The Calgary Wranglers will get a brief tune-up before the 2026/27 season begins, and it comes against a familiar opponent. The club has lined up a two-game pre-season set with the Abbotsford Canucks, a slate shaped in part by the NHL’s switch to a four-game pre-season, which leaves fewer openings for AHL players to get looks before their own year starts.
The exhibition games are scheduled for Sunday, September 27 at 7 PM and Monday, September 28 at 2 PM in Abbotsford.
That timing matters for the Wranglers, because their regular season opens on Friday, October 2 against the same Canucks. In other words, this is more than just a couple of warm-up skates. It’s a quick chance to build some chemistry before the games start counting.
For Calgary, the focus this season is bigger than the standings. The Wranglers are the Flames’ development team, and after last year’s rough finish - dead last in the Pacific Division at 23-34-10 and out of the Calder Cup Playoffs - the organization is hoping a wave of younger talent changes the tone.
Jonathan Castagna, Axel Hurtig, Andrew Basha, Tyson Gross, Aydar Suniev, Hunter Brzustewicz and Kirill Zarubin are all expected to arrive and take on important roles. None of them has to turn into a dominant AHL star right away for this to work; the key is steady production and growth over the course of the season.
There’s also a familiar core returning. Sam Morton, Rory Kerins, Alex Gallant, Dryden Hunt and Arsenii Sergeev are back in the mix, giving Calgary a mix of experience and youth that could make this a more competitive group than the one that stumbled last year.
The big-picture goal remains development, but there’s at least a path here to something better. If the young players settle in quickly and the returning pieces hold their own, the Wranglers could surprise people while they build toward the future. The first step comes in those two games against Abbotsford, a team that’s also trying to get back on track after missing the post-season following a Calder Cup win in 2025.
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One Saddledome Night Still Defines The Flames For A Generation
On May 29, 2004, the Saddledome felt like the center of the hockey world again, hosting a Stanley Cup Final game for the first time in 15 years as the Flames welcomed Tampa Bay. Calgary made the night matter, skating away with a 3-0 win in Game 3 behind a disciplined effort, timely scoring and strong goaltending in front of a crowd that had waited a long time for that stage to return.
The game became one of those franchise touchstones that still hangs over the building years later, a reminder of how close the Flames came to turning that run into something even bigger. The series went all seven games, and Tampa Bay ended up lifting the Cup, but for one Saddledome night the Flames had the league exactly where they wanted it and gave their fans a memory that still defines an era. [Read more 🡒]
Sharangovich Knows He Must Deliver More For A Scoring-Starved Flames Team
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He said his focus has been on improving his performance in puck battles and in his own zone, part of a broader effort to get back to the scoring form he has shown before. The work has not just been mental, either, with changes to his training approach designed to help him rebuild his all-around game and give a thin Flames attack another reliable option. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Have Another Center Prospect Worth Watching Closely
Jonathan Castagna is becoming an interesting name to track in the Flames system, especially after the organization brought him in as part of the MacKenzie Weegar deal and later signed him to an entry-level contract that begins in 2026-27. After a strong junior season at Cornell, the center got a look at Flames rookie camp and now looks headed for the Calgary Wranglers next season, where the club will get a better sense of how his game translates against pro competition.
For Calgary, the appeal goes beyond just another center body in the pipeline. Castagnas faceoff work and leadership have stood out, traits that can help a young player carve out a real role quickly if the rest of his game keeps coming along. The Wranglers should give him a chance to compete for top-line center duty, and for a prospect still early in his development, that is a meaningful opportunity to watch closely. [Read more 🡒]