The Calgary Wranglers wrapped up their regular season in the AHL with an uninspiring five-game losing streak, capped off with a 3–2 loss to the Abbotsford Canucks. In fact, four of those five losses were to the Canucks, and the Wranglers scored just seven goals over those four losses.
Reinforcements have arrived in Calgary! With their respective seasons now over, Parker Bell, Samuel Honzek, Jaden Lipinski, Etienne Morin, and Hunter Brzustewicz have all joined the Wranglers.
Additionally, one of the Calgary Flames’ prospects outside of the Wranglers is (back) in action.
There’s so much to discuss; let’s dive into it!
Welcome to the TWC Calgary Flames prospect update. Each week, we’ll take a dive into how the Flames’ prospects have done in their respective leagues. We have defined a prospect as a skater who has played fewer than 65 NHL games and is younger than 25 years of age. All data is from QuantHockey and EliteProspects. We also use an NHLe calculator built by Christian Roatis (@Croatis), which is used to estimate a player’s equivalent point total in the NHL based on how they are performing in their respective league. The calculator uses the difficulty of the given league combined with the ease at which a player puts up points to determine the NHLe.
Flames prospect happenings
AHL
- The Wranglers dropped another pair of games to the Canucks this week to close out the regular season: a 4–3 overtime loss on Friday and a 3–2 loss on Saturday.
- This end to the season ensured that the Wranglers would finish seventh in the Pacific Division. Beginning tonight, they face the Tucson Roadrunners in a best-of-three first-round series.
- Ilya Solovyov picked up an assist this week. For a player not known for his offensive abilities, he’s had a decent season between the Wranglers and the Flames.
- Cole Schwindt added another assist. He earned himself a handful of games in the NHL, but that’s it. Overall, a fine season for Schwindt, but nothing to get too excited about.
- An assist for Yan Kuznetsov, too. Like Solovyov, he’s not known for his offence. Still, he’s put together a couple of decent seasons in the AHL now with 19 and 13 points, even seeing his first NHL game back in January.
- Adam Klapka picked up an assist on Saturday after being reassigned from the Flames.
- The strong second half continued for William Stromgren, who added another pair of assists this week. He finishes the regular season with 27 points in 68 games. While these numbers are underwhelming, it’s important to note that 15 of them have come since March 1.
- Sam Morton picked up a pair of goals in the regular season finale. He’s been a fine add from Minnesota State University collecting five goals and seven points in his first 13 professional games.
- Dustin Wolf saw action in the regular season finale, stopping 30 of 33 shots in the loss.
BCHL
- Cade Littler is back in action for the Penticton Vees!
- He returned for game one of the Vees’ round two matchup with the Vernon Vipers.
- The Vees took a quick 2–0 series lead over the Vipers on the back of a 4–3 OT win in game one and a 3–1 win in game two.
- While Littler didn’t hit the scoresheet, it’s encouraging to see him back in action.
ECHL
- Ilya Nikolayev was recalled by the Wranglers after the Rapid City Rush’s season ended. Unfortuntely, given the number of bodies the team now has, do not expect him to get regular minutes.
Europe
- All the Flames’ European prospects are done for the season.
- What happens next for Axel Hurtig is going to be interesting. The Calgary Hitmen own his North American rights, and there is a very good chance that he will play next season in the WHL with them.
NCAA
- All the Flames’ prospects are done in the NCAA.
- Aydar Suniev will be back with UMass next season.
- Arseni Sergeev will be playing with Penn State next season after transferring from UConn.
- The Flames have until August to sign Jake Boltmann, or they lose his rights. Smart money would say this is the end of the road for the former third-round pick.
OHL
- Hunter Brzustewicz has joined the Wranglers on an amateur tryout but has yet to see game action with the team.
QMJHL
- Etienne Morin is with the Wranglers on an amateur tryout but is expected to return to the QMJHL next season.
WHL
- All three of the Flames’ WHL prospects are done for the season, and all three are now in the AHL with the Wranglers. Parker Bell and Samuel Honzek will likely be with the Wranglers next season, while Jaden Lipinski probably needs one more season in the WHL before making the jump.
