Welcome back to The Win Column Calgary Flames Prospect Rankings. Coming in at number five this year is the Flames’ 2020 third-round pick Jeremie Poirier. In what could’ve been his first season of NHL action, Poirier suffered a serious injury early into the Wranglers season that held him out for most of the season. Now back to full health, the 2024–25 is set to be a huge season for Poirier.
Poirier’s development so far
Poirier was an offensive juggernaut in the QMJHL even before he was drafted. He posted 53 points in 64 games during his draft year in 2019–20—good for second in the league among defencemen. Despite this, his defensive deficiencies and worries about his effort level away from the puck dropped him down most teams’ draft rankings. Enter the Flames who snagged what could still be a steal in the third round in 2020.
After being drafted Poirier continued to dominate junior hockey to the tune of 37 points in 33 QMJHL games in 2020–21. His 1.12 points per game rate ranked fourth among QMJHL defencemen that season. He also added on nine points in six playoff games.
The following year, Poirier’s production took a step back in the QMJHL as he finished with 57 points in 67 games, a steep drop off compared to his point-per-game pace the season prior. With that said, Poirier made it known he wanted to focus more on the defensive side of the puck in order to increase his overall game so we can’t completely knock him for a drop-off in production.
In 2022–23 Poirier made the jump to pro hockey with the Wranglers and put up some tremendous numbers as a rookie defenceman in the AHL. He finished the year with 41 points in 69 games, good for second on the team among defenceman despite being just 20 years old. His season also earned him a spot on the AHL’s all-rookie team at the end of the year as one of the league’s best young defencemen.
As mentioned above, Poirier’s 2023–24 season was completely derailed by a serious injury suffered in October of 2023. The injury kept him out of action for five months and he’d end the season with 13 points in 23 games.
Poirier’s strengths and weaknesses
It doesn’t take long to determine Poirier’s strengths and weaknesses when you watch him. He’s supremely talented offensively with the puck on his stick and leaves plenty to be desired away from the puck. It’s the reason he’s been labelled a boom or bust pick since day one. He’s the type of player who lives and dies by the sword, and thus far in his career, it hasn’t held him back.
Poirier is just flat-out dynamic offensively, possessing high-end hands, skating, vision, and shot. He does it all on offence, regularly creating scoring chances for himself and his teammates. He can create offence among the best offensive defencemen in his age group, and it’s a reason he has been so prolific offensively at every level thus far.
Poirier is great at reading the play in the offensive zone and determining when it’s best to jump into the play to help on offence. Below is a perfect example as Poirier uses his skating to make his way in from the blueline before dishing a nice pass to a teammate for a goal.
He’s also been learning how to use his skills in the defensive zone as well, becoming a strong breakout and transitional player. Below is a great example of Poirier’s shiftiness and skill with the puck, as he evades the forecheck with a nice spin move to create more time and space for himself to break the puck out.
The negatives with Poirier are his lack of ability when defending and at times a lack of effort away from the puck. Like plenty of other high-risk/high-reward defenders, Poirier can get caught trying to do too much offensively which gets him into trouble. He’s certainly not one to shy away from cheating for offence, which at times works in his favour but it can also become a major issue in his game. He’s also prone to careless, lazy mistakes in his own zone, leading to turnovers and chances against.
The good news is Poirier has taken some pretty massive strides away from the puck over the past few years as he’s rounded out his overall game. There’s still plenty of room for improvement, but the fact that his defensive game hasn’t remained stagnant shows the potential he has.
Poirier’s next steps
The 2023–24 season can be considered a completely lost season for Poirier. In what should’ve been a big year leading the Wranglers blueline and likely getting his first taste of NHL action, Poirier was forced to rehab a major injury and never looked fully fit even when he returned. Now entering his third year of pro hockey and with the Flames blueline in flux, Poirier has a huge opportunity ahead of him in 2024–25.
He has an outside shot of earning an NHL role right out of camp if he blows the doors off, but look for him to re-establish himself in the AHL first before being one of the team’s first blueline call-ups during the season.
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
