With contract inked, can Rory Kerins score spot in Calgary Flames lineup?
Rory Kerins is now on the radar for full-time duties with the Calgary Flames.
Article content
An afterthought last fall when he didn't even draw into the lineup for exhibition action, Kerins made a statement to the organizational brass by leading the AHL's Wranglers with 33 goals and 61 points.
Article content
Article content
On his first career callup, he notched four assists over a five-game span.
Article content
Kerins' quest to be an NHL regular continued Thursday when he inked a one-year, two-way contract with a cap-hit of US$775,000.
Article content
Flames general manager Craig Conroy signed three restricted free agents in one swoop, also hammering out new deals with defencemen Yan Kuznetsov and Jeremie Poirier.
Article content
'I think a lot about that stint up in the NHL, just how awesome it was and how much I learned,' Kerins told Postmedia toward the end of this past season. 'And I just think about how much I want to get back.'
Article content
This 23-year-old forward definitely has earned a long look when training camp opens in September.
Article content
Article content
It's no secret the Flames are seeking to generate more offence — they averaged just 2.68 snipes per game in 2024-25, ranking 29th in the league in that category — and one of the potential solutions is to promote the most dangerous marksman from your farm team. Kerins finished fourth in the AHL in goals and tied for 10th in points.
Article content
While he was the Wranglers top centre for most of the season, Kerins worked the wing in his handful of appearances at the NHL level. The debate about his potential as a pivot always is focused on his ability to push the pace, something he has been determined to address in his sessions with skating coach Danielle Fujita.
Article content
With Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund and Morgan Frost locked in, the Flames' only opening up the middle is in a fourth-line role and Justin Kirkland is the clear frontrunner for that job after inking a one-way deal.
Article content
Article content
Trouble is, it's even more crowded on the wings. We will list nine names — in alphabetical order, Blake Coleman, Matt Coronato, Joel Farabee, Jonathan Huberdeau, Adam Klapka, Ryan Lomberg, Martin Pospisil, Yegor Sharangovich and Connor Zary — and remind you there only are eight every-night slots on the flank.
Article content
His breakout campaign with the Wranglers, which included nine power-play markers, five game-winning goals and an invitation to the AHL All-Star Classic, certainly has put him in that mix.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ottawa Citizen
2 hours ago
- Ottawa Citizen
Meet the new Calgary Hitmen coaches: Dustin Friesen named 13th bench boss
Dustin Friesen admits his road to becoming a bench boss wasn't by way of a typical hockey route. Article content There were many stops and years playing the game — nine, in fact, over a whopping 20 seasons — compared to just a handful teaching the sport. And even at that, the Saskatchewan native has only been a head coach of high-school talent. Article content Article content But that didn't stop the Calgary Hitmen from making him the 13th head coach of the storied Western Hockey League franchise. Article content Article content 'Yeah … they had some interest in my experience, which I think is fairly unique experience, I would say,' said Friesen, who was named to the gig by the Hitmen last Friday a few weeks after Paul McFarland returned to the NHL after one season leading the WHL club. Article content Article content 'Both as a player, which is probably not the most traditional route for coaching, and the same thing as a coach, I've been in different leagues,' continued Friesen. 'And coaching in the Prairie Hockey Academy and working with young players and building a program has given me a bit of a unique background. But I think it's been valuable in my journey.' Article content Friesen joins the Hitmen on a multi-year deal after a standout season as associate coach of the Québec Major Junior Hockey League's Moncton Wildcats, with whom he helped lead the team to a championship and a Memorial Cup appearance. Article content 'I had a really good situation in Moncton,' said 42-year-old Friesen, a native of Waldheim, Sask. 'But, obviously, to be a head coach, that was my goal since I started coaching. Article content Article content 'And to be close to my family (wife Katherine and daughters Karen, 16, Nova, 11, and Evelyn 7 in Caronport, Sask.) in the Western league is obviously another priority.' Article content Article content Prior to his time in the Canadian Hockey League, Friesen served as head coach of the PHA's under-18 prep team of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League from 2021-24. Article content He also contributed to the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors during the 2023–24 season, when the Warriors captured its first-ever league championship and competed at the Memorial Cup. Article content 'I just think when you look at where he's been, what he's done …' Davidson said. 'I mean … he's tracked through junior hockey, went to college and got a degree, and he went to Europe and played professionally there. He's been involved with two Memorial Cup teams. Article content 'I guess the only thing really hasn't been a head coach before, but I don't have any issues with that. I think he's going to come in here and just carry on with what he's been doing here, only he'll be the guy in charge, and I know all of us around him will give him all the support he needs.'
CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
‘I felt like the old Genie': Bouchard extends career with first-round win at NBO
Eugenie Bouchard of Canada celebrates after defeating Emiliana Arango of Colombia during her first round match at the National Bank Open tennis tournament in Montreal on Monday, July 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov MONTREAL — Eugenie Bouchard's retirement will have to wait. The former world No. 5 — and first Canadian woman to contest a Grand Slam final in the open era — upset Colombia's Emiliana Arango 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in the first round Monday night at the National Bank Open, extending her tennis career for at least one match. 'I told my family that if I won the tournament, I would come out of retirement,' she said from centre court. 'I felt like the old Genie out there.' Bouchard, who also earned her 300th singles win, announced on July 16 that she would hang up her racket at the end of her hometown event. The 31-year-old from Westmount, Que., rose to prominence with a sensational season in 2014. At only 20, she reached the Wimbledon final, played in the Australian Open and French Open semifinals and won her only WTA title. Bouchard never returned to that level in a short-lived run among the best in tennis, but for one night at least, she resembled her old self — striking the ball with flair and painting the lines with forehand winners. 'I woke up this morning just telling myself, look I can't control the result, I just want to have a good attitude, have good fight and try to feel good with my shots, feel good with my game,' she said. 'No matter what happens, I wanted to walk off the court having enjoyed that gritty battle. 'I enjoyed every second of it.' Now ranked 1,062nd, Bouchard has moved away from the pro tennis circuit in recent years, spending more time on the PPA Pickleball Tour, where she ranks 12th in singles. Knowing it could be her last dance, fans mostly filled IGA Stadium, welcoming Bouchard with loud applause when she stepped on the court and cheering her on — with mixed chants of 'Let's Go Genie!' and 'Allez Eugenie!' — with every point. Bouchard could feel the crowd's energy running through her. Sometimes a little too much. When Bouchard broke the 82nd-ranked Arango twice in the decisive third set — first with a forehand, then from the Colombian's missed volley — to build a 5-1 lead, she described the feeling as an 'out-of-body' experience. 'The crowd was so noisy that I didn't feel my body for 30 seconds,' she said. 'And I lost the game after that. It didn't help me at the time.' Arango broke back with Bouchard serving for the match to make it 5-2, but the Canadian went up 40-love in the ensuing game. Arango then sent her forehand wide on Bouchard's second match point. The local favourite held her hands above her head in disbelief, blew kisses to the crowd, and later told a shouting fan 'I love you, too!' 'It was electric out there,' Bouchard said. 'I'm so proud of how I competed and stayed focused throughout the whole match and fought. It was a physical battle, a mental battle, and it just felt amazing to play in Montreal in front of everyone.' Bouchard will take on 17th seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the second round Wednesday night. She came out with flashes of her attacking style, pushing Arango out of position with a dangerous backhand before hitting a forehand winner to go up 1-0 in the first set. After holding serve to go up 5-4, Bouchard earned double breakpoint and hit a forehand winner down the line to take the set. 'I know that I have good tennis, but I didn't know if I could show it today,' she said. 'I put effort into practice recently and I really wanted to have a good performance. So I knew I could do that, but it depended on whether I could stay in the game mentally and not be in my emotions or think about all the things that were around this game and around this tournament. 'I'm proud I was able to do that. I still have my focus.' Bouchard's momentum didn't carry into the second set as Arango broke her three times to comfortably force a third. Then she got it back. Also on Monday, Canada's Kayla Cross, Ariana Arseneault and Carson Branstine dropped out of the NBO after the first round. Cross let a one-set lead slip away in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia, and Arseneault of Richmond Hill, Ont., fell 6-4, 6-2 to Japan's Naomi Osaka. Branstine, who grew up in California but represents Canada through family ties in Toronto, pushed former world No. 3 Maria Sakkari to three sets, but ultimately dropped the two hour, 23-minute match 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. Toronto's Victoria Mboko, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., and Vancouver's Rebecca Marino advanced to the second round with wins Sunday. Andreescu's status for the remainder of the tournament is unclear after she hurt her left ankle on match point against Czechia's Barbora Krejcikova. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2025. By Daniel Rainbird
