Welcome to the TWC Flames prospect update. Each week, we’ll take a dive into how the Flames’ prospects have done in their respective leagues. With the ongoing pandemic, not every league is currently playing. Here is this week’s league status report:
AHL
Currently not playing. The most recent return date announced is February 5th, but it is likely tied to the NHL starting.
QMJHL
On pause until January 3.
WHL
Currently not playing. The league was expected to restart January 8th, but this has since been pushed back until a later date.
ECHL
Eleven of the ECHL’s 26 teams have opted out, with two others still on the fence. At the same time, numerous teams have started playing, including the Kansas City Mavericks. Standings to be determined by points percentage.
NCAA
Both the Big-10 and Hockey East are paused this week for finals. Wishing all the best to our NCAA players writing exams
ushl
The league is a go, but cases are still a growing concern.
Russian Leagues
Full steam ahead in Russia with all three leagues, MHL, VHL, and KHL currently operational. While there have been numerous cases of COVID-19, this has not slowed the league down much, with just the occasional game being cancelled.
Swedish Leagues
Ditto for the SHL and Allsvenskan – numerous teams including HV-71 have had to cancel games.
The J-20 Nationell has been postponed due to numerous cases of COVID-19.
Finnish Leagues
The Liiga has prematurely paused the season until December 19th.
Prospect breakdown
With the ongoing pandemic, numerous Flames prospects have been loaned overseas to get some playing time in. To learn more about the various leagues where the Flames players are playing, check out our guide on all major hockey leagues outsite of North America.
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.
Let’s get into it.
This and that
- And so ends the European adventures of many Flames prospects. Juuso Valimaki has returned home after a point-per-game stint with Ilves in Liiga.
- Time to come home for Dmitri Zavgorodny, who mentioned a trip to the opera as a highlight of his time.
- Artyom Zagidulin (who has played little), Eetu Tuulola (league on pause) and Martin Pospisil (third in PIMs in Slovakia) all remain on loan at this point.
- Pospisil missed both Friday and Sunday’s games in Slovakia for unknown reasons.
- Two losses for the ASU Sun Devils. Friend of the Blog Demetrios Koumontzis did not record any points.
- A goal and an assist for Nikolayev at Buran Voronezh in the VHL. 11 points so far in 23 games for the Flames’ third round pick.
- Another two points in two games for Johannes Kinnvall this week. He still stays a point-per-game player.
- Daniil Chechelev was the backup for Vityaz Podolsk in the KHL this weekend, although he did not play. He then went down the the MHL and picked up yet another win, showing off why Team Russia should have taken him to the World Juniors.
- Although Russia opted not to take Chechelev, they did select defenceman (and Friend of the Blog) Yan Kuznetsov. For the first time ever, Russia selected two players from the NCAA, him and fellow member of the UConn Ice Bus Vladislav Firstov.
- Team USA made their selection of Friend of the Blog Dustin Wolf official. He will likely be the backup goalie for their run this year.
- Team Canada has picked both of the Flames’ prospects that they invited to camp this year. Expect to see Connor Zary and Jakob Pelletier on the ice for the Red and White on Boxing Day against Team Germany.
Overall totals for all Flames prospects
Forwards
Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | PPG | SHG | NHLe | Team | League |
Feuk, Lucas | LW | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.9 | AIK | Allsvenskan |
8 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 0 | AIK | U20 Nationell | |||
Francis, Ryan | C | 15 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 3 | 1 | 32.6 | Cape Breton Eagles | QMJHL |
Gawdin, Glenn | C/RW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | EHC Visp | National League | ||
Kerins, Rory | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Soo Greyhounds | OHL |
Kirkland, Justin | LW/RW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Koumontzis, Demetrios | LW | 10 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.4 | Arizona State Sun Devils | NCAA |
Mattson, Mitchell | C | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13.7 | Michigan State Spartans | NCAA |
Nikolayev, Ilya | C | 12 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 16.0 | Loko Yaroslavl | MHL |
23 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 14.9 | Buran Voronezh | VHL | ||
Nodler, Josh | C | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 18.2 | Michigan State Spartans | NCAA |
Pelletier, Jakob | C/LW | 9 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 33.6 | Val-d’Or Foreurs | QMJHL |
Pettersen, Emilio | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Phillips, Matthew | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Philp, Luke | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Pospisil, Martin | C/LW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
17 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 2 | 1 | HC Kosice | Slovakia | |||
Ruzicka, Adam | C/RW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Sveningsson, Filip | LW | 17 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8.7 | MODO Hockey | Allsvenskan |
Tuulola, Eetu | RW | 11 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10.7 | Västerviks IK | Allsvenskan |
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | SaiPa | Liiga | ||
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL | ||
Zary, Connor | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kamloops Blazers | WHL |
Zavgorodny, Dmitri | C/RW | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.0 | SKA St Petersburg | KHL |
Defensemen
Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | PPG | SHG | NHLe | Team | League |
Boltmann, Jake | RHD | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Lincoln Stars | USHL |
Kinnvall, Johannes | RHD | 16 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 48.9 | HV-71 | SHL |
Kuznetsov, Yan | LHD | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16.1 | UConn Huskies | NCAA |
Lerby, Carl-Johan | LHD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Mackey, Connor | LHD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Poirier, Jeremie | LHD | 15 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 24.8 | St. John Sea Dogs | QMJHL |
Poolman, Colton | LHD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Solovoyov, Ilya | LHD | 24 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8.6 | Dynamo Minsk | KHL |
Valimaki, Juuso | LHD | 19 | 2 | 17 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 37.1 | Ilves | Liiga |
Yelesin, Alexander | RHD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Goalies
Position | GP | GAA | SV% | W | L | SO | Team | League | |
Chechelev, Daniil | G | 14 | 2.59 | 0.915 | 6 | 3 | 2 | HK Ryazan | VHL |
12 | 2.00 | 0.938 | 11 | 1 | 0 | Russkie Vityazi Chekhov | MHL | ||
Parsons, Tyler | G | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Wolf, Dustin | G | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Everett Silvertips | WHL |
Zagidulin, Artyom | G | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
5 | 4.24 | 0.869 | 1 | 4 | 0 | Metallurg Magnitogorsk | KHL |
Which prospects are you most excited about? Let us know below in the comments or on social media.