The Calgary Flames are finally seeing the results of their prospect pipeline pay dividends at forward and in net. Dustin Wolf has been the best goalie in the AHL for the last couple years and will likely be an NHLer by next season. Jakob Pelletier, Connor Zary, Martin Pospisil, Walker Duehr, and more are showing their stuff at the NHL level, with Matt Coronato and Samuel Honzek not far behind.
Lost in the discussion has been the team’s blue line, which hasn’t seen a prospect earn a long look at the NHL level in years. While the team did an excellent job drafting and developing Oliver Kylington and Rasmus Andersson, both were drafted nearly a decade ago, and the blue liners drafted since then are—for the most part—a very forgettable group.
However, over the last year, the Flames have worked to build out their blue line depth—both through the draft and recent trades—which has turned the blue line into one of the most exciting parts of the Flames’ prospect pool. Here’s who you need to get excited about who have yet to make their NHL debuts.
Artem Grushnikov
The most recently acquired Flames prospect—Artem Grushnikov—was the key piece in the Chris Tanev trade to Dallas. The Stars acquired the Russian blue liner in the second round of the 2021 Entry Draft, just a handful of picks after the Flames selected William Stromgren.
Despite what models online will try to have you believe, Grushnikov is a very exciting prospect to watch. He is an excellent defensive defenceman, who is able to defend both off the rush as well as in transition. His gap control is excellent, and he has the footspeed to keep up with skaters flying through the neutral zone.
Offensively, Grushnikov’s numbers do not jump off the page, but in fairness, they were never expected to. His offensive skill is not what he is coveted for; it is his defensive game and the sandpaper-like nature of how he plays. Grushnikov has just five points in 44 AHL games, which is about a third the number of points that Tanev has at the NHL level.
Ironically, the Flames traded Tanev for one of the most Tanev-like defensive prospects in the AHL. Grushnikov is an old-school defensive defenceman who can shut players down all over the ice. If he can even add a little bit to his offensive game and continue to grow his defensive game, the Flames may have a real winner in him.
Hunter Brzustewicz
Perhaps the polar opposite of Grushnikov is Hunter Brzustewicz, who has eclipsed the 90-point plateau this season in the OHL. Acquired as part of the Elias Lindholm trade, the Flames just signed the American blue liner to an entry-level contract. He should be with the Calgary Wranglers starting next season but could earn an amateur tryout as early as the end of this season, depending on how his Kitchener Rangers do in the upcoming OHL playoffs.
We all know he is an offensive defenceman, but what makes him stand out is his elite passing and ability to read the play. He is an incredibly bright blue liner, seemingly one step ahead of his peers on the ice. He has a reasonably good shot and can score from the blue line, but it is his ability to find passing lanes that really stands out.
As with virtually every offensive defenceman, the challenge is his defensive engagement. He tends to push up the ice for a rush rather than supporting his teammates in a breakout from behind. Also, despite weighing around 190 pounds in junior hockey, he doesn’t always push his weight around effectively in the corners, leading to questions about his engagement in his own zone.
Do not expect Brzustewicz to be a stud blue liner as soon as he arrives in Calgary. It takes most defencemen a couple of seasons in the AHL to get their feet wet and really figure out how to play at the next level. Heck, it took nearly five seasons before Oliver Kylington was playing full-time in the NHL after being drafted. It will probably be a couple of years before Brzustewicz really begins to make a name for himself in the NHL, but if he does, it’ll be big for the Flames.
Etienne Morin
Lost in the discussions around Brzustewicz is Etienne Morin, who has been very good in the QMJHL this season. Drafted in the second round of last year’s draft, Morin has put up 46 points in 55 games while playing top-pairing minutes for the Moncton Wildcats. These numbers don’t pop like Brzustewicz’s, but they are currently good for second in the Q among U19 defencemen and eighth among all blue liners in the league. These numbers are despite him missing about 10 games due to injury.
Morin’s offensive game is where he thrives. He has an excellent shot, which is able to beat goalies both from the blue line as well as from the dots. The Quebec-born prospect has an excellent read for the game and has been a very good power play quarterback for Moncton this season.
Perhaps more than his offensive game, what really stands out about Morin is his work ethic. He regularly logged over 25 minutes a game this season and was excellent up and down the ice. While he does need to refine his defensive game, it is not nearly as bad as many others. He has a good understanding of that side of the game and should be able to learn that part this coming season.
Morin is a 2005-born prospect who just turned 19. There is a very good chance that he will play one more year of junior hockey before jumping to pro. He probably has done what you need from him at this level, but one more year of logging heavy minutes and working on his defensive game will serve him well in his future career. Expect him to join the Wranglers in 2025–26.
Jeremie Poirier
Fate has a funny way of catching up to all of us at the exact wrong time. For Jeremie Poirier, it came in the form of an errant skate blade while he was on an absolute tear that saw him put up 10 points in his first six games. That skate blade laceration was so bad that it may have prohibited him from playing hockey again, but thankfully, he has recovered well enough and is back to his usual form.
Drafted in the third round, Poirier has quickly become the Flames’ best offensive defenceman not in the NHL and a model of how hard work can get you to the NHL. Projected to be a first-round pick in his draft year, he fell two rounds due to concerns about his defensive game. However, over the last three seasons, he has developed to the point of being nearly NHL-ready.
With an elite shot, high-end vision of the game, a strong two-way presence, and great passing, Poirier is the full package. Offence will always be his calling card—and his defence will never rival Chris Tanev‘s—but it’s his growth and, more importantly, his willingness to grow that have brought him to this point. He is the player that Flames fans should be most excited to see in the NHL that hasn’t been there yet.
It’s a matter of when, not if, the Flames see Poirier in the lineup. Once he earns a look, expect him to do everything he can to stay in the lineup. He probably sees a callup before the end of the year, and assuming he stays healthy, he could be an NHLer next season.
Pour one out for the homies that came before
The Flames have not had this many interesting defensive prospects in their organization since the 2015 draft when they took both Andersson and Kylington. Since then, the team has made a number of great picks up front, but aside from a few that have made their NHL debut—like Yan Kuznetsov and Ilya Solovyov—there is a long list of defensive picks that simply have amounted to nothing.
A few fun names come to mind, including Belarussian Stepan Falkovsky, who was drafted in the seventh round of the 2016 NHL Draft. He is currently playing in the KHL. Then there was the Juuso Valimaki saga, which is probably better forgotten. On top of that, there were the two blue liners picked in 2021, Cameron Whynot and Cole Jordan. Whynot wasn’t particularly good in his final season and is now in USports with Acadia University, while Jordan was plagued with brutal injuries and also ended up in USports with the University of Saskatchewan.
It is incredibly nice to see the Flames finally having a defensive pipeline to the NHL as opposed to one that led to frustration. As the Flames retool, it will be exciting to see how many of these prospects are able to develop into impact NHLers down the line.
Photo from @AHLWranglers on Twitter.
