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. There are some reports that the Calgary Flames’ affiliate, Stockton Heat will be moving as well but nothing confirmed. We broke down the pros and cons of this move here.
QMJHL
Quebec teams played their first weekend in a “Protected Environment”. Four bubbles were set up with three teams in each. Starting January 30th for a week, there will be three bubbles with four teams in each. Nova Scotia teams have gotten the go ahead to play, and will resume with games this weekend. New Brunswick teams will have to wait until they get the all-clear from health officials.
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.
OHL
Still no news on a start date.
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.
Standout Performer
Lucas Feuk- Kalix HC HockeyEttan
| GP | G | A | P | PPG | SHG | NHLe | |
| This week | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Season | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Last year’s 2019 pick has had some ups and downs this season. Too good for the J-20 in Sweden but seemingly not good enough for the SHL, Feuk has struggled to make an impact on the scoresheet. Now that the Swedish J-20 has shut down, Feuk has been loaned to the HockeyEttan, Sweden’s third division, where he is lighting it up.
Running at a point-per-game pace, Feuk has been electric. He had three goals and an assist in two games over the last week, and has been a force on the ice. That being said, Kalix sits at the bottom of the league with just one win all season. Hopefully Feuk can help turn that around.
This and that
- The big news this week was rumours surfaced that the Stockton Heat would be playing their games in Calgary this season. We broke down the pros and cons of that move here.
- Things are very slow for the Flames prospects in the QMJHL. Jakob Pelletier is finishing his quarantine in Val d’Or. The Foreurs have made some additions, and currently have four of the top six draft picks from the 2017 QMJHL draft on their roster.
- No games in sight for the Saint John Seadogs, with New Brunswick not allowing games until the situation in the province improves. It may be a while until Flames fans can catch Jeremie Poirier and Ryan Francis playing together.
- Moving down south, the Flames’ prospects in the Big-10, Josh Nodler, Mitchell Mattson, Jake Boltmann, and Demetrios Koumontzis all had quiet weekends. Mattson was the 13th forward in Michigan State’s first game against Ohio State. Good news is they won the second game, in which Mattson featured.
- Nodler was moved down to the second line for the first time this season. He had previously been the first line centre on the team. Mattson remains on the bottom line.
- Jake Boltmann has featured in six games for Notre Dame, but still has no points. However, according to College Hockey News, he has looked really good for the team and has been a nice addition. Keep an eye on him as Notre Dame has been selected to host the Big-10 Tournament this season. They have been excellent on the road, but boast a less than stellar 3-8-1 record at home.
- Good news and bad news for Daniil Chechelev this week. Good news, he featured in three games and saw his stat line improve. Bad news, Ryazan lost all three games. Chechelev is one of the youngest goalies in the VHL, and one of only two under 20 goalies who have played more than 20 games this season. His development path is long, but if he can keep improving, he could be a good option for the Flames in a few years.
- Finally, Friend of the Blog Yan Kuznetsov picked up his first goal as the UConn Huskies split the weekend series with Spencer Knight and the number one ranked Boston College. The Flames’ second round pick sniped one from the blue line that evaded everyone, including the goalie. Check it out below:
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 | J-20 Nationell | |||
| 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Kalix HC | HockeyEttan | |||
| Francis, Ryan | C | 15 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 3 | 1 | 32.6 | Saint John Seadogs | 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 | 16 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 15.4 | Arizona State Sun Devils | NCAA |
| Mattson, Mitchell | C | 16 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6.8 | Michigan State Spartans | NCAA |
| Nikolayev, Ilya | C | 16 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 12.9 | Loko Yaroslavl | MHL |
| 32 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 10.7 | Buran Voronezh | VHL | ||
| Nodler, Josh | C | 16 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 15.4 | 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 | 31 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6.7 | 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 |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Notre Dame | NCAA | ||
| Kinnvall, Johannes | RHD | 27 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 39.1 | HV-71 | SHL |
| Kuznetsov, Yan | LHD | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 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 | 35 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 11.3 | 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 | 20 | 2.57 | 0.914 | 8 | 7 | 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
