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
The AHL is planning to start on February 5, with 28 teams set to go. Three teams have opted out: the Charlotte Checkers (Florida Panthers), Milwalkee Admirals (Nashville Predators), and Springfield Thunderbirds (St. Louis Blues). As of now, St. Louis will be sharing the Utica Comets with the Vancouver Canucks, but no news on the other two.
There are four AHL teams that are moving their affiliates as well. With the NHL already underway, expect AHL camps to get underway quickly.
QMJHL
The league is on pause until mid January. The league is looking at putting the Quebec teams in four bubbles to play games from January 29 to February 6. For teams in the Maritimes, the hope was that teams would begin playing as normal by January 21st, but that has since been postponed.
WHL
After some delays, the WHL has committed to playing a 24 game season. There is no start date, but the expectation is that the league will start in mid February. Still awaiting news from the league.
NCAA
Both the Big-10 and Hockey East are back at it again, but some teams are having issues with COVID-19.
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
The SHL and Allsvenskan are operational currently.
The J-20 Nationell has been cancelled due to numerous cases of COVID-19.
Prospect breakdown
Although there are numerous leagues on pause, the Flames have done what they can to get their players playing. With the AHL due to start shortly, expect many more Flames’ prospects to get started again. To learn more about the various leagues where the Flames players are playing, check out our guide on all major hockey leagues outside 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
- Big news this week as the Cape Breton Eagles have traded The Pride of Beaver Bank, Nova Scotia, Ryan Francis, to the Saint John Sea Dogs. Francis will suit up alongside Jeremie Poirier when their season gets restarted.
- Another game, another point for Josh Nodler. He popped in a beautiful goal short side from a bad angle. Unfortunately, MSU lost both games this weekend.
- A couple of highly touted prospects are starting to come back down to normal production levels. Johannes Kinnvall started off at a point per game pace, but has since dropped just below that. He still picked up two points this week.
- The other is Daniil Chechelev, who sits at a 0.910 save percentage in the VHL, Russia’s second highest league. He picked up two wins last week for Ryazan.
- After missing a few games for undisclosed reasons, Friend of the Blog, Demetrios Koumontzis, was back in the lineup for Arizona State. Playing on the second line, he picked up an assist this weekend.
- Speaking of players being back, Friend of the Blog, Yan Kuznetsov, returned to NCAA action for UConn after playing for Team Russia at the World Juniors. The #IceBus picked up a sweep of UNH this weekend, and Kuznetsov added one helper. They face the number one ranked Boston College this weekend.
Overall totals for all Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | PPG | SHG | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feuk, Lucas | LW | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.1 | AIK | Allsvenskan |
| 8 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 0 | AIK | U20 Nationell | |||
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Kalix HC | HockeyEttan | |||
| 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 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 17.6 | Arizona State Sun Devils | NCAA |
| Mattson, Mitchell | C | 14 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7.8 | Michigan State Spartans | NCAA |
| Nikolayev, Ilya | C | 16 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 12.9 | Loko Yaroslavl | MHL |
| 31 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 11.1 | Buran Voronezh | VHL | ||
| Nodler, Josh | C | 14 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 17.6 | 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 |
| 22 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 2 | 1 | HC Kosice | Slovakia | |||
| Ruzicka, Adam | C/RW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Sveningsson, Filip | LW | 29 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 7.9 | 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 |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Notre Dame | NCAA | ||
| Kinnvall, Johannes | RHD | 25 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 39.1 | HV-71 | SHL |
| Kuznetsov, Yan | LHD | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 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 | 34 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 11.6 | 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
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | W | L | SO | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chechelev, Daniil | G | 17 | 2.67 | 0.910 | 8 | 4 | 2 | HK Ryazan | VHL |
| 14 | 2.23 | 0.932 | 11 | 3 | 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.
Photo credits: MSU
