Prospects

Calgary Flames Prospect Roundup: Ryan Francis just won’t stop scoring

While the Calgary Flames stumbled a bit and could not beat the Colorado Avalanche last night, their prospects continue to soar. Dustin Wolf picked up his 29th win of the season while teammate Matthew Phillips broke an all-time Heat record. Jakob Pelletier is the top rookie in the AHL in scoring, and is just shy of breaking a couple records of his own.

Matthew Coronato was knocked out of the Frozen Four, but he finished as Harvard’s top scorer this year ahead of numerous top prospects. On top of all this, Rory Kerins cracked the 100 point mark in the OHL. So much to dive into, 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

Ryan Francis – Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL)

GPGAPP/GPNHLe
This week33251.7N/A
Season total391730471.228.2

Ryan Francis has had a very odd season this year. He had a heck of a training camp and even earned himself an amateur tryout with the Stockton Heat. However, he struggled to make an impact on a very deep Heat team and was sent back to Saint John for the remainder of the season. No surprises there.

When he was sent back, the expectation was that he would light up the QMJHL as an over-ager on a very good Sea Dogs side, but his season started off slower than expected. On top of that, he seemed disengaged for stretches, unable to really exert himself on the ice.

About three weeks ago, that changed substantially. And since then, Francis has been on an absolute tear. Since the beginning of March, Francis has 18 points in his last 12 games, and added five points this week. Take a look at two of his three goals here:

Barring something catastrophic happening, Francis will be joining the Stockton Heat next season, and will be looking to make a name for himself in California. Do not expect him to have a Jakob Pelletier-esque rookie season though. He is expected to be a bit more of a project prospect despite his point totals this year. He will likely need a couple seasons in Stockton to really develop.

However, if he does develop into the player that many expect he will, he projects to be a high energy bottom-six player with high offensive upside. Think a Paul Byron-esque forward. With the Flames losing Byron once, here’s hoping they get some redemption down the road with Francis.

This and that

QMJHL

  • While teammate Yan Kuznetsov continues to be injured, Jeremie Poirier continues to put points on the board. He added another goal this week. Take a look here:
  • An absolute bomb for Poirier who showed off his incredible skating skills on that goal.
  • No points this week for Cam Whynot in Halifax.
  • We have some news on Cole Huckins. Thanks to Pat McNeil, it appears the forward may be back with the team soon:
  • This is really good news. Huckins’ disappearance did not appear to be by choice, which made it look like something was very wrong in Acadie. Hopefully he’s able to rejoin the Titan as they push for the playoffs.

NCAA

  • As we discussed last week, both Notre Dame and Harvard faced very difficult tests after being invited to play in the Frozen Four playoffs. Both teams were eliminated by Minnesota State Mankato this week, Harvard in the first round and Notre Dame in the second.
  • Matt Coronato picked up two assists in Harvard’s loss while Jake Boltmann went pointless.

USHL

  • Ilya Nikolayev just can’t be stopped. He put up two more goals and added another assist this week for Tri-City. He will likely be in Stockton next season.
  • Arseni Sergeev picked up another win and saw his numbers inch up yet again this week.
  • He’s third in the USHL in save percentage to this point, but has played three times as many games as the two goalies ahead of him.

OHL

  • Rory Kerins just won’t stop scoring. The Soo Greyhound picked up three goals and added an assist to bring his point total to 102 on the season. Take a look:

  • He is just so good at finding his spot in front of the net! Expect him to be back in Stockton next season.
  • Not to be outdone, Jack Beck added a goal and an assist for the Ottawa 67’s. Take a look at his goal here:

AHL

  • The Stockton Heat went 2–0–0 this week, picking up wins over Abbotsford and San Diego.
  • They were led by Luke Philp of all people, who put up three goals and an assist. He is an impending free agent for the Heat at the end of this season.
  • Glenn Gawdin and Jakob Pelletier each added a goal and an assist while Matthew Phillips has just one assist. That assist broke the Heat’s all time single season record for points with 58.
  • Phillips is seventh in the AHL in points while Pelletier is ninth. The latter leads all rookies in points in the AHL, although he has played substantially more games than Matias Maccelli in Tuscon.
  • Pelletier also leads the Heat in goals, and is one back of breaking the single-season goal record of 27. It’s worth remembering that he is still a rookie this season, and is two points back of the Heat’s rookie scoring record.
  • Martin Pospisil (2 assists), Justin Kirkland (1 goal, 2 assists), Connor Zary (1 goal, 1 assist), and Connor Mackey (2 assists) all had multi-point weeks.
  • One player who has not featured much for Stockton has been Johannes Kinnvall. While he has been a very good power play quarterback, he has been less good at 5v5. I wouldn’t be surprised if he went back to Sweden at the end of the season.
  • Finally, Dustin Wolf featured in one game again this week and picked up a win. He sits third in save percentage in the league, and fifth in games played.
  • That win was his 29th of the season. The last rookie goalie to hit that many in a season was Juuse Saros in 2015–16.

