The Calgary Flames’ prospects are absolutely torching the CHL playoffs. Rory Kerins and the Soo Greyhounds are up 2–1 in their first round match, with two goals for the Flames’ sixth-round selection. Lucas Ciona and Jack Beck have added points for their respective teams in the playoffs, while all three of the Flames’ prospects in Saint John had points this week. We broke down all of the first round playoff matchups here.
Down in Stockton, the team can clinch the regular-season league championship with a win this weekend. Both Jakob Pelletier and Matthew Phillips hit milestones, with the latter recording his 30th goal of the season. So much to dive into this week!
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
Jack Beck – Ottawa 67’s
| GP | G | A | P | PPG | NHLe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This week | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1.3 | N/A |
| Season total | 36 | 22 | 22 | 44 | 1.2 | 32.3 |
While it has been a really rough week for the Ottawa 67’s, who are down 3–0 in the first round of their playoff series against the North Bay Battalion, Jack Beck has been far and away the team’s best player. Through three games, Beck has three goals and an assist, and has scored in each of the team’s three games. Take a look at his goals here:
Beck has struggled with some major health concerns this season, but when he has been on the ice, he has been one of the 67’s best players. He finished second on the team in regular season scoring despite playing in just two-thirds of the season. If he had played the full 68 games, he would have finished with approximately 84 points if he kept the same pace. This would have been good for 16th in the entire league.
It’s a shame that the 67’s seem destined for an early exit. They have a lot of talent, but are up against a very good North Bay side. The bigger question surrounds the future of Beck—do the Flames give him one more year in the OHL or send him to Stockton? On the one hand, Beck has been exceptional in little time, clearly showing how good he is at this level. On the other, he did not play at all last year, and has just 92 OHL games under his belt.
If Ottawa does end up getting eliminated, it may be worth signing him to an ATO and sending him down to Stockton as the Heat gear up for the playoffs. This way the team can better evaluate what they have in Beck and see whether it makes more sense to sign him now or after next season. Either way, the Flames have a heck of a talent in their 2021 sixth-round selection.
This and that
OHL
- Elsewhere in the OHL, Rory Kerins continues to impress. He has two goals in three playoff games so far. Soo holds a 2–1 lead over the Guelph Storm currently.
QMJHL
- The QMJHL is the only league in the CHL that still has prospects playing in the regular season.
- Another week another goal for Ryan Francis of the Saint John Sea Dogs. Take a look at the goal here:
- The team is absolutely rolling right now, and is fifth in the CHL’s Top 10 Rankings. They are the only team with Flames’ prospects inside the top 10.
- Jeremie Poirier also added to his point totals this week with a nifty assist. Take a look here:
- He also picked up the Fans Choice Award at the team’s annual banquet.
- Yan Kuznetsov is back in the Sea Dogs’ lineup and recorded two more assists. His offensive totals have climbed sharply this year in the Q, and the hope is he can bring that with his heavy defensive game to the AHL next year.
- Cam Whynot continues to be injured for Halifax but should be back for the playoffs.
- Cole Huckins continues to baffle. After spending a couple games on the team’s top line, he went back down to centre the bottom line, and is now on the third line. He had no points this week.
- It’s hard to make heads or tails of him at this point. Between time away from the team to his peculiar usage, it is really hard to get a handle on what he is or what he can be. He probably needs a bit of a reset this summer.
USHL
- Tri-City’s regular season came to an end this weekend as the top team in the league. Ilya Nikolayev finished the weekend with two more assists, and finished with 72 points on the year. This put him 11th in the league in points.
- Arseni Sergeev saw his numbers go up a touch, and finished second in the league in save percentage. The goalie ahead of him played just 18 games, while he has played 41.
- Tri-City will have a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
AHL
- Stockton played in four games this week, picking up two wins, a loss, and an overtime loss. They have just one game remaining, and need two points to end the season as the top team in the AHL.
- Jakob Pelletier led the way for the Heat with four more assists in his impressive rookie campaign. He sits 13th in AHL scoring and second among rookie scoring. Only John-Jason Peterka is ahead of him in the rookie scoring race, but has played five more games than Pelletier.
- Matthew Phillips also added to his point totals with his 30th goal of the year to go along with two assists.
- He became the first Heat player to score 30 goals in a season since Krys Kolanos in 2012–13. Kolanos played 13 NHL games that season while Phillips has yet to feature for the Flames at all this year.
- Justin Kirkland also had a heck of a week, adding three more goals this week. It would be great for the Heat to be able to retain him after this year, but he will likely be going wherever the money is this summer.
- Mathias Emilio Pettersen also had a huge week, picking up three goals and an assist for the Heat this week, including his second multi-point game of the season. He has been quietly very good this season.
- Both Connor Zary and Glenn Gawdin also scored for the Heat this week. Wonderful to see particularly for Zary, who started the year off very slowly.
- Big week for Daniil Chechelev, who got into his first ever AHL game. Unfortunately, he allowed five goals against in a 5–4 overtime loss.
- Dustin Wolf was up with the Flames for four days on an emergency call-up. He did not feature, but has put up an elite season this year. Only eight rookie goalies have had better seasons than him in the last decade.
Swedish hockey
- William Stromgren has not featured for Rogle BK in their SHL playoff this week. He has just eight appearances in the SHL this season without any points.
- Lucas Feuk is up to nine points in 13 playoff games for Vasby IK in the HockeyEttan. Great to see.
