Latest From GM Craig Conroy
- The Calgary Flames enter the offseason committed to a long-term, patient vision in constructing their team, according to what GM Craig Conroy said to the media on Friday. Conroy was asked about what kind of teambuilding direction he’d take moving forward, and said “It is about the long term. It’s not about getting into the playoffs one year, not in the next, in one year, then out. We want to be there consistently.” Calgary has missed the playoffs for four straight years, and appear to have a substantial amount of work ahead of them when it comes to building the club into a true Stanley Cup contender. Based on what Conroy told the media, it appears the team will embark on a patient, draft-and-develop road back to contention, rather than trying to move aggressively in free agency or in trades to add NHL-ready talent to their roster.
Latest On Kevin Bahl
- Calgary Flames defenseman Kevin Bahl told the media, including Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg, that he sustained an MCL injury during the team’s overtime loss to the Dallas Stars on April 7, an injury that cost him the last five games of Calgary’s season. According to Bahl, he won’t need to undergo surgery to recover from the injury. The 25-year-old recently concluded the first season of his six-year, $5.35MM AAV contract extension. He was a top-four defenseman for Calgary this season, averaging 21:56 time on ice per game, including 2:35 per game on the penalty kill.
AHL Shuffle: 4/17/26
Several smaller-profile moves will come across the wire today. Teams done with their seasons are sending their fringe talent back to the AHL for postseason play, while teams bound for the first round of the playoffs could be making some small alternations as well – in particular, settling on their “emergency” third goalie as the league permits for the playoffs. We’ll keep track of those moves today:
- The Flyers announced they’ve recalled goaltender Aleksei Kolosov from AHL Lehigh Valley and reassigned Carson Bjarnason there in his stead. Bjarnason was up just yesterday for practice, but it now appears they’ve re-evaluated and will prefer to have the more experienced Kolosov as their #3 behind Daniel Vladař and Samuel Ersson to begin their clash with the Penguins rather than Bjarnason, a first-year pro. With Lehigh Valley now eliminated from playoff contention, there’s no use keeping Kolosov down there to try to get them in. Kolosov, who has a 5-11-1 record and a .863 SV% in 21 career NHL appearances, will be eligible to enter a playoff game as an emergency backup if both Vladař and Ersson leave with injuries.
- The Flames have reassigned forwards Rory Kerins and Aydar Suniev, as well as goaltender Arsenii Sergeev, to AHL Calgary following last night’s season finale against the Kings. Sergeev, 23, was exceptional in his first career start, guiding Calgary to a 4-1 win while posting a .964 SV% and saving 2.6 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck. Kerins and Suniev were both late-season call-ups for the Flames once the playoffs were no longer a possibility but didn’t do much in their reps, combining for one assist (Suniev’s) in 10 games. There won’t be any playoff action in store for the trio; the Wranglers are last in the AHL’s Pacific Division and won’t be heading to the Calder Cup Playoffs.
- The Blue Jackets have added goaltending prospect Evan Gardner to AHL Cleveland’s roster, per a team announcement. The 20-year-old’s Saskatoon Blades in the WHL were swept out of the second round of the playoffs by Prince Albert this week. The 60th overall pick in 2024, Gardner will be turning pro full-time next season with either Cleveland or somewhere in the ECHL (Columbus is one of the few teams without a designated affiliate). His entry-level contract remains slide-eligible for this season, so it won’t kick in until 2026-27. He had a .902 SV% and 2.96 GAA – both great numbers for career-lows – in 52 games for Saskatoon in his third and final junior season.
- The Sharks have assigned winger Igor Chernyshov and defenseman Luca Cagnoni to AHL San Jose for the Calder Cup Playoffs, per Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest. It could very well be the last AHL action of Chernyshov’s career. The 20-year-old looks well on his way toward being a top-six piece from the drop next season, rattling off a 9-10–19 scoring line in 28 games of call-up action this year while seeing significant time on Macklin Celebrini‘s left wing. The 2024 second-rounder also had 13 goals and 33 points in 41 AHL games to date. Cagnoni, a 5’9″ lefty, had only been up for the last few games to get an end-of-season look once the Sharks were eliminated from playoff contention. The 21-year-old went pointless in three games after seeing a six-game debut last season. He leads Barracuda defensemen in scoring with an 8-35–43 line in 67 games.
