Calgary prospect pool ranked #16 by The Athletic's Scott Wheeler

[SportsJunky]

Wheeler has the top 3 as Coronato, Pelletier and Wolf.
https://theathletic.com/3071457/2022...algary-flames/

This guy loves Wolf:

I’m going to start with this: I seriously considered ranking Wolf first here. That’s how good I think this kid is. But then I got cold feet and turned into a coward. Still, if you’ve been following my work for any amount of time, you’ll know that Wolf is my favourite goalie prospect in the sport. When the Flames drafted him at the end of the seventh round, he ranked in the second round of my 2019 draft board, as my second-ranked goalie behind only Spencer Knight. This summer, he ranked fifth on my drafted goalie prospects ranking, behind only Knight, Iaroslav Askarov, Jesper Wallstedt and Sebastian Cossa. He possesses elite footwork and tracking. He never loses sight of the puck and anticipates the movements of opposing carriers so, so well, making him extremely hard to beat with a deke. He has everything you look for in a top goalie prospect today except for the size. The results are there, he’s athletic, and his technical ability is refined. Small goalies are expected to be quicker through their footwork and edges than bigger goalies, but that can often pull them out of position and force them into a scrambling style. Wolf’s game is remarkably compact, though. He holds his edges and angles beautifully, making himself look bigger than he is in the net and helping him to stay centre. I know Dan Vladar has played well for the Flames and still has one year remaining on his deal, but I fully expect Wolf to push him for the backup job at some point in the not-too-distant future.

[Erick Estrada]

Seems like the Flames have a lot of high floor, low ceiling depth in their prospec base. Hopefully a lot of these players will get a chance and in the future the organization weans itself off signing and trading for depth players like Richardson, Ritchie, Lewis, Pitlick. Mid level ranking is good but it would be nice to have at least one blue chipper in the ranks. Excited about Wolf's progression.

[Jiri Hrdina]

His top 10 is
1. Coronato (big fan, including of his work ethic)
2. Pelletier (he's been high on him for a while)
3. Wolf
4. Zary
5. Poirier
6. Ruzicka
7. Heineman
8. Kerins
9. MEP
10. Francis


Also worth noting that Juuso and Philips are considered graduated even though they are both in the AHL.



Largely boosted the Flames on the strength of their last 2 drafts which he seems to be very high on.

[neo45]

I would put Pospisil over MEP because he has a higher floor and a bottom six skill set, but besides that I think the top 10 is good.

The top four prospects seem pretty equal. Any could be ranked #1

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Seems like the Flames have a lot of high floor, low ceiling depth in their prospec base. Hopefully a lot of these players will get a chance and in the future the organization weans itself off signing and trading for depth players like Richardson, Ritchie, Lewis, Pitlick. Mid level ranking is good but it would be nice to have at least one blue chipper in the ranks. Excited about Wolf's progression.

I agree for the most part but I think the ceiling has raised on a few of them. Namely Wolf and Pelletier based on AHL performance.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

His top 10 is
1. Coronato (big fan, including of his work ethic)
2. Pelletier (he's been high on him for a while)
3. Wolf
4. Zary
5. Poirier
6. Ruzicka
7. Heineman
8. Kerins
9. MEP
10. Francis


Also worth noting that Juuso and Philips are considered graduated even though they are both in the AHL.



Largely boosted the Flames on the strength of their last 2 drafts which he seems to be very high on.

I'm a little skeptical that MEP is even a prospect at this point and looks to be playing his way out of the AHL, so my skepticism of his ratings just went up a notch as he has him ranked in our top 10. Stromgren, Huckins and Whynot, for starters, must be significantly better prospects at this point. Those rankings make very little sense to me if he is that high on our last draft and only Coronate is ranked in top 10.

That criticism aside, it's nice to see the recognition for the prospects. I'd say Coronato and Wolf are on a different level.

[Jiri Hrdina]

For comparison to ours which was done in the summer.

1. Coronato, Matthew (-)
2. Zary, Connor (+2)
3. Pelletier, Jacob (-1)
4. Wolf, Dustin (-)
5. Vladar, Daniel (not a prospect any longer)
6. Mackey, Connor (not ranked by Wheeler)
7. Stromgren, William (+5, he was 12 for Wheeler)
8. Kuznetsov, Yan 36% (+10, he was 18 for wheeler)
9. Ruzicka, Adam 27% (-3)
10. Kinnvall, Johannes 29% (not ranked by Wheeler)

[shutout]

Though the Flames’ pool doesn’t have one of the game’s true star-level prospects, it’s arguably the deepest group to appear in the ranking so far, with four high-end prospects at the top and depth well into the teens. The Flames pool’s biggest weakness is on defence.

