Prospects

Calgary Flames Prospect Roundup: Battaglia, Parekh light up OHL

Photo of James William James WilliamFebruary 4, 2025
6 minutes read

The biggest news among Calgary Flames prospects this week is the damage done in the OHL by Jacob Battaglia and Zayne Parekh. The duo combined for 16 points this week, with eight apiece. Both have been hot of late, but Parekh is riding a particularly hot stretch.

It was otherwise a quieter week on the production front, with notable prospects Andrew Basha and Aydar Suniev battling injuries. A couple of Flames transactions involving Calgary Wranglers prospects shook things up this week, though.

Let’s jump right 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 biggest news this week is the Flames traded former 2019 first-round pick Jakob Pelletier to the Philadelphia Flyers in a package deal for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. All the best in Philly, Jakob!
  • Other big news for the Wranglers is the return of Rory Kerins, who the Flames sent down early last week. The Wranglers get their goal-scoring leader back after a brief stint in The Show.
  • With Kerins back, the Wranglers split a pair of games with the Abbotsford Canucks, winning and losing 5–1. Kerins was held without a point.
  • Defenceman Hunter Brzustewicz is slowly finding his scoring touch in the minors. He had two assists, bringing him up to 17 points on the year.
  • Winger Lucas Ciona had a solid week himself. He scored twice on five shots in Friday’s game. He made no mistake on this backhand:
  • Sam Honzek had an assist in Friday’s game but missed Saturday’s game with an injury. Something to keep an eye on, as the 2023 first-rounder has had a fine rookie season in the AHL so far.

Europe

  • CSKA Moscow went 2–0 in the KHL this week with a pair of 6–1 wins. Skating in both games, Nikita Okhotyuk averaged a little under 17 minutes of time on ice, recording four blocked shots and dishing four hits.
  • Kirill Zarubin was in action for Mikhailov Academy this week, but he got absolutely shelled in his lone game. He allowed three goals on nine shots and was yanked after just 10:53. He posted a 16.54 goals against average and a 0.667 save percentage in the game.

NCAA

  • Penn State University was 1–1–0 this week, but it was tough-sledding for netminder Arseni Sergeyev. He allowed 10 goals over the two games but still boasts a very respectable 9–6–3 record with a 2.73 GAA and a 0.909 SV%.
  • Trevor Hoskin picked up another two points in two games for Niagara University this week, but the team went 0–2–0. Hoskin’s up to 31 points on the year. Watch as he finds the loose puck and wires it home:
  • The University of North Dakota went 2–0–0 this week. Cade Littler helped out with an unassisted goal—his third of the year—in Saturday’s 6–2 win.
  • Aydar Suniev remains out of the UMass lineup with an injury, and the team was 1–1–0 in his absence. They’re not hurting for his offence, but the sophomore is second in both goals and points on the team, so he is definitely missed!

OHL

  • I’m always excited to talk about the OHL this year. The Flames had no prospects in the OHL last year until they acquired Brzustewicz in the Elias Lindholm trade. Now, they have four very compelling prospects to follow here.
  • Zayne Parekh. Another eight points this week vaults him up to 67 on the year and past Henry Mews for the OHL scoring lead among defencemen. Watching him patrol the Flames’ blue line like this will be a treat:
  • The Saginaw Spirit defender—can we call him that?—put up an incredible 21 points in 10 games and was named the OHL’s defenceman of the month. Here’s a short clip of some of this month’s highlights:
  • With an eight-point week of his own, Kingston Frontenacs forward Jacob Battaglia cracked the 30-goal and 70-point marks. He leads the Fronts in both categories while taking possession of sixth in the OHL in goals (30) and eighth in points (70). Unsurprisingly, Kingston was 3–0–0 this week.
  • The Sudbury Wolves had a tough go, winning 8–3 on Friday and losing 9–3 on Sunday. Mews had two points in the games, but the last couple weeks have seen a bit of regression in his production. He still has 62 points—good for second in the league among defencemen—but there are a pair of guys hot on his heels.
  • Another player who didn’t quite produce up to this season’s standard is Brampton Steelheads forward Luke Misa. Two points in three games is a far cry from the ~1.3 points per game he’s averaged thus far.

