Many Calgary Flames prospects were off for the holidays, and have only just returned to game action. However, Rory Kerins has returned to playing with an absolute bang. He and Ilya Nikolayev both recorded at least four points this past week, and both continue to climb up the point charts in their respective leagues. On the back end, both Dustin Wolf and Arseni Sergeev picked up wins this week, and Wolf even saw some time with the big club. Let’s break it all down.
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.
Want to see where all the Flames’ prospects are playing this year? Check out our map visualization here:
Standout Performer
Rory Kerins – Soo Greyhounds (OHL)
| GP | G | A | P | P/GP | NHLe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This week | 3 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2.3 | N/A |
| Season total | 29 | 18 | 33 | 51 | 1.76 | 46.6 |
The Ontario Hockey League is a darn good league, so to be dominating it as a 19-year-old is a huge accomplishment. Rory Kerins continues to impress this season, and yet again showed why he was such a good find by the Flames in the sixth round of the draft. This week he had four goals and three assists for the Soo Greyhounds won two and lost one this weekend. They sit atop of the OHL’s West Division currently.
Here are Kerins’ goals this week:
I want to zero in on two things—both of which are evident in the last goal. First is his shot, which is especially strong and deadly accurate for his age. Kerins has 17 goals this season, and so many of them go high on goalies, which is very promising for his future in the NHL.
Second, and perhaps most importantly, is his unwillingness to give up on the play. Kerins just does not let the play die, taking a rebound, redistributing it, then turning a broken play into an unbelievable goal to tie the game up. It is this attitude that has been the difference for the Greyhounds this season.
Kerins became the fourth OHL skater to crack the 50-point mark this year, and only the second non-over-age skater to do so to this point. He is putting up a whopping 1.76 points-per-game, which is just obscene for his age and draft pedigree.
He is almost certainly going to earn an ELC at the end of the year, and will go on to the Stockton Heat next season. He probably needs a bit of seasoning at the AHL level before he is ready for an NHL look, but given his production at this level, there is a good chance that the Flames have an NHLer in Kerins.
This and that
AHL
- The Heat played two games this week. The first was a 4–0 shutout at the hands of the San Jose Barracuda on New Year’s Eve. They then responded with a 4–1 win over the same Barracuda a couple days later.
- The difference between the two games was Dustin Wolf, who stopped 33 of 34 in the win, while Andrew Shortridge went 22 for 26. The latter was subsequently sent down to Kansas City, while the former spent a few days with the Flames, playing backup to Jacob Markstrom.
- Wolf was named the AHL’s Goalie of the Month for December, becoming the first Heat netminder ever to win the award. He is putting up unprecedentedly good numbers this season.
- Daniil Chechelev has been called up to Stockton from KC. Surprisingly, he has remained up for the time being, and will hopefully get into a game for the Heat. It would be great to see how he does at this level.
- With just four goals for the Heat this week, nobody particularly impressed on the score sheet. The Heat got scoring by committee, with the top line netting the prettiest goal of the lot off the stick of Jakob Pelletier. He leads the AHL in rookie scoring and was snubbed on the Rookie of the Month Award this month. Check out his goal here:
- Pelletier has played in all situations this season, and has been trusted with heavy minuteson the Heat’s top penalty kill unit. The team has killed off 50 of their last 51 penalties, and have scored three shorthanded goals in that time. Pelletier deserves a call-up at some point this season
- As pretty as Pelletier’s goal was, perhaps more impressive was the assist from Matthew Phillips. It continues to baffle that the Flames have not given him a call-up at the NHL level yet this season. He looked impressive in the last game of the season last year, but hasn’t earned anything since. He sits at the point-per-game mark.
QMJHL
- While there were no games in the Q for the Christmas Break, the trade market has been very hot as teams try to load up for the playoffs.
- The Halifax Mooseheads are allegedly very close to trading Elliot Desnoyers to the Saint John Sea Dogs. He has been inside the top-20 of Q scoring in each of the last two seasons, and currently sits 11th in points per game.
NCAA
- Harvard played their first game after Christmas without Matthew Coronato. He led team USA in icetime in their one game at the World Juniors and recorded one assist. It is heartbreaking that this would have been his one chance to represent his country at the tournament, but hopefully he will be able to lead Harvard to the Frozen Four Title this spring.
- Josh Nodler recorded a goal for Michigan State this week. No games again for Mitchell Mattson.
- One assist for Demetrios Koumontzis as ASU swept Cornell this past weekend. As usual, Koumontzis’ fit was on point
Swedish hockey
- No points for Emil Heineman this week. He has been bumped down to the fourth line but remains in the SHL.
- It was a big week for Lucas Feuk (pronounced “folk”) as he put up three goals in the HockeyEttan, Sweden’s third division. He will remain there for the remainder of the year.
USHL
- Another huge week for Ilya Nikolayev. The former third round selection had two goals and two assists in Tri City’s two victories this weekend. He continues to impress.
- The big question around him is what next steps looks like. The USHL is a fine league, but making the jump to the AHL is very large. He is eligible to play in the NCAA, but as a 20-year-old currently, he won’t be able to go play in the CHL. Odds are he probably goes to Stockton next season, but time will tell.
