The Calgary Flames’ second first-round pick in the 2024 NHL draft is really starting to catch fire in the QMJHL. Matvei Gridin led the way with a hat trick and five points this week, but he’s not the only Flames prospect who played well!
Another 2024 draft pick, Trevor Hoskin, has been dynamite for the NCAA’s Niagara University Purple Eagles. He recorded another four points this week and is starting to look like a shrewd pick in the fourth round.
Another five points for Luke Misa has all but erased any memory of his slow start to the season. That makes three picks from the 2024 draft taking the spotlight this week. Impressive work from General Manager Craig Conroy!
There’s so much to discuss this week; let’s dive in!
Welcome to The Win Column’s 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 Calgary Wranglers hosted the San Diego Gulls for a pair of games this week and came out on the better end of it. The Wranglers went 2–0–0, outscoring the Gulls 10–5.
- In a swap of forwards, the Flames sent Sam Honzek to the AHL and called up Matt Coronato. Honzek has yet to suit up for the Wranglers so far this season.
- Someone we haven’t had any opportunity to talk about this season is front and centre this week. William Stromgren had two goals and four points this week, and suddenly, he’s up to half a point per game. Check out the slick hands as he picks up a secondary assist on this power play goal:
- Waltteri Ignatjew got the nod in net for one game, stopping 27 of the 29 shots he faced. He improved to a 3–0–0 record with a 2.34 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. He’s been a very reliable backup to Devin Cooley.
- With another goal, Rory Kerins kept up his torrid scoring pace. He’s got nine goals in 11 games, which is good for first on the team by a margin of three. Here’s the eye candy he provided Flames fans on Halloween:
- The Wranglers finally got some more scoring from the back end, but it wasn’t who you’d expect! Hunter Brzustewicz, Yan Kuznetsov, and Jeremie Poirier combined for two assists—Brzustewicz and Poirier each had one.
- It was Ilya Solovyov—with a goal and three points this week—who led the charge on the blue line. He’s up to four points in six games, and it makes you wonder why Trent Cull sat him so long at the beginning of the year.
Europe
- In what should come as no surprise at this point, Nikita Okhotyuk was heavily relied on by CSKA Moscow in their lone game this week, which was a 3–1 win.
- Okhotyuk recorded one hit and four blocked shots in 19:24 time on ice. He also had the second-most TOI shorthanded in the game with 2:52, helping his team kill all three of Torpedo’s power plays.
- Daniil Chechelev is having a seriously tough time in goal for Yunison-Moscow in the VHL right now. He improved his SV% very slightly, to .825%, but he’s now 0–2–0, and his GAA dropped further down to 5.30.
- Yegor Yegorov is a completely different story. He’s been steadily improving in the NMHL, which is a good sign after some early struggles. He remains undefeated at 4–0–1 and improved to a 2.17 GAA and .917 SV%.
NCAA
- Trevor Hoskin is still red hot with a goal and four points in three games this week. He’s now tied for second in goals on Niagara with four and has sole possession of second in points with 11. This is all in spite of him being one of the youngest skaters on the team. Here’s a look at his goal:
- Aydar Suniev and UMass played just one game this week, and Suniev recorded an assist to bring his point total on the year up to 10 in eight games.
- In goal for Penn State University, Arseni Sergeyev was solid in two losses. He improved to a 1.71 GAA and .929 SV%. Unfortunately, the team didn’t bring the offence, as they managed just one goal over the two games.
OHL
- Luke Misa is on a heater for the Brampton Steelheads. The 2024 fifth-round pick had two goals and five points in three games, helping his team to a 2–1–0 week. He’s now over a point per game with 15 in 14.
- Jacob Battaglia was quietly solid this week, with a goal and three points in three games as the Kingston Frontenacs went 3–0–0. Battaglia now has 23 points in 16 games. Watch as he sets up his teammate on a two-man breakaway:
- On defence, Henry Mews also brought himself up to a point per game—14 points in as many games—with a couple goals and three points in two games. The Ottawa 67’s went 1–0–1, with both games being decided in overtime. This was a great play by Mews to hold the zone:
- In two games, Zayne Parekh scored a goal and three points, and the Saginaw Spirit went 1–1–0. He’s up to 15 points in 13 games, but his 1.15 points per game is still well back of last season’s 1.45.
