The Flames are off to a marginal start on the NHL ice, but the prospects are off to a much better one. The Wranglers have yet to lose in regulation this season, rocking a 1–0–1 record through two games. Jeremie Poirier has been unbelievable to start the season as well, with five points in two games. Outside of Calgary, Arseni Sergeev has put up solid numbers in the NCAA to start the year. He continues to put up good numbers in his second full season. Across the CHL, Parker Bell and Etienne Morin are shining to start the year. Both have put up outstanding numbers so far.
So much to get into this week, let’s dive 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
- The Wranglers have started the season at a 1–0–1 rate, which isn’t bad to this point.
- Jeremie Poirier has been on a tear to start the year, recording an absolutely nutty five points in two games. He has also scored the first goal in the season for every season the Wranglers have been a team. Take a look at his goal here:
- Cole Schwindt is the only Wranglers’ prospect with two goals so far this season, while Martin Pospisil and Adam Klapka have one a piece.
- Dustin Wolf is 1–0–0 to start the season, with the Wranglers going to Oscar Dansk in the second game.
- A special shoutout to Ilya Solovyov. Despite not putting points on the board, he has quietly been exceptional to start the year. Take a look at this sequence here:
- He has been exceptional since training camp and is starting to look increasingly like a player due for a call-up. Keep your eyes on him.
ECHL
- The season hasn’t started in Rapid City yet and so far no Flames prospects are playing in the league as of yet. Expect some of Ilya Nikolayev, Rory Kerins, William Stromgren, and Daniil Chechelev to end up there.
Europe
- The Flames have just Topi Ronni left in Europe (properly). He is now in the Finnish Liiga this season with Tappara and has been playing mostly in a depth role. He has 2 points in his first 12 games.
- Ronni is now taking a step away from the team after being summoned by the courts on allegations of sexual assault. The alleged incident took place two years ago but is now being heard by the courts. There has been no further comment to this point, but do not expect him to play again anytime soon.
- In Russia, Yegor Yegorov has been off to a very good start. In seven games, he has put up a 0.905 save percentage and added a shutout. He is still playing second fiddle to Maxim Yeryomenko, who has put up better numbers to this point in the season.
NCAA
- One assist this week for Aydar Suniev. The left winger played mostly on the third line to start the season.
- No points this week for Jake Boltmann in Notre Dame.
- Arseni Sergeev has played in two of the four games for UConn this season, picking up a win and a loss in that time. He’s going to be splitting the net with Nashville Predators’ netminder prospect Ethan Haider, who has also played in two games.
QMJHL
- After having multiple prospects in the Q for seasons, they are down to just Etienne Morin in Moncton as their sole prospect in the league. The offensive blueliner put up five points in six games, including four goals. One of his goals was this beautiful shorthanded snipe. Take a look:
USHL
- A great start to the season for Cade Littler. The forward has put up eight points in seven games for the RoughRiders. After de-committing from the NCAA, Littler will spend this season in the USHL before heading to North Dakota the following season. He is taking a very unconventional route to his development, but time will tell if it pays off. For now, let’s just enjoy the production.
WHL
- Parker Bell has been off to an outstanding season this year. After signing an entry-level contract with the Flames, the forward went back to Tri-City in the WHL and put up five points in his first three games. His one goal was an empty-netter, but he has been playing on the team’s top line.
- Three assists for Jaden Lipinski in Vancouver, where has been centring either the first or second line this season. The Giants are without Samuel Honzek, who is expected to be out for six to eight weeks. They are currently 2–3–0 and sit 10th in the WHL’s Western Conference.
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)
- Jeremie Poirier: 99.6
- Connor Zary: 59.8
- Parker Bell: 41.4
- Adam Klapka: 39.9 (Tie)
- Martin Pospisil: 39.9 (Tie)
- Cole Schwindt 39.9 (Tie)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker Bell | LW | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1.67 | 57 | 41.4 | Tri-City Americans | WHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Mathias Emilio Pettersen | C/LW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Samuel Honzek | LW/C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| Ben Jones | C | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.50 | 2 | 19.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Adam Klapka | RW | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.00 | 0 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Jaden Lipinski | C | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0.75 | 4 | 18.6 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| Cade Littler | C | 7 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 1.14 | 8 | 25.2 | Cedar Rapids RoughRiders | USHL |
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.00 | 0 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Topi Ronni | C | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.17 | 4 | 6.3 | Tappara | Liiga |
| Cole Schwindt | C/RW | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1.00 | 2 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.50 | 2 | 19.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Aydar Suniev | LW | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.50 | 0 | 16.1 | UMass | NCAA |
| Connor Zary | C | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1.50 | 0 | 59.8 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
Defencemen
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Boltmann | RHD | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Etienne Morin | LHD | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0.83 | 4 | 19.3 | Moncton Wildcats | QMJHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2.50 | 0 | 99.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arseni Sergeev | G | 2 | 2.03 | 0.932 | University of Connecticut | NCAA |
| Dustin Wolf | G | 1 | 2.00 | 0.933 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Yegor Yegorov | G | 7 | 2.84 | 0.905 | MHK Dynamo Moskva | MHL |
Following the prospects
Staying up to date with the development of prospects is no easy task. Follow along throughout the season for the latest happenings in the entire Flames’ development pipelines!
Photo from @AHLWranglers.
