. Even so, he struggled to carve out a niche for himself in Trent Cull&#8217;s lineup and sat out five of the team&#8217;s six playoff contests as a healthy scratch.
Subsequently, Kerins began the Flames&#8217; 2024 training camp as a member of Group C. While almost every other pro-seasoned prospect of note in the system skated with NHL regulars in Group A or B, Kerins took part in drills with a vastly smaller contingent of AHL/ECHL tweeners and fresh-faced teenagers. By the time the Flames assigned Kerins to the Wranglers, he was one of just <a href="https://x.com/Fan960Steinberg/status/1839691847091798251">five total skaters</a> remaining in the non-game group.
Watching Kerins with the Wranglers these days, you&#8217;d never guess that he was deemed largely extraneous by the Flames back in September. The Caledon, Ontario product has been flat-out tremendous to kick off the 2024-25 regular season, collecting a team-leading five goals and six points in three games while playing centre on the top forward line with Jakob Pelletier and Dryden Hunt.
Kerins notched a natural hat trick against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Wednesday night, notching all three Wranglers goals in succession as the team eked out a 3-1 win over last year&#8217;s Pacific Division champions. Kerins beat Firebirds goaltender Ales Stezka three times on four shots at Acrisure Arena on Wednesday and now has five goals on 10 shots through the first week of the season.
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Hats off to the kid!! <a href="https://t.co/jtysCXmusy">pic.twitter.com/jtysCXmusy</a>
&mdash; Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) <a href="https://twitter.com/AHLWranglers/status/1846767607090712745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Nobody expects Kerins to continue finding the back of the net on half his shots over any meaningful length of time, but it&#8217;s not as though he&#8217;s new to scoring in bunches. Back when the Flames selected him in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, Kerins was coming off a 30-goal season with the OHL&#8217;s Soo Greyhounds and looked to be on track to become a productive professional.
Kerins signed his entry-level deal with the Flames back on March 1, 2022, when he was nearing the end of an extremely impressive 43-goal, 118-point campaign with the Greyhounds. He&#8217;s always been a supremely talented offensive player, and now, he&#8217;s the Wranglers&#8217; No. 1 centre. That&#8217;s pretty impressive for a player who seemed to be a bit of an afterthought, at least from the Flames&#8217; perspective, less than a month ago.
Most players who produce at the major junior level like Kerins did are able to jump directly into the AHL when they turn pro. Very few NHL draft picks who sign an entry-level contract ever play more than a handful of games in the ECHL, if any at all. Kerins scored 37 points in 38 games with Rapid City in 2022-23 while skating alongside guys like Lucas Feuk, Keanu Yamamoto (yes, he&#8217;s Kailer&#8217;s older brother), and a pair of former Calgary Hitmen in Kenton Helgesen and Calder Brooks.
After his highly unusual foray into ECHL hockey, Kerins played the 2023-24 season with the Wranglers and started red-hot, tallying nine goals and 16 points in his first 16 games. But he tailed off after that, managing just 16 points in his final 38 games of the year while dealing with multiple long goal-scoring droughts and stints in the press box. Nevertheless, Kerins began to round out his game down the stretch, and his final goal and point totals still stood out on an offence-starved Wranglers team.
Entering Friday&#8217;s game against the Henderson Silver Knights, Kerins currently leads the entire American Hockey League in goals and points. It&#8217;s early, of course, but as the Flames <a href="https://flamesnation.ca/news/seravalli-flames-looking-to-add-a-middle-six-centre-that-fits-their-age-scheme">continue to poke around</a> for another centre, they can rest assured that a guy like Kerins has been able to pick up the slack on the farm.
Now, it&#8217;s just a matter of keeping it going.

Rory Kerins was one of only five players under contract with the Calgary Flames who didn't appear in a single game during the 2024 pre-season.
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The other four — Parker Bell, Ilya Nikolaev, Étienne Morin, and Jonathan Aspirot — are all either career minor-leaguers or extremely untested at the AHL level. Kerins doesn't fit cleanly into either of those groups.

After spending almost the entire 2022-23 season with the ECHL's Rapid City Rush, Kerins played his rookie season with the Calgary Wranglers as a 21-year-old in 2023-24 and tied for third on the team with 16 goals in 54 games. Even so, he struggled to carve out a niche for himself in Trent Cull's lineup and sat out five of the team's six playoff contests as a healthy scratch.

Subsequently, Kerins began the Flames' 2024 training camp as a member of Group C. While almost every other pro-seasoned prospect of note in the system skated with NHL regulars in Group A or B, Kerins took part in drills with a vastly smaller contingent of AHL/ECHL tweeners and fresh-faced teenagers. By the time the Flames assigned Kerins to the Wranglers, he was one of just <a href="https://x.com/Fan960Steinberg/status/1839691847091798251">five total skaters</a> remaining in the non-game group.

Watching Kerins with the Wranglers these days, you'd never guess that he was deemed largely extraneous by the Flames back in September. The Caledon, Ontario product has been flat-out tremendous to kick off the 2024-25 regular season, collecting a team-leading five goals and six points in three games while playing centre on the top forward line with Jakob Pelletier and Dryden Hunt.

Kerins notched a natural hat trick against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Wednesday night, notching all three Wranglers goals in succession as the team eked out a 3-1 win over last year's Pacific Division champions. Kerins beat Firebirds goaltender Ales Stezka three times on four shots at Acrisure Arena on Wednesday and now has five goals on 10 shots through the first week of the season.

https://twitter.com/AHLWranglers/status/1846767607090712745

Nobody expects Kerins to continue finding the back of the net on half his shots over any meaningful length of time, but it's not as though he's new to scoring in bunches. Back when the Flames selected him in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, Kerins was coming off a 30-goal season with the OHL's Soo Greyhounds and looked to be on track to become a productive professional.

Kerins signed his entry-level deal with the Flames back on March 1, 2022, when he was nearing the end of an extremely impressive 43-goal, 118-point campaign with the Greyhounds. He's always been a supremely talented offensive player, and now, he's the Wranglers' No. 1 centre. That's pretty impressive for a player who seemed to be a bit of an afterthought, at least from the Flames' perspective, less than a month ago.

Most players who produce at the major junior level like Kerins did are able to jump directly into the AHL when they turn pro. Very few NHL draft picks who sign an entry-level contract ever play more than a handful of games in the ECHL, if any at all. Kerins scored 37 points in 38 games with Rapid City in 2022-23 while skating alongside guys like Lucas Feuk, Keanu Yamamoto (yes, he's Kailer's older brother), and a pair of former Calgary Hitmen in Kenton Helgesen and Calder Brooks.

After his highly unusual foray into ECHL hockey, Kerins played the 2023-24 season with the Wranglers and started red-hot, tallying nine goals and 16 points in his first 16 games. But he tailed off after that, managing just 16 points in his final 38 games of the year while dealing with multiple long goal-scoring droughts and stints in the press box. Nevertheless, Kerins began to round out his game down the stretch, and his final goal and point totals still stood out on an offence-starved Wranglers team.

Entering Friday's game against the Henderson Silver Knights, Kerins currently leads the entire American Hockey League in goals and points. It's early, of course, but as the Flames <a href="https://flamesnation.ca/news/seravalli-flames-looking-to-add-a-middle-six-centre-that-fits-their-age-scheme">continue to poke around</a> for another centre, they can rest assured that a guy like Kerins has been able to pick up the slack on the farm.

Now, it's just a matter of keeping it going.

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