QMJHL
- Matvei Gridin had four goals and five points—including a hat trick yesterday—to help the Shawinigan Cataractes to a 2–0–0 week. This one had some heat on it:
- Over in Moncton with the Wildcats, Etienne Morin was quiet this week, with just one assist through three games. Despite his absence from the scoresheet, the Cats were 2–0–1 and scored 14 goals.
WHL
- Medicine Hat Tigers forward Andrew Basha is still red hot, with three points in three games. All of those points came in a 10–5 win over the Regina Pats on Wednesday. Basha is up to 19 points in 15 games and looking like a great pick in the second round of this year’s draft.
- Jaden Lipinski had a goal and two points in as many games and remains on a point-per-game pace. The Vancouver Giants scored 13 goals to go 2–0–0, so it’s a little unfortunate Lipinski only factored into two of them.
- Defenceman Eric Jamieson kept up his scoring pace by picking up one goal over a pair of games for the Everett Silvertips. He has seven points in 15 games to sit just shy of a half-point per game.
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 five (bracketed numbers denote movement from the previous week):
- Rory Kerins: 43.8 (Same)
- Aydar Suniev: 40.3 (+1)
- Jakob Pelletier: 39.9 (-1)
- Jacob Battaglia: 38.1 (Same)
- Andrew Basha: 31.5 (New)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Basha | LW | 15 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 1.27 | 20 | 31.5 | Medicine Hat Tigers | WHL |
| Jacob Battaglia | RW/LW | 16 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 1.44 | 8 | 38.1 | Kingston Frontenacs | OHL |
| Parker Bell | LW | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.11 | 0 | 4.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 9 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0.44 | 16 | 17.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Matvei Gridin | RW | 13 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 1.15 | 11 | 26.8 | Shawinigan Cataractes | QMJHL |
| Trevor Hoskin | C/RW | 9 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 1.22 | 2 | N/A | Niagara University | NCAA |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 10 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 1.10 | 4 | 43.8 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Hunter Laing | C | 15 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 0.67 | 7 | 16.6 | Prince George Cougars | WHL |
| Jaden Lipinski | C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| 6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1.00 | 6 | 24.8 | Vancouver Giants | WHL | ||
| Cade Littler | C | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.20 | 0 | 7.2 | U. of North Dakota | NCAA |
| Luke Misa | C | 14 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 1.07 | 2 | 28.3 | Brampton Steelheads | OHL |
| Ilya Nikolayev | C | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0.50 | 2 | 19.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Jakob Pelletier | LW/C | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 1.00 | 2 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.50 | 2 | 19.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Aydar Suniev | LW | 8 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 1.25 | 4 | 40.3 | UMass | NCAA |
Defencemen
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter Brzustewicz | RHD | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.20 | 2 | 5.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Artyom Grushnikov | LHD | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Axel Hurtig | LHD | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0.21 | 2 | 6.2 | Calgary Hitmen | WHL |
| Eric Jamieson | LHD | 15 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0.47 | 12 | 11.4 | Everett Silvertips | WHL |
| Joni Jurmo | LHD | Calgary Wranglers | AHL | |||||||
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.20 | 4 | 10.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Henry Mews | RHD | 14 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 1.00 | 16 | 24.4 | Ottawa 67’s | OHL |
| Etienne Morin | LHD | 15 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 1.20 | 6 | 33.1 | Moncton Wildcats | QMJHL |
| Nikita Okhotyuk | LHD | 21 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0.14 | 16 | 9.9 | CSKA Moskva | KHL |
| Zayne Parekh | RHD | 13 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 1.15 | 24 | 28.9 | Saginaw Spirit | OHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.20 | 8 | 5.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.67 | 4 | 10.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniil Chechelev | G | 3 | 5.30 | .825 | Yunison-Moskva | VHL |
| Waltteri Ignatjew | G | 3 | 2.34 | .927 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Arseni Sergeyev | G | 7 | 1.71 | .929 | Penn State U. | NCAA |
| Yegor Yegorov | G | 3 | 4.18 | .837 | HK Tambov | VHL |
| 5 | 2.17 | .916 | MHK Tambov | NMHL | ||
| Kirill Zarubin | G | 6 | 3.30 | .909 | AKM Tula | MHL |
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!
Photo from CalgaryWranglers.com