- The Oilers have added Calvin Pickard back from AHL Bakersfield to serve as the EBUG behind Connor Ingram and Tristan Jarry in the postseason. Pickard started the season as Edmonton’s backup but was supplanted by Ingram after struggling to the tune of a .871 SV% and 3.68 GAA in 16 appearances (5-6-2 record). Fresh off his 34th birthday, he’s started playoff games in each of the last two years for the Oilers – including Game 5 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final – so there’s zero hesitancy about tossing him into the fray if Ingram and Jarry fall flat. Since clearing waivers and being assigned to Bakersfield at the beginning of February, Pickard has a .886 SV% and 3.26 GAA in eight games with one shutout and a 4-3-1 record.
- The Mammoth announced that they’ve recalled winger Danil But and goaltender Matt Villalta from AHL Tucson. With Tucson out of the playoffs, recalling their AHL starter in Villalta isn’t an issue to serve as their EBUG. He has just two NHL starts to his name but is a known AHL commodity, posting a .895 SV% in 33 outings for the Roadrunners this season. The more pressing move, of course, is the re-infusion of But into the mix. Utah has given its 2023 12th overall pick several looks on the roster this season in top-nine duties, with the 6’5″ Russian managing three goals and four assists in 29 games. It doesn’t appear he’ll be in their Game 1 lineup to start, even with Barrett Hayton and Jack McBain still unavailable, but he’ll almost surely be the next man up in case of any other lineup changes.
- The Islanders added Russian forward Daniil Prokhorov to their AHL roster, from KHL side Dynamo Moscow. The club drafted Prokhorov in the second round, No. 42 overall, at the 2025 NHL entry draft, their fourth selection overall. The 18-year-old forward was recently ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the Islanders’ system by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. Wheeler called Prokhorov, who stands 6’5″, a ” big, strong, driven, hardworking player.” AHL Bridgeport will be the fourth team Prokhorov has played for, in the fourth league. He scored one goal in 23 KHL games for Dynamo Moscow, 18 points in 25 games for Dynamo St. Petersburg in Russia’s second-tier VHL, and had six points in eight games at the MHL level, which is Russia’s top junior league. Prokhorov will soon make his debut on this side of the Atlantic for a Bridgeport team that has already clinched its playoff spot, and is playing out its final season in Connecticut before an offseason relocation to Ontario.
- The Wild recalled netminder Cal Petersen from their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild today. Petersen, 31, is the No. 3 netminder on the Wild depth chart and will likely occupy a spare goalie role for the team during its first-round playoff series against the Dallas Stars. Recalling Petersen today allows him to join the team in advance of the start of their series against Dallas. The AHL Wild have already been eliminated from playoff contention, so today’s move turns over their net to Samuel Hlavaj and Riley Mercer, while allowing the team’s No. 3 goalie to join the NHL team and provide them with additional insurance in case one of Minnesota’s two regular goalies (Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson) become unavailable.
- The Kraken reassigned forward Jani Nyman and netminders Niklas Kokko and Victor Ostman to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. With the Kraken’s season concluded, the move allows three potentially significant contributors to re-join Coachella Valley in advance of what the club hopes will be another extended playoff run. Nyman, 21, scored 21 goals and 33 points in 38 games at the AHL level this season, and was the Firebird’s leading goal scorer in 2024-25. Kokko, 22, went 18-10-2 in 33 games for Coachella Valley this season and posted a .903 save percentage. Ostman, 25, signed out of the University of Maine for 2024-25 and spent last season as a tandem goalie in the ECHL. He has had a strong AHL campaign in his second year of pro hockey, going 17-14-3 with a .907 save percentage in 35 games with Coachella Valley.
- The Canucks announced that forward Ty Mueller and defenseman Kirill Kudryavtsev have been reassigned to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. Both Mueller and Kudryavtsev had been on the Canucks’ NHL roster in the final days of the club’s NHL campaign. They have each been key AHL contributors this season. Mueller, 23, scored 35 points in 58 games this year for the AHL Canucks, while Kudryavtsev, 22, scored 18 points in 42 games playing a top-four role including time on both sides of special teams.
- The Ducks reassigned defenseman Tristan Luneau to their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, as the team prepares for their first-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers. The 22-year-old got into his first NHL game yesterday. A 2022 second-round pick, Luneau has been one of the AHL’s most productive offensive defensemen since joining the league. He led San Diego in scoring last season with 52 points in 59 games, and leads the team in scoring by a defenseman this year with 41 points in 69 contests.
