Prospects

Calgary Flames Prospect Roundup: Etienne Morin sets a Moncton Wildcats record

Photo of James William James WilliamDecember 16, 2024
5 minutes read

Many Calgary Flames prospects had a very good week, but Moncton Wildcats defenceman Etienne Morin deserves the spotlight. His production this season—and over the last three years—saw him become the Wildcats’ all-time leader in points by a defenceman. A big congratulations goes out to Etienne!

Andrew Basha returned from injury in a big way, collecting a whopping seven points this week! He returned to action last week but couldn’t find the scoresheet. Nice to see him flip the script this week.

Samuel Honzek had a massive five-point week. This should be great for his confidence, but could it be the start of something bigger for the 2023 first-round pick?

Another week, more dominance from Luke Misa and Henry Mews in the OHL. Both players collected another seven points each and have been absolutely dynamite in December.

Another great week in the books with so much to discuss. 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 went 2–2–0 this week, with both wins coming over the Manitoba Moose. Both losses came at the hands of the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
  • The biggest story of the Wranglers’ week is Honzek’s three goals and five points. This explosion in his production came just shy of doubling his six points in 13 games heading into this week. Hopefully, he can keep it up! Check out this show of speed and skill:
  • Rory Kerins was no less impressive, picking up five points of his own, including another pair of goals. He’s up to 18 goals on the year and leads the team in both goals and points. The 2020 sixth-rounder continues to be a great story for the Flames. Check out this crazy goal he scored:
  • Adam Klapka had a pair of goals and four points this week. He remains just one point shy of being a point-per-game player with 12 in 13.
  • Another player who got a big confidence boost with his production this week is defenceman Hunter Brzustewicz. He picked up four points, including his first career AHL goal. Congratulations, Hunter! Here’s a look at the goal:
  • Netminder Waltteri Ignatjew is slowly improving his numbers. Two starts saw him go 1–1–0, stopping 31 of 34 shots and 17 of 20 shots. He’s up to a 3.66 goals against average and a .879 save percentage.

Europe

  • No games for Nikita Okhotyuk or Daniil Chechelev this week.
  • Kirill Zarubin suited up for a couple of games in the MHL and improved to a 2.37 GAA and .928 SV% on the year.
  • Yegor Yegorov saw action for his third team in his third league, moving to the MHL with MHK Krylia Sovetov Moskva. This is already looking like a better situation for him, as he posted a 2.51 GAA and .938 SV% through two games.

NCAA

  • Aydar Suniev picked up his team-leading 10th goal of the season for UMass this week. He’s up to 19 points in 17 games. Check out the snipe:
  • Cade Littler went scoreless through two games for the University of North Dakota.
  • No games for Trevor Hoskin or Arseni Sergeyev.

OHL

  • December is the month of Misa and Mews. It’s another week I get to highlight their exceptional performances.
  • Misa scored twice and added five helpers for seven points in just three games for the Brampton Steelheads. He now has 19 goals and 45 points in 30 games. He’s now 10th in the OHL in points and closing the gap on the scoring leader—his younger brother—Michael Misa. He can really shoot the puck:
  • Mews scored a goal and six assists this week for the Ottawa 67’s. His seven-point performance is, perhaps, even more impressive than Misa’s. Consider that he’s a defenceman and doesn’t play with Porter Martone, who’s second in scoring in the OHL.
  • Mews leads his team in points with 41 and is third in the OHL in points among defencemen. He’s also 17th in league scoring among all players. I can’t wait to see this on a Flames power play:
  • Kingston Frontenacs winger Jacob Battaglia scored another two goals and three points in three games. He’s up to 19 goals and 41 points in 32 games.

QMJHL

  • As I said at the outset, Morin became the Wildcats’ all-time leader in points by a defenceman. He scored a goal—which set the record—and an assist in two games. Here’s the goal that earned the record:
  • Matvei Gridin picked up three points—all helpers—for the Shawinigan Cataractes this week. He now has 35 points in 29 games.

