With the dog days of summer officially upon us, it’s time to take a trip down memory lane. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be reviewing previous Calgary Flames top 10 prospect rankings over the years. Predicting the future performance of prospects is nearly impossible, but we all still try year after year.
We’ll kick things off by reviewing our 2023 Calgary Flames top 10 prospects to see where things stand a year later. The list was constructed in June of 2023, so 2023 draft picks weren’t included. It’s worth noting that the team’s prospect pool depth was at an all-time low last summer before the NHL Draft.
#10 Arseni Sergeev
A 2021 seventh-round draft pick, Arseni Sergeev rose to prominence in the Flames system with a strong first season in the NCAA in 2022–23. As a rookie in the NCAA, he posted a .912 save percentage across 19 games. All things considered those are some solid numbers for a rookie seventh-round pick in the NCAA, which is why he shot up our prospect rankings to the 10th spot in 2023.
This past season Sergeev’s stock took a step back. It’s not like he played poorly—once again putting up solid numbers in the NCAA in 2023–24—it’s just that he didn’t take much of a step forward. He suited up for fewer games this season than last, which isn’t a great sign for a second-year NCAA goalie. This coming season he’ll be suiting up for a new team so the hope is he can take on a larger role in his third NCAA season. For now, it’s fair to say he’s far from the Flames’ 10th-best prospect anymore.
#9 Lucas Ciona
The big man out of Edmonton, Lucas Ciona was a sixth-round pick of the Flames in 2021. After a solid end to his WHL career with a WHL title in 2022–23, Ciona jumped onto the radar of plenty of Flames fans. He went from being relatively unknown to being ranked as the team’s ninth-best prospect in 2023. Unfortunately, this ranking seems more and more like recency bias than anything else.
Ciona’s 2022–23 season was impressive, but he was also a 6’3″ 20-year-old playing in the WHL in what was his fifth season in the league. Unfortunately this past season Ciona posted just six points in his first AHL season and looks like a longshot to make the NHL. There’s still plenty of time to become an NHLer, but the odds of Ciona being labelled as a top-10 prospect again are slim to none.
#8 Parker Bell
A fifth-round pick by the Flames in 2022, Parker Bell had an impressive 2022–23 season which is why he was ranked eighth on our 2023 prospect list. Following his draft, Bell posted a career-best 64 points in 55 WHL games, finishing second on his team in scoring. At 6’4″ and over 200 pounds, it looked like the Flames might have found something in the fifth round.
Unfortunately much like the names above him, an underwhelming 2023–24 season has sent Bell sinking to the bottom of the Flames prospect list compared to 2023. Bell failed to take a step forward in his fifth WHL season, once again posting 64 points despite being 20 years old. We’ll see how he fares in the AHL this season, but he’s now an afterthought in what is a loaded Flames prospect pool.
#7 Walker Duehr
What a fall from grace for Walker Duehr. After a solid 26 points in 41 games AHL stat line in 2022–23 as well as 11 points in 27 NHL games, Duehr looked like a future bottom-six mainstay. This past season however his play took a gigantic step back, and he fell out of favour with the new coaching staff.
In what should’ve been a breakout year, Duehr skated in just 40 games this past season and registered only seven points. Unfortunately, it looks like his strong 2022–23 season was more of an outlier than a sign of things to come. Now at 26 years old, Duehr has all but lost his spot on the Flames roster and is barely even a prospect anymore.
#6 Matthew Phillips
Bless Matthew Phillips. The long-time fan favourite and local Calgary kid, Phillips was seemingly ranked inside the Flames’ top 10 prospects year after year without getting a shot in the NHL. He was tremendous in 2022–23, posting 76 points in 66 AHL games to lead the league-best Wranglers in scoring. As such, he ranked sixth on the team’s prospect list despite being 25 years old.
Soon after we ranked him in this spot, Phillips left the organization as a free agent in order to get a real shot in the NHL. It didn’t exactly go as planned however as he put up just five points in 31 NHL games and is currently without a contract.
#5 Jeremie Poirier
As sad as it is to say, it takes until the number five spot before we start to see actual prospects with NHL potential in the 2023 ranking. A third-round selection in 2020, Poirier has been the definition of a long-term project. Each year since being drafted he’s taken another step forward, culminating in a great rookie year in the AHL with 41 points in 2022–23. This led to him being ranked as the organization’s top prospect on defence in 2023.
Poirier was set for a massive year in the AHL in 2023–24 but suffered a scary injury early into the season and was only able to suit up for 23 games. The injury essentially caused Poirier to lose a year of his development, so it’s hard to fully judge this ranking before we see him play a full season again.
#4 Connor Zary
Connor Zary re-established himself as one of the organization’s top prospects with a 58-point season for the Wranglers in 2022–23, earning him the fourth spot on our 2023 prospect rankings and the highest spot among centres. As a 2020 first-round pick, Zary has always come with lofty expectations. In 2023 he began his rise to where he is today.
Since being ranked fourth last summer, Zary is no longer considered a prospect. Not because he’s too old, but because he took a huge step forward and is now considered a top-six forward in the Flames lineup. With 34 points in 63 NHL games in 2023–24, Zary is one of the top young players in the entire organization.
#3 Jakob Pelletier
After an impressive first taste of NHL action in 2022–23 as well as 37 points in 35 games in the AHL, Jakob Pelletier’s stock was higher than ever when we conducted our 2023 prospect rankings. Unfortunately, his stock went in the opposite direction of Zary in 2023–24. Pelletier suffered a serious shoulder injury during the preseason which kept him out of action until February, and when he returned he never looked comfortable.
Eventually, Pelletier returned to the AHL in March and struggled to maintain his point-per-game pace from the previous season. This coming season is a massive one for Pelletier as he’ll have to earn his spot in the NHL and prove his poor 2023–24 season was because of injury and not his developmental peak.
#2 Matthew Coronato
Coming into the summer of 2023, Matthew Coronato was flying high. Coming off back-to-back 36-point seasons in the NCAA as well as his debut game in the NHL, Coronato was widely regarded as the top forward prospect in the Flames organization. This past season he once again established himself as the top forward in the Flames prospect pool, posting 42 points in 41 AHL games, while also skating in 34 NHL games.
Coronato remains the top forward prospect in the organization and the hope is he can take another big step forward this coming season as he laces them up for his second season of pro hockey.
#1 Dustin Wolf
Following back-to-back AHL Goaltender of the Year awards, Wolf was the only choice at number one in 2023. He was then by far the best prospect in the organization, and it wasn’t really close. This past year Wolf finally earned regular NHL starts, skating in 17 games and posting a .893 save percentage.
While his results weren’t great this past season, it was such a small sample size that his previous dominance in both the AHL and WHL ensures he remains one of the Flames’ best prospects and one of the best goaltending prospects in the world in 2024. He’s since re-signed with the team on a two-year contract.
Times have changed for Calgary
Just over a year ago, the Flames’ top prospects looked very different. Some prospects took massive steps back in their development this season but thankfully, the Flames have replenished their prospect cupboards with plenty of high-potential players, so much so that it made more sense to rank the top 15 prospects this time around. Check out who’s earned their spots so far and who’s left to be ranked at the top!
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