NHLe Leaderboard
NHLe is a metric used to estimate a player’s offensive output at the NHL level from their point totals in their respective league. Here are the Flames’ current top 5 (bracketed numbers denote movement from the previous week):
- Connor Zary: 66.6 (Same)
- Matt Coronato: 40.6 (Same)
- Martin Pospisil: 39.9 (Same)
- Hunter Brzustewicz: 36.3 (Same)
- Adam Klapka: 28.3 (Same)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker Bell | LW | 59 | 33 | 31 | 64 | 1.08 | 38 | 26.7 | Tri-City Americans | WHL |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | ||
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 55 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0.11 | 82 | 4.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Matt Coronato | RW/LW | 41 | 15 | 27 | 42 | 1.02 | 19 | 40.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Riley Damiani | C | 67 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 0.36 | 36 | 14.3 | Calgary Wranglers/Texas Stars | AHL |
| Samuel Honzek | LW/C | 33 | 10 | 21 | 31 | 0.94 | 18 | 23.3 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | ||
| Ben Jones | C | 72 | 21 | 22 | 43 | 0.60 | 59 | 23.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 54 | 16 | 16 | 32 | 0.59 | 8 | 23.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Adam Klapka | RW | 65 | 21 | 25 | 46 | 0.71 | 90 | 28.3 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Jaden Lipinski | C | 67 | 24 | 42 | 66 | 0.99 | 55 | 24.5 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | ||
| Cade Littler | C | 14 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 0.79 | 10 | 17.5 | Cedar Rapids RoughRiders | USHL |
| 24 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 0.88 | 14 | 9.4 | Penticton Vees | BCHL | ||
| Sam Morton | C | 13 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 0.54 | 4 | 21.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 29 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0.21 | 8 | 8.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| C | 6 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1.33 | 14 | N/A | Rapid City Rush | ECHL | |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1.00 | 6 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Cole Schwindt | C/RW | 66 | 14 | 22 | 36 | 0.55 | 31 | 21.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 68 | 7 | 20 | 27 | 0.40 | 16 | 15.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Aydar Suniev | LW | 36 | 12 | 13 | 25 | 0.69 | 25 | 22.2 | UMass | NCAA |
| Connor Zary | C | 6 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 1.67 | 2 | 66.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
Defencemen
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Boltmann | RHD | 30 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.07 | 22 | 2.3 | Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Hunter Brzustewicz | RHD | 67 | 13 | 79 | 92 | 1.37 | 24 | 36.3 | Kitchener Rangers | OHL |
| Artyom Grushnikov | LHD | 64 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0.09 | 40 | 3.6 | Calgary Wranglers/Texas Stars | AHL |
| Axel Hurtig | LHD | 27 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 0.41 | 35 | N/A | Rogle BK J20 | J20 Nationell |
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | Rogle BK | SHL | ||
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.25 | 0 | N/A | Kristianstads IK | HockeyEttan | ||
| Joni Jurmo | LHD | 46 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0.11 | 14 | 4.1 | KooKoo/Ilves | Liiga |
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 63 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 0.21 | 27 | 8.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Etienne Morin | LHD | 58 | 12 | 37 | 49 | 0.84 | 31 | 19.6 | Moncton Wildcats | QMJHL |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | ||
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 23 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 0.57 | 22 | 22.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 51 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 0.29 | 34 | 11.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arseni Sergeev | G | 16 | 2.70 | 0.913 | University of Connecticut | NCAA |
| Dustin Wolf | G | 36 | 2.45 | 0.922 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Yegor Yegorov | G | 25 | 2.46 | 0.917 | MHK Dynamo Moskva | MHL |
| Daniil Chechelev | G | 5 | 3.10 | 0.908 | Ryazan-VDV | VHL |
| 1 | 3.10 | 0.880 | Vityaz Moscow Region | KHL | ||
| Waltteri Ignatjew | G | 45 | 2.34 | 0.918 | Mora IK | HockeyAllsvenskan |
Following the prospects
Staying up to date with the development of prospects is no easy task. Follow along throughout the season for the latest happenings in the entire Flames’ development pipelines!
Photo from @AHLWranglers.
