Friend of the Blog Dustin Wolf may be the Calgary Flames’ goalie of the future. The American netminder has not allowed a goal against in two games so far this season. It was also a big week for the prospects on the East Coast, with Ryan Francis and Jeremie Poirier both having big weeks. Johannes Kinnvall and Tyler Parsons returned to the ice this week, but the Stockton Heat have a few new faces on the sidelines as they look to snap a losing skid. Lots to get into this week.
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. 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.
STANDOUT PERFORMER
Dustin Wolf- Everett Silvertips
GP | GAA | SV% | Record | SO | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
This week | 2 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 2-0-0 | 2 |
Season | 2 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 2-0-0 | 2 |
Who would’ve thought a former seventh round draft pick could be one of the Flames’ best prospects? The 19 year old has not allowed a goal yet in either of his starts, and is on route to breaking the WHL career shutout record. Although it has been just two games so far this season, Wolf has stopped all 40 shots he has faced, and was (unsurprisingly) the WHL’s Goalie of the Week.
These numbers are just building on an already impressive resume for Wolf. He has finished second among all WHL goalies for the last three seasons, and has played significantly more games than the goalie that finished first in two of those three years.
Clearly Wolf is too good for this league, but due to the NHL/CHL Transfer Agreement, CHL players can only play in the NHL or CHL. Before the start of the WHL season, Wolf played three games with the Stockton Heat, and leaving out the first ugly loss to the Toronto Marlies in which he allowed five goals on eleven shots, he finished with a 1.50 GAA and 0.954 save percentage.
Wolf is very very good for a 19 year old goalie, and will likely continue to grow his game in Everett this year. He has started to show (albeit in a very small sample size) that he can be competitive in the AHL. Barring a trade, Wolf will be fighting for the starting goalie job in Stockton next season, and could be ready for the NHL in a few years if this pace continues. Flames fans have been burned by multiple “goalies of the future” but Wolf is making a great case that he is the real deal.
Heat Update
Yikes! It has not been a great week for the Stockton Heat. When last we wrote, the Heat had won eight games straight then had that streak snapped by the Manitoba Moose. They then came home to face Laval, hoping to get back to their winning ways. Unfortunately, they dropped all four of their games against the Rockets, and dropped to second in the division.
Laval is a very strong side. They were able to control the Heat’s best players, limiting Friend of the Blog Matthew Phillips to just one goal and Glenn Gawdin to just three assists. They outshot the Heat in three of the four games, and were generally the better team throughout the series.
There is good news and bad news. The bad news is the Heat play 12 of their final 15 games on the road, but the good news is that they are 6-1-0 on the road. Here is hoping they are able to get out of this funk.
This and that
- Big news from the NCAA: Jake Boltmann and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been selected for the NCAA Tournament this year. They face off against #2 ranked Boston College on Saturday afternoon. We broke down what we know of him so far earlier this season.
- Elsewhere in the NCAA, both Josh Nodler and Mitchell Mattson picked up Academic All-Big-10 Honours. Great to see both balancing hockey with their academics.
- Across the pond, Johannes Kinnvall returned to action in the SHL for HV-71. Unfortunately, they lost 6-0.
- Other good news, Tyler Parsons has been cleared to return to practice after having ankle surgery in the off-season. He is currently undergoing quarantine, but should be back on the ice soon. He is going to be a prospect to watch this year.
- Bad news in Stockton. Already on a four game skid, the injuries continue to mount. Prospect Colton Poolman is day-to-day, while Martin Pospisil took a nasty knee-on-knee hit and will be out a for at least a month, per FlamesNation. The Laval player responsible for the hit has been suspended for four games.
- Ilya Solovyov’s Dinamo Minsk was knocked out of the KHL playoffs earlier in the month. He finished with one assist in five playoff games.
- Out on the East Coast, things could not be going better for the Saint John Sea Dogs. The team is currently 5-1 since returning to action earlier this month. Friend of the Blog Ryan Francis scored a beautiful shorthanded goal this week, and added three helpers. Jeremie Poirier also had two assists.
- Jakob Pelletier hasn’t been bad either in the Q. He added a goal and two more assists this week.
- Pelletier is currently 13th in the league in points, while Francis is 14th. Poirier is currently 61st, but is 11th among defencemen. In terms of points per game, Poirier is fifth among defencemen, while Francis is 7th and Pelletier is 11th. All three are above a point-per-game.
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 | |||
17 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 0 | 0 | Kalix HC | HockeyEttan | |||
Francis, Ryan | C | 21 | 11 | 22 | 33 | 4 | 2 | 36.6 | Saint John Seadogs | QMJHL |
Gawdin, Glenn | C/RW | 11 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 27.9 | 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 |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL | ||
Kirkland, Justin | LW/RW | 15 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 19.9 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Koumontzis, Demetrios | LW | 22 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 12.4 | Arizona State Sun Devils | NCAA |
Mattson, Mitchell | C | 21 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 | Michigan State Spartans | NCAA |
Nikolayev, Ilya | C | 21 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 12.7 | Loko Yaroslavl | MHL |
40 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 10.9 | Buran Voronezh | VHL | ||
Nodler, Josh | C | 27 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11.6 | Michigan State Spartans | NCAA |
Pelletier, Jakob | C/LW | 24 | 9 | 25 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 33.0 | Val-d’Or Foreurs | QMJHL |
Pettersen, Mathias Emilio | C | 14 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 31.3 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Phillips, Matthew | C | 15 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 42.7 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Philp, Luke | C | 15 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 37.0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Pospisil, Martin | C/LW | 14 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 31.3 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
22 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 2 | 1 | HC Kosice | Slovakia | |||
Ruzicka, Adam | C/RW | 15 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 39.9 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Sveningsson, Filip | LW | 46 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 8.4 | 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 | ||
13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9.2 | Stockton Heat | AHL | ||
Zary, Connor | C | 9 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 31.0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Kamloops Blazers | ||||||||||
Zavgorodny, Dmitri | C/RW | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.0 | SKA St Petersburg | KHL |
15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
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 |
19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Notre Dame | NCAA | ||
Kinnvall, Johannes | RHD | 30 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 37.1 | HV-71 | SHL |
Kuznetsov, Yan | LHD | 16 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12.9 | UConn Huskies | NCAA |
Lerby, Carl-Johan | LHD | 13 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 15.3 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Mackey, Connor | LHD | 15 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 17.1 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Poirier, Jeremie | LHD | 21 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 24.4 | St. John Sea Dogs | QMJHL |
Poolman, Colton | LHD | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Solovoyov, Ilya | LHD | 41 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 14.5 | Dynamo Minsk | KHL |
Yelesin, Alexander | RHD | 14 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Goalies
Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | W | L | SO | Team | League |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chechelev, Daniil | G | 21 | 2.58 | 0.912 | 8 | 7 | 3 | HK Ryazan | VHL |
19 | 2.49 | 0.924 | 11 | 7 | 0 | Russkie Vityazi Chekhov | MHL | ||
Parsons, Tyler | G | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Wolf, Dustin | G | 2 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Everett Silvertips | WHL |
3 | 3.24 | 0.895 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL | ||
Zagidulin, Artyom | G | 3 | 3.34 | 0.908 | 2 | 1 | 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.