The OHL and WHL trade deadlines passed this week. With them, we saw some movement among Calgary Flames prospects. Notably, OHL standout defenceman Henry Mews was dealt from the Ottawa 67’s to the Sudbury Wolves. We also saw Hunter Laing shipped from the Prince George Cougars to the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL.
Mews was an immediate fit with the Wolves, picking up five points in two games after the trade. On the week, he had six points in three games. He joins a strong Wolves team that’s looking to do some damage in the playoffs and was in desperate need of a player of his ilk.
Elsewhere in the OHL, Jacob Battaglia had a five-point week for the Kingston Frontenacs. Just behind him, Matvei Gridin picked up another four points for the Shawinigan Cataractes out in the QMJHL.
Across seas, Kirill Zarubin had a pair of losses in the MHL, but he stopped a lot of pucks in the process and actually improved his overall numbers.
It’s another happening week. Let’s take a look at all the news!
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
- It was tough-sledding for the Calgary Wranglers this week as they dropped a pair of games to the Colorado Eagles. They were outscored 12–4 in the process.
- The most exciting bit of news out of the AHL was the call-up of leading scorer Rory Kerins to the Flames. He made his NHL debut last night and picked up two points—both helpers—in just under 15 minutes. A huge congrats to Rory! He was pretty effective overall, recording two shots on goal and a blocked shot as well.
- Not much else to talk about here. Yan Kuznetsov and Sam Honzek each nabbed an assist, but that’s it.
- Waltteri Ignatjew allowed six goals on 39 shots in Saturday’s game after stopping all six he faced in relief for Devin Cooley the day before. This sees his goals against average dip to 3.81 and his save percentage to 0.876. He has not been called upon often, and when he has, he has not been great, unfortunately.
Europe
- Nikita Okhotyuk saw action in two games this week, playing under 20 minutes in each but still seeing his chunk of time on ice shorthanded. Although, we did see a decrease in his share of the shorthanded TOI relative to his teammates yesterday.
- Okhotyuk’s 2:47 TOI shorthanded was fourth among CSKA defencemen, so that’s something to keep an eye on. I have noticed he seems to be getting slightly less ice time over the last few weeks.
- As I mentioned earlier, Kirill Zarubin had a 0–2–0 week in the MHL, but he’s far from the player to blame. He posted a 0.955 SV% on Tuesday and followed that up with a 0.956 SV% on Saturday. His scoring support was limited to just two goals across the two losses. Zarubin improved to a 2.32 GAA and a 0.934 SV% on the year.
- Yegor Yegorov played one game in the MHL and posted a 0.917 SV%, stopping 22 of 24 shots en route to a 5–2 win.
NCAA
- Trevor Hoskin had a productive week, helping Niagara University to a 1–1–0 week. Hoskin scored a goal and three points and is up to 19 points in 22 games.
- Over at UMass, Aydar Suniev had a goal and two points as his team also posted a 1–1–0 record. Suniev’s impressive campaign continues, with a team-leading 13 goals and 26 points—good for second on the team—in 21 games.
- Arseni Sergeyev backstopped Penn State to a 1–1–0 week, playing in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday. He saw his GAA balloon to 2.46, but his SV% improved to 0.928. Facing 45 shots in a game will certainly contribute to this.
OHL
- Jacob Battaglia had a goal and five points on the way to a 2–1–0 week with the Kingston Frontenacs. He has 52 points in 39 games and is tied for 14th on OHL scoring with Luke Misa. This was a pure snipe:
BATES STARTS THE 2ND OFF RIGHT!🚨
— Kingston Frontenacs (@KingstonFronts) January 12, 2025
Pucks to the net folks, pucks to the net!@NHLFlames | #Flames pic.twitter.com/4SCxUoAueu
- Henry Mews had an assist on the Ottawa 67’s lone goal in his last game with the team on Wednesday. After a deadline trade to the Sudbury Wolves on Friday, Mews scored a goal and three points in his debut and followed that up with two helpers on Sunday. He now has 55 points on the year and is currently in sole possession of 10th in OHL scoring and first among defencemen. Ignore the commentary; this assist was all effort and skill:
Yep, these two are going to do some damage. pic.twitter.com/AV5FwcWGlW
— Sudbury Wolves (@Sudbury_Wolves) January 12, 2025
- The Saginaw Spirit had a solid 2–1–0 week, with defenceman Zayne Parekh picking up a goal and three points. He’s up to 13 goals and 46 points in 35 games. Not quite the offensive output from last season. He sits outside the top 20 in OHL scoring so far this year after finishing eighth last year.
QMJHL
- The Shawinigan Cataractes had a perfect 2–0–0 record this week, including a 10–0 shelling of the Victoriaville Tigers on Friday. Matvei Gridin did his part—as usual—with three goals and four points across the two wins. His 24 goals are good for eighth in the Q, while his 49 points have him in a tie for eighth. Watching him rip the puck never gets old:
Un troisième but en deux matchs pour Matvei .😤#JeSuisCataractes@NHLFlames pic.twitter.com/HdgtrGDDox
— Cataractes de Shawinigan (@Cataractes_Shaw) January 11, 2025
- Etienne Morin was held without a point through three games as the Moncton Wildcats cruised to a 2–1–0 week while scoring 14 goals.
