Prospects

Calgary Flames Prospect Roundup: Wolf slams the door, Pelletier pops in five more

The holidays were an interesting time for the Calgary Flames’ prospects. Some had nice extended breaks while others were playing right through. As a result, we did not have a prospect recap last week, looking instead at the top 10 Flames prospects going into 2023. This week, let’s break down how the Flames’ prospects have done over the last two weeks. Numerous prospects, including Lucas Ciona and Parker Bell had huge weeks, while we saw some rare points from a number of prospects who just aren’t known for scoring. 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.


Standout Performer: Dustin Wolf – Calgary Wranglers (AHL)

Every time you think Dustin Wolf can’t do any more, he comes around and surpasses those expectations. The Wranglers’ netminder went 8–1–0 through the month of December, recorded two shutouts, and was named the AHL’s Goalie of the Month. Through the month, he recorded an otherworldly 0.949 save percentage, and led the team to victory game after game. In none of those games did he allow more than three goals, and made over 30 saves in five of the eight games he played.

Wolf leads the AHL in wins with 18 in the league. The next closest goalie—2020 first-round pick Yaroslav Askarov—has just 13. Wolf also leads the league in shutouts with three this season. His 0.929 save percentage is second in the entire league to this point, and he has consistently been one of the best goalies in the AHL at the ripe age of 21.

Dustin from Tustin has made a name for himself as an elite netminder despite being one of the last selections in the 2019 NHL Draft. He is making it very difficult on the Flames organization who have a stud goalie in the AHL but do not have a spot to play him on the big team. Expect that if the Flames have an injury, Wolf will be called up and could suit up in an NHL game before the season is over. He has shown he deserves a look at the NHL level at this point, and it feels like a matter of time before he gets it.

Flames prospect happenings

AHL

  • It’s been a huge couple of weeks for the Calgary Wranglers. The team second in the AHL’s Pacific Division with a 21–8–1 record.
  • Jakob Pelletier carried the Wranglers, notching five goals and an assist including this one. Take a look:
  • Mathias Emilio Pettersen has also been on a tear, notching three goals and three assists. He’s been remarkably good of late, and is just below a point-per-game this season. Take a look at this beautiful goal here:
  • Connor Zary had six points, a goal and five assists over the holidays. You absolutely love to see it from the 2020 first rounder.
  • Matthew Phillips had three goals and two assists over the holidays after returning from his stint in the NHL. He’s clearly too good for the AHL, sitting sixth in the league in points despite playing far fewer games than any of the players ahead of him. He is third in points-per-game in the league.

BCHL

  • Two goals and two assists for Cade Littler in the BCHL. Great to see him consistently putting points on the board.

ECHL

  • Rory Kerins led the way for Rapid City this fortnight, putting up three goals and four assists over the holidays. He is over a point-per-game in the league and probably deserves better than to be in the ECHL.
  • Not to be outdone, Ilya Nikolayev also had a great couple of weeks, putting up two goals and four assists. He’s just under a point-per-game at this point.
  • Lucas Feuk had three assists as well.
  • Daniil Chechelev saw his numbers tank substantially, dropping to 19th in the league in save percentage. Yikes! Hopefully he’s able to rebound as teams go into the back half of the season.

OHL

  • Jack Beck remains injured.

QMJHL

  • Cam Whynot got on the board this week in a big way, putting up a goal and three assists. He’s just around a half-point-per-game so far this season.
  • A goal and two assists this week for Cole Huckins in Sherbrooke. He’s sitting just below a point-per-game at this point.

WHL

  • The Flames’ two WHL standouts have been outstanding over the holidays. Parker Bell had three goals and six assists for the Tri City Americans. He and Lucas Ciona are neck-in-neck in points at this point, with Bell sitting 23rd in the WHL in points and being a year younger than Ciona.
  • Speaking of Ciona, the 2021 sixth-round pick had five goals and six assists over the holidays. He’s jumped up in production of late after a dry spell, and now sits12th in scoring in the WHL.
  • A wild anomaly: Five of the top six scorers in the WHL currently are draft eligible. Traditionally it is the 20-year-olds that lead the way.
  • Cole Jordan will be out for the rest of the season.

