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Some big Wranglers questions may be answered early this season

Photo credit: Angela Burger/Calgary Wranglers

By Paige Siewert

Sep 23, 2026, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 23, 2026, 01:40 EDT

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The countdown is on for the season opener for the Calgary Wranglers and there are quite a few things to establish at the start of the new year. With them clearing out most of last year’s roster, new players have a chance to make their mark in the Flames prospect pool. Not every lingering question from the offseason will be answered right away but here are some of the ones that might.

How do they line up?

The line combinations are pretty much guesswork at this time of the year when you factor in players that may or may not make the Flames and Wranglers to start. Some of the cusp players might still crack that opening night NHL roster, while others might be at camp until the final cut. The number of centres the Wranglers are slotted to have too will keep some odd men out. Already, Jonathan Castagna, who came to the team as a centre, has been lining up on the wing in Flames preseason games.

The Wranglers’ typical top players like Rory Kerins, William Stromgren, Dryden Hunt, Sam Morton and Aydar Suniev will all be expected to be near the top of the lineup provided the Flames don’t make a spot for any of them. However, Morton and Kerins seem to be the ones who will be battling it out the most at centre. Kerins has typically been the top line centre but with Ben Jones, Sam Morton, Tyson Gross and Jonathan Castagna all in the mix, he has plenty of qualified competition. The upcoming AHL exhibition games will at least show some of the third and fourth line depth the team will have but we really won’t know the regular lineup until the games get going and they have a few weeks of hockey completed.

Who is their true starting goaltender?

Owen Say and Arsenii Sergeev played approximately half a season of games with the Wranglers last season but have competition with Kirill Zarubin in the mix too. Say is already with the Wranglers at camp and Zarubin and Sergeev remain with the Flames for the time being. Owen Say might be the one to start in the ECHL due to season-ending surgery that put him out in January of this year. But if Zarubin isn’t ready for the AHL just yet, the ECHL will get him the playing time he needs to develop.

Based on last year, if Say really is pretty much at the same spot he was before injury, Sergeev and him could split time in net. Really, it is Sergeev’s position to earn and take as the true starter. He was quite the workhorse for the team in the second half of the season and proves he is capable of it. He just might not be called on to play as much as he needed to down the stretch if the goaltending depth is able to stay mostly healthy.

Who is on the top of the list for call-ups?

There are a lot of guys to choose from across a variety of positions this year. Anyone who played in the AHL last year and got NHL games could be called upon on a moment’s notice. This includes Dryden Hunt, Rory Kerins, William Stromgren, Aydar Suniev, Hunter Brzustewicz, and Sam Morton. Some of the newer adds like Brennan Othmann, Tyson Gross and Abram Wiebe have also gotten their first games out of the way in the NHL and very well could be pulled from that list. It’s likely going to be a mix of the guys that don’t make the Flames and the ones that are towards the last cuts that are going to be some of the first calls. If Hunt and Brzustewicz don’t make the NHL squad, they are perhaps the two the team knows best from last season and should be the first moves they make in their positions. At this point, Matvei Gridin is not being considered as an option for the AHL but in the event he is, he’d clearly be one of the first calls as well.

Who will be the new captain?

Clark Bishop, the second captain in Wranglers team history, signed with the Syracuse Crunch over the summer and former alternate captains Martin Frk and Nick Cicek are playing overseas with the Shanghai Dragons. The remaining guys from last year with letters include Kerins, Hunt, Morton and Alex Gallant. I visited this topic earlier in the Summer and even someone like Ben Jones coming in could very well be wearing a letter this year. However, Captain is something I think will take a bit of time.

When Bishop was named captain, it took the team about a month to announce it. I can see this year being a similar story. There are guys who have leadership traits and have been around the team but a true captain may need some time to emerge as this new group of players comes together. Come the end of October, we might know the answer to this or have a strong inkling on the direction they are going.

For some of the first bits of Wranglers action, they will be playing a road exhibition series this weekend against the Abbotsford Canucks. Game one is on Sunday at 7 p.m. MT and game two is on Monday at 2 p.m. MT. Radio or broadcast coverage of these games is to be announced.

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