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.
Last week we looked at our 2023 prospect rankings and we’ll continue by reviewing our 2022 Calgary Flames top 10 prospects to see where things stand two years later. The list was constructed in June of 2022, so 2022 draft picks were eligible for the list. With that said, the team had just three picks in 2022 and the 2022 top 10 prospect list was filled with previous years picks.
#10 Yan Kuznetsov
A 2020 second-round pick of the Flames, Yan Kuznetsov played just about everywhere you can over his first two years in the organization. He started his D+1 season in the NCAA and finished the year by playing six games in the AHL as an 18-year-old. The following year he spent the season with a rather rare split, half in the AHL and half in the QMJHL with the Memorial Cup host Saint John Sea Dogs.
After already logging 18 AHL games before his 20th birthday, there was some quiet optimism around Kuznetsov, which is why he ranked 10th on our list. Since then he’s logged two seasons as an AHL regular but hasn’t seen much growth in his overall game. At 22 and now seemingly passed over by multiple other defenders in the organization, Kuznetsov is no longer considered a top prospect and is completely off the radar for an NHL role.
#9 Connor Zary
It’s easy to forget how low Connor Zary‘s stock was in 2022. He had just played his first season of pro hockey in the AHL but struggled to the tune of 25 points in 53 games, and only two points in 13 playoff games. This led to Zary nearly falling outside of the top 10 of our prospect rankings despite his first-round pedigree.
Since then, however, Zary’s stock has skyrocketed. The very next season in 2022–23 he posted an impressive 58 points in the AHL, and this most recent season he became a staple in the Flames lineup and put up 34 points in the NHL. Zary’s climb since this ranking has been nothing short of spectacular as he’s now one of the top young players on the NHL roster.
#8 Rory Kerins
Rory Kerins’ stock in the organization has never been higher than it was in 2022, which is why he ranked eighth on our list despite being a sixth-round pick in 2020. Kerins was coming off a gigantic season in the OHL with 118 points in just 67 games, a 59-point increase on his draft year total. The only player to finish with more points in the OHL that year was Wyatt Johnston.
Unfortunately, that season looked more and more like an outlier as Kerins plummeted down the organizational depth chart over the next two years. He failed to earn an AHL role in 2022–23, and spent the majority of his season in the ECHL. This most recent season however he posted a respectable 32 points in 54 AHL games. He’s far from his heights of 2022, but Kerins still has an outside shot of making the NHL one day.
#7 Jeremie Poirier
A third-round selection in 2020, Poirier remains the definition of a long-term project. His 2021–22 season was a tad step back production-wise, going from over a point per game in the QMJHL to 57 points in 67 games. With that said, his potential was obvious, and we placed him seventh on our list, and as the second-highest-ranked defender.
Poirier’s stock has only gone up since then. He had a tremendous rookie year in the AHL after this ranking in 2022–23 and 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. Regardless, he remains one of the top defence prospects in the organization.
#6 Connor Mackey
A free agent signing out of the AHL in 2020, it looked like Connor Mackey had a bright future ahead of him in Calgary when we ranked him sixth in 2022. He already has nine NHL games under his belt as well as 80 AHL games with 52 points. He really looked like a future NHL defender at that time.
Following this ranking, Mackey played just 10 more games as a Flame as he struggled to earn a full-time role in the NHL before being traded to Arizona during the 2022–23 season. Since being moved, he’s managed just 21 NHL games across the past two seasons. His 2021–22 season where he posted 36 points in 53 AHL games turned out to be a pretty big outlier.
#5 Matthew Phillips
Our beloved Matthew Phillips is going to show up on a lot of these lists. Year after year he was considered one of the organization’s top prospects, but never got a chance in the NHL to remove his prospect title. In 2022, Phillips was coming off a strong AHL season leading the Heat in scoring with 68 points in 65 games.
Following this ranking, Phillips even furthered his placement as a top prospect in the organization with an ever better season in the AHL in 2022–23. Unfortunately, he then left the Flames organization completely in 2023 due to a lack of opportunity. We’ll always be left wondering what could’ve been with Phillips.
#4 Adam Ruzicka
Adam Ruzicka‘s stock skyrocketed in 2022. As a 2017 fourth-round pick, Ruzicka was already 23 years old when we ranked him fourth on our prospect list. The reason for his ranking was his tremendous 2021–22 season in which he posted 20 points in 16 AHL games and 10 points in 28 NHL games. It looked like for just a second that the Flames found a mid-round gem and late bloomer in Ruzicka.
Following this ranking, Ruzicka continued to impress with 20 points in 44 NHL games in 2022–23. Since then, however, it’s been all downhill. Ruzicka struggled this past season with just nine points in 39 NHL games and was eventually lost on waivers in January. He’s since been released by the Arizona Coyotes and is currently playing in the KHL.
#3 Matt Coronato
Coming into the summer of 2022, Matt Coronato was flying high. The 13th overall pick in the 2021 draft, Coronato was coming off an impressive rookie season in the NCAA with 36 points and was widely regarded as the highest upside forward prospect in the organization.
He followed up with ranking with another 36-point season in the NCAA before posting 42 points in 41 AHL games this past year as a rookie in the league. He also earned 34 NHL games in 2023–24. Coronato is now 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.
#2 Jakob Pelletier
Jakob Pelletier was considered the top forward prospect in the organization in 2022, ranking second on our list. Coming off a massive 62-point rookie season in the AHL and being named to the AHL all-rookie team, Pelletier’s stock was incredibly high in Calgary. He followed up the ranking with his first 24 NHL games in 2022–23 and another big year in the AHL.
Unfortunately, Pelletier suffered a serious shoulder injury during the 2023-24 preseason which kept him out of action until February, and when he returned he never looked comfortable. 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. Pelletier’s regression in just two years shows how fast things can change.
#1 Dustin Wolf
Following a historic rookie season in the AHL, being named the AHL’s goaltender of the year at just 22 years old, Wolf was the clear choice at number one in 2022. He was then the best prospect in the organization, and it wasn’t even close. He followed it up by winning yet another AHL goaltender of the year award in 2022–23. This past year Wolf also 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 two years ago, the Flames’ top prospects looked very different. Some prospects took massive steps back in their development the past two seasons but thankfully, the top players remain well-known faces in Calgary.
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
