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Wranglers series preview: First meeting with the reigning Calder Cup Champions
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Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers
Paige Siewert
Oct 28, 2025, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 27, 2025, 22:46 EDT
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The Calgary Wranglers face the reigning Calder Cup Champions, the Abbotsford Canucks, for the first time this season for a midweek series on the road.
Calgary is coming off a 4-3 win against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Saturday and Abbotsford is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Ontario Reign on Sunday. The Vancouver Canucks have already leveraged their AHL system for reinforcements so the Wranglers may be catching them at a good time of the season talent wise.

Last game’s lines

Calgary 
William Stromgren – Rory Kerins – Matvei Gridin 
Dryden Hunt – Sam Morton – Martin Frk
Aydar Suniev – Clark Bishop – Andrew Basha
Parker Bell – Carter King – David Silye
Nick Cicek – Hunter Brzustewicz
Yan Kuznetsov – Jeremie Poirier 
Artem Grushnikov – Daniil Miromanov 
Ivan Prosvetov
Owen Say
Abbotsford 
Vitali Kravtsov – Ty Mueller – Anri Ravinskis
Mackenzie MacEachern – Joseph LaBate – Arnaud Durandeau 
Vilmer Alriksson – Jujhar Khaira – Dino Kambeitz
Ben Berard – Chase Wouters – Danila Klimovich 
Jimmy Schuldt – Tom Willander 
Nikolai Knyzhov – Sawyer Mynio
Joe Arntsen – Derek Daschke
Jiri Patera
Ty Young

Leaders

Calgary
Dryden Hunt – 5GP, 2G, 6A
Matvei Gridin – 4GP, 3G, 4A
Rory Kerins – 6GP, 3G, 4A
Abbotsford 
Kirill Kudryavstev – 5GP, 5A (inactive on NHL call up)
Ben Berard – 6GP, 2G, 2A
Joseph LaBate – 5GP, 2G, 1A

Notes and expectations

Six games in, there have been some good things cooking for the Flames’ affiliate. Players like Dryden Hunt and Rory Kerins have not skipped a beat, William Stromgren is finding good early chemistry with the top line, Matvei Gridin is a natural in the AHL and already among the league’s top rookies and Hunter Brzustewicz is scoring at the pace of a forward and in the top three in the league in defensive scoring. Not to mention, the goaltenders are finding their feet with each having a win on their record and captain Clark Bishop is playing with a grit that is rewarding him in scoring. 
The Wranglers are running with two really talented top lines. Sam Morton got his first goals out of the way in their win, scoring a pair and it’s just a matter of time for Martin Frk to find his next one with one goal and four points on the year so far. The real battles that are happening on this squad so far are between the bottom four to five players on the bottom two lines and missing a game here and there due to the depth the Wranglers are carrying. 
Guys like David Silye, Parker Bell, and Lucas Ciona, who were guaranteed lineup guys for most of the season last year, are being passed by the rookies early this season. The pressure is on for them to differentiate themselves and earn their next game. Silye has done well in the faceoff dot, only getting scratched once this season and Ciona did get into a good fight in their home opener. Bell has played in half the games and is still looking for his first point. The defence on the other hand, is pretty established and with Daniil Miromanov’s assignment down to the Wranglers, it’s making it hard for Etienne Morin and Turner Ottenbreit to get games in. Both have only skated in one. 
As far as goaltending goes, Owen Say has looked like the better goaltender so far but it is still early. This squad hasn’t quite established who their true starter is and the swapping each game has worked well for their schedule. It’s very likely this series will see a game from each netminder again to keep the trend going. 
The Wranglers are near the middle of the pack in sixth in the Pacific Division standings while the Abbotsford Canucks have fallen to second to last in ninth place. This series is a back to back on Tuesday and Wednesday with both games starting at 8:00 p.m. MT. Streaming is available for a fee on Flo Hockey and multiple FlamesNation contributors will have updates on X (formerly Twitter).

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