It was a huge week for the Flames’ prospects, many of whom had at least one goal this week. The Wranglers picked up a perfect four points this week, with Dustin Wolf in net for both wins. Jakob Pelletier and Walker Duehr both earned call-ups to the NHL this week, and Ilya Nikolayev and Rory Kerins subsequently earned AHL call-ups. Nikolayev featured in his first AHL game this season earlier in the week but did not record any points.
There were moves galore in the CHL, with two teams with Flames’ prospects getting substantially stronger. This may be the second year in a row in which there is a Flames prospect in the Memorial Cup if all goes well. Let’s dive right in to all the Flames’ prospect happenings!
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.
Flames prospect happenings
AHL
- Another big week for the Wranglers, who picked up three wins over Abbotsford and Bakersfield (twice) respectively.
- Dustin Wolf picked up a 29-save shutout in the former, and logged his league-leading twentieth win and fourth shutout of the season. He is the best goalie in the league right now.
- Matthew Phillips continues to be the best skater on the team, putting up three more goals and two more assists in three games since being sent back down from the NHL. He’s third in points in the entire AHL.
- Ben Jones had three assists this week for the Wranglers, and continues to look like a very good signing by the Flames this summer.
- Congratulations to Jakob Pelletier and Walker Duehr for earning call-ups to the NHL. Pelletier absolutely deserves it, having been one of the Wranglers’ best players this season. Duehr has been very average for the team this year, but he is a large man. Duehr has already slotted into an NHL game before Pelletier, as many might have expected.
- No games this week for Jeremie Poirier, who is being held out of the lineup due to the quality of his play. While his offence has been very good, he is still young and has room to grow. Poirier is likely an NHLer in time, but it will be a process to get there.
BCHL
- It was a very big week for Cade Littler and the Wenatchee Wild. The forward had three goals and four assists in three games.
- As we always talk about, it’s the BCHL, and his production should be at least this high if not higher at this point in the season. The real work starts next year in the NCAA.
- Currently, Littler sits seventh in the league in points, but is 23 points back from the league leader.
ECHL
- Huge congratulations to Lucas Feuk for notching his first pro goal in North America. Take a look here:
- Two goals this week for Rory Kerins and one for Ilya Nikolayev. Both earned a call-up to the Wranglers.
OHL
- Welcome back, Jack Beck. The forward prospect was back on the ice this week after missing weeks with an undisclosed injury and recorded two goals and three assists in three games this week. Take a look at this goal on a breakaway:
- The 67’s are pushing hard for a long playoff run, and have added Logan Morrison and Pavel Mintyukov to their roster. They sit second and third in the OHL in points respectively and are enormous pieces to have gotten. The 67’s were also in on Shane Wright, but were unable to land him.
QMJHL
- Cole Huckins recorded a goal and three assists for the Sherbrooke Phoenix this week. He sits fifth on his team in points.
- Two more assists this week for Cameron Whynot. He’s just over a half-point-per-game so far this season. He sits 29th in the league in points among defencemen.
WHL
- A huge week this week for Lucas Ciona. The 2021 sixth round pick had two goals and three assists this week for the Seattle Thunderbirds.
- Seattle added Brad Lambert and Colton Dach to their roster this week in preparation for a big playoff run. The Thunderbirds now have nine players who have been drafted into the NHL at this point, as well as young star Tij Iginla, who apparently has a pretty well-known dad.
- Another goal this week for Parker Bell. He and Ciona are jockeying to be the Flames’ best prospect in the WHL.
- Cole Jordan will be out for the rest of the season.
NCAA
- Two goals this week for Matt Coronato at Harvard, including this one off the rush:
- Coronato continues to be one of the best players in the NCAA at this point. He’s third on his team in points and 15th in the entire NCAA in points-per-game.
- Demetrios Koumontzis was listed as injured for one of ASU’s two games this week. He had no points this week.
- Josh Nodler was moved back up to the top line for UMass, but had no points.
