Welcome back to The Win Column Calgary Flames Prospect Rankings. Rounding out the top 10 this year is a fresh face in 2024 third-round pick Henry Mews. Mews is a defenceman who shows a lot of offensive potential playing in the Ontario Hockey League with the Ottawa 67’s. He is still a ways away from challenging for a spot on the Flames’ blue line, but he is still a prospect we can all be excited about. Let’s take a look!
Mews’ development so far
Mews played forward growing up but switched to defence before making the jump to the OHL. In his D-2 in 2021–22, Mews scored 14 goals and 78 points in 52 games for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens U16 AAA. His 78 points were good for fifth in the league, while his 1.50 points per game was sixth among players who played at least 10 games (first among defencemen who played at least 10 games).
The 67’s selected Mews seventh overall in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection, ahead of players such as Beckett Sennecke, Michael Hage, Cole Beaudoin, and even Zayne Parekh, who were all first-round picks in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. This is not to say he’s fallen off since because that simply isn’t the case.
Mews stepped into the OHL immediately at age 16 and became one of the team’s top offensive defencemen before the highly-touted Pavel Mintyukov was acquired at the trade deadline. Mews scored 12 goals and 31 points as a rookie in the OHL and added another four points in 11 playoff games.
In his sophomore season, this year—and NHL draft year—Mews stepped up his game, scoring 15 goals and 61 points in 65 games. He added five more points in 10 playoff contests. This season, Mews was Ottawa’s primary contributor from the blue line, and he delivered. His 61 points were good for second on his team and first among defencemen on his team (by a whopping 36).
Continuing their superb 2024 draft, the Flames nabbed Mews with their first pick of the third round, 74th overall. Ahead of the draft, NHL.com had Mews ranked 37th among North American skaters; EliteProspects had him ranked 37th among all players. It was a foregone conclusion that Mews would go somewhere in the second round at the very latest, but the Flames got him in the third.
Mews’ strengths and weaknesses
Mews’ skating is easily his bread-and-butter and if he becomes a top-four defenceman in the NHL, it will be a big reason why. He’s shifty and very strong on his edges, making him arguably one of the best skaters out of this draft class. It also makes him a threat in transition, as evidenced by this end-to-end rush:
Mews isn’t just a great skater, he also has a high-level offensive IQ. He sees the ice exceptionally well and moves the puck well, too. These skills combine to make him a dangerous threat on the power play.
It’s not all sunshine and roses, though. Mews’ (lack of) defensive consistency and his size contributed to him falling out of the second round, despite boasting first-round talent. Listed at 6-foot-0 and 187 pounds, he’s not going to intimidate opposing players at the NHL level and will struggle to clear the front of his net.
Mews has also been guilty of giving up turnovers when faced with pressure. He’ll have to rely on his strengths to improve his defensive game because he’ll face bigger, tougher competition at the next level. Mews has the skating and vision to be an effective defender without being overly physical, he just has to put it all together on a consistent basis.
Remember, unlike most of his peers, Mews hasn’t played defence for very long. He’s come a long way in a short time already, and that bodes very well for his future.
Mews’ next steps
Mews is set to return to the OHL in 2024–25 for his third season, where he’s expected to run the back end and quarterback the power play once again. The 67’s are a defence-focused team, and Mews was able to rack up nearly a point per game this year. The goal is for him to improve on those point totals this year and to show more progress in his own zone.
As he’ll be 19 after the end of the coming season, there’s a high chance Mews will return to the OHL for a fourth year in 2025–26 before he’s eligible to move up to the AHL. That is unless he earns a full-time NHL role. Given the head on his shoulders and feet on his legs, I wouldn’t rule out that possibility, however unlikely it may look right now. He has competition in Hunter Brzustewicz and Parekh—both of whom are also right-shot offensive defencemen—so hopefully that can incentivize him to work harder and improve quicker.
Calgary Flames 2024 Top 15 Prospects
Honourable Mentions | #15 William Stromgren | #14 Jacob Battaglia | #13 Aydar Suniev | #12 Luke Misa | #11 Etienne Morin | #10 Henry Mews | #9 Samuel Honzek | #8 Matvei Gridin | #7 Jakob Pelletier | #6 Andrew Basha | #5 Jeremie Poirier | #4 Hunter Brzustewicz | #3 Matt Coronato | #2 Dustin Wolf | #1 Zayne Parekh