WHL
- Hunter Laing also saw himself moving teams this week, although he picked up just one assist in three games. His lone point came for the Prince George Cougars on Tuesday, helping them to a 4–2 win over the Vancouver Giants. The Saskatoon Blades—currently second in the WHL’s Eastern Conference—went 0–2–0 with Laing in the lineup.
- The Giants had a rough week, going 1–2–1. Jaden Lipinski was productive again, though, scoring a goal and five points to come just shy of the point-per-game mark. He’s up to seven goals and 31 points in 32 games after a slow start.
- Axel Hurtig was back in action for the Calgary Hitmen, returning from the World Juniors. He scored a goal and two points this week, helping Calgary to a perfect 3–0–0 week. Watch as he sneaks this one through for his third of the year:
How swede it is! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/PdQcUrSLbZ
— Calgary Hitmen (@WHLHitmen) January 9, 2025
- The Everett Silvertips were near-perfect themselves, coming up with a 2–0–1 record. Eric Jamieson contributed a goal and two helpers, improving to 26 points on the year.
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):
- Aydar Suniev: 40.0 (Same)
- Rory Kerins: 39.9 (Same)
- Jakob Pelletier: 37.9 (+1)
- Henry Mews: 36.6 (New)
- Luke Misa: 35.2 (-2)
- Jacob Battaglia: 35.2 (New)
Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects
Forwards
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Basha | LW | 23 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 1.26 | 30 | 31.2 | Medicine Hat Tigers | WHL |
| Jacob Battaglia | RW/LW | 39 | 23 | 29 | 52 | 1.33 | 20 | 35.2 | Kingston Frontenacs | OHL |
| Parker Bell | LW | 28 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0.14 | 4 | 5.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 32 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 0.38 | 40 | 15.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Matvei Gridin | RW | 37 | 24 | 25 | 49 | 1.32 | 19 | 30.7 | Shawinigan Cataractes | QMJHL |
| Samuel Honzek | C/LW | 26 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 0.58 | 10 | 23.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Trevor Hoskin | C/RW | 22 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 0.86 | 6 | N/A | Niagara University | NCAA |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 34 | 21 | 13 | 34 | 1.00 | 10 | 39.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Adam Klapka | RW/LW | 22 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 0.82 | 39 | 32.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Hunter Laing | C | 38 | 10 | 12 | 22 | 0.58 | 26 | 14.4 | Prince George Cougars/Saskatoon Blades | WHL |
| Jaden Lipinski | C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| 32 | 7 | 24 | 31 | 0.97 | 22 | 24.0 | Vancouver Giants | WHL | ||
| Cade Littler | C | 18 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.22 | 21 | 7.9 | U. of North Dakota | NCAA |
| Luke Misa | C | 39 | 21 | 31 | 52 | 1.33 | 2 | 35.2 | Brampton Steelheads | OHL |
| Jakob Pelletier | LW/C | 20 | 3 | 16 | 19 | 0.95 | 4 | 37.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 35 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 0.71 | 8 | 28.3 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Aydar Suniev | LW | 21 | 13 | 13 | 26 | 1.24 | 12 | 40.0 | UMass | NCAA |
Defencemen
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter Brzustewicz | RHD | 35 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 0.34 | 2 | 13.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Artyom Grushnikov | LHD | 29 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0.10 | 8 | 4.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Axel Hurtig | LHD | 31 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 0.29 | 18 | 7.2 | Calgary Hitmen | WHL |
| Eric Jamieson | LHD | 40 | 8 | 18 | 26 | 0.65 | 38 | 16.1 | Everett Silvertips | WHL |
| Joni Jurmo | LHD | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4 | 0.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| 9 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0.78 | 2 | N/A | Rapid City Rush | ECHL | ||
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 36 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 0.33 | 14 | 13.2 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Henry Mews | RHD | 40 | 12 | 43 | 55 | 1.38 | 44 | 36.6 | Ottawa 67’s/Sudbury Wolves | OHL |
| Etienne Morin | LHD | 37 | 10 | 28 | 38 | 1.03 | 20 | 24.0 | Moncton Wildcats | QMJHL |
| Nikita Okhotyuk | LHD | 42 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0.17 | 26 | 11.2 | CSKA Moskva | KHL |
| Zayne Parekh | RHD | 35 | 13 | 33 | 46 | 1.31 | 55 | 34.7 | Saginaw Spirit | OHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 36 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 0.47 | 26 | 18.7 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 32 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 0.53 | 14 | 21.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniil Chechelev | G | 3 | 5.30 | 0.825 | Yunison-Moskva | VHL |
| Waltteri Ignatjew | G | 12 | 3.81 | 0.876 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Arseni Sergeyev | G | 13 | 2.46 | 0.928 | Penn State U. | NCAA |
| Yegor Yegorov | G | 4 | 3.38 | 0.870 | HK Tambov | VHL |
| 8 | 3.07 | 0.891 | MHK Tambov | NMHL | ||
| 8 | 2.90 | 0.919 | MHK Krylia Sovetov Moskva | MHL | ||
| Kirill Zarubin | G | 13 | 2.32 | 0.934 | 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!
