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Wranglers Series Preview: Meeting up with the Moose
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Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers
Paige Siewert
Mar 8, 2025, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Mar 8, 2025, 02:33 EST
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It’s the first set of games for the Calgary Wranglers since the NHL trade deadline. The Flames were pretty quiet on deadline day and the trickle down effects to the AHL squad were kept to a minimum. The Wranglers had a couple of intra-organization changes since their last games earlier this week so lines will be affected by that. They look to change their recent results in a road series against the Winnipeg Jets’ affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, this weekend.

Available lineups

Calgary
Forwards – Rory Kerins, Brett Davis, William Stromgren, Dryden Hunt, Lucas Ciona, Parker Bell, Clark Bishop, Alex Gallant, David Silye, Martin Frk, Kyler Kupka, Connor Mylymok, Adam Klapka, Sam Morton
Defencemen – Joni Jurmo, Artem Grushnikov, Jeremie Poirier, Hunter Brzustewicz, Ilya Solovyov, Tyson Barrie, Yan Kuznetsov, Jonathan Aspirot
Goaltenders – Devin Cooley, Waltteri Ignatjew, Connor Murphy
Injured – Sam Honzek (lower body), Jarred Tinordi (season-ending surgery)
Manitoba 
Forwards – Kevin Conley, Brad Lambert, Ben King, Chaz Lucius, Danny Zhilkin, Mason Shaw, Nikita Chibrikov, Tyson Empey, Colson Gengenbach, Parker Ford, Fabian Wagner, C.J. Suess, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Ryan Chyzowski, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Dominic Toninato, Carson Golden, Mark Liwiski 
Defencemen – Tyrel Bauer, Isaak Phillips, Dawson Barteaux, Ashton Sautner, Simon Lundmark, Elias Salomonsson, Dylan Anhorn, Dylan Coghlan
Goaltenders – Domenic DiVincentiis, Chris Driedger

Leaders

Calgary 
Martin Frk – 52GP, 21G, 28A
Dryden Hunt – 46GP, 14G, 32A
Rory Kerins – 47GP, 25G, 19A
Manitoba 
Brad Lambert – 44GP, 4G, 22A
Mason Shaw – 53GP, 11G, 14A
Dominic Toninato – 43GP, 13G, 11A

Notes and expectations 

The Wranglers have seen much better days. It’s been a long 12 games that have only resulted in one win since the start of February. The last three games were the roughest stretch of the season with an 8-4 loss to the Abbotsford Canucks on Mar. 1, a 6-1 loss to the Firebirds on Mar. 4 and another loss to the Firebirds the following night with an 8-2 final score. 
They’ve been trying different things, moving pairings around, switching around the goaltender rotation and trying to build chemistry from any corner of their game and nothing seems to be going right. Some fresh faces for the weekend might just inject some much needed energy and inspiration back into this lineup.
On Thursday, the Flames signed Rapid City goaltender Connor Murphy to a two-way NHL deal for the remainder of the season. This comes as no coincidence with how the Wranglers’ tandem has been as of late. If Murphy is able to come in and be solid for the AHL squad, he could first of all help this team turn it around and position himself as the next man up if a netminder is needed for the Flames. Murphy has appeared in four games with the Wranglers this season and has a 2-2-0-0 record.
Some transactions that may or may not stick were the assignments of Adam Klapka and Ilya Solovyov to the Wranglers. They needed their status to be protected for a potential Wranglers playoff run so they had to be on the AHL roster by deadline time. If they aren’t assigned back right away, Calgary will have two more pieces injected back into their lineup. As far as ECHL transactions went, Trevor Janicke and Charles Martin returned to the Rapid City Rush and Connor Mylymok was assigned to the Wranglers.  
The Wranglers and Moose have already met six times this season and Calgary currently holds a winning record on the season series. They only have one loss and a 5-1-0-0 record against their cross-divisional opponents to the East. They last faced off in early January and both games finished in a one goal differential. The Wranglers won 5-4 in overtime on Jan. 3 and the Moose won 3-2 in regulation on Jan. 5. 
This series starts on Saturday afternoon and continues into Sunday for a back to back. Both games have a 1:00 p.m. MT start even though that Sunday game will feel an hour earlier with the time change this weekend. You can stream these games for a fee on AHLtv on Flo Hockey and multiple FlamesNation contributors will have updates on X (formerly Twitter).
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