Calgary Wranglers draw Coachella Valley Firebirds in first round of AHL playoffs
The Calgary Wranglers will face the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the opening round of the AHL's Calder Cup playoffs.
The Flames' farm-clubbers wrapped their regular-season work with a victory Sunday at the Saddledome, setting a date with the top affiliate of the Seattle Kraken.
The Wranglers finished in fifth place in the Pacific Division with a 37-28-7 record.
As fourth seed, the Firebirds (37-25-10) will have home-ice advantage for every contest in this best-of-three showdown. The fun starts Tuesday.
While the Wranglers will be in tough against the Firebirds, who were 6-2 in their season series, it's a major positive for the Flames that their up-and-comers will be playing high-pressure games this spring in the minors.
The Wranglers' roster includes several guys who could challenge for NHL jobs in the fall — Hunter Brzustewicz, Yan Kuznetsov and Ilya Solovyov on the blue-line, plus forwards Sam Honzek, Rory Kerins, Sam Morton, William Stromgren and the just-signed Carter King. (The 23-year-old King, inked earlier this week as a college free agent, scored his first pro goal and also added an assist in Sunday's shutout victory over the San Jose Barracuda.)
The Wranglers should be boosted by the return of right-winger Adam Klapka, although he was waiting for medical clearance after an injury in the Flames' season finale.
Rasmus Andersson was playing on a broken ankle ... and five more revelations from Flames' exit interviews
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