- In a similar move to the Wild’s recall of Petersen, the Senators recalled netminder Leevi Merilainen from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators today. Belleville, like Iowa, has already been eliminated from playoff contention, so Ottawa is seemingly content to turn its AHL net over to other names for the final games of the season while getting the team’s No. 3 goalie onto their NHL roster a few days early. Merilainen played a solid 18 games for Belleville this season, posting a .909 save percentage, but struggled in 20 games at the NHL level. His .860 save percentage in 20 games with the Senators this season is the lowest save percentage by any goalie with at least 15 games played.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Minor Transactions: 4/16/2026
The wave of minor-league assignments is continuing with the NHL regular season nearly completed. Pro Hockey Rumors will continue to track the movement around the AHL in the latest minor transactions tracker:
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled goalie prospect Carson Bjarnason in preperation for their first round matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bjarnason will serve as a black ace with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms eliminated from playoff contention. Bjarnason recorded 14 wins and a .887 save percentage in 32 AHL games this season. He also split results, and recorded a .881 save percentage, in two ECHL games. This was Bjarnason’s first year of professional hockey after four seasons with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. The 20 year old recorded a .903 save percentage across 156 career games in the WHL.
- The Colorado Avalanche are also padding their room of black aces, recalling forwards Alex Barre-Boulet and Jason Polin. Both players spent the bulk of their year in the AHL. Barre-Boulet led the Colorado Eagles with 26 goals and 70 points in 69 games – and added one assist in the only NHL game of his season. Polin was slightly less productive, with 21 points in 45 AHL games and no scoring in three NHL games. The duo will offer forward depth behind an Avalanche squad that has rotated through injuries this season.
- Forward Cole O’Hara could make his NHL debut in the Nashville Predators’ season finale. The 23 year old has been called up after leading the Milwaukee Admirals in goals (19) and ranking fourth in points (44) through 65 games this season. This was also O’Hara’s first pro season after three years at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He had a breakout season last year, netting 22 goals and 51 points in 40 games – 33 more points than he managed in 37 games of the 2023-24 season. O’Hara kept that scoring up through his rookie season in the AHL and could now get a chance to score against NHL talent.
- Headed back to the minors is goaltender Brandon Halverson, who recently helped the Tampa Bay Lightning respond to Jonas Johansson‘s short-term injury. Halverson recorded one loss and a .810 save percentage in 57 minutes – and two games – of NHL action this season. He started for the Syracuse Crunch for much of the year and recorded 24 wins and a .906 save percentage in 42 AHL games. He’ll now return to his post to help Syracuse keep up their strong play into the Calder Cup Playoffs.
- The Calgar Flames have also called up a goaltender. Prospect Arsenii Sergeev is on the NHL roster under emergency conditions with Devin Cooley set to miss Calgary’s season finale due to illness. Sergeev will make his NHL debut in game 82. The 24 year old recorded five wins and a .898 save percentage in 28 AHL games this season. He also split results, and recorded a .922 save percentage, in 12 ECHL games. Sergeev was a strong starter in college, recording save percentages north of .910 in two seasons with the University of Connecticut and one season at Pennsylvania State University. Thursday could be the bright side to a quiet season for the first-year pro.
- Top Edmonton Oilers prospect Isaac Howard has been loaned to the AHL. He will support the Bakersfield Condors’ push in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Howard scored 22 goals and 47 points in 45 AHL games this season. He ranked second in goals on Bakersfield and was the only Condor to score above a point-per-game pace this season. Howard also scored five points in the first 29 games of his NHL career this season. The 2025 Hobey Baker Award winner is also a first-year pro and should fill a substantial role in the AHL postseason.
- The Washington Capitals have assigned 2025 second-round pick Milton Gastrin to the AHL following the end of his season in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan. Gastrin racked up 10 goals and 24 points in 39 games in Sweden’s second-tier pro league and added four more points in 13 playoff games. He scored 42 points in 40 games in Sweden’s U20 league in the 2024-25 season. The bulky Gastrin should bring a boost of forechecking pressure and playmaking ability to the Hershey Bears lineup just in time for their perennial run into the postseason.
