This article is brought to you by bet365.
Pals, we’re roughly a week and change away from Calgary Flames prospects officially reporting to the club for participation in the 2024 edition of the Young Stars Classic tournament in Penticton, British Columbia.
While the Flames likely won’t announce their roster until shortly before players report, history suggests that they’ll be bringing somewhere around 25 players, largely comprised of players that participated in their summer development camp. However, there are two broad categories of players that won’t be coming to Penticton despite most of them appearing in July’s camp at Winsport.
Here’s a quick rundown of the players (and categories of players) you shouldn’t expect to see next week.
College players
Broadly-speaking, NHL prospects enrolled in college aren’t allowed to attend training camp because such camps could be considered professional activities that may threaten their amateur status… and because NHL camps occur after these players are back at school. (They’ve been allowed to attend development camp usually on the basis that they return anything of value that teams give them during these camps.)
The Flames have four prospects in their system that are currently attending college:
- 2021 seventh-rounder Arsenii Sergeev, a junior at Penn State University
- 2022 seventh-rounder Cade Littler, a freshman at the University of North Dakota
- 2023 third-rounder Aydar Suniev, a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts
- 2024 fourth-rounder Trevor Hoskin, a freshman at Niagara University
European players
While collegiate players have to jump through hoops at times to maintain their amateur statuses, usually it’s the opposite for players in Europe. Typically players drafted out of European clubs have existing contractual ties to professional organizations, so they’re able to appear at development camp during their club team’s off-season… but by the time Penticton rolls around, their European seasons have begun.
The Flames have two prospects in their system currently playing in Europe:
- 2023 sixth-rounder Yegor Yegorov, playing in Russian junior with MHK Dynamo Moskva
- 2024 third-rounder Kirill Zarubin, playing in Russian junior with AKM Tula
Now that you know which players won’t be in Penticton, let us know in the comments which prospects you’re most excited to see in the tournament!