Two Calgary-based hockey teams are already in the playoffs, and the Calgarys Flames aren’t one of them (though they still have a chance of making it). The Calgary Wranglers picked up two huge wins this week, with Matthew Phillips and Dustin Wolf driving the team as usual.
All of the Flames’ CHL prospects are in the playoffs, and all of their teams are up in their playoff series. Lucas Ciona, Parker Bell, Jack Beck, and others are all at least point-per-game players.
Only one prospect remains in Europe for the Flames right now, as William Stromgren signed an entry-level contract (ELC) with the Flames this week. He hasn’t started with the Wranglers yet, but should soon.
Lots of news to talk about this week, let’s dive right 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.
Flames prospect happenings
AHL
- Yet another big week for the Calgary Wranglers, who picked up two wins out of two against the Henderson Silver Knights. One was a 5–3 win with Oscar Dansk in net and the other was a 5–1 win where Dustin Wolf picked up a win in his 100th AHL game of his career.
- Adam Klapka led the way for the team with four goals, including his first AHL hat trick. He started off this season very slowly, but has come around of late.
- Matthew Phillips continues to be the Wranglers’ best forward, and put up two more goals and two most assists. He has hit the 70-point mark for the first time in his career, and sits fourth in the league in scoring. Two of the three prospects ahead of him have played more games than him in the AHL.
- Ben Jones has been an excellent pick-up for the Wranglers this year, and added three more assists this week. He is starting to look like a player for this team.
- A rare goal this week for Yan Kuznetsov from the blueline. He also added two more assists this week.
BCHL
- Two goals for Cade Littler in Wenatchee as they face off against Cranbrook in the first round of the playoffs. The Wild are up 2–1 in their best of seven series.
ECHL
- No points again for Lucas Feuk.
- Welcome back Rory Kerins! The former OHLer had a goal and two assists this week for the Rapid City Rush.
- Ilya Nikolayev is also back on the ice, and had a massive week scoring two goals and adding three assists.
- No points for Demetrios Koumontzis in Idaho this week. He’s very unlikely to sign with the Flames.
Europe
- Topi Ronni and the Tappara U-20 team are Champions of the SM-sarja. Ronni finishes with five goals and 10 assists in 12 games, and was second in playoff scoring in the league.
- William Stromgren has finished his season in Europe as Brynas was relegated to the Swedish Allsvenskan. He has signed an ELC with the Flames, and will report to the Wranglers for the rest of the year.
NCAA
- All of the Flames’ prospects in the NCAA are done for the year.
- Josh Nodler has entered the transfer portal. After spending his first three years at Michigan State, he transferred to UMass last season. He ended with just five points, and struggled to make the lineup. in the back half of the season. Nodler will be looking for a new home for what should be his fifth and final season in the NCAA.
OHL
- The Ottawa 67’s are up 2–1 over the Oshawa Generals in the first round of the playoffs. Jack Beck has two goals and two assists for the very deep Barber Poles side.
QMJHL
- Cole Huckins and the Sherbrooke Phoenix are up 3–0 in their first round matchup. Huckins has been playing mostly on the third line, but has a goal and two assists so far.
- Cam Whynot is still injured, but his Halifax Mooseheads are up 3–0 over the Cape Breton Eagles.
WHL
- The Seattle Thunderbirds have a 3–0 lead in their first round series over Kelowna. Lucas Ciona has two goals so far.
- Parker Bell and the Tri-City Americans have a 2–1 edge over Prince George so far in their first round series. Bell has been a star so far, with two goals and two assists in three games.
- Cole Jordan will be out for the rest of the season.
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: 46.6 (Same)
- Jakob Pelletier: 43.4 (Same)
- Connor Zary: 34.3(Same)
- Jack Beck 31.3 (Same)
- Ben Jones 30.1 (NEW)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Beck | LW/RW | 45 | 12 | 41 | 53 | 1.18 | 16 | 31.3 | Ottawa 67’s | OHL |
| Parker Bell | LW | 55 | 25 | 39 | 64 | 1.16 | 65 | 28.7 | Tri-City Americans | WHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 63 | 28 | 47 | 75 | 1.19 | 85 | 29.5 | Seattle Thunderbirds | WHL |
| Matthew Coronato | RW | 34 | 20 | 16 | 36 | 1.06 | 14 | 24.3 | Harvard Crimsons | NCAA |
| Walker Duehr | RW | 41 | 15 | 11 | 26 | 0.63 | 36 | 25.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Mathias Emilio Pettersen | C/LW | 57 | 19 | 24 | 43 | 0.75 | 35 | 29.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Lucas Feuk | C/W | 45 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 0.27 | 20 | N/A | Rapid City Rush | ECHL |
| Cole Huckins | C | 64 | 28 | 30 | 58 | 0.91 | 79 | 21.2 | Sherbrooke Phoenix | QMJHL |
| Ben Jones | C | 65 | 15 | 35 | 50 | 0.77 | 51 | 30.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 34 | 16 | 18 | 31 | 1.00 | 6 | N/A | Rapid City Rush | ECHL |
| 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.33 | 0 | 13.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | ||
| Adam Klapka | RW | 54 | 12 | 11 | 23 | 0.43 | 72 | 17.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Demetrios Koumontzis | LW/D | 37 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 0.47 | 29 | 14.2 | Arizona State Sun Devils | NCAA |
| LW/D | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.17 | 0 | N/A | Idaho Steelheads | ECHL | |
| Cade Littler | C | 51 | 29 | 39 | 68 | 1.33 | 28 | 14.2 | Wenatchee Wild | BCHL |
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 36 | 12 | 19 | 31 | 0.86 | 27 | N/A | Rapid City Rush | ECHL |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | ||
| Josh Nodler | C/RW | 27 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.19 | 8 | 6.1 | UMass | NCAA |
| Jakob Pelletier | C/LW | 33 | 16 | 20 | 36 | 1.09 | 22 | 43.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Matthew Phillips | C/RW | 60 | 34 | 36 | 70 | 1.17 | 12 | 46.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 20 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 0.50 | 24 | 19.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Topi Ronni | C | 22 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.23 | 2 | 8.2 | Tappara | Liiga |
| 7 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 1.43 | 4 | N/A | Tappara U20 | U20 SM-sarja | ||
| Cole Schwindt | C/RW | 64 | 14 | 18 | 32 | 0.50 | 25 | 19.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3.00 | 0 | N/A | Rogle BK J20/Brynas IF J20 | J20 Nationell |
| LW | 45 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0.18 | 8 | 9.4 | Brynas IF | SHL | |
| Connor Zary | C | 66 | 20 | 37 | 57 | 0.86 | 61 | 34.3 | Stockton Heat | AHL |
Defencemen
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Boltmann | RHD | 37 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0.14 | 48 | 3.8 | Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Cole Jordan | LHD | 17 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0.41 | 15 | 10.2 | Moose Jaw Warriors | WHL |
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 57 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 0.33 | 26 | 13.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 63 | 9 | 32 | 41 | 0.65 | 44 | 25.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 62 | 3 | 13 | 16 | 0.26 | 36 | 10.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Cameron Whynot | LHD | 48 | 3 | 22 | 25 | 0.52 | 18 | 12.1 | Halifax Mooseheads | QMJHL |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniil Chechelev | G | 40 | 3.55 | 0.894 | Kansas City Mavericks | ECHL |
| G | 2 | 3.37 | 0.881 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | |
| Arseni Sergeev | G | 19 | 2.61 | 0.912 | University of Connecticut | NCAA |
| Dustin Wolf | G | 51 | 2.10 | 0.932 | 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
