Prospects

Calgary Flames Prospect Roundup: Kerins leads the OHL, QMJHL targets return to play

The Flames weren’t the only team to have a big come-from-behind win last night; Matthew Coronato helped the Harvard Crimson do the same. The other Matthew, Matthew Phillips tied Stockton’s all-time goal-scoring record this week and helped Stockton pick up yet another win. Arseni Sergeev stayed hot for the Tri-City Storm and was helped by Ilya NIkolayev who continues to put points on the board. So much to talk about, let’s get into it!


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

GPGAPP/GPNHLe
This week33472.3N/A
Season total392542671.745.6

Rory Kerins has been one of the Flames’ most impressive prospects to this point in the season. After spending last season with the Stockton Heat and appearing in just a handful of games, the 2020 sixth-round pick started the year absolutely on fire. He has continued to put up elite offensive numbers as the season has worn on, and is (at the time of writing) the top point producer in the OHL.

This week was a massive week for the forward for the Soo Greyhounds, where he put up seven points in three games. Here are his three goals:

Each of the three goals was impressive in their own right but his ability to beat the netminder from that far out in overtime on the last goal takes the cake. It looked like it should have been a harmless shot, but Kerins has a wicked release and the ability to pick his spot at will.

It is unlikely that he will ever be given that much time and space at the NHL level, but having looked at his first two goals, his high hockey IQ is evident as well as ability to make plays out of nothing. His playmaking is also superb, and of his four assists this week, three were primary.

It is far too early to start penciling him into a Calgary Flames lineup as Kerins needs a couple of seasons in the AHL to build up muscle and adapt to the much faster professional game. But given that he has spent a season in Stockton already, he knows well what he needs to do to succeed at that level.

Should he continue to produce at this level to close out the season, his stock in the Flames prospect system will keep rising to new heights.

This and that

OHL

  • Jack Beck continues to be sidelined, but rumour is he is getting close to returning. He had a monster start to the season, and will no doubt be hoping to continue his frenetic pace down the stretch.

AHL

  • Only one game for the Heat this week. A 2–1 win over the Ontario Reign on Saturday night, which came on Turn Back the Clock Night. The Heat put out beautiful new jerseys for the occasion, which we broke down here.
  • Luke Philp redirected Ilya Solovyov’s shot from the point for the first goal, while Matthew Phillips recorded his first career shorthanded goal for the game winner. The goal tied him with Andrew Mangiapane for the all-time Heat goalscoring record with 50. Check it out here:
  • Stick taps to Justin Kirkland for his 300th AHL game this week.
  • Welcome back Connor Zary. After being out for the last couple weeks, the Heat’s centreman was back this week on the ice. Always good to see him back.
  • Dustin Wolf picked up the win for the Heat, stopping 32 of 33 shots he faced. He continues to be among the best goalies in the league.
  • The Heat are off until Thursday when they play back to back against the Abbotsford Canucks.

USHL

  • The wins just keep coming for the Tri-City Storm in the USHL. They faced off against the Lincoln Stars twice this week and won both games. Ilya Nikolayev picked up two big goals while Arseni Sergeev won both games.
  • Sergeev had just returned from a weekend suspension for an illegal hit to the head the previous weekend.

