In the summer 2024 edition of the FlamesNation prospect ranking, four players emerged as the cream of the crop for the Calgary Flames’ youngsters.

The top two players on our countdown were Zayne Parekh (at 1), who’s absolutely thrived in the Ontario Hockey League in 2024-25, and top Calder Trophy contender Dustin Wolf (at 2). Behind that dynamic duo are a pair of promising prospects who made the jump from the junior ranks to professional hockey in 2024-25, and have had to do a lot of learning and adjusting over the past year.

Born just 17 days apart, blueliner Hunter Brzustewicz (third on our countdown) and forward Sam Honzek (fourth) may not be boasting the kinds of offensive statistics that fans would hope to see from top prospects, but they’ve quietly been having really productive seasons with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers.

Originally selected in the third round, 75th overall, by Vancouver in the 2023 NHL Draft, Brzustewicz was sent to Calgary as part of the Elias Lindholm trade. He had a fantastic 2023-24 season with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, posting 92 points.

Spoiler alert: Brzustewicz likely won’t hit that level of offensive production this season. But he’s settled in really nicely for the Wranglers after impressing at Flames camp in the fall. Playing primarily with stay-at-home ace Yan Kuznetsov, Brzustewicz has dressed in 69 of the Wranglers 70 games this season, with the lone exception being a single game spent as a spectator after going minus-2 against Tucson in mid-November.

Brzustewicz is still learning the pro game and sometimes he has some miscues with the puck, but for the most part he’s played pretty well. Through Sunday’s games, he was fifth in the AHL among rookie defencemen in points, posting five goals and 26 assists for 36 points. He’s been a consistent part of the Wranglers lineup, and he’s a fixture on their power play units, as well.

The Flames’ first-round selection, 16th overall, in 2023, Honzek has had a bit more of an up and down season. He had a superb training camp with the Flames after a quiet performance during the Penticton rookie tournament, ultimately impressing enough to earn an NHL roster spot out of camp as a teenager.

Honzek missed the first 10 Wranglers games because he was in the NHL; he played five games with the Flames and missed another five due to an injury before being assigned to the Wranglers at the end of October. Since then, Honzek has played in 50 of the Wranglers’ 60 remaining games – missing 10 due to injury.

While Brzustewicz has had a steady partner and role for much of the season, injuries (to Honzek and other Wranglers forwards) and call-ups have caused Honzek’s role to change throughout the season. He’s played primarily as a left wing, but he’s been on the Wranglers’ top three lines, centred by Sam Morton, Clark Bishop or Rory Kerins at various times. He’s also been tried out at centre here and there this season, playing about 20% of his shifts as a centre and starting to figure out the position. (For their part, the Wranglers coaches have made sure that no matter what position he’s been playing, he’s had a more experienced two-way player on his line.)

In Honzek’s draft year (2022-23) with the Western League’s Vancouver Giants, he missed a good chunk of time due to a laceration from a skate. Last season, the Flames and Giants had hoped to try him out at centre, but he suffered an abdominal injury that kept him out until December and scuttled those plans, and then played the last few weeks of the season wearing a protective face shield. So while Honzek has missed some time and key developmental reps this season, he’s played 55 games this season – more than he has in three or four seasons.

And while Honzek hasn’t found his offensive swagger quite yet – posting eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points – he’s playing in a top nine role in the second-best pro league on the planet as a 20-year-old. And he’s carved out a role for himself on both sides of special teams for the Wranglers.

“I like Sam at centre,” said Wranglers interim head coach Joe Cirella after the Wranglers’ Apr. 6 loss to Ontario, adding it allowed Honzek to play in the top six. “It’s a work in progress. But, you know, he’s a big body. He’s okay on draws and it’ll get better. And it gives him an opportunity to try open ice in the middle more too.”

The AHL is a really good league, and after a year where they played against teenagers, both Brzustewicz and Honzek are playing key minutes for the Wranglers against men. While there have been growing pains for both players during the season, Cirella commended the players for their progress.

“Yeah, they’re coming along,” said Cirella. “Like I said, it is developing. They still make mistakes, which, you know, you tend to see. But if they’re willing to learn and utilize that information and try not making it happen as many times as sometimes it might happen. But, you know, I thought they’ve progressed well. You know, important minutes that they’re playing, you’re down a goal, you’re up a goal. They get the ice time, deservingly, so that they’re – we’re trying to get them in a position that they understand how critical it is to get the job done when that happens. And, you know, sometimes they’re successful. Sometimes, you know, you’ve got to learn from it.”

Brzustewicz and Honzek are the two youngest players on the Wranglers – by a hefty margin. They’ve spent the 2024-25 season learning an entirely new league, system and playing style than they’re used to. While there have been bumps in the road, the duo are definitely making progress towards where they, and the Flames, hope they can ultimately get as pros.

The Wranglers close out their 2024-25 regular season schedule this coming weekend when they host the San Jose Barracuda.