The 2026-27 season will be a year of many new faces for the Calgary Wranglers. 15 of last year’s players are gone to other teams in and out of North America, including their second captain in team history, Clark Bishop. So before things kick into gear, let’s get to know the new guys who will be donning the Flaming W threads this fall and winter. There are seven true new players, two players who were formerly in Calgary’s AHL system and five guys who got previews on or with the Flames and Wranglers at the end of last season. Two-way NHL deals
The Flames already have quite a few forwards signed and extended on NHL deals. This includes guys like Dryden Hunt, William Stromgren, Sam Morton, Andrew Basha, and Aydar Suniev. For the new contracts they dealt out this off-season, it mostly went to defencemen.
Ben Jones
27 years old, 6’0”, 187 lbs
Drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights 189th overall in 2017
Position: Left wing and centre (shoots left)
Last Team: Iowa Wild (captain)/Minnesota Wild
Last season’s performance:
AHL – 37GP, 12G, 20A, 32 total points
NHL – 28GP, 1G, 2A, 3 total points
Axel Hurtig
21 years old, 6’5”, 216 lbs
Drafted by the Calgary Flames 208th overall in 2023
Position: Left shot defenceman
Last Team: Calgary Hitmen (captain)
Last season’s performance: 64GP, 6G, 13A, 19 total points
Michael Benning
24 years old, 5’9”, 175 lbs
Drafted by the Florida Panthers 95th overall in 2020
Position: Right shot defenceman
Last Team: Florida Panthers/Charlotte Checkers
Last season’s performance:
AHL – 57GP, 8G, 23A, 31 total points
NHL – 18GP, 2G, 4A, 6 total points
Jake Livingstone
27 years old, 6’4”, 214 lbs
Undrafted, NCAA free agent signing
Position: Right shot defenceman
Last Team: Charlotte Checkers
Last season’s performance: 52GP, 3G, 14A, 17 total points
Andreas Englund
30 years old, 6’3”, 201 lbs
Drafted by the Ottawa Senators 40th overall in 2014
Position: Left shot defenceman
Last Team: Nashville Predators/Milwaukee Admirals
Last season’s performance:
AHL – 52GP, 3G, 10A, 13 total points
NHL – 3 games played, 0 total points
Kirill Zarubin
20 years old, 6’3”, 207 lbs
Drafted by the Calgary Flames 84th overall in 2024
Position: Goaltender (catches left)
Last Team: AKM Tula (MHL)
Last season’s performance: 48GP, .930 save percentage, 2.17 GAA, record of 26-13-3
AHL Deals
The Wranglers and Rapid City Rush need buffer players to account for potential injuries, call-ups and beyond. There are always a few AHL contracts floating around and for these signings, it was a pretty even mix of forwards and defencemen.
Luke Philp
30 years old, 5’10”, 181 lbs
Undrafted, USports free agent signing
Position: Centre/right wing (shoots right)
Last Team: Farjestad BK (SHL)
Last season’s performance: 52GP, 13G, 22A, 35 total points
Ryder Boulton
20 years old, 5’10”, 194 lbs
Undrafted, OHL signing
Position: Left wing/right wing (shoots left)
Last Team: Brantford Bulldogs
Last season’s performance: 48GP, 4G, 4A, 8 total points
Semyon Konopsky
20 years old, 6’5”, 194 lbs
Undrafted, MHL signing
Position: Goaltender
Last Team: Loko-76 Yaroslavl (MHL)
Last season’s performance: 17GP, .930 save percentage, 2.28 GAA, record of 8-5-1
New(ish) guys
All four of these guys got time around Calgary teams last season. Tyson Gross, Abram Wiebe and Jonathan Castagna mostly with the Flames and Kent Anderson and Kyle Walker with the Wranglers. Their appearances were limited and towards the end of the year so here are a few more details on them.
Jonathan Castagna
21 years old, 6’2”, 203 lbs
Drafted by the Arizona Coyotes 70th overall in 2023
Position: Centre/left wing (shoots left)
Contract: ELC
Last Team: Cornell University (alternate captain)
Last season’s performance: 34GP, 15G, 19A, 34 total points
Tyson Gross
23 years old, 6’3”, 194 lbs
Undrafted, NCAA free agent signing
Position: Centre (shoots right)
Contract: ELC
Last Team: St. Cloud State University (captain)/Calgary Flames
Last season’s performance:
NCAA – 36GP, 18G, 23A, 41 total points
NHL – 6GP, 1G, 1 total point
Abram Wiebe
22 years old, 6’3”, 209 lbs
Drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights 209th overall in 2022
Position: Left shot defenceman
Contract: ELC
Last Team: University of North Dakota (alternate captain)/Calgary Flames
Last season’s performance:
NCAA – 40GP, 5G, 24A, 29 total points
NHL – 4GP, 0 points
Kent Anderson
22 years old, 6’3”, 205 lbs
Undrafted, NCAA free agent signing
Position: Right shot defenceman
Contract: AHL deal
Last Team: University of Denver (captain, NCAA Championship winner)/Calgary Wranglers
Last season’s performance:
NCAA – 43GP, 2G, 2A, 4 total points
AHL – 2GP, 0 total points
Kyle Walker
26 years old, 6’3”, 203 lbs
Undrafted, USports signing
Position: Left shot defenceman
Contract: AHL deal
Last Team: Mount Royal University/Reading Royals/Calgary Wranglers
Last season’s performance:
USports – 28GP, 4G, 16A, 20 total points
ECHL – 3GP, 0 total points
AHL – 3GP, 0 total points
This is shaping up to be an interesting roster this fall and while many of them will need to get to know each other in a quick pre-season and AHL camp, I do expect the personalities that remain to help bring this group together. The initial impressions of select players on this list through the rookie camp in early July and their interactions in end-of-season practices is good and positive and they seem ready to buy into the Flames’ system. I imagine it will take a bit of time to get everyone clicking and to establish roles and lineups but by the end of 2026, we should have a much better idea on how well these guys work together.
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