Swedish hockey

  • Lucas Feuk and Vasby IK are through to the next round of the HockeyEttan playoffs. He has a goal and three assists through the playoffs.
  • William Stromgren and Rogle’s J-20 side are through to the next round of the playoffs as well, although in a different league. He had a goal and an assist in two games.

ECHL

  • Daniil Chechelev did not get into any games this week.

WHL

  • Lucas Ciona is still injured to this point.
  • Cole Jordan had one assist this week for Moose Jaw. The Warriors are a very good side, and it’s great to see Jordan in the lineup, but do not take much from his performances this season. Between illness and injury, Jordan will likely look much better next year.

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) 51.4 (Same)
  2. Matthew Phillips(AHL): 44.6(Same)
  3. Rory Kerins (OHL): 44.5 (Same)
  4. Jakob Pelletier (AHL) 40.6(+1)
  5. Glenn Gawdin (AHL): 34.7 (-1)

Overall regular season totals for all Flames prospects

Forwards

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
Jack BeckLW/RW301719361.21032.0Ottawa 67’sOHL
Lucas CionaLW491715320.77716.1Seattle ThunderbirdsWHL
Matthew CoronatoRW341818361.11424.3Harvard CrimsonsNCAA
Walker DuehrRW46910190.42217.1Stockton HeatAHL
Mathias Emilio PettersenC/LW46811190.41616.7Stockton HeatAHL
Lucas FeukC/W101120.20N/AVasterviks IKHockeyAllsvenskan
C/W311217290.914N/AVasby IKHockeyEttan
C/W50220.40N/ANybro IFHockeyEttan
Ryan FrancisRW/C4000000Stockton HeatAHL
RW/C391730471.23228.2St John Sea DogsQMJHL
Glenn GawdinC/RW521332450.97134.7Stockton HeatAHL
Cole HuckinsC281213250.95120.7Acadie Bathurst TitansQMJHL
Rory KerinsC/LW6139631021.73444.5Soo GreyhoundsOHL
Justin KirklandC/W531620360.76527.1Stockton HeatAHL
Demetrios KoumontzisLW2347110.518N/AArizona State Sun DevilsNCAA
Mitchell MattsonC231230.1163.5Michigan State SpartansNCAA
Ilya Nikolayev C482040601.36527.7Tri-City StormUSHL
Josh NodlerC/RW3678150.4411.5Michigan State SpartansNCAA
Jakob PelletierC/LW542629551.02240.6Stockton HeatAHL
Matthew PhillipsC/RW522533581.11644.6Stockton HeatAHL
Luke PhilpC/RW532118390.71029.5Stockton HeatAHL
Martin PospisilC/W35712190.56521.5Stockton HeatAHL
Adam RuzickaC15108181.3251.4Stockton HeatAHL
William StromgrenLW461424380.718N/ARogle BK J20J20 Nationell
LW11233.00N/ARogle BKChampions HL
LW6000000Rogle BKSHL
Eetu TuulolaRW481110210.44217.5Stockton HeatAHL
Connor ZaryC43912210.52819.5Stockton HeatAHL
Dmitri ZavgorodniyW/C100110.144.0Stockton HeatAHL
W/C100330019.8HC SochiKHL

Defencemen

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
Jake BoltmannRHD40112130.3289.0Notre DameNCAA
Cole JordanLHD291780.3346.9Moose Jaw WarriorsWHL
Johannes KinnvallRHD130770.6021.5Stockton HeatAHL
Yan KuznetsovLHD12000000Stockton HeatAHL
LHD192680.4810.2St John Sea DogsQMJHL
Connor MackeyLHD52531360.77927.5Stockton HeatAHL
Jeremie PoirierLHD531335480.93621.2St. John Sea DogsQMJHL
Colton PoolmanLHD49011110.2168.8Stockton HeatAHL
Ilya SolovyovLHD443360.1185.6Stockton HeatAHL
Cameron WhynotLHD43413170.4469.3Halifax MooseheadsQMJHL

Goalies

PlayerPositionGPGAASV%RecordSOTeamLeague
Daniil ChechelevG283.520.89712-10-51Kansas City MavericksECHL
Tyler ParsonsG0000-0-00Stockton HeatAHL
Arseni SergeevG351.900.92426-6-16Tri-City StormUSHL
Dustin WolfG382.300.92529-5-30Stockton 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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