Europe
- Both of the Flames’ two prospects in Europe are on their way home after the World Juniors, so they did not feature at all.
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)
- Matthew Phillips: 58.2 (Same)
- Jakob Pelletier: 43.9 (Same)
- Connor Zary: 39.9 (Same)
- Jack Beck 36.6 (+1)
- Lucas Ciona: 36.4 (Same)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Beck | LW/RW | 13 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 1.38 | 4 | 36.6 | Ottawa 67’s | OHL |
| Parker Bell | LW | 34 | 16 | 27 | 43 | 1.26 | 43 | 32.2 | Tri-City Americans | WHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 34 | 18 | 32 | 50 | 1.47 | 50 | 36.4 | Seattle Thunderbirds | WHL |
| Matthew Coronato | RW | 15 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 1.27 | 8 | 29.2 | Harvard Crimsons | NCAA |
| Walker Duehr | RW | 31 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 0.52 | 20 | 20.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Mathias Emilio Pettersen | C/LW | 27 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 0.85 | 14 | 33.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Lucas Feuk | C/W | 22 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 0.41 | 10 | N/A | Rapid City Rush | ECHL |
| Cole Huckins | C | 37 | 13 | 20 | 29 | 0.89 | 45 | 20.7 | Sherbrooke Phoenix | QMJHL |
| Ben Jones | C | 31 | 6 | 20 | 26 | 0.84 | 21 | 33.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 26 | 13 | 14 | 27 | 1.04 | 0 | N/A | Rapid City Rush | ECHL |
| 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.33 | 0 | 13.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | ||
| Adam Klapka | RW | 21 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 0.41 | 30 | 16.3 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Demetrios Koumontzis | LW | 21 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 0.43 | 25 | 13.2 | Arizona State Sun Devils | NCAA |
| Cade Littler | C | 33 | 18 | 23 | 41 | 1.24 | 20 | 13.2 | Wenatchee Wild | BCHL |
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 29 | 10 | 14 | 24 | 0.83 | 27 | N/A | Rapid City Rush | ECHL |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | ||
| Josh Nodler | C/RW | 20 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.25 | 6 | 8.1 | UMass | NCAA |
| Jakob Pelletier | C/LW | 31 | 15 | 19 | 34 | 1.10 | 22 | 43.8 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Matthew Phillips | C/RW | 26 | 20 | 18 | 38 | 1.46 | 6 | 58.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 20 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 0.50 | 24 | 19.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Topi Ronni | C | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.20 | 2 | 8.9 | Tappara | Liiga |
| 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2.50 | 2 | N/A | Tappara U20 | U20 SM-sarja | ||
| Cole Schwindt | C/RW | 30 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 0.67 | 6 | 26.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3.00 | 0 | N/A | Rogle BK J20/Brynas IF J20 | J20 Nationell |
| LW | 26 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.19 | 6 | 9.3 | Brynas IF | SHL | |
| Connor Zary | C | 32 | 10 | 22 | 32 | 1.00 | 39 | 39.9 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Defencemen
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Boltmann | RHD | 22 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0.14 | 42 | 3.8 | Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Cole Jordan | LHD | 17 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0.41 | 15 | 10.2 | Moose Jaw Warriors | WHL |
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 27 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 0.30 | 10 | 12.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 30 | 4 | 17 | 21 | 0.70 | 14 | 27.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 30 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0.20 | 16 | 5.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Cameron Whynot | LHD | 33 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 0.55 | 12 | 12.8 | Halifax Mooseheads | QMJHL |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniil Chechelev | G | 26 | 3.20 | 0.906 | Kansas City Mavericks | ECHL |
| Arseni Sergeev | G | 12 | 2.55 | 0.918 | University of Connecticut | NCAA |
| Dustin Wolf | G | 25 | 2.04 | 0.934 | Calgary Wranglers | 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.
Photo by Candice Ward/Calgary Wranglers