QMJHL

  • Having been paused since before Christmas, the QMJHL is officially starting back up this weekend. Quebec teams will be playing in empty arenas, but fans are expected to be allowed back February 7th, New Brunswick has allowed up to 50% capacity in their arenas, while Nova Scotia and PEI teams will start playing on the road as they are not allowed to resume at home.
  • There were some reports that players were threatening to play in the US had the season not resumed, and while games will be played with few if any fans to start, this seems like a better alternative to postponing any longer.
  • This weekend, Saint John will play Blainville-Boisbriand then Rimouski, Acadie Bathurst will also play Blainville-Boisbriand in their only game of the weekend, while Halifax will play Chicoutimi and Baie-Comeau.
  • The league is hoping to play the full season, and has extended their season with the hopes of concluding by June 15th. It is very likely that the Memorial Cup will be pushed to the end of June as a result.
  • In other news around the Q, Justin Poirier, the brother of Jeremie Poirier, has been lighting up Quebec’s UM18AAA this season. He leads the league with 39 points in 27 games as a 5’7″ 15-year-old, and is eligible for the 2024 NHL Draft. For those keeping score at home, this is the same year as Tij Iginla.
  • Special Happy Birthday to friend of The Win Column Pat McNeil, the voice of the Cape Breton Eagles and the best play-by-play person in the CHL. He is worth a listen every time the Flames’ prospects play the Eagles, but even when they don’t, you don’t want to miss his calls.

KHL

  • No games this week for Dmitri Zavgorodniy in Sochi, but some big news that the team will be hosting the first ever Sochi Winter Cup over the Olympic Break. The team will play against SKA St Petersburg and Admiral Vladivostok.
  • SKA are the second best team in the KHL right now, and boast numerous high draft picks including Yaroslav Askarov, Nikita Chibrikov, Fyodor Svechkov, as well as expected top pick Matvei Michkov.
  • Vladivostok is on the extreme east end of Russia, and has struggled mightily this season. They sit second from the bottom in the KHL’s standings.

NCAA

  • Matthew Coronato scored two beautiful goals this weekend for Harvard, following up on his shot to pop in the rebound on one and a beautiful side of the net goal on the powerplay. Check them out here:
  • Coronato has bounced around the lineup this past week. He started at centre on the team’s third line, then spent time on the right side of Harvard’s top line over the weekend, then finished it off last night on the right wing of the second line.
  • In last night’s game, he took a nasty hit from behind that resulted in a five minute powerplay for Harvard. Luckily, he looked no worse for wear and played the remainder of the game.
  • No games for Michigan State this weekend. Both Mitchell Mattson and Josh Nodler got some time off.
  • No points this weekend for Jake Boltmann at Notre Dame. He has been bouncing around the pairings, playing top pair in the first game then second pairing in the second. He typically bounces between the top and third pairings, so to see him on the second was a bit of a surprise.
  • Demetrios Koumontzis is still out injured unfortunately. That means no fit check this week again.
  • The big news out of ASU is that the Arizona Coyotes are in advanced talks to play out of their soon-to-be-completed arena in Tempe. The arena is expected to hold 5,000 people, but with NHL requirements, that number may be lower. Not good for NHL hockey related revenue and escrow, but great for the Sun Devil Hockey Program.
  • This week’s USCHO Rankings have Notre Dame down a touch to 13th, while Harvard and ASU received some votes but are still outside the top 20. No votes for Michigan State.

Swedish hockey

  • The big news from Sweden was William Stromgren earned himself a call-up to the SHL. He played in his second game of the season with the big club, but recorded no points. However, when he went back to the J-20, he rewarded his team with four assists. Great to see him finding the scoresheet.
  • Lucas Feuk also found the scoresheet in the HockeyEttan, putting up an assist.

ECHL

  • Chechelev had a rough start to the week, with a rough loss and a not great relief appearance, but rebounded last night in a 2-1 win. He made numerous big stops to keep his team in it.
  • How did it feel to pick up a win last night?

WHL

  • Lucas Ciona is really starting to heat up. The power forward had two goals and two assists this week, including the goal that sent the bears flying in the annual Teddy Bear Toss. Check it out here:

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)

  1. Adam Ruzicka (AHL) 49.0 (Same)
  2. Rory Kerins (OHL): 45.6 (Same)
  3. Matthew Phillips(AHL): 41.0 (Same)
  4. Jakob Pelletier (AHL): 38.7 (Same)
  5. Glenn Gawdin (AHL) 38.7 (Same)

Ahead of tonight’s Flames contest, the bookies have predicted the Flames as the favourite, with Betway Sports pricing the Flames at -160 and the Coyotes at +285 to win the game in regulation, with an overtime decision being priced at +360.


