'Such An Unreal Feeling'

William Stromgren was in a bad mood Sunday, after the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers dropped a 4-0 decision to Tucson at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

But that funk was quickly allayed, when the 22-year-old was called into the coaches office, only to discover that he’d earned a call-up to the Flames.

Beaming ear to ear Monday morning, the Swedish winger said he quickly got on the phone to tell his family the good news.

“(I) figured I'd call my dad first, and then I called the rest of the family for sure,” he recalled. “My sisters, my mom, everybody.

“It was great, such a unreal feeling to be able to call them and say that I'm up with the big boys.”

Flames fans will have to wait to see Stromgren’s NHL debut - Head Coach Ryan Huska intimated that night could well come on Calgary’s five-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Montreal - but the call-up comes just as Stromgren is heating up.

He’s got nine points over his last five AHL appearances, and 29 points in 33 games with the Wranglers in 2025-26, a half-season he described Monday as one that’s seen him be impactful on a more regular basis.

“I think my consistency has been better, pace of play,” he said. “Even if you don't have points in a game, you still give your all, and you can still do the hard work and stuff, and keep that kind of compete level high and keep it as smooth as possible for every game.

“Points are going to fall in, (but) if they don't … you can do as much as you can to help the team win.”

Huska took in Sunday’s AHL contest at the ‘Dome, a chance to get a first-hand look at what his newest forward has to offer.

And in speaking with reporters Monday morning, it’s clear there’s a lot to Stromgren’s game that catches the eye.

“He's got that like slippery, lanky-type frame where he looks people off. He's a pass-first guy for sure, but I think he has good deception,” the bench boss said. “When you look at the game he played yesterday too, like I felt like he was our most physical forward for the Wranglers. So he's bringing some different things to the table right now.

“I feel like his skating has gotten better since training camp. To me, he looks like he's ready.”

And while Stromgren has yet to appear in a regular-season NHL game, he’s got several familiar faces to lean on inside the big club’s dressing room.

He only has to look as far as Calgary’s blueline to see recent examples of Wranglers enjoying success at the NHL level after being called up this season, too.

“I'm really close to Brew (Hunter Brzustewicz). It's just awesome seeing those guys, they’ve been doing a great job this year,” said Stromgren. Kuzy (Yan Kuznetsov), I lived with the guy a couple years ago.

“It’s just great seeing these guys come up, the hard work they do. It's just awesome being with them now.”

Stromgren was a second-round pick by the Flames in the 2021 Draft, and he came over from Europe to chase the NHL dream as a fresh-faced 20-year-old two summers later.

It’s already been a journey to get to this point, but Stromgren is eager to prove the best is yet to come.

“Just talking to my dad yesterday, kind of just (brought) me back a couple of years,” he reflected. “Where you started off, the dream you have all throughout growing up. It's a big dream, and then next dream is just getting a call, for sure.

“It's just a dream come true, but now I kind of just want to do anything to stay up here.”