- A cohort of top prospects is headed to the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Detroit Red Wings have assigned Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Carter Mazur, Axel Sandin Pellikka, and Dominik Shine to the minor leagues. Brandsegg-Nygard finished the year third on the Griffins in scoring with 44 points in 58 games. He added one assist in 14 NHL games. Shine finished the year with 37 points in 38 AHL games and three points in 18 NHL games. Mazur was also a point-per-game player in the minors, with 15 points in 14 AHL games – but no scoring in eight NHL appearances. Of the bunch, Sandin-Pellikka was the only to play the bulk of his year in the NHL. He scored 21 points in 68 games of his first season in North America. The quartet should each assume top-end roles on a Griffins lineup that has added a substantial amount of talent late in the season.
Flames Recall Rory Kerins
The Flames announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled forward Rory Kerins from AHL Calgary. In doing so, they’ve used up the last of the five standard recalls available after the trade deadline, so they won’t be able to make any non-emergency moves before Thursday’s season finale against the Kings. Kerins will be an option to dress tonight against the Avalanche, though.
Kerins has seven NHL games to his name, all coming over the last two seasons. He got a brief recall back in November, during which he suited up in back-to-back games, so he won’t be making his season debut if he plays. The 2020 sixth-rounder got off to a hot start last year, rattling off four assists and a +3 rating through his first five NHL games before being returned to the minors. He didn’t get on the scoresheet in either appearance earlier this season.
The 24-year-old has worked his way up the organization’s depth chart on the heels of some spectacular minor-league offensive performances. As a first-year pro in 2022-23, he was one point shy of a point per game for ECHL Rapid City. He’s now held a full-time AHL role for the past three years and has a lifetime 72-77–149 scoring line in 182 games. That includes a 33-goal, 61-point showing in 63 games last year and another 22 goals and 54 points in 55 games this season.
The 5’11’, 190-lb center has some defensive flaws, though, that have kept him from progressing further into more NHL roles. That, plus the fact he projects as more of a winger at the NHL level, where the Flames are deeper, creates a numbers game that doesn’t fall in his favor when put up against younger, higher draft pedigree names like Matvei Gridin, Samuel Honzek, and Brennan Othmann.
Kerins did pass through waivers unclaimed at the beginning of this season, so that also likely won’t be much of a concern for Calgary moving forward. A pending restricted free agent, they face a choice of whether to qualify him in June, extend him before then, or let him walk to open up a contract slot. His qualifying offer is only a two-way deal with a cap hit of $813,750, so they certainly won’t balk financially at sending that his way.
Wyttenbach Wins NCAA Rookie Of The Year Award
Flames prospect Ethan Wyttenbach won the Tim Taylor Award for Rookie of the Year. The 19-year-old was a fifth-round pick (144th overall) last June and had quite the freshman year at Quinnipiac. He played in 40 games, tallying 25 goals and 34 assists. That was good enough to not only lead his team in scoring but all of Division I. Unsurprisingly, he was also a Top 10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.
Flames Sign Abram Wiebe To Entry-Level Deal
1:15 p.m.: The Flames have officially announced Wiebe’s signing. Per PuckPedia, it’s actually a cap hit of $950K that carries an NHL salary of $855K, a $95K signing bonus, and a minors salary of $82.5K each season. He’ll be owed a $940.5K qualifying offer upon expiry in 2027 as a 10.2(c) player.
10:48 a.m.: The Flames are expected to sign defense prospect Abram Wiebe to his entry-level contract, per reports from Frank Seravalli of Victory+ and Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960. It will be a two-year deal that will take effect immediately, carrying a prorated cap hit of $980K and making him a restricted free agent following the 2026-27 season.
Wiebe’s junior season at the University of North Dakota came to an end Thursday afternoon as the Fighting Hawks were upset in the NCAA national semifinals by Wisconsin. Calgary had acquired the 22-year-old’s signing rights from the Golden Knights in January as part of the Rasmus Andersson deal. He was a seventh-round pick in Vegas in 2022, then out of the Chilliwack Chiefs of the junior-level British Columbia Hockey League.
The 6’3″, 209-lb lefty has had a good run at North Dakota over the past few years. After being named the BCHL’s top defenseman and a first-team All-Star in 2022-23, he compiled a 10-53–63 scoring line with a +25 rating in 118 career outings for the Fighting Hawks.
He capped things off with a 29-point, +13 showing in 40 games this season as an alternate captain, serving as their #2 defenseman behind undrafted free agent Jake Livanavage and playing over 20 minutes a night. He made it onto the NCHC’s second All-Star team and helped propel the Fighting Hawks to their second regular-season conference championship in his three years with the program.
