Playoffs are underway across the hockey world, but for most of the Calgary Flames’ prospects, their seasons in their normal leagues have come to an end. That means that several players have and will be joining the Stockton Heat for their AHL playoff run soon.
Speaking of the Heat, there were several important updates out of Stockton this week. First, the Heat eliminated the Edmonton Oilers’ farm team the Bakersfield Condors via a three-game sweep. They now move on to Round 3 to face the Colorado Eagles, which kicks off on May 23.
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
Lucas Ciona
| Period | GP | G | A | P | PPG | NHLe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This series | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0.71 | N/A |
| Playoff total | 11 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 0.72 | 27.5 |
Ciona is definitely not one of the Flames’ best prospects, but he has been excellent for the Thunderbirds in the playoffs so far. He scored the eventual game winner in Game 7 of the second round earlier this week, and has been a steady contributor all post season long.
His numbers don’t jump off the page, but he has been effective and will be key for the Thunderbirds in their playoff run. Ciona is the only one left standing in the CHL playoffs and is worthy of the Standout Performer honour this week.
This and that
USHL
- Arseni Sergeev will join the UConn Huskies, the former team of Yan Kuznetsov, next season.
OHL
- Rory Kerins and the Soo Greyhounds were eliminated in the second round of the OHL playoffs. They fell in five games to the Flint Firebirds, despite Kerins putting up five points in the series. The Greyhounds were outscored 22–12 in the series, a particularly lopsided one that was tilted right from the beginning. Kerins is joining the Heat for the remainder of the season.
- Jack Beck has also joined the Heat.
- There are a lot of bodies in AHL Stockton right now though, and it will be hard for the younger prospects to get ice time.
QMJHL
- Cam Whynot and the Halifax Mooseheads lost to Cole Huckins of the Acadie Bathurst Titan in a thrilling five-game series; Game 4 went to triple overtime. The Titan now face the formidable Charlottetown Islanders who are currently up 2–0 in the series.
- Ryan Francis, Yan Kuznetsov, and Jeremie Poirier were eliminated from the QMJHL playoffs in five games to the Rimouski Océanic. They faced a very tough goalie and didn’t play to their level in the series, and unfortunately won’t be the QMJHL champions this year. However, since they are hosting the Memorial Cup, their season will continue in that tournament in late June.
AHL
- Stockton is through to the third round of the playoffs after dispatching the Condors in three games. The Heat are a very good team. In the AHL edition of the Battle of Alberta, five Heat skaters are operating at at least a point-per-game pace, and al but three skaters registered at least one point in the series.
- Dustin Wolf started all three games for the Heat, and finished with a 2.23 GAA and .926 SV%.
The schedule for the next round is set, and it features three games in Colorado despite the Heat having home ice advantage. It was apparently due to travel and was the Heat’s decision, as per Ryan Pike.
WHL
- Lucas Ciona and the Seattle Thunderbirds played Game 7 of the second round last night against the Portland Winterhawks and won by a score of 6–3. The Thuderbirds will now face the Kamloops Blazers in Round 3, led by Logan Stankoven and Dylan Garand.
- The Moose Jaw Warriors have been eliminated from the WHL playoffs. They fell to the Winnipeg Ice in five games. Cole Jordan recorded two assists in the second round series.
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): 41.8 (Same)
- Jakob Pelletier (AHL) 37.4 (Same)
- Glenn Gawdin (AHL): 32.3 (Same) (Tied)
- Jack Beck (OHL): 32.3 (Same) (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 | 59 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 0.4 | 28 | 15.5 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Mathias Emilio Pettersen | C/LW | 59 | 13 | 13 | 26 | 0.4 | 20 | 17.5 | 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 | 54 | 25 | 40 | 65 | 1.1 | 34 | 27.9 | St John Sea Dogs | QMJHL | |
| Glenn Gawdin | C/RW | 62 | 15 | 35 | 50 | 0.8 | 75 | 32.3 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Cole Huckins | C | 41 | 12 | 14 | 26 | 0.6 | 61 | 14.6 | 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 | 66 | 27 | 35 | 62 | 1.0 | 22 | 37.4 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Matthew Phillips | C/RW | 65 | 31 | 37 | 68 | 1.1 | 16 | 41.8 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Luke Philp | C/RW | 66 | 21 | 23 | 44 | 0.7 | 16 | 26.7 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 47 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 0.5 | 95 | 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 | 61 | 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 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.1 | 4 | 3.2 | 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 | 25 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 0.5 | 14 | 12.1 | St John Sea Dogs | QMJHL | |
| Connor Mackey | LHD | 53 | 5 | 31 | 36 | 0.7 | 83 | 27.1 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 67 | 16 | 41 | 57 | 0.9 | 38 | 19.8 | St. John Sea Dogs | QMJHL |
| Colton Poolman | LHD | 62 | 0 | 13 | 13 | 0.2 | 16 | 8.4 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 51 | 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 | 47 | 2.35 | 0.924 | 34-8-5 | 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.