- Arseni Sergeev continues to impress in net for the Storm. He played both games and won both this weekend. He remains the top goalie in the league.
- Don’t put him on your top-10 prospects list quite yet. The USHL is a good league, but until he has a couple seasons under his belt, particularly against tougher competition at the college level and beyond, you simply do not know how good he can be.
WHL
- No points for either Cole Jordan or Lucas Ciona. Ciona has tied his personal best in points with 13, and will almost certainly exceed that this season.
- Jordan has been playing top pairing for Moose Jaw this season, which is always a good sign even if his numbers have not jumped off the board yet.
OHL
- Jack Beck continues to be out of the lineup. There is no timetable for his return.
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)
- Adam Ruzicka (AHL) 49.0 (Same)
- Rory Kerins (OHL): 46.6 (+2)
- Jakob Pelletier (AHL): 44.6 (Same)
- Glenn Gawdin (AHL): 41.1(-2)
- Matthew Phillips (AHL) 39.3 (Same)
Overall regular season totals for all Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Beck | LW/RW | 12 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 1.42 | 6 | 37.6 | Ottawa 67’s | OHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 26 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 0.5 | 46 | 12.4 | Seattle Thunderbirds | WHL |
| Matthew Coronato | RW | 11 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 1.1 | 2 | 25.0 | Harvard Crimsons | NCAA |
| Walker Duehr | RW | 17 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0.4 | 8 | 16.3 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Mathias Emilio Pettersen | C/LW | 20 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0.3 | 4 | 12.0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Lucas Feuk | C/W | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.2 | 0 | N/A | Vasterviks IK | HockeyAllsvenskan |
| C/W | 12 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 0.8 | 18 | N/A | Nybro IF | HockeyEttan | |
| Ryan Francis | RW/C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| RW/C | 18 | 6 | 17 | 23 | 1.3 | 12 | 29.8 | St John Sea Dogs | QMJHL | |
| Glenn Gawdin | C/RW | 23 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 1.0 | 24 | 41.4 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Emil Heineman | LW/RW | 30 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 0.4 | 16 | 19.5 | Leksands IF | SHL |
| LW/RW | 8 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0.6 | 0 | N/A | Leksands IF | Champions HL | |
| Cole Huckins | C | 24 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 0.9 | 41 | 21.4 | Acadie Bathurst Titans | QMJHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 29 | 18 | 33 | 51 | 1.8 | 10 | 46.6 | Soo Greyhounds | OHL |
| Justin Kirkland | C/W | 24 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 0.4 | 26 | 14.3 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Demetrios Koumontzis | LW | 22 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 0.5 | 16 | N/A | Arizona State Sun Devils | NCAA |
| Mitchell Mattson | C | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.2 | 2 | 5.5 | Michigan State Spartans | NCAA |
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 23 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 1.0 | 25 | 22.1 | Tri-City Storm | USHL |
| Josh Nodler | C/RW | 20 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 0.6 | 4 | 16.4 | Michigan State Spartans | NCAA |
| Jakob Pelletier | C/LW | 25 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 1.1 | 6 | 44.6 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Matthew Phillips | C/RW | 22 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 1.0 | 8 | 39.9 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Luke Philp | C/RW | 25 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 0.6 | 10 | 23.9 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 17 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 0.7 | 29 | 25.9 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Adam Ruzicka | C | 13 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 1.2 | 2 | 49.0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 29 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 0.8 | 10 | N/A | Rogle BK J20 | J20 Nationell |
| LW | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | N/A | Rogle BK | Champions HL | |
| LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rogle BK | SHL | |
| Tuulola, Eetu | RW | 20 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 0.3 | 19 | 15.9 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Connor Zary | C | 17 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0.5 | 6 | 18.7 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Dmitri Zavgorodny | W/C | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| W/C | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 21.8 | HC Sochi | KHL |
Defencemen
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Boltmann | RHD | 19 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0.5 | 16 | 12.8 | Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Cole Jordan | LHD | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.2 | 16 | 5.0 | Moose Jaw Warriors | WHL |
| Johannes Kinnvall | RHD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| LHD | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0.8 | 0 | 17.5 | St John Sea Dogs | QMJHL | |
| Connor Mackey | LHD | 25 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 0.5 | 22 | 22.3 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 30 | 9 | 23 | 31 | 1.1 | 20 | 24.9 | St. John Sea Dogs | QMJHL |
| Colton Poolman | LHD | 22 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0.2 | 10 | 9.2 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 17 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0.3 | 6 | 11.6 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Cameron Whynot | LHD | 28 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 0.5 | 32 | 12.6 | Halifax Mooseheads | QMJHL |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Record | Shutouts | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chechelev, Daniil | G | 8 | 3.13 | 0.899 | 5-5-1 | 0 | Kansas City Mavericks | ECHL |
| Tyler Parsons | G | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0-0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Arseni Sergeev | G | 20 | 1.66 | 0.931 | 16-3-0 | 4 | Tri-City Storm | USHL |
| Dustin Wolf | G | 17 | 1.79 | 0.942 | 15-0-2 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Want to know more?
Still want to know more about the Flames prospects? Check out our interviews with a number of prospects down below:
Which prospects are you most excited about? Let us know below in the comments or on social media.