NCAA

  • The NCAA was off briefly for the holidays but returned back this past week.
  • Matt Coronato picked up a goal and an assist for Harvard this past week. He’s 12th in the league in points-per-game and third in points.
  • A rare point this week for Josh Nodler, who had a goal, and Demetrios Koumontzis and Jake Boltmann who had an assist each.
  • Arseni Sergeev continues to be great for UConn in the NCAA. He’s fourth in his conference and eighth in the entire NCAA save percentage and is one of just two rookie netminders to play in Hockey East this year.

Europe

  • This has been the most underwhelming World Juniors for Flames fans in some time. Both Toppi Ronni and William Stromgren have no points to this point and have been generally playing as the extra forward for their teams. Finland lost to Sweden and were eliminated earlier this week.
  • The World Juniors is a very small sample size for evaluating prospects, but it’s hard not to be disappointed that neither prospect could do much of anything this 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. Matthew Phillips: 58.2 (Same)
  2. Jakob Pelletier: 43.9 (Same)
  3. Connor Zary: 42.6 (Same)
  4. Mathias Emilio Pettersen: 36.7 (NEW)
  5. Lucas Ciona: 34.9 (NEW)

Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects

Forwards

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
Jack BeckLW/RW10211131.30434.4Ottawa 67’sOHL
Parker BellLW321527421.314132.4Tri-City AmericansWHL
Lucas CionaLW321629451.414634.9Seattle ThunderbirdsWHL
Matthew CoronatoRW13710171.31630.1Harvard CrimsonsNCAA
Walker DuehrRW30106160.532021.1Calgary WranglersAHL
Mathias Emilio PettersenC/LW25815230.921436.7Calgary WranglersAHL
Lucas FeukC/W190770.3710N/ARapid City RushECHL
Cole HuckinsC341217290.854319.8Sherbrooke PhoenixQMJHL
Ben JonesC29617230.792131.5Calgary WranglersAHL
Rory KerinsC/LW241114251.040N/ARapid City RushECHL
51120.40015.9Calgary WranglersAHL
Adam KlapkaRW203690.453017.9Calgary WranglersAHL
Demetrios KoumontzisLW205490.452513.0Arizona State Sun DevilsNCAA
Cade LittlerC301519341.131812.0Wenatchee WildBCHL
Ilya Nikolayev C27914230.8527N/ARapid City RushECHL
Josh NodlerC/RW182350.2869.0UMassNCAA
Jakob PelletierC/LW301518331.102243.8Calgary WranglersAHL
Matthew PhillipsC/RW241817351.46658.2Calgary WranglersAHL
Martin PospisilC/W2046100.502419.9Calgary WranglersAHL
Topi RonniC101120.2028.9
TapparaLiiga
21452.502N/ATappara U20U20 SM-sarja
Cole SchwindtC/RW28911200.71628.3Calgary WranglersAHL
William StromgrenLW13033.000N/ARogle BK J20/Brynas IF J20J20 Nationell
LW262350.1969.3Brynas IFSHL
Connor ZaryC301022321.073942.6Stockton HeatAHL

Defencemen

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
Jake BoltmannRHD201230.15274.1Notre DameNCAA
Cole JordanLHD172570.411510.2Moose Jaw WarriorsWHL
Yan KuznetsovLHD252570.28811.2Calgary WranglersAHL
Jeremie PoirierLHD30417210.701427.9Calgary WranglersAHL
Ilya SolovyovLHD280550.18167.2Calgary WranglersAHL
Cameron WhynotLHD31313160.521212.1Halifax MooseheadsQMJHL

Goalies

PlayerPositionGPGAASV%TeamLeague
Daniil ChechelevG223.320.905Kansas City MavericksECHL
Arseni SergeevG112.410.923University of ConnecticutNCAA
Dustin WolfG222.240.926Calgary WranglersAHL

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.


Photo from @CalgaryWranglers on Twitter.

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