The Calgary Flames’ prospects are nearly all playoff-bound. The Calgary Wranglers earned a playoff spot earlier this week and will be heading to the postseason for the second time in the team’s two-year history.
Except for Parker Bell, every Flames prospect in the CHL is playoff-bound, and all the playoffs have started. Nobody is outright running away with their playoffs, but it’s still very early. There were a lot of strong individual performances this week, but regrettably Samuel Honzek wasn’t one of them.
There’s so much to discuss; 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 went 2–1 this week, beating the San Jose Barracuda and the Coachella Valley Firebirds and dropping their most recent outing to the Barracuda. They also clinched a playoff spot this week and will be in the postseason for the third year in a row.
- Adam Klapka had a big week for the team, potting a goal and adding two assists in three games. It’s great to see the big man reliably finding the back of the net this season.
- Sam Morton has been a revelation for this team, adding a goal and an assist in his three games. He’s been outstanding since joining the team.
- A goal and an assist for William Stromgren this week. He started the season off slowly but has been scoring reliably over the last few weeks. Maybe there’s more to him than many thought at draft time.
- Without Dustin Wolf, the Wranglers have been running Oscar Dansk and Connor Murphy in net. Neither are nearly as good as Wolf, obviously.
BCHL
- Cade Littler is done for the season after suffering an upper-body injury. All the best in your recovery, Cade!
ECHL
- Ilya Nikolayev was assigned to the Rapid City Rush this week. In his first game with the team, he scored a goal. Take a look at it here:
- It’s a little sad to see Nikolayev not being effective at the AHL level. He has struggled to get minutes this season, and his numbers have really not been great at all at that level. Hopefully, this is just a minor setback for him, and he starts to rip it at the next level.
- Parker Bell and Joni Jurmo have been added to the Wranglers’ roster for the balance of the season, but neither have played this season.
Europe
- Joni Jurmo is now in North America, so no games for him in Europe anymore.
- Axel Hurtig and Rogle lost in the first round of their playoffs by a 2–1 score. He had no points.
- What happens next for him is going to be interesting. His North American rights are owned by the Calgary Hitmen, and there is a very good chance that he plays next season in the WHL with them.
NCAA
- All the Flames’ prospects are done in the NCAA. Aydar Suniev and UMass lost a heartbreaker in their Frozen Four quarterfinals to Denver in double overtime. He will be back there next season.
- Arseni Sergeev entered the transfer portal and has moved over to Penn State for next season. We broke down all the specifics of Sergeev’s move and why this makes sense here.
- The Flames have until August to sign Jake Boltmann, or they lose his rights. Smart money would say this is the end of the road for the former third-round pick.
OHL
- Two assists for Hunter Brzustewicz as the Kitchener Rangers are up 2–1 in their first-round series.
QMJHL
- Three assists for Etienne Morin and the Moncton Wildcats. They are down 3–0 in their first-round series to Chicoutimi.
WHL
- Three assists for Jaden Lipinski as the Vancouver Giants are tied 1–1 with the Everett Silvertips.
- One goal for Samuel Honzek for the Giants. Not bad.
- Parker Bell’s season in the WHL is done. He’s now in the AHL.
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):
- Connor Zary: 66.6 (Same)
- Matt Coronato: 41.8 (Same)
- Martin Pospisil: 39.9 (Same)
- Hunter Brzustewicz: 36.3 (Same)
- Jeremie Poirier: 29.9 (Same)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker Bell | LW | 59 | 33 | 31 | 64 | 1.08 | 38 | 26.7 | Tri-City Americans | WHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 54 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0.11 | 82 | 4.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Matt Coronato | RW/LW | 40 | 15 | 27 | 42 | 1.05 | 19 | 41.8 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Riley Damiani | C | 63 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 0.38 | 36 | 15.5 | Calgary Wranglers/Texas Stars | AHL |
| Samuel Honzek | LW/C | 33 | 10 | 21 | 31 | 0.94 | 18 | 23.3 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| Ben Jones | C | 66 | 21 | 21 | 42 | 0.64 | 46 | 25.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 49 | 13 | 16 | 29 | 0.59 | 8 | 24.3 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Adam Klapka | RW | 60 | 20 | 23 | 43 | 0.72 | 84 | 27.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Jaden Lipinski | C | 67 | 24 | 42 | 66 | 0.99 | 55 | 24.5 | Vancouver Giants | WHL |
| Cade Littler | C | 14 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 0.79 | 10 | 17.5 | Cedar Rapids RoughRiders | USHL |
| 24 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 0.88 | 14 | 9.4 | Penticton Vees | BCHL | ||
| Sam Morton | C | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0.63 | 0 | 33.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 29 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0.21 | 8 | 8.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| C | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.00 | 0 | N/a | Rapid City Rush | ECHL | |
| Martin Pospisil | C/W | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1.00 | 6 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Cole Schwindt | C/RW | 60 | 14 | 19 | 33 | 0.55 | 31 | 23.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 62 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 0.35 | 16 | 13.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Aydar Suniev | LW | 36 | 12 | 13 | 25 | 0.71 | 25 | 22.9 | 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 | 30 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.07 | 22 | 2.3 | Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Hunter Brzustewicz | RHD | 67 | 13 | 79 | 92 | 1.37 | 24 | 36.3 | Kitchener Rangers | OHL |
| Artyom Grushnikov | LHD | 59 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0.10 | 38 | 4.4 | Calgary Wranglers/Texas Stars | AHL |
| Axel Hurtig | LHD | 27 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 0.40 | 35 | N/A | Rogle BK J20 | J20 Nationell |
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | Rogle BK | SHL | ||
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.25 | 0 | N/A | Kristianstads IK | HockeyEttan | ||
| Joni Jurmo | LHD | 46 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0.11 | 14 | 4.1 | KooKoo/Ilves | Liiga |
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 59 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 0.20 | 25 | 8.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Etienne Morin | LHD | 58 | 12 | 37 | 49 | 0.84 | 31 | 19.6 | Moncton Wildcats | QMJHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 18 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 0.72 | 18 | 29.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 48 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 0.29 | 34 | 11.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arseni Sergeev | G | 16 | 2.70 | 0.913 | University of Connecticut | NCAA |
| Dustin Wolf | G | 35 | 2.43 | 0.923 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Yegor Yegorov | G | 25 | 2.46 | 0.917 | MHK Dynamo Moskva | MHL |
| Daniil Chechelev | G | 5 | 3.10 | 0.908 | Ryazan-VDV | VHL |
| 1 | 3.10 | 0.880 | Vityaz Moscow Region | KHL |
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!