Overall regular season totals for all Flames prospects

Forwards

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
Jack BeckLW/RW12116171.4637.6Ottawa 67’sOHL
Lucas CionaLW341012220.76316.1Seattle ThunderbirdsWHL
Matthew CoronatoRW1988160.8819.1Harvard CrimsonsNCAA
Walker DuehrRW2757120.41418.3Stockton HeatAHL
Mathias Emilio PettersenC/LW281780.3612.0Stockton HeatAHL
Lucas FeukC/W101120.20N/AVasterviks IKHockeyAllsvenskan
C/W1757120.722N/ANybro IFHockeyEttan
Ryan FrancisRW/C4000000Stockton HeatAHL
RW/C18617231.31229.8St John Sea DogsQMJHL
Glenn GawdinC/RW331220321.03938.7Stockton HeatAHL
Emil HeinemanLW/RW3395140.41830.5Leksands IFSHL
LW/RW84150.60N/ALeksands IFChampions HL
Cole HuckinsC241111220.94121.4Acadie Bathurst TitansQMJHL
Rory KerinsC/LW392542671.71445.6Soo GreyhoundsOHL
Justin KirklandC/W33106160.54119.1Stockton HeatAHL
Demetrios KoumontzisLW2347110.518N/AArizona State Sun DevilsNCAA
Mitchell MattsonC151230.225.5Michigan State SpartansNCAA
Ilya Nikolayev C311124351.13325.0Tri-City StormUSHL
Josh NodlerC/RW2657120.5412.6Michigan State SpartansNCAA
Jakob PelletierC/LW341221331.01438.7Stockton HeatAHL
Matthew PhillipsC/RW321419331.01041.0Stockton HeatAHL
Luke PhilpC/RW33912210.61025.5Stockton HeatAHL
Martin PospisilC/W2568140.63822.3Stockton HeatAHL
Adam RuzickaC13106161.2249.0Stockton HeatAHL
William StromgrenLW361119300.814N/ARogle BK J20J20 Nationell
LW11233.00N/ARogle BKChampions HL
LW2000000Rogle BKSHL
Tuulola, EetuRW3085130.52817.1Stockton HeatAHL
Connor ZaryC234590.4815.5Stockton HeatAHL
Dmitri ZavgorodnyW/C6000020Stockton HeatAHL
W/C100330019.8HC SochiKHL

Defencemen

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
Jake BoltmannRHD261890.4229.6Notre DameNCAA
Cole JordanLHD171450.3287.7Moose Jaw WarriorsWHL
Johannes KinnvallRHD30220.7026.3Stockton HeatAHL
Yan KuznetsovLHD12000000Stockton HeatAHL
LHD41230.8017.5St John Sea DogsQMJHL
Connor MackeyLHD34415190.65122.3Stockton HeatAHL
Jeremie PoirierLHD30923311.12024.9St. John Sea DogsQMJHL
Colton PoolmanLHD290550.2106.1Stockton HeatAHL
Ilya SolovyovLHD273360.2128.8Stockton HeatAHL
Cameron WhynotLHD28312150.53212.6Halifax MooseheadsQMJHL

Goalies

PlayerPositionGPGAASV%RecordShutoutsTeamLeague
Chechelev, DaniilG183.610.8918-8-10Kansas City MavericksECHL
Tyler ParsonsG0000-0-00Stockton HeatAHL
Arseni SergeevG261.550.93222-3-05Tri-City StormUSHL
Dustin WolfG232.060.93218-2-30Stockton HeatAHL

Want to know more?

Still want to know more about the Flames prospects? Check out our interviews with a number of prospects down below:

Yan Kuznetsov

Ilya Solovyov

Dustin Wolf

Jeremie Poirier

Ryan Francis

Matthew Phillips

Demetrios Koumontzis

Jake Boltmann

Which prospects are you most excited about? Let us know below in the comments or on social media.

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