Flames ready to audition this exciting forward prospect

It was already 1 a.m. back home, but William Stromgren couldn’t wait to share this news.

He’d just been called up by the Calgary Flames.

And so the 22-year-old from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, dialled his dad first, then his mom, his sisters and several of his closest pals.

“It was such an unreal feeling to be able to call them and say I’m up with the big boys,” Stromgren beamed.

His biggest fans must have had an inkling that this was coming.

Stromgren has, after all, been red-hot over the past couple of weeks, racking up four goals and nine points in his past five outings with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers. With 23 assists, he has been the top setup man this season for the farm club.

While this left-shot winger wasn’t immediately plugged into the lineup for Monday’s clash between the Flames and Seattle Kraken, he should be tapped for his NHL debut during the upcoming road trip.

Asked why Stromgren was picked for this promotion, which comes after a suspension/injury to fourth-line centre John Beecher, Flames head coach Ryan Huska stressed that he and general manager Craig Conroy have a simple criteria.

“I think over our time, with Connie, it’s always been who is playing the best down there,” Huska said. “Yes, we look at positions and who fits in what hole and all that, but I think you have to keep trying to reward players and William has been a really good player for them, both offensively and on the other side of the puck. So this was the time where we felt, after a long time in the minors, he deserves an opportunity to come up.”

Huska added that despite being held off the score-sheet, he was impressed with Stromgren’s work Sunday in a 4-0 shutout loss to the Tucson Roadrunners, noting the 6-foot-3, 190-pound prospect was determined to throw his weight around.

“I felt like he was our most physical forward for the Wranglers,” Huska assessed. “So he’s bringing some different things to the table right now. The other thing where I noticed a difference (Sunday) is the pace that he’s playing at. I feel like his skating has gotten better since training camp.

“To me, he looks like he’s ready.”

He feels ready.

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Just like he couldn’t wait to make those phone calls, he can hardly wait to show it.

A second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Stromgren has totalled 173 appearances in the AHL. He recently notched his 100th career point in the minors.

He will now try to follow the lead of Sam Honzek, Yan Kuznetsov and Hunter Brzustewicz, all guys who have been recalled from the farm club this season and don’t look like they’ll be headed back to the Wranglers anytime soon. (Honzek is now injured, but he’d established himself as an every-nighter before he was hurt.)

“Just talking to my dad yesterday, it kind of brings me back a couple years, to where you start off and the dream you have all throughout growing up,” Stromgren told reporters after Monday’s morning skate. “To get drafted is a big dream, and then the next dream is just getting a call, for sure.

“It’s awesome. It’s a dream come true. But now, I just want to do anything to stay up here. It’s back to business, I would say. I want to be here, help the guys win.”

wgilbertson@postmedia.com