Yet another huge week for the Calgary Flames’ prospects—particularly their top AHL guys. Matt Coronato is almost certainly too good for the AHL, putting up six more points this week. Big man Adam Klapka added four of his own to add to his already impressive stat line. Both of the Flames’ top prospects in the WHL had big weeks again and continue to be among the best in the league.
Two prospects are starting out in new leagues on new teams, and Topi Ronni in Finland put up four goals in one game this week.
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
- What a week for Matt Coronato. The forward put up two goals and four assists for the Wranglers and is now well over a point-per-game. He is quickly becoming a candidate for a call-up.
- Adam Klapka also had a huge week, putting up three goals and an assist. Expect him to earn a game or two in the NHL. Aside from putting points on the board, he is also very large.
- Two assists this week for Emilio Pettersen as well as he continues to light the lamp.
- A goal as well for Rory Kerins, and while one goal doesn’t move the needle compared to his teammates, Kerins has been an excellent addition to the Wranglers’ lineup after spending most of last season in the ECHL. He is starting to look like a guy who could see the NHL.
- Dustin Wolf saw his numbers improve this week. He sits eighth in the league with a 0.916 save percentage in 11 games. This is the same record as former Flame David Rittich, plying his trade in the AHL with the Ontario Reign (Ontario, the city in California not the province in Canada).
BCHL
- Cade Littler played his first BCHL game with Penticton, but did not record any points.
ECHL
- The Rapid City Rush carried on their merry way without the help of any Flames prospects this week.
Europe
- Congratulations to Daniil Chechelev who has signed a contract with HC Vityaz in the KHL. He’s unlikely to make his way back to North America.
- No points this week for Axel Hurtig in Sweden.
- Topi Ronni played one game in the Finnish Liiga but did not record any points. Then he was sent down to the U20 for a game where he recorded four goals.
- No games this week for Yegor Yegorov in Russia.
NCAA
- No games this week for Arseni Sergeev at UConn. He has lost the starting job to the other netminder and will need to work hard to reclaim it.
- One assist for Aydar Suniev at UMass. He has been playing in the middle-six this season.
- And as usual, no points for Jake Boltmann at Notre Dame. Womp womp.
QMJHL
- Two more assists this week for Etienne Morin down in Moncton. He continues to play top-pairing minutes on the team and put up excellent numbers. A very good find for the Flames in the draft.
WHL
- A goal and an assist this week for Parker Bell in Tri-City. He continues to put up numbers in what should be his last season in the league.
- Another assist for Jaden Lipinski this week. He continues to play top line for the Giants in the absence of Samuel Honzek.
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)
- Matt Coronato: 49.8 (+1)
- Martin Pospisil: 39.9 (-1)
- Ben Jones: 35.5 (Same)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| PLAYER | POSITION | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLE | TEAM | LEAGUE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker Bell | LW | 15 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 1.07 | 4 | 26.5 | Tri-City Americans | WHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 16 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.13 | 13 | 5.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Matt Coronato | RW/LW | 12 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 1.25 | 0 | 49.8 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Mathias Emilio Pettersen | C/LW | 18 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 0.67 | 8 | 26.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Samuel Honzek | LW/C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| Ben Jones | C | 18 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 0.89 | 10 | 35.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 12 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0.75 | 0 | 29.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Adam Klapka | RW | 18 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 0.78 | 28 | 31.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Jaden Lipinski | C | 24 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 0.71 | 26 | 17.6 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| Cade Littler | C | 14 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 0.79 | 10 | 17.5 | Cedar Rapids RoughRiders | USHL |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Penticton Vees | BCHL | ||
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.57 | 0 | 22.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1.00 | 6 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Topi Ronni | C | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.15 | 4 | 6.3 | Tappara | Liiga |
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4.00 | 0 | N/A | Tappara U20 | U20 SM-sarja | ||
| Cole Schwindt | C/RW | 18 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0.39 | 6 | 15.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 16 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.13 | 6 | 5.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Aydar Suniev | LW | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0.50 | 0 | 16.1 | 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 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Axel Hurtig | LHD | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.56 | 2 | N/A | Rogle BK J20 | J20 Nationell |
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 18 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.11 | 6 | 5.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Etienne Morin | LHD | 19 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 0.95 | 6 | 23.3 | Moncton Wildcats | QMJHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 4 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 1.75 | 0 | 69.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 16 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.31 | 12 | 12.4 | 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 | 11 | 2.50 | 0.916 | 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!
