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Rory Kerins named third captain in Wranglers team history

Photo credit: Photo Credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers

By Paige Siewert

Oct 3, 2026, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 3, 2026, 03:36 EDT

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The Calgary Wranglers were due to announce a new captain this year and they got that figured out right from game one. A few names were thrown around for this role and it very well could have gone to multiple guys, but ultimately, one name was announced. Rory Kerins. His group of alternate captains consists of Sam Morton and Ben Jones, who were sporting As in their season opener, and Dryden Hunt and Alex Gallant, who were both in the leadership group last season.

The Wranglers’ first captain was Brett Sutter, who retired from professional hockey three seasons ago after over 1,000 games in the AHL to switch to the coaching side of things. He was an assistant and interim head coach in 2024-25, then full time head coach in the 2025-26 season. This season, he enters his second full year as head coach of the Wranglers.

After Brett Sutter retired from playing, the captaincy was passed on to his regular linemate, Clark Bishop. Calgary delayed about a month before announcing Bishop as captain and there was speculation that the team would take a similar approach this season. Bishop served as Wranglers captain for two seasons and over the summer, signed with the Syracuse Crunch after playing over half his pro career with the Wranglers.

This year’s captain, Rory Kerins, has played with both of the previous captains and has a story in his professional career that makes him hard not to root for. He was assigned to the ECHL early in his career and worked his way up to a regular AHL spot, then to an All-Star AHLer. Kerins has earned some time up with the Flames as well and has earned the respect of many of his teammates over the years.

One of those previous teammates was current head coach Brett Sutter. Sutter talked about Kerins’ captaincy announcement and said:

“Rory’s worked really hard for us these last few years. He’s continued to grow as a leader. He’s continued to get better as a player and I think that’s kind of what you want to epitomize as a Captain. Someone that’s always trying to be better, whether that be on the ice or off it. And I think he’s going to be a great Captain for us.”

Sutter continued:

“He’s one of those guys that just continues to work. Continues to do the right things. Whether it’s off season, whether it’s a practice, whether that’s games. He’s just someone that’s all about doing team first and that’s the kind of guy we want to drive this team. We wanted that kind of middle age group to take a step in our leadership this year and we thought he’d be a great guy along with Sam Morton to kind of head that up for us.”

The internal team announcement for this captaincy came at practice on Thursday and Kerins was humbled and surprised to have received this. He didn’t have too much time to process this new role and said, going into the first game as captain:

“Honestly, that was probably the most nervous I’ve been for a game in a while. Obviously, I hold myself to a high standard. I didn’t think I was great tonight but we got the win and there’s hockey tomorrow for me so I’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

When his name was announced with the leaders, Rory said:

“It was one of the most proudest moments of my career. I’d say.”

He continued:

“It’s an honour to lead these guys and I’ve been here for a while and you know, I love playing for this team. I’m gonna do my best to be a leader and just have a good year.”

The team will rotate the letters around the other four guys over the course of the season, as they have done in previous years. This is the first year the Wranglers have not named a defenceman as an alternate captain but depending on the situation, they might have someone like Jake Livingstone as the backup if injuries and call-ups happen. Livingstone wore an A in their first exhibition game this year. As it currently stands, this team has a perfect 1-0-0 record and a whole season ahead of them to lead this fresh group of Wranglers.

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