The Flames announced today that center Sam Morton has been sent back to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers. Since he’s only been rostered for eight days and played three games since clearing waivers during the preseason, he doesn’t need them today.
Morton, 26, is in his second pro season after inking with the Flames as an undrafted free agent out of Minnesota State in 2024. The Colorado native was the Mavericks’ captain in his final season – his sixth year of NCAA hockey, thanks to COVID – and broke out for 24 goals and 34 points in 37 games to be named the CCHA’s Player of the Year and make himself a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.
Morton’s age meant he had no trouble adjusting to the pro game. He rattled off five goals and seven points in 13 AHL games to end 2023-24 on a tryout with the Wranglers and then had 20 goals and 45 points in 70 games for them in his first full pro season in 2024-25. That led the Flames to call the 6’0″ pivot up to make his NHL debut in the final game of last year’s regular season, and he notched his first goal in the process.
This season, Morton went unclaimed on waivers on his way down to the Wranglers but took the training camp cut in stride. He had a 4-8–12 scoring line through 16 games, good for sixth on the team, before earning a call-up last week.
Calgary gave Morton a brief trial as the fourth-line center, but that job will now go to waiver claim John Beecher. In three games, he went an impressive 16-for-24 (66.7%) on faceoffs but didn’t record a point and had a -1 rating, averaging just 9:20 per game. The Flames were outshot 11-10 and outchanced 9-8 in Morton’s 5-on-5 minutes.