The Calgary Flames prospects at forward had a big week. Aydar Suniev torched the NCAA for six points in two games, Rory Kerins and Cole Schwindt each had four points for the Calgary Wranglers, and Parker Bell and Jaden Lipinski each recorded four points in the WHL.
There was also some movement between leagues this week. Topi Ronni moved back up to the Liiga, and Axel Hurtig—the Flames’ 2023 seventh round pick—made his SHL debut.
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
- Rory Kerins—a Flames prospect not hyped enough—scored three goals and added one assist through two games this week. Most of this production came in the form of three points in the Wranglers’ 6–2 win over the Manitoba Moose on Friday night.
- Cole Schwindt scored a goal and three assists this week. Like Kerins, three of these points (a goal and two assists) came in Friday’s win over the Moose.
- A goal and an assist were had by Adam Klapka, and he’s up to 18 points in 22 games now.
- Craig Conroy continues to make good on his promise to give the Flames’ young talent an opportunity. Connor Zary, Martin Pospisil, Ilya Solovyov and Dustin Wolf are all currently with the Flames. Coronato was re-called by the club on Friday but re-assigned on Tuesday.
BCHL
- Another two points—including his first goal for the Penticton Vees—for Cade Littler this week.
ECHL
- Wow, so empty here! It’s probably a good sign that none of the Flames prospects are playing in the ECHL.
Europe
- After a dud of a fortnight for Axel Hurtig in the J20 Nationell, he moved up to the SHL where he played one game and went scoreless.
- Topi Ronni scored another goal and assist in one game for Tappara U20 this week before moving back up to the Liiga where he laced up for one scoreless game.
- No games for Yegor Yegorov this week, but his team plays a pair of back-to-backs over the next week, so we should see more of him next week.
NCAA
- Another week of no games for Arseni Sergeev, and his team’s next game is December 31.
- Now for the prospect you scrolled down to read about: Jake Boltmann! Big news from him this week, as he continues to sport zeros across the board.
- All joking aside, Aydar Suniev is who you really came here for. He delivered in a big way this week, doubling his point totals on the year. Suniev scored three goals and three helpers in just two games, and is now at 12 points in 15 games. Check out this snipe from the top of the circle:
- For his efforts, Suniev was named Hockey East’s Rookie of the Week:
QMJHL
- Etienne Morin saw improvement this week, managing a pair of assists through three games. It was a good week after he failed to record a point last week, but it’s still not quite the point-per-game production we’ve grown accustomed to over the start of the season.
WHL
- Samuel Honzek added another goal and two assists this week. He’s been excellent since returning from injury, as he’s up to three goals and eight points in five games.
- Staying with the Vancouver Giants, Jaden Lipinski scored two goals and four points this week, including making it rain teddy bears on Saturday night. It was the Giants’ annual Teddy Bear Toss, and Lipinski scored this beauty to bring the bears out:
- Add another four points to Parker Bell’s totals. In two games, he scored twice and recorded four points. He now has 12 goals and 25 points, good for second and third respectively on his team.
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: 51.4 (Same)
- Rory Kerins: 39.9 (New)(Tie)
- Martin Pospisil: 39.9 (Same)(Tie)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker Bell | LW | 21 | 12 | 13 | 25 | 1.19 | 6 | 29.5 | Tri-City Americans | WHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 20 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.10 | 15 | 4.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Matt Coronato | RW/LW | 14 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 1.29 | 2 | 51.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Mathias Emilio Pettersen | C/LW | 22 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 0.73 | 10 | 29.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Samuel Honzek | LW/C | 5 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 1.60 | 4 | 39.6 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| Ben Jones | C | 22 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 0.86 | 14 | 34.3 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 16 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 1.00 | 0 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Adam Klapka | RW | 22 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 0.82 | 30 | 32.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Jaden Lipinski | C | 29 | 10 | 16 | 25 | 0.90 | 32 | 22.3 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| Cade Littler | C | 14 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 0.79 | 10 | 17.5 | Cedar Rapids RoughRiders | USHL |
| 7 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0.86 | 4 | 9.2 | Penticton Vees | BCHL | ||
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 11 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.36 | 2 | 14.3 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1.00 | 6 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Topi Ronni | C | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.14 | 4 | 5.2 | Tappara | Liiga |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 1.75 | 6 | N/A | Tappara U20 | U20 SM-sarja | ||
| Cole Schwindt | C/RW | 22 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 0.59 | 8 | 23.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 20 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.10 | 10 | 4.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Aydar Suniev | LW | 15 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 0.80 | 15 | 25.8 | 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 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Axel Hurtig | LHD | 11 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.45 | 27 | N/A | Rogle BK J20 | J20 Nationell |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | Rogle BK | SHL | ||
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 22 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0.18 | 6 | 7.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Etienne Morin | LHD | 24 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 0.83 | 6 | 19.3 | 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 | 13 | 2.50 | 0.920 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Yegor Yegorov | G | 12 | 2.09 | 0.925 | 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!