WHL
- The Moose Jaw Warriors are 3–0 against the Saskatoon Blades in the first round of their playoff series. Cole Jordan has not recorded a point yet.
- Lucas Ciona played in two of the Seattle Thunderbirds’ three playoff games and recorded a powerplay goal. The T-Birds are up similarly 3–0 in the first round of their playoff match against the Kelowna Rockets.
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) 49.8 (Same)
- Rory Kerins (OHL): 46.6 (Same)
- Matthew Phillips(AHL): 42.2 (Same)
- Jakob Pelletier (AHL) 38.7 (Same)
- Glenn Gawdin (AHL): 32.3 (Same) (Tied)
- Jack Beck (OHL): 32.3 (+1) (Tied)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Beck | LW/RW | 36 | 22 | 22 | 44 | 1.2 | 14 | 32.3 | Ottawa 67’s | OHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 53 | 17 | 18 | 35 | 0.7 | 77 | 16.3 | Seattle Thunderbirds | WHL |
| Matthew Coronato | RW | 34 | 18 | 18 | 36 | 1.1 | 14 | 24.3 | Harvard Crimsons | NCAA |
| Walker Duehr | RW | 58 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 0.4 | 26 | 15.5 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Mathias Emilio Pettersen | C/LW | 58 | 13 | 14 | 27 | 0.4 | 20 | 16.7 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Lucas Feuk | C/W | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.2 | 0 | N/A | Vasterviks IK | HockeyAllsvenskan |
| C/W | 31 | 12 | 17 | 29 | 0.9 | 14 | N/A | Vasby IK | HockeyEttan | |
| C/W | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.4 | 0 | N/A | Nybro IF | HockeyEttan | |
| Ryan Francis | RW/C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| RW/C | 51 | 25 | 38 | 63 | 1.2 | 34 | 28.9 | St John Sea Dogs | QMJHL | |
| Glenn Gawdin | C/RW | 62 | 15 | 35 | 50 | 0.8 | 75 | 32.3 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Cole Huckins | C | 38 | 12 | 14 | 26 | 0.7 | 59 | 15.8 | Acadie Bathurst Titans | QMJHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 67 | 43 | 75 | 118 | 1.8 | 49 | 46.6 | Soo Greyhounds | OHL |
| Justin Kirkland | C/W | 65 | 25 | 22 | 47 | 0.7 | 75 | 29.1 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Demetrios Koumontzis | LW | 23 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 0.5 | 18 | N/A | Arizona State Sun Devils | NCAA |
| Mitchell Mattson | C | 23 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0.1 | 16 | 3.5 | Michigan State Spartans | NCAA |
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 58 | 23 | 49 | 72 | 1.2 | 83 | 27.5 | Tri-City Storm | USHL |
| Josh Nodler | C/RW | 36 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 0.4 | 4 | 11.5 | Michigan State Spartans | NCAA |
| Jakob Pelletier | C/LW | 65 | 27 | 35 | 62 | 1.0 | 22 | 38.7 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Matthew Phillips | C/RW | 63 | 30 | 37 | 67 | 1.1 | 16 | 42.2 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Luke Philp | C/RW | 65 | 21 | 23 | 44 | 0.7 | 16 | 27.5 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 46 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 0.5 | 86 | 21.1 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Adam Ruzicka | C | 16 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 1.3 | 2 | 49.8 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 44 | 13 | 23 | 36 | 0.8 | 18 | N/A | Rogle BK J20 | J20 Nationell |
| LW | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | N/A | Rogle BK | Champions HL | |
| LW | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rogle BK | SHL | |
| Eetu Tuulola | RW | 60 | 14 | 11 | 25 | 0.4 | 50 | 16.3 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Connor Zary | C | 53 | 13 | 12 | 25 | 0.5 | 36 | 18.7 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Dmitri Zavgorodniy | W/C | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.1 | 4 | 3.6 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| W/C | 10 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19.8 | HC Sochi | KHL |
Defencemen
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Boltmann | RHD | 40 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 0.3 | 28 | 9.0 | Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Cole Jordan | LHD | 36 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 0.3 | 40 | 7.7 | Moose Jaw Warriors | WHL |
| Johannes Kinnvall | RHD | 19 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0.4 | 8 | 16.7 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| LHD | 22 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 0.5 | 12 | 11.6 | St John Sea Dogs | QMJHL | |
| Connor Mackey | LHD | 53 | 5 | 31 | 36 | 0.7 | 83 | 27.1 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 64 | 14 | 39 | 53 | 0.8 | 38 | 19.3 | St. John Sea Dogs | QMJHL |
| Colton Poolman | LHD | 61 | 0 | 12 | 12 | 0.2 | 16 | 8.0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 50 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0.2 | 22 | 6.4 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Cameron Whynot | LHD | 45 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 0.4 | 48 | 8.8 | Halifax Mooseheads | QMJHL |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Record | SO | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniil Chechelev | G | 30 | 3.64 | 0.880 | 12-12-5 | 1 | Kansas City Mavericks | ECHL |
| G | 1 | 4.73 | 0.848 | 0-0-1 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL | |
| Tyler Parsons | G | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0-0 | 0 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Arseni Sergeev | G | 41 | 2.08 | 0.918 | 30-6-2 | 6 | Tri-City Storm | USHL |
| Dustin Wolf | G | 46 | 2.33 | 0.924 | 33-8-5 | 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.
