Calgary Flames place 17th in Daily Faceoff’s ranking of NHL prospect pools
By Ryan Pike
10 months agoFriends, the post-draft period on the National Hockey League calendar is often seen as prospect season, where various media outlets discuss the youngsters within their market’s team or the league as a whole. Over at Daily Faceoff, our pal Steven Ellis profiled the prospect pools of all 32 NHL clubs in depth. He capped his rundown off with a ranking of every system.
The Calgary Flames’ prospect pool was judged to be the 17th-best in the NHL by Ellis.
Here’s Ellis’ assessment of the Flames’ system, which he gave a B- grade to:
While the team’s current lineup is… interesting, to say the least, they’ve got some promising prospects in the pipeline. There are a few expected to join the team this year, such as Dustin Wolf and Matthew Coronato, but there’s a fair share of “bubble” guys who may or may not turn into something notable here. That includes Jakob Pelletier, Connor Zary and Jeremie Poirier, three prospects you’d hope will take big steps this year into becoming legitimate long-term options.
The Flames’ American Hockey League affiliates, the Stockton Heat (2021-22) and the Calgary Wranglers (2022-23), were among the best teams in that league in each of the past two seasons, largely due to the strong play of some of the organization’s top prospects. Wolf was the top goaltender in the AHL in both seasons, and was named the league’s most valuable player in 2022-23. Pelletier was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team in 2021-22 and Poirier was in 2022-23.
On one hand, four players from the Flames’ system made their NHL debuts over the past two seasons: Wolf, Coronato and Pelletier in 2022-23 and Walker Duehr in 2021-22. (Veteran AHL signing Nick DeSimone also made his NHL debut in 2022-23.) The challenge for the youngsters in the system has been reaching the NHL level and carving out a role and a regular spot in the Flames’ lineup.
Time will tell if that story changes when the Flames assemble for their 2023-24 training camp in the next few weeks.
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