Flames Prospect Round-Up – October 8 2015

Now that the Calgary Flames season has begun, thoughts about the organization’s many prospects may fall somewhat to the back-burner. But seeing that it’s an off-day and we’re all still stewing over last night’s epic failure of a game, I figured we should check in to see how the kids are doing.

McDonald hasn’t played a ton, but part of that has to do with him staying a bit later in Flames camp than originally anticipated (likely due to Jon Gillies’ concussion). McDonald’s late arrival meant that rookie Matthew Welsh played a bit more and got on a bit of a roll, to the point where Charlottetown is riding him right now. McDonald’s 1-1-0 in his two starts thus far, and the Islanders are 5-3-1 overall in nine games.

The Flames have two prospects on the OHL’s powerhouse Barrie Colts: Andrew Mangiapane and Rasmus Andersson. Mangiapane – nick-named “Megapain” by the Nations’ Steve Dangle – has 7 points in 5 games, and tends to drive Barrie’s offensive attack. Andersson was returned a bit later by the Flames, and only has an assist in three games so far. Barrie is 4-1-0 in five games to start the season.

Calgary’s seventh round pick this past summer…actually already has a goal. Granted, Bruce has just the single goal to his credit through four games, and the North Bay Battalion have struggled early on with a 1-3-0 record. They won’t be amazing this season, but Bruce will get a ton of ice-time and really be able to hone his defensive game.

Karnaukhov has had a quiet start to his season with the Calgary Hitmen. Through five games, he has two points – and 10 penalty minutes. With the Hitmen starting the year without Jake Virtanen – who might not be back – Karnaukhov will be relied-upon more consistently this season. The Hitmen are 4-1-0 through their first five.

Calgary’s newest signee, Schenider is 2-2-0 with a 3.99 goals against and .862 save percentage in four starts. It’s not a great return for him to the WHL, but it’s early. The Medicine Hat Tigers are 2-2-1 to begin the season, and should be in tough in the jam-packed division they’re in that includes the Hitmen, the Oil Kings and the Red Deer Rebels.

The college season begins this weekend, so we don’t have much substantive to share about Tim Harrison (who transferred to Brown this fall), Mark Jankowski (Providence), John Gilmour (Providence), Matthew Deblouw (Michigan State) or Brandon Hickey (Boston University). Jankowski was good in a pre-season game against a Canadian university, but those games are always about NCAA teams teeing off against bad teams, so don’t get too excited yet.

Adam Ollas Mattsson has no points in two SHL games with Djurgardens IF thus far, but he had a goal in three Champions League appearances with the same club. Over in the KHL, Rushan Rafikov has played in seven of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl’s 18 games this season and has no points yet. Lokomotiv is dressing eight defenders every night, and Rafikov hasn’t been playing that much even when he has dressed.