I found his analysis of the Flames system to be spot on.
Lots of good middle six potential depth but no elite star prospects.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Also underscores that this franchise would be well served not to trade away picks. When the scouting team has picks - they generally make good use of them. So give them more bullets in the chamber please.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Also underscores that this franchise would be well served not to trade away picks. When the scouting team has picks - they generally make good use of them. So give them more bullets in the chamber please.

Yeah I’d way rather be in a position of prospect log jam which leads to trade chips.

[Tkachukwagon]

I am not going to lie, Zary season so far has underwhelmed me. I really appreciate Wheeler’s assessment of Zary in the article. Has me feeling more optimistic:

4. Connor Zary, C/LW, 20 (Stockton Heat)

It’s easy to look at the slow start to the season that Zary had (when he posted just two points in his first nine games), measure it against Pelletier, and forget that Pelletier’s results are unusually impressive for players their age, Zary is younger, and Zary’s track record before this season was as impressive or more (including a decent first showing in the AHL last year). But I thought he started to turn the corner into the Christmas break and he has had a fine year on the whole. He’s an average-sized, average-skating player with above-average tools across the board and a determined disposition.

I like the way he wins back pucks along the walls and then makes quick plays low-to-high out of a short carry. I like his middle-lane drive and his willingness to go to the guts of the ice and push tempo. And while his skating has made doing that at the same level and pace as he did in junior a little more challenging in the AHL, I actually think his footwork through his crossovers and speed in transition aren’t concerns at all (though his forward pushes do have a bit of hitch), in part because he keeps himself moving and pushes himself to his limits.

He’s not as dominant an on-puck carrier as you might expect out of a forward who produced like he did in junior, but his skill can flash in shorter sequences into give-and-gos and he’s still a deft stickhandler in traffic. He’s the kind of player where when he’s feeling it, playing between checks, and getting touches, the puck just seems to find him in dangerous areas to create chances. And even when the points aren’t falling, he’s consistent shift-to-shift. I still see upside as a contributing top-nine forward despite some of the growing pains he has encountered this season.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by shutout

I found his analysis of the Flames system to be spot on.
Lots of good middle six potential depth but no elite star prospects.

the gap on the blueline that he raises is a fair point, but presumably Mackey and Kinvall (and Valimaki) are all aged out or ineligible for other reasons- particularly given what can be a more forgiving age timeline for D prospects if a few of those pan out and join what is still a young-prime trio at the NHL level , could be ok there

[FlamesAddiction]

I feel stupid for asking, but who is MEP? I think I narrowed it down to Emilio Pettersen, assuming Matthew Phillips is not in the ranking, but not sure where the "M" comes from. Or is it somebody else?

[looooob]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I feel stupid for asking, but who is MEP? I think I narrowed it down to Emilio Pettersen, assuming Matthew Phillips is not in the ranking, but not sure where the "M" comes from. Or is it somebody else?

yup first name Mathias

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by looooob

the gap on the blueline that he raises is a fair point, but presumably Mackey and Kinvall (and Valimaki) are all aged out or ineligible for other reasons- particularly given what can be a more forgiving age timeline for D prospects if a few of those pan out and join what is still a young-prime trio at the NHL level , could be ok there

I cringe when I see Valimaki floated around here as trade bait for a rental at the deadline. The defensive prospect base is already razor thin.

[bubbsy]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I cringe when I see Valimaki floated around here as trade bait for a rental at the deadline. The defensive prospect base is already razor thin.

The reason I am ok to use valimaki as a tradeable asset is that the d is made up of a relatively young group (Hanafin, Anderson, kylington, and then an older vet in Tanev rounding out your top 4). I wouldn't be surprised to see the flames bargain bin hunt to round out the 5-7 spots, as they have this year. I realize zadorov and gudrabson aren't cheap, but I feel like sutter can get a lot out of less flashy dmen (going back to his previous coaching days and again this year).

[DJones]

Mackey and Valimaki need to be our 3rd pairing next year imo.

Spending almost 6 million on a bottom pair is just not going to work moving forward

Throw in Pitlick and Brouwer and that's pretty much Gaudreau's and Mangi's raises.

[Canada 02]

the story of the Gaudreau/Kucherov draft is well know among Flames fans. Tod Button had these two 'wildcard' prospects that he did not slot in among the rest of the 2011 draftees. When they missed on Kucherov, they had to get Gaudreau, but needed to wait and hope they he would fall to the 4th round.

Jim Cummins gave an interview after the 2016 draft, which seemed to imply that Adam Fox was one of these wildcards.

I wonder how often Button and his scouts have these 'wildcards', who have they selected that might have been a wildcard, and who have they missed?

Just a blind guess, but I wonder if Boltmann was a wildcard, or maybe Beck?

Without drafting high, getting a mid/late round wildcard who turns into a star sure would be nice to cap off the depth prospects