The Olympic roster freeze is over, and the Calgary Flames are expected to be one of the busiest teams ahead of the NHL trade deadline, potentially looking to sell off players such as Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman in exchange for younger talent or draft capital to aid in their rebuild.
Related: Suggested Trade Sees Canadiens Landing Nazem Kadri in Deadline Day Blockbuster
With talent likely headed out the door and not expecting much in return to replace it, the Flames may be forced to find reinforcements in-house.
Luckily, the Calgary Wranglers, the Flames’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, have a couple of players who could fill some of the void and deserve an extended look at the NHL level after plenty of success in the minors.
Rory Kerins
The Flames selected Rory Kerins in the sixth-round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft after putting up 30 goals and 59 points in 60 games for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
Following his draft year, Kerins did not see the ice in 2020-21 due to COVID-19 cancelling the OHL’s season. However, he returned to the OHL for the 2021-22 season, scoring 43 goals and recording 118 points in 67 games.
Since then, Kerins has played with the Flames’ AHL team, and after four seasons, he finds himself the Wranglers’ all-time leading point-getter, with 12 more points than the next-highest, and their all-time leading goalscorer by more than 10 goals.
Even with all the success in the minors, Kerins did not get his first chance at the NHL level until last season, when he had four assists in his first five games before being sent back to the Wranglers.
This season, he impressed during preseason, having a goal and three assists in the five exhibition contests he suited up for, along with 12 shot attempts, 10 scoring chances, and four high-danger chances. Despite impressing in training camp, the Flames could not make room for him on the NHL roster once again.
But he did get another short stint with the big club back in November, playing two games for the Flames. While he didn’t produce anything on the stat sheet, he looked pretty effective playing over 15 minutes per game, having a 78.29% expected goal percentage and 90.91% high-danger chance rate with Kerins on the ice at five-on-five.
Now 23 years old, turning 24 in April, it’s time for the Flames to give Kerins a long look in the NHL, allow him some time to get comfortable, and see if he could be the late-round, late-blooming gem his AHL numbers are suggesting he could be.
William Stromgren
The Flames’ 2021 second-round pick, William Stromgren, is having a breakout campaign with the Wranglers this season in the AHL, which has drawn plenty of attention around Flames’ social media conversations.
After being drafted in 2021, he spent two more seasons in Sweden, splitting his time between the under-20 junior level and the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), Sweden’s top pro league. The Flames finally got their hands on the 6-foot-3 power forward toward the end of the 2022-23 season when he made his AHL debut, playing two games for the Wranglers towards the end of their season.
Following that season, Stromgren has been with the Wranglers full-time and is working on his third full season with the team. Officially, he has played 185 games, and over his AHL career with the Wranglers, he has recorded 31 goals and 82 assists for 113 points. That puts him third in the Wranglers’ all-time scoring leaders.
Stromgren made his NHL debut earlier this season with the Flames, getting into three games after being called up in January. While his first few games in the NHL weren’t exactly pretty, not getting on the stat sheet, and the Flames having a 22.26% expected goal percentage, 30.00% scoring chance, and 20.00 high-danger chance percentage at five-on-five, Stromgren wasn’t given a fair shake to show his skills.
First off, he joined a team in the middle of a stretch where they lost five of six games. He joined them for an East Coast road trip, having to adjust to a new routine, new teammates, and new coaches, while living out of a suitcase and different hotel rooms.
On top of that, Flames’ head coach Ryan Huska truly seemed disinterested in learning what the kid could do, with 8:04 being the most ice time he got in a game with the Flames. They didn’t even give Stromgren enough time with the same linemates for him to show up in Money Puck‘s line combination tool, which requires a minimum of 10 minutes with a given combination of players.
The size and offensive skill he brings are unique, and they are the type of skillset the Flames are lacking in their bottom six. While I will agree that his first chance at the NHL level did not go to plan, Stromgren, recently named the AHL’s Player of the Week, deserves another look with the Flames and a chance to actually get comfortable in a new setting.
Flames 2025-26 Post Trade Deadline Outlook
Per Money Puck’s model, the Flames have a 3.3% chance of making the playoffs. After selling off Rasmus Andersson and what will soon likely be Kadri and Coleman, the win-loss column for the Flames has become almost meaningless, being 11 points out of a playoff spot with only 26 games to play.
The Flames already have several young pieces they know they can build around for the future, such as Matthew Coronato, Dustin Wolf, and Zayne Parekh, as well as other intriguing young offensive talented prospects who project to be impactful NHL players.
With the firesale likely happening before the deadline, this is the perfect time for the Flames to experiment with some of their borderline NHL prospects, to learn whether they can be counted on going forward, and that should start with Kerins and Stromgren.
