Rory Kerins was spectacular for the Calgary Wranglers in this week’s Calgary Flames Prospect Roundup. In four games, he scored five times and added two helpers for seven points. While the Wranglers still aren’t a lock for the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs, Kerins’ play helped bring them a bit closer.
The Calgary Flames also inked Aydar Suniev to an entry-level contract this week and brought him to Calgary. He has yet to play a game for the Flames, and with them still in the hunt, it seems unlikely that Head Coach Ryan Huska will slot him in right now.
There’s much to discuss this week, so let’s get started.
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 Wranglers went 2–2–0 this week, splitting a pair of two-game series with the Tucson Roadrunners and the Ontario Reign.
- While the Wranglers only scored 11 goals in the four games, forward Rory Kerins was not part of the issue as he was in on seven of them. In fact, he scored nearly half of them! He’s up to 32 goals and 58 points in 59 games.
- Blueliner Hunter Brzustewicz also contributed three points—all assists—to improve to 29 points in 67 games.
- The top seven teams in the Pacific Division will qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs this year, and the Wranglers currently sit fifth. The San Jose Barracuda are tied in points with the Wranglers, though, and have a game in hand.
- While they’re not in just yet, if the eighth-seeded Bakersfield Condors drop three of the 12 points they still have on the table, the Wranglers will clinch a playoff berth.
Europe
- Defenceman Nikita Okhotyuk has seen his KHL season come to an end. CSKA Moscow evened their first-round playoffs series at two games apiece before being blown out in games five and six by scores of 7–0 and 6–2.
- Unison-Moscow failed to qualify for the VHL playoffs, meaning Daniil Chechelev’s season is done. It was not a good one, as he posted a 2–4–1 record with a 3.61 goals against average and a 0.888 save percentage through 11 games.
- Krylya Sovetov lost their play-in series 2–1–0, including a 10–4 loss in the deciding game. Yegor Yegorov posted a 7–10–1 record across 20 games in the MHL with a 3.14 GAA and a 0.904 SV%. In eight games in the NMHL, he posted a 4–3–1 record with a 3.07 GAA and a 0.891 SV%. He also went 1–1–0 through four games in the VHL with a 3.38 GAA and a 0.870 SV%.
- Mihailov Academy and Kirill Zarubin are currently down two games to one in their MHL first-round series, with game four beginning in a few hours. Zarubin manned the pipes in game two on Friday, stopping 45 of 47 shots on goal in a 2–1 loss.
NCAA
- Trevor Hoskin was named the Atlantic Hockey Association Rookie of the Year and entered the NCAA’s transfer portal. We learned this week that he is committed to Hockey East’s Merrimack College next year. Merrimack finished the regular season eighth of 11 before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
- Cade Littler and the University of North Dakota lost their National Collegiate Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff semifinal matchup on March 21 to Western Michigan, who would go on to win the championship.
- Aydar Suniev and UMass fell to the top-seed Western Michigan to bow out of the NCAA Fargo Regional. Suniev signed with the Flames and joined the team in Calgary but has yet to play for the team.
- Netminder Arsenii Sergeev beat his old team, UConn, in the Allentown Regional. Penn State University has a Frozen Four date with Boston University on April 10.
OHL
- Jacob Battaglia’s Kingston Frontenacs swept Henry Mews and the Sudbury Wolves in their first-round playoff series. Battaglia had a goal and six points in the series, while Mews had just two assists.
- Luka Misa’s season came to an end as the Brampton Steelheads lost 4–2 in their first-round playoff series. Misa led the team in points with 12.
- Zayne Parekh and the Saginaw Spirit lost their first-round series four games to one. Parekh also led his team in points with nine.
QMJHL
- The Moncton Wildcats swept the Quebec Ramparts in their first-round series. Blueliner Etienne Morin had a goal and six points.
- The Shawinigan Cataractes won their first-round series against the Val-d’Or Drillers 4–1. Matvei Gridin had four goals and 10 points, leading his team in both categories.
WHL
- The Medicine Hat Tigers beat the Swift Current Broncos in five games in their first-round series. We’re one step closer to seeing Andrew Basha again this season!
- Defenceman Axel Hurtig had two assists for the Calgary Hitmen in their first-round sweep of the Saskatoon Blades. Blades forward Hunter Laing had just one goal and saw his season come to an end.
- The Everett Silvertips are up 3–2 in their first-round series against the Seattle Thunderbirds. Blueliner Eric Jamieson has a goal and two points so far. Game six is today in Seattle.
