[united]

Huckins is finally off the board and I am down to two in this tier. Went with the underrated Rory Kerins in a battle between a reliable defenceman already comfortable playing in the KHL versus a two-way forward who missed the season.

Considered
Ilya Solovyov
Rory Kerins
Cole Huckins
Martin Pospisil
Emil Heineman
Adam Ruzicka
Yan Kuznetsov
Jeremie Poirier

Ilya Solovyov
An intriguing late bloomer, Ilya Solovyov arrived in central Michigan as an unheralded 19-year-old Belarusian where he quickly earned the trust of his coaches and teammates and saw his usage rapidly increased as the year progressed, ultimately dominating the OHL seemingly out of nowhere. Liking what they saw, the Flames took a smart gamble on the twice-passed over prospect and he rewarded the decision by moving to the second best league in the World, the KHL, and not looking out of place or outmatched at all. In fact, Solovyov exceeded the 20-minute mark in a handful of games this season while ultimately finishing with an average of just under 17 for the season - nothing to be scoffed at for a 20-year-old defenceman in the veteran-heavy KHL. Likewise, while 9 points in 41 games doesn't stand out, this is a 20-year-old in the low-scoring KHL and the Flames were quick to sign their recent draftee ahead of earlier 2020 draft picks even. As things stand, we don't have the sample size on Solovyov we have for most drafted players, but I liken him stylistically to another defenceman who was passed over twice in the draft before getting a chance and never looking back: Alec Martinez.

Ceiling: #4 defenceman (Style: Alec Martinez)
Probable: #6/7 defenceman or KHL
Floor: AHL washout

Rory Kerins
A prospect who, like many OHL players, found himself in an extremely difficult situation in a critical development year, Rory Kerins played just a four-game stint in the AHL giving us comparatively little information to go on: was his 2019-20 explosion an outlier or a sign of rapid improvement? Team Canada perhaps thought a little more of the latter as they extended an invitation to Kerins to attend their World Junior Summer Showcase which he accepted and attended four weeks ago here in Calgary alongside talent such as Cole Perfetti, Shane Wright, Brandt Clarke, Dylan Guenther, Seth Jarvis, Cole Sillinger, and others. Regardless, Kerins, in the theme of recent Flames' picks, is a bit "undersized" by metre stick but not playing style. Happy to drive to the home plate area, Kerins has developed an extremely heavy shot for any prospect, never mind one his size, and continually demonstrated an ability to beat OHL goalies from the mid to top of the circles, in addition to hammering one-timers from the right dot on the powerplay. An added benefit to the Kerins' game is his all-around ability as he centered all three units and was relayed upon to take late-game faceoffs by his coach. Again, hard to project missing a year of information, and factoring in he missed a critical year in development, but the average CHL forward sees a 55% increase in offensive production between 17.5 and 18.5 years of age, which, if assumed with Kerins, puts him on the same track as Ryan Francis and Jakob Pelletier. I think that has to be discounted somewhat as a year cannot be recovered, but regardless the Flames have a potential two-way C/W in the ever-growing ranks which is awesome.

Ceiling: C2
Probable: C4/tweener (Style: Jean-Gabriel Pageau)
Floor: AHL then Euro leagues