Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Maintaining flexibility is always a key requirement for the AHL.
Even if you have one of the best records in the league.
The Calgary Wranglers got this reminder after losing their head coach last week Trent Carr Give the Father flame.
and Brad Larson Taking a personal leave of absence for family reasons, Carr was named interim assistant coach with the NHL club “for the foreseeable future.” Joe CirellaHe takes over as interim head coach of the Wranglers in his seventh season as an assistant coach with the Calgary AHL affiliate. To perfect these actions, Martin Gilinas Transitioning from developer to Cirella assistant Brett Sutter.
The Wranglers are the third AHL team to face a head coaching change this season, joining Utica and Rockford.
Beyond coaching shuffle, Calgary still without defenders Jonathan AspiroRepresented the Canadian national team in the Spengler Cup tournament in Switzerland while the forward Walker Doerr and Jacob Pelletier Recalled by the Flames after the Christmas break.
Calgary scored a league-high 41 points with a 20-9-1-0 record, including a .683 field goal percentage that was second only to Toronto (16-5-2-3, .712). But the Wranglers experienced their first turbulence in their season schedule, losing four of their last five games before the holidays. Last Sunday's 3-0 loss to last-place Henderson was the Wranglers' first shutout of the season, and the Silver Knights are now the only team to win twice at the Scotiabank Saddledome this season AHL visiting team.
Fortunately for the Wranglers, the long break gave them some time to readjust. They don't resume their schedule until Monday when Abbotsford comes to town. A game against the archrival Canucks should alleviate any post-holiday rust.
This will also be the head coaching debut for the 61-year-old Sirella, who has served as an assistant coach in the AHL, NHL and Ontario Hockey League for 23 seasons. Prior to that, he was selected fifth overall in the 1981 NHL Draft and played 828 games as a defenseman over 15 NHL seasons.
“With Trent coming up, we need to do whatever we can to help the team,” Cirella told WranglersTV after Sunday's game.
Having Cirella replace Cull should ensure a familiar feel to the Wrangler. During his seven seasons with the Wranglers and Stockton Heat, he was very productive in developing talent for the Flames, including Dustin Wolfe, Oliver Killington, Matt Coronato, Ryan Lomborg, Martin Pospisil, Andrew Mangiapane, Justin Kirkland and Connor Zari Graduated and entered the NHL.
“Hopefully we can continue to develop kids like we did before,” Cirella said, “and make them better players for our home team.”
About two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor for SiriusXM NHL Network Radio . In 2016, he received the AHL's James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league.
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