Ideally, this will be Matvei Gridin’s one-and-only AHL all-star appearance.

A year from now, he’ll hopefully playing in the NHL full-time for the Calgary Flames.

To get picked for the AHL’s annual showcase game in his first professional season, though, is the type of thing that feels awfully nice to add to your resume.

“It’s awesome,” Gridin said. “To go to all-star at 19 is just awesome.”

On Thursday afternoon, Gridin officially was announced as the Calgary Wranglers’ representative at the 2026 all-star game, which will go down in Rockford, Ill., on Feb. 10 and 11.

It’s hardly a surprise. There were a couple other deserving candidates on the Wranglers roster — most notably Dryden Hunt, Rory Kerins and Martin Frk — but there can’t be many arguments about the young winger’s selection.

He has been on a rapid rise since September, when he turned heads at Calgary Flames training camp and led the team with three goals in six pre-season games, earning himself a spot on the opening night NHL roster.

He scored in the Flames’ opener, but lasted only four games before being sent down to the AHL for a little more seasoning with the Wranglers.

Why was he sent down?

There’s no shame in that. Nobody’s doubting Gridin’s scoring abilities, but he still needed to work on other areas of his game if he was going to be an effective everyday NHL player.

“I think right from Day 1, when he came down here he had the right mindset of making sure he gets better every day,” Wranglers head coach Brett Sutter said. “I think we’ve seen him have success offensively, but what I’m most proud of is everything else in his game and how it’s grown.

“He’s doing the right things away from the puck and it’s leading to success for himself and his linemates. I think everyone is pretty excited for him today.”

To be clear, it’s not like Gridin suddenly has changed his game entirely. He’s still got an eye for the net and is one of the Wranglers’ most consistent contributors. Selected 28th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft by the Flames, he probably has more offensive upside than any other forward in the organization’s prospect pipeline.

And his numbers in the AHL haven’t disappointed. They’re why he was selected as an all-star, as much as anything else.

Gridin’s AHL numbers

Through 32 games with the Wranglers this season, he already has recorded 10 goals and 18 assists, fifth on the team behind Kerins, Frk, Hunt and William Stromgren — who has spent the past week and a half with the Flames in the NHL.

When you consider that Gridin is still only 19 years old and could very easily have been sent back to the QMJHL for another season with the Shawinigan Cataractes, those numbers look even more impressive.

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Nobody wants him to lose any of those offensive instincts and there’s a good chance he’s spending a lot more time in the NHL before 2026 is through.

The scoring might get him there, but it will be work he has done improving other areas of his game since joining the Wranglers that will keep him up with the Flames.

“His work to get pucks back and his work to support his linemates and the defencemen out there has really come a long way,” Sutter said. “I think that’s a normal thing for a lot of young players, it’s offence or nothing else, but I think for him he’s realized how many more areas of the ice he can contribute in and he’s done a really good job of that as of late.”