Needless to say, Wiebe turns pro carrying more prestige than a standard seventh-rounder. He’s the #9 prospect in a Calgary pool that ranks top-three in the league, according to The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, and is of particular long-term importance to a club without much current or future depth on the left side of their blue line.
Their current group of lefties consists of Kevin Bahl, Olli Määttä, Joel Hanley and Yan Kuznetsov – all of whom are signed through at least next season. Bahl and Hanley are currently injured, though, so there’s an immediate opportunity for Wiebe to step into a third-pairing role behind Kuznetsov and Määttä for the final four games of the season.
Kevin Bahl Leaves Due To Injury
The Calgary Flames revealed mid-game that Kevin Bahl would not return in Dallas due to a lower-body injury. Bahl went in to deliver a routine check on Thomas Harley, catching an edge badly on his right leg. He completed the hit but immediately favored his knee.
The 25-year-old is hardly a household name, but he’s been a steady presence in Calgary all year. Bahl leads all Flames skaters in ice time at 22:13 a night, serving as a top pairing minute-eater, playing in 75 games and missing just one to this point. His efforts are worthy of a long term extension in Calgary which was inked last June.
Flames Reassign Brennan Othmann
The Flames reassigned winger prospect Brennan Othmann to AHL Calgary on Sunday, per a team announcement.
Calgary acquired Othmann, the #16 overall pick in the 2021 draft, from the Rangers on deadline day in exchange for 2024 second-rounder Jacob Battaglia. The Blueshirts had been shopping Othmann, who was never able to push above a call-up/fourth-line slot on the depth chart, dating back to the beginning of the season, but ultimately didn’t find the fit to move him as part of a larger deal. Instead, the Flames took him on as a more traditional change-of-scenery candidate while the Rangers still managed to recoup an even younger winger still with middle-six upside.
Othmann’s early returns in the Flames organization haven’t been overwhelmingly positive. Through 10 AHL games after the trade, he’s still scoreless and has only managed five assists with a -7 rating. Calgary still decided to give him a shot late last month, playing him in back-to-back games against the Canucks and Avalanche to close their March schedule. He had a goal and an assist, averaging 11:04 per game, but he was used puzzlingly in a checking role (81.0 dZS% at 5-on-5), and his possession numbers suffered for it. The fact that Othmann managed seven shot attempts despite spending so much time in his own end is something to applaud, though.
The 23-year-old was scratched in back-to-back games last week, so it’s of little surprise that the Flames have opted to get him back playing in the AHL instead of having him sit around as a healthy extra. Calgary has shown they’re keen on rotating some of their younger bubble players into the lineup to close out another season without playoff action, recently recalling Aydar Suniev and getting 2024 first-rounder Matvei Gridin into a top-six role.
Othmann will require waivers to head to the minors beginning next season. Calgary will need to decide whether his AHL production – 41 goals and 90 points in 130 career games – is worth earmarking an NHL roster spot for him, regardless of his training camp performance, to avoid the risk of losing him for nothing in the fall.
Flames Recall Aydar Suniev
The Flames recalled wing prospect Aydar Suniev from AHL Calgary on Friday, per a team announcement. It appears he’ll be getting a look in the lineup this weekend against the Ducks as Calgary continues to flex its youngsters into limited trial roles down the stretch. In doing so, they’ve now used up four of the five regular recalls they’re allotted after the trade deadline.
If he gets into a game, it’ll be Suniev’s first since making his NHL debut in Game 82 of last season. The 21-year-old was a third-round pick in 2023 out of the Penticton Vees, then of British Columbia’s junior ‘A’ league, before spending the next two seasons at UMass. He starred as a sophomore for the Minutemen, posting 20 goals and 38 points in 35 games, before opting to turn pro.
Suniev hasn’t had the adjustment the Flames were hoping for. He hasn’t done much to push for a recall throughout the season. His work-in-progress skating has severely hampered his two-way utility, so while he’s tied for fourth on the AHL squad with 15 goals in 55 games, he’s added just eight assists and has a team-worst -26 rating.
As Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff opined last offseason, Suniev is the Flames’ #10 prospect and can easily rise up that list if the club’s development coaches are able to continue working on his skating. He’ll get a brief check-in at the NHL level here with seven games left in the Flames’ season to see how he looks against tougher competition. If there isn’t some meaningful progress there, though, the 6’2″, 198-lb winger will likely need to start leveraging his frame more to try and carve out a role as a bottom-six grinder.