It was a devastating week for the Calgary Flames, who saw their chances of a postseason berth evaporate by the Nashville Predators. However, the Flames’ prospects in the CHL are nearly all still in their respective dances and through to the second round. The Wranglers picked up their 50th win of the season, and have just three more games before the playoffs start.
William Stromgren played his first game for the Wranglers this week, and Matt Coronato should play his first pro game this week, although for the Calgary Flames. Expect Jakob Pelletier and the rest of the Flames’ young stars to head back to the AHL for the playoffs.
So much to dive into this week, 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.
Flames prospect happenings
AHL
- Three more wins for the Calgary Wranglers, who picked up their fiftieth win of the season this week. They currently hold the top spot in the Pacific Division, with a slim three-point edge over the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Assuming this holds, they will take home the top spot in the Pacific Division and the top spot in the AHL, giving them a bye in the first round, and matchups against the lowest seed all the way through the playoffs.
- Of course it was Matthew Phillips who led the way for the team this year, putting up two goals and three assists in three games. He is still too good for the AHL, and is likely going to be looking for an NHL job next season, here or elsewhere.
- Ben Jones also had a huge week, putting up two goals and two assists in the three games. What a surprisingly good find he has been for this team.
- With the Flames out of contention, expect Jakob Pelletier, Walker Duehr, and Adam Ruzicka back down with the Wranglers for the playoffs. Reminder, Matt Coronato is not eligible for the AHL this season.
- William Stromgren played his first AHL game this past week. Great to see him in the lineup. He had no points.
- He may not be a prospect, but Oscar Dansk has been very good for the Wranglers of late. He’s 5–0–1 in his last six games, and has been very good as the team has given Dustin Wolf a few nights off from AHL hockey, but he may be in for his first NHL game in the Flames’ final game.
- Unsurprisingly, Dustin Wolf is the best goalie in the AHL still.
BCHL
- Cade Littler and the Wenatchee Wild are through to the second round of the playoffs. They will face the Penticton Vees in their next series. The Vees are the top team in the BCHL, and lost just three games all season. Littler has three goals and two assists so far this playoffs. He is NCAA-bound next year.
ECHL
- Two assists this week for Rory Kerins, who is back up to a point-per-game pace.
- A goal and an assist this week for Ilya Nikolayev. Both he and Kerins are back in the lineup after long stretches on the IR.
- Two assists for Demetrios Koumontzis in Idaho this week. He’s very unlikely to sign with the Flames.
Europe
- Topi Ronni has won the U20 SM-sarjaa championships with Tappara. The big club is in the finals in the Finnish Liiga, but Ronni has not featured for them of late.
- William Stromgren has finished his season in Europe as Brynas was relegated to the Swedish Allsvenskan. He has signed an entry-level contract 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.
OHL
- Jack Beck and the Ottawa 67’s made light work of the Oshawa Generals, beating them in five games. Beck had three goals and six assists in five games. They face off against the Peterborough Petes in the second round.
QMJHL
- Cole Huckins and the Sherbrooke Phoenix are through to the next round of the playoffs. huckins had three points in the first round, playing mostly on the third line. They will face Drummondville in the second round.
- Cam Whynt is still injured, but his Halifax Mooseheads beat Cape Breton in convincing fashion to earn a spot in the second round. They will face either Moncton or Baie-Comeau in the next round. Fun fact: Jeremie Poirier’s brother Justin Poirier plays for Baie-Comeau, and has eight points in six games as a 16-year-old. He is draft eligible next year.
WHL
- Lucas Ciona and the Seattle Thunderbirds are through to the second round of the playoffs. Ciona had three goals in their sweep of the Kelowna Rockets.
- Parker Bell has become the first Flames prospect in the CHL to be eliminated. His Tri-City Americans dropped their series to the Prince George Cougars in six games. Bell had two goals and four assists in the six games. The Cougars will face Seattle in the next round.
- With the playoffs done, there’s a chance that Bell earns an amateur try out with the Wranglers for their playoff run. They have a lot of bodies in the system between Calgary and Rapid City, but Bell will likely earn some practice time with the team, which will hopefully be good for his development.
- I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Flames sign Bell this summer to an entry-level contract, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they gave him one more year. Despite putting up similar numbers to Ciona this year, Bell is still a year younger and the more he can develop at the junior level, the more likely it is that he can become an NHLer in time.
- Cole Jordan will be out for the rest of the season. His Moose Jaw Warriors are through to the next round and will play he Winnipeg ICE.
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: 47.4 (Same)
- Jakob Pelletier: 43.4 (Same)
- Connor Zary: 33.5(Same)
- Ben Jones 31.5 (+1)
- Jack Beck 31.3 (-1)
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 | 59 | 19 | 24 | 43 | 0.73 | 35 | 29.1 | 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 | 68 | 17 | 37 | 54 | 0.79 | 53 | 30.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 36 | 16 | 20 | 36 | 1.00 | 8 | N/A | Rapid City Rush | ECHL |
| 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.33 | 0 | 13.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | ||
| Adam Klapka | RW | 57 | 12 | 12 | 24 | 0.42 | 76 | 16.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Demetrios Koumontzis | LW/D | 37 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 0.47 | 29 | 14.2 | Arizona State Sun Devils | NCAA |
| LW/D | 8 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0.38 | 0 | N/A | Idaho Steelheads | ECHL | |
| Cade Littler | C | 51 | 29 | 39 | 68 | 1.33 | 28 | 14.2 | Wenatchee Wild | BCHL |
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 38 | 13 | 20 | 33 | 0.87 | 29 | 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 | 63 | 36 | 39 | 75 | 1.19 | 12 | 47.4 | 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 | 67 | 14 | 18 | 32 | 0.48 | 29 | 19.1 | 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 | |
| LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | |
| Connor Zary | C | 69 | 21 | 37 | 58 | 0.84 | 61 | 33.5 | 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 | 60 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 0.32 | 30 | 12.8 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 66 | 9 | 32 | 41 | 0.62 | 48 | 24.7 | 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 | 41 | 3.56 | 0.895 | Rapid City Rush | 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 | 53 | 2.08 | 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 from @CalgaryWrangers on Twitter.