WHL

  • Medicine Hat Tigers winger Andrew Basha scored two goals and added five assists for seven points through three games. Not bad after missing a long stretch due to injury!
  • Hunter Laing picked up two points—both assists—this week. This brought him to 20 on the season, and he’s now just six points short of setting a career-best in points in the WHL.
  • Axel Hurtig played one game and scored a goal and two points. The Calgary Hitmen defenceman isn’t exactly known for his offence, so this was a big week for him! Look at the power on this wrister:
  • Eric Jamieson continues to find the scoresheet. A goal and four points saw him pass the 20-point threshold. He’s up to 21 points in 32 games for the Everett Silvertips.

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):

  1. Rory Kerins: 42.6 (Same)
  2. Luke Misa: 39.7 (+1)
  3. Jakob Pelletier: 37.9 (-1)
  4. Adam Klapka: 36.7 (New)
  5. Henry Mews: 36.3 (New)

Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects

Forwards

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
Andrew BashaLW21918271.293031.9Medicine Hat TigersWHL
Jacob BattagliaRW/LW321922411.281833.9Kingston FrontenacsOHL
Parker BellLW223140.1827.2Calgary WranglersAHL
Lucas CionaLW2329110.484019.1Calgary WranglersAHL
Matvei GridinRW291520351.211528.2Shawinigan CataractesQMJHL
Samuel HonzekC/LW1747110.65825.9Calgary WranglersAHL
Trevor HoskinC/RW18510150.836N/ANiagara UniversityNCAA
Rory KerinsC/LW271811291.07842.6Calgary WranglersAHL
Adam KlapkaRW/LW1375120.922636.7Calgary WranglersAHL
Hunter LaingC29911200.692217.1Prince George CougarsWHL
Jaden LipinskiC20000.0000.0Calgary WranglersAHL
22312150.682016.8Vancouver GiantsWHL
Cade LittlerC172240.24218.6U. of North DakotaNCAA
Luke MisaC301926451.50239.7Brampton SteelheadsOHL
Jakob PelletierLW/C20316190.95437.9Calgary WranglersAHL
William StromgrenLW26613190.73629.1Calgary WranglersAHL
Aydar SunievLW17109191.121036.1UMassNCAA

Defencemen

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
Hunter BrzustewiczRHD261890.35213.9Calgary WranglersAHL
Artyom GrushnikovLHD210110.0522.0Calgary WranglersAHL
Axel HurtigLHD282570.25116.2Calgary HitmenWHL
Eric JamiesonLHD32714210.662916.3Everett SilvertipsWHL
Joni JurmoLHD60000.0000.0Calgary WranglersAHL
92570.782N/ARapid City RushECHL
Yan KuznetsovLHD272680.30812.0Calgary WranglersAHL
Henry MewsRHD30833411.373236.3Ottawa 67’sOHL
Etienne MorinLHD29722291.001823.3Moncton WildcatsQMJHL
Nikita OkhotyukLHD321450.162010.5CSKA MoskvaKHL
Zayne ParekhRHD261025351.354535.8Saginaw SpiritOHL
Jeremie PoirierLHD2728100.372214.7Calgary WranglersAHL
Ilya SolovyovLHD23411150.65625.9Calgary WranglersAHL

Goalies

PlayerPositionGPGAASV%TeamLeague
Daniil ChechelevG35.30.825Yunison-MoskvaVHL
Waltteri IgnatjewG93.66.879Calgary WranglersAHL
Arseni SergeyevG92.34.906Penn State U.NCAA
Yegor YegorovG43.38.870HK TambovVHL
83.07.891MHK TambovNMHL
22.51.938MHK Krylia Sovetov MoskvaMHL
Kirill ZarubinG112.37.928AKM TulaMHL

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 of James William James WilliamDecember 16, 2024
5 minutes read
Photo of James William

James William

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