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The Wranglers being in Calgary provides the Flames with huge waiver flexibility
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Photo credit: Brett Holmes-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Dec 17, 2024, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 16, 2024, 23:06 EST
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One of the most underrated resources for hockey fans to gain information on roster moves is the American Hockey League’s transactions page.
Via that page, here are the Calgary Flames’ transactions with their farm team, the Calgary Wranglers, since the beginning of December:
  • Jakob Pelletier and Walker Duehr were called up from the Wranglers on Dec. 2, with Adam Klapka being sent to the Wranglers.
  • Pelletier and Duehr were both sent back to the Wranglers on Dec. 11.
  • Pelletier and Duehr were called back up from the Wranglers on Dec. 12.
  • Devin Cooley was called up from the Wranglers on Dec. 13.
  • Cooley, Pelletier and Duehr were sent back to the Wranglers on after the Flames’ game on Dec. 14 (taking effect cap-wise on Dec. 15).
  • Pelletier and Duehr were called up from the Wranglers on Dec. 16.
All-told, Pelletier and Duehr have been called up from the AHL three times and sent back twice. As far as we can figure, they never left Calgary.
That’s the sneaky benefit of having your AHL farm affiliate in the same city as the NHL club. If you need players, they’re usually pretty close. And if you need to stash players away, they can be stashed pretty close, too.
And that becomes important when it comes to players within your system that qualify for waivers. Here’s a snippet from Article 13.2 of the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement:
Subject to the provisions of this Article, the rights to the services of a Player may be Loaned to a club of another league, upon fulfillment of the following conditions, except when elsewhere expressly prohibited:
(a) Regular Waivers were requested and cleared during the Playing Season Waiver Period; and
(b) the Player has not played in ten (10) or more NHL Games cumulative since Regular Waivers on him were last cleared, and more than thirty (30) days cumulative on an NHL roster have not passed since Regular Waivers on him were last cleared.
Once a player clears waivers, they can be moved freely between the NHL and AHL until that player has either played in 10 NHL games or been on the NHL roster for 30 days. Once they hit one of those marks, they require waivers again.
Pelletier and Duehr both cleared waivers prior to the start of the regular season. The Flames have had three off days this month without games, travel or practices. On two of them – Dec. 11 and Dec. 15 – they’ve sent Pelletier and Duehr to the AHL for the day. The NHL allows some lee-way for teams when they assign players to the minors; they’re not expected to teleport to instantaneously meet the minor league club, especially if they’re travelling, but demoted players can’t hang around with the NHL team. With the NHL and AHL clubs in the same city, it’s easier for demoted players to prepare to report to the minor-league club… and then get informed they’re getting called back up for the next day’s practice, which requires them to turn around and report back to the NHL club in the same city. The rules are being followed, even if the player hasn’t really gone anywhere on his day in the minors.
We’ve heard some social media comments here and there basically asking “Why engage in waiver shenanigans?” The Flames obviously like Pelletier and Duehr – that’s why they called them up – so why bother with all these extra steps to elongate their waiver window?
To put it simply: they want to be sure. Players get placed on waivers and sent to the AHL because teams don’t think they’re quite ready, for one reason or another, to be full-time NHL players in the roles available at the time. Players get called up later in the season for auditions for roles that open up due to injury, trades or performance issues with the incumbents. Teams don’t want to give a player an NHL gig by default – that can often do more harm than good – and so elongating the waiver exempt period as long as possible allows a team to give a player a full audition while retaining some flexibility.
The Flames having the Wranglers in town has afforded them the flexibility to give Pelletier and Duehr that type of audition – even if it has meant filing a bit more paperwork with the league to send them to and from the AHL in the process.
The Flames are back in action on Tuesday night when they host the Boston Bruins.

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