The Calgary Flames are starting to produce as a team and the Flames’ prospects just keep going as well. The Wranglers saw both their aces produce, but also got some very good production from some of their more under-the-radar guys as well. Ilya Nikolayev and Rory Kerins are quietly earning themselves a big role on the team.
Outside the AHL, Jaden Lipinski and Parker Bell keep putting points on the board in the WHL and Etienne Morin is showing himself to be one of the best defencemen in the Q this season.
We are still looking for Daniil Chechelev who has still not found his way back onto the ice this season and are also awaiting the first point for Jake Boltmann this year.
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
- Mixed results for the Wranglers this week. They picked up a 4–1 win last Wednesday, a 5–4 shootout win on Friday, dropped a 4–0 decision on Sunday and then lost last night by a 3–2 score.
- Their best players continue to be their best players. Matt Coronato picked up two goals and three assists while Emilio Pettersen had a goal and three assists. Coronato is a point-per-game player, while Pettersen is not far behind.
- Rory Kerins has quietly been exceptional for the team. The forward who spent nearly all of last year in the ECHL picked up three goals and an assist and is nearly at a point-per-game pace.
- Similarly, Ilya Nikolayev, who also spent most of last year in the lower league, picked up a goal and two assists this week. He’s just about a point-per-game guy right now.
- The Wranglers are rolling and are getting scoring from up and down the lineup. For a team that has lost their best scorers from last year in Matthew Phillips (WSH), Jakob Pelletier (INJ), Adam Ruzicka (NHL), Connor Zary (NHL), Walker Duehr (NHL), and Jeremie Poirier (INJ), somehow this team just keeps rolling.
- Two players who have not looked great are Lucas Ciona and William Stromgren so far this season. Both are in their first full season in the league, but they have combined for four points in 26 combined games. Breaking into the AHL is no small feat, but the hope was that at least Stromgren, the former second-round pick, would be doing slightly better.
- No timeline on return for Jakob Pelletier or Jeremie Poirier at this point. Pelletier likely stays in the NHL when he’s healthy, while Poirier likely rejoins the Wranglers.
- Dustin Wolf’s numbers took a bit of a drop this week as he was in net for the 4–0 loss to the Ontario Reign. A small dip is not cause for concern.
ECHL
- The Rapid City Rush carried on their merry way without the help of any Flames prospects this week.
- Still no sign of Daniil Chechelev.
Europe
- Two assists this week for Axel Hurtig in the Swedish J20. It was expected that he may come over to Canada after his North American rights were acquired by the Calgary Hitmen, but so far he has been putting up decent numbers on the other side of the pond.
- No games this week for Topi Ronni. He has been with Tappara’s big team as opposed to playing with the J20 in the lower league. That’s at least something.
- Two great games for Yegor Yegorov this week, who saw his numbers go back up again. Great to see from the Russian netminder.
NCAA
- No games this week for Arseni Sergeev, who did not feature in either of UConn’s games this weekend. He really needs to earn the crease back for the Huskies after being supplanted by his partner.
- No points this week for Aydar Suniev, but he has been bumped up to the second line for UMass.
- And as usual, no points for Jake Boltmann at Notre Dame. Womp womp.
QMJHL
- Etienne Morin continues to fly for Moncton in the QMJHL. He picked up three points this week after returning to action following an injury. He sits fourth in points per game among all defencemen in the league. All three players ahead of him are older than him.
USHL
- Wild news out of the USHL—Cade Littler has left the league and has signed with the Penticton Vees of the BCHL. Littler spent last season in the BCHL with the Wenatchee Wild and will now be back in the league, presumably till the end of the season.
- He leaves Cedar Rapids with eight points in 11 games, good for second on the team. Expect him to make his Vees debut at the weekend.
WHL
- Parker Bell is back in action in Tri-City, and had a goal and three assists in his first two games back. He picked up a nasty hit that saw him out of action for the last few weeks, but great to see him back on the ice. Take a look at his goal here:
- Three goals this week for Jaden Lipinski in Vancouver, all of which came in the same game. The forward has been centring the top line in the absence of Samuel Honzek.
- Take a look at one of his goals here:
- Lipinski is also very much getting into the Flames’ mindset and is clearly not an Oilers fan. Check out this clip from him speaking at a school:
- Flames 2023 first-round pick Samuel Honzek still has not returned to game action as he recovers from an injury of his own.
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: 69.7 (Same)
- Connor Zary: 66.6 (Same)
- Martin Pospisil: 39.9 (Same)(Tie)
- Matt Coronato: 39.9 (New)(Tie)
- Ben Jones: 37.1 (-1)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| PLAYER | POSITION | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLE | TEAM | LEAGUE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker Bell | LW | 13 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 1.17 | 4 | 29.0 | Tri-City Americans | WHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.15 | 13 | 6.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Matt Coronato | RW/LW | 9 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 1.00 | 0 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Mathias Emilio Pettersen | C/LW | 15 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 0.71 | 8 | 28.3 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Samuel Honzek | LW/C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| Ben Jones | C | 15 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 0.93 | 8 | 37.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 9 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0.88 | 0 | 35.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Adam Klapka | RW | 15 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 0.71 | 24 | 28.3 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Jaden Lipinski | C | 21 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 0.76 | 22 | 18.8 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| Cade Littler | C | 14 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 0.79 | 10 | 17.5 | Cedar Rapids RoughRiders | USHL |
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.80 | 0 | 31.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1.00 | 6 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Topi Ronni | C | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.17 | 4 | 6.3 | Tappara | Liiga |
| Cole Schwindt | C/RW | 15 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0.43 | 6 | 17.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.15 | 6 | 6.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Aydar Suniev | LW | 11 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0.45 | 0 | 14.5 | UMass | NCAA |
| Connor Zary | C | 6 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 1.67 | 2 | 66.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
Defencemen
| PLAYER | POSITION | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLE | TEAM | LEAGUE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Boltmann | RHD | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Axel Hurtig | LHD | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.67 | 0 | N/A | Rogle BK J20 | J20 Nationell |
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 15 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.14 | 6 | 5.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Etienne Morin | LHD | 16 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 1.00 | 6 | 23.3 | Moncton Wildcats | QMJHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 4 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 1.75 | 0 | 69.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 13 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.33 | 8 | 13.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
Goalies
| PLAYER | POSITION | GP | GAA | SV% | TEAM | LEAGUE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arseni Sergeev | G | 6 | 2.82 | 0.897 | University of Connecticut | NCAA |
| Dustin Wolf | G | 8 | 2.61 | 0.909 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Yegor Yegorov | G | 11 | 2.20 | 0.921 | 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!