- The Vancouver Giants lost their first-round series to the Spokane Chiefs in five games. They won game three 3–2 before falling 6–2 and 9–4 in games four and five. Jaden Lipinski had two goals and five points in the series.
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):
- Zayne Parekh: 46.4 (Same)
- Rory Kerins: 39.1 (Same)
- Aydar Suniev: 35.1 (Same)
- Jacob Battaglia: 35.0 (Same)
- Luke Misa: 33.6 (Same)
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 | 68 | 40 | 50 | 90 | 1.32 | 34 | 35.0 | Kingston Frontenacs | OHL |
| Parker Bell | LW | 59 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 0.20 | 28 | 8.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Lucas Ciona | LW | 64 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 0.31 | 75 | 12.4 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Matvei Gridin | RW | 56 | 36 | 43 | 79 | 1.41 | 27 | 32.8 | Shawinigan Cataractes | QMJHL |
| Samuel Honzek | C/LW | 48 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 0.44 | 18 | 17.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Trevor Hoskin | C/RW | 36 | 12 | 27 | 39 | 1.08 | 12 | N/A | Niagara University | NCAA |
| Rory Kerins | C/LW | 59 | 32 | 26 | 58 | 0.98 | 16 | 39.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Adam Klapka | RW/LW | 33 | 14 | 12 | 26 | 0.79 | 50 | 31.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Hunter Laing | C | 64 | 25 | 23 | 48 | 0.75 | 31 | 18.6 | Prince George Cougars/Saskatoon Blades | WHL |
| Jaden Lipinski | C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| 59 | 17 | 41 | 58 | 0.98 | 38 | 24.3 | Vancouver Giants | WHL | ||
| Cade Littler | C | 33 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 0.27 | 21 | 9.7 | University of North Dakota | NCAA |
| Luke Misa | C | 67 | 34 | 51 | 85 | 1.27 | 6 | 33.6 | Brampton Steelheads | OHL |
| William Stromgren | LW | 66 | 13 | 33 | 46 | 0.70 | 16 | 27.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Aydar Suniev | LW | 35 | 20 | 18 | 38 | 1.09 | 41 | 35.1 | UMass | NCAA |
Defencemen
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | PIM | NHLe | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter Brzustewicz | RHD | 67 | 4 | 25 | 29 | 0.43 | 12 | 17.1 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Artyom Grushnikov | LHD | 58 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0.09 | 24 | 3.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Axel Hurtig | LHD | 55 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 0.29 | 29 | 7.2 | Calgary Hitmen | WHL |
| Eric Jamieson | LHD | 66 | 14 | 22 | 36 | 0.55 | 61 | 13.6 | Everett Silvertips | WHL |
| Joni Jurmo | LHD | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4 | 0.0 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| 12 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 0.83 | 4 | N/A | Rapid City Rush | ECHL | ||
| Yan Kuznetsov | LHD | 68 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 0.29 | 34 | 11.6 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Henry Mews | RHD | 68 | 14 | 68 | 82 | 1.21 | 88 | 32.0 | Ottawa 67’s/Sudbury Wolves | OHL |
| Etienne Morin | LHD | 62 | 14 | 44 | 58 | 0.94 | 36 | 21.9 | Moncton Wildcats | QMJHL |
| Nikita Okhotyuk | LHD | 62 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0.15 | 30 | 9.9 | CSKA Moskva | KHL |
| Zayne Parekh | RHD | 61 | 33 | 74 | 107 | 1.75 | 96 | 46.4 | Saginaw Spirit | OHL |
| Jeremie Poirier | LHD | 67 | 5 | 32 | 37 | 0.55 | 60 | 21.9 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Ilya Solovyov | LHD | 55 | 6 | 21 | 27 | 0.49 | 30 | 19.5 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
Goalies
| Player | Position | GP | GAA | SV% | Team | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniil Chechelev | G | 11 | 3.61 | 0.888 | Yunison-Moskva | VHL |
| Waltteri Ignatjew | G | 24 | 3.40 | 0.889 | Calgary Wranglers | AHL |
| Owen Say | G | 27 | 2.82 | 0.920 | University of Notre Dame | NCAA |
| Arsenii Sergeev | G | 32 | 2.56 | 0.918 | Penn State University | NCAA |
| Yegor Yegorov | G | 4 | 3.38 | 0.870 | HK Tambov | VHL |
| 8 | 3.07 | 0.891 | MHK Tambov | NMHL | ||
| 20 | 3.14 | 0.904 | MHK Krylia Sovetov Moskva | MHL | ||
| Kirill Zarubin | G | 21 | 2.34 | 0.935 | 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 @AHLWranglers on Twitter.