QMJHL

  • The Shawinigan Cataractes were 2–0–0 this week, with Matvei Gridin contributing three helpers. He’s up to 58 points this season, good for ninth in the QMJHL.
  • Etienne Morin was uncharacteristically quiet, picking up just one point in two games. Despite his lack of production, the Moncton Wildcats were able to score nine goals en route to a 2–0–0 week.

WHL

  • Vancouver Giants centre Jaden Lipinski seems to be enjoying toying with our emotions. For the second straight week, he remains one point shy of a point per game. Three points in as many games brings him up to 39 in 40, but the Giants won just one of their games. Check out this one-timer:
  • Hunter Laing had two points for the Saskatoon Blades, who went undefeated through two games this week.
  • Defencemen Eric Jamieson and Axel Hurtig combined for—let me check my notes—zero points through seven games. That said, neither of these guys is expected to be a big point-producer, as both are better known for their defensive qualities. Jamieson’s Everett Silvertips went 2–2–0, while Hurtig’s Calgary Hitmen went 2–1–0.

    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. Zayne Parekh: 42.4 (Same)
    2. Jacob Battaglia: 39.5 (+3)
    3. Aydar Suniev: 37.7 (+1)
    4. Rory Kerins: 37.5 (-2)
    5. Henry Mews: 35.0 (New)

    Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects

    Forwards

    PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
    Andrew BashaLW23920291.263031.2Medicine Hat TigersWHL
    Jacob BattagliaRW/LW473040701.492239.5Kingston FrontenacsOHL
    Parker BellLW364480.2248.8Calgary WranglersAHL
    Lucas CionaLW41610160.395915.5Calgary WranglersAHL
    Matvei GridinRW442533581.322530.7Shawinigan CataractesQMJHL
    Samuel HonzekC/LW34611170.501219.9Calgary WranglersAHL
    Trevor HoskinC/RW281021311.1110N/ANiagara UniversityNCAA
    Rory KerinsC/LW362113340.941037.5Calgary WranglersAHL
    Adam KlapkaRW/LW291312250.865034.3Calgary WranglersAHL
    Hunter LaingC451415290.643115.8Prince George Cougars/Saskatoon BladesWHL
    Jaden LipinskiC20000.0000.0Calgary WranglersAHL
    40831390.982824.3Vancouver GiantsWHL
    Cade LittlerC223250.23218.3U. of North DakotaNCAA
    Luke MisaC472734611.30234.4Brampton SteelheadsOHL
    William StromgrenLW441225370.841033.5Calgary WranglersAHL
    Aydar SunievLW231413271.171237.7UMassNCAA

    Defencemen

    PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
    Hunter BrzustewiczRHD44314170.39215.5Calgary WranglersAHL
    Artyom GrushnikovLHD371340.11164.4Calgary WranglersAHL
    Axel HurtigLHD4038110.28256.9Calgary HitmenWHL
    Eric JamiesonLHD50819270.544413.4Everett SilvertipsWHL
    Joni JurmoLHD90000.0040.0Calgary WranglersAHL
    92570.782N/ARapid City RushECHL
    Yan KuznetsovLHD45311140.312012.4Calgary WranglersAHL
    Henry MewsRHD471250621.326035.0Ottawa 67’s/Sudbury WolvesOHL
    Etienne MorinLHD441031410.932421.7Moncton WildcatsQMJHL
    Nikita OkhotyukLHD482570.15289.9CSKA MoskvaKHL
    Zayne ParekhRHD422443671.606142.4Saginaw SpiritOHL
    Jeremie PoirierLHD45322250.563422.3Calgary WranglersAHL
    Ilya SolovyovLHD41615210.511620.3Calgary WranglersAHL

    Goalies

    PlayerPositionGPGAASV%TeamLeague
    Daniil ChechelevG35.300.825Yunison-MoskvaVHL
    Waltteri IgnatjewG163.810.878Calgary WranglersAHL
    Arseni SergeyevG192.730.909Penn State U.NCAA
    Yegor YegorovG43.380.870HK TambovVHL
    83.070.891MHK TambovNMHL
    123.050.911MHK Krylia Sovetov MoskvaMHL
    Kirill ZarubinG142.530.928AKM 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 WilliamFebruary 4, 2025
    6 minutes read
    Photo of James William

    James William

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