National Post
4 hours ago
- National Post
Jamie Sarkonak: Hockey Canada judge believed in truth, not 'believe all women'
Article content She didn't leave happy, though: towards the end, McLeod asked her if she had STDs, and whether she was going to be leaving soon, which she felt was rude. E.M. also testified that McLeod also seemed annoyed at her when she returned to the room to search for a lost ring; she took an Uber home and was found crying in the shower by her mother, who 'took it upon herself' to report a sexual assault to police. Article content E.M. later explained to the court that her actions were driven by fear — fear that she never mentioned until she filed a civil suit against Hockey Canada, four years after the fact. Her mind 'separated' from her body to cope, she claimed. The judge didn't buy her story: important details had changed over time, and E.M.'s own concept of truth was uncomfortably fuzzy. Plus, E.M. initially told police that she didn't think the men would have physically forced her to stay. Article content The judge didn't hypothesize the complainant's actual feelings about what happened, but I suspect E.M. was quite miserable. She may have felt shame and regret for cheating on her boyfriend, as the defence argued during the trial. The little oral sex that was had was awkward and not erotic at all. The STD question may have felt like an accusation. Article content Article content Pop culture tells women that consensual sex is a neutral to empowering act, and good feminists will tell their friends that there's nothing to be ashamed about in sex. Slut shaming, we all knew in the good year 2018, was bad. But missing from that intense belief in female agency was the other side of the coin: that women can consent to something and wish they hadn't. Article content And certainly, the men regret it too. Their evidence suggested they took care to ensure consent was given at the time, and even that wasn't enough to keep an investigation from pausing, perhaps snuffing out, their NHL careers. McLeod and Foote were put on indefinite leave last year by the New Jersey Devils, as was Hart by the Philadelphia Flyers and Dubé by the Calgary Flames. And in 2022, Formenton may have lost out on a new contract with the Ottawa Senators due to the allegations; he played in Sweden until the charges were laid in 2024, and now works in construction. As for the future of these five men, the ball is still in the Ontario Crown's court. Prosecutors will have to decide in the next month whether to appeal for another shot at securing convictions; there's still a way this can drag out for years. Article content Supporters of E.M. will say the acquittals amount to a terrible outcome for women and sexual assault survivors, but they're the opposite. If sexual assault is to be taken seriously, it needs to mean something. It's to the actual victims' benefit that Carroccia didn't bend the rules to acrobatically extend the concept of sexual assault to new frontiers of apparently regretful intercourse, as courts have done in the past; doing so would have cheapened the concept to dollar store levels. Article content So, now what? After the decision was read, E.M.'s lawyer, Karen Bellehumeur, immediately took to calling for reform. 'While the accused's rights are important, those protections should not come at the expense of survivors' well-being,' she told a media scrum late Thursday. She expressed frustration with the fact that E.M. had to testify for nine days and was subject to 'insulting, unfair, mocking and disrespectful' cross-examination. 'She's really never experienced not being believed like this before.' Nine days of careful scrutiny is a very modest ask when a man is facing jail for an apparently consensual act that didn't pass the initial police sniff test. Article content
