Welcome back to one of our recurring features here at FlamesNation: Five Flames Takes. After digging into a main topic, Mike will weigh in on five more popular discussion topics involving the Flames and their prospects.

The current iteration of the Calgary Flames just can’t score.

No, it isn’t exactly breaking new ground to say that, but it’s true. How many 20-goal scorers will the Flames have this year? Two? One? Zero?

If this Flames roster doesn’t leave you overcome with optimism for the future, don’t sweat it. Most of this team’s future cornerstones aren’t here yet. The Flames still have plenty of prospects marinating at various developmental levels, as well as future draft picks they haven’t had the chance to use.

But … it’s not all bad. Even if the Flames don’t win the right to select either Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg at this year’s draft, they still have a handful of young players and prospects already in their ranks who could populate the top end of their future forward group.

Cole Reschny is having one whale of a freshman year at the University of North Dakota, even if his raw point production isn’t the most impressive of the Flames’ NCAA prospects. The 2025 first-round pick shrugged off an injury he sustained last week to play in Friday’s 1-0 win over Miami University, firing four shots on goal and going 11-for-17 in the faceoff circle. He added an assist in the rematch the following night.

As prospect analyst Will Scouch noted in his in-depth look at Reschny’s game last week, it’s not exactly common for an 18-year-old centre to look this polished on a top-tier NCAA team — and that’s saying nothing of his strong performance at the World Juniors.

Can Reschny become the Flames’ future No. 1 centre? After all, we’ve seen undersized pivots with similar statistical profiles thrive in the NHL after being picked at a similar spot in the draft — just look at Seth Jarvis and Nick Suzuki, both of whom are on Team Canada at the Olympics. Perhaps it’s a little presumptuous to compare Reschny to those two before he plays a single pro game, but the blueprint is there.

What about the wingers? (We’ll talk about Ethan Wyttenbach in a second). Sure, it’s easy to look at Matt Coronato’s 2025-26 season and feel somewhat discouraged, especially considering that he’s on pace to fall short of the 24 goals and 47 points he managed last year. But remember … nobody is scoring on this Flames team. In a lot of ways, what we’re seeing in Calgary right now is a lot like what happened with the Colorado Avalanche in the 2016-17 season. It doesn’t matter how much talent a team has if it doesn’t come together in the right way. Coronato is signed through 2032; he’ll be given plenty of time (and chances) to blossom into a top-line scorer.

And then there’s Matvei Gridin, another first-round pick and a potential star in the making. For as rare as it is for an 18-year-old like Reschny to excel in the NCAA, it’s even more uncommon for any teenager to look as confident in the NHL as Gridin has. It’s cool that he got the chance to represent the Calgary Wranglers at the AHL All-Star Classic, but once the NHL resumes play later this month, Gridin might never have to ride that bus again. He looks every bit like a future difference-maker for the Flames.

If the Flames do luck their way into a top draft pick, that’s great. Nobody in this city is going to say no to the chance to draft McKenna or Stenberg, and regardless of how the lottery unfolds, they’ll be getting a blue-chip prospect. But as it stands, they’ve already got a very solid young core with plenty of upside. They’re in good shape, and if any of their other forward prospects blossom into top-six NHLers, it’ll be gravy.

1. OK, onto Wyttenbach. The 2025 fifth-rounder has become the prospect du jour for Flames fans everywhere, and it’s not exactly hard to see why. Wyttenbach is now the leading scorer in all of NCAA Division I men’s hockey, with 51 points in 32 games in his freshman year at Quinnipiac, and has gone from an intriguing dark horse to a genuine Hobey Baker candidate. Believe it or not, Wyttenbach still hasn’t convinced all his doubters, many of whom are quick to point out that Quinnipiac is a strong program in a weak NCAA conference, the ECAC. Nevertheless, that doesn’t explain why Wyttenbach’s teammates are so far behind him from a production standpoint. This type of thing just doesn’t happen often; after all, Adam Fox is the only teenager in recent memory to make the ECAC’s First All-Star Team. Wyttenbach will almost certainly join him in that group, to say nothing of his Hobey Baker chances. With each point he adds to his current total, Wyttenbach gets closer to matching what we saw from the likes of Cutter Gauthier, Ryan Leonard, and Logan Cooley at the same age. Those guys all played in stronger conferences, but they also had a lot more help.

2. Great to see Jacob Battaglia score six goals in seven games with the Flint Firebirds to start the month of February. It’s been a difficult year for the 2024 second-round pick, who looked to have taken a huge step forward with the Kingston Frontenacs in 2024-25. So far this year, Battaglia has just 23 goals and 40 points in 53 games split between Flint and Kingston, a far cry from the 40 goals and 90 points he managed with the Frontenacs last season. But there’s more to it than the scoresheet suggests for the 6’1″ forward, who is already signed to his entry-level contract with the Flames. Battaglia was leading a brutally outgunned Frontenacs team in scoring when he was traded to Flint; since then, the Firebirds have consistently deployed Battaglia — a natural winger — as their second-line centre. Battaglia already plays a pro-style game (stylistically similar to Joel Farabee) and will likely be shifted back to the wing when he joins the Wranglers next season. But it’s good to have that extra bit of versatility, I suppose …

3. It’s always especially fun to track the prospects who are drafted with picks acquired in trades, and Battaglia is one of them for the Flames — he’s the second-rounder they got from Dallas in the Chris Tanev deal. Well, this year, the Flames possess two draft picks that weren’t originally their own. Last month, we touched upon the third-round pick they received from Vancouver for Nikita Zadorov (and how it’ll likely be at the very start of the round); now, it’s worth taking a closer look at that Vegas first-rounder from the Noah Hanifin trade. If you trust the draft prognosticators, this is shaping up to be an excellent year for defencemen, and if that Vegas pick ends up closer to the middle of the round than the end of it, the Flames could be in position to land a well-rounded lefty to complement their large contingent of right-handers. Keep an eye on Malte Gustafsson, who is already getting a ton of minutes in the SHL despite not turning 18 until June.

4. Zach Whitecloud had not yet become a member of the Flames the last time we published one of these columns, and what a fit he’s been in Calgary. The Flames acquired Whitecloud in large part to make the money work in the Andersson trade, but he’s since become one of their go-to guys on the blue line in pretty much every defensive situation. The 29-year-old righty has seen his average ice time increase from 18:46 in Vegas to 23:09 in Calgary, and he also has three assists through his first eight games with the Flames. Whitecloud has been a seamless fit in Calgary both on and off the ice, and it’s more than likely that Craig Conroy could end up flipping him for considerable value at some point down the road. As far as “cap dumps” go, it’s hard to do much better than this guy.

5. At least in part, the Flames coveted Whitecloud to meet certain financial obligations in the Andersson deal. Could they pull off a similar maneuver in a forthcoming Nazem Kadri trade? It still feels like the Montreal Canadiens are the most likely suitor for the veteran centre, given the season they’re having and the makeup of their roster. They did well in re-acquiring Philip Danault, but they could still use another difference-maker down the middle. If the Canadiens make a push for Kadri, could we see the Flames take on the rest of Patrik Laine’s contract to make the money work? It’d be similar to when they picked up Andrei Kuzmenko in the Elias Lindholm trade, except that Laine is on an expiring contract. Laine has missed most of the season with a core muscle injury but has resumed skating and should be ready to return soon; would there be any real harm in giving him a 20-game tryout to finish the season?

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