FlamesNation Prospect Update: Back from break

6 years ago

After an unplanned three-week hiatus (flu, day to day), the prospect update is back and boy oh boy do we have some catching up to do.

In case you missed it

There’s going to be a lot of stuff here, and in no particular order. Again, a lot happened.
Here’s the last update.
A quick check in from Stockton.
Ryan peaks behind the Flames’ goalie development curtain.
On that note, Tyler Parsons was promoted to the AHL after Eddie Lack was shuffled off to New Jersey.
Rasmus Andersson and Andrew Mangiapane were both named to the AHL All-Star game…
… but, fortunately enough, Mangiapane won’t be making it, cause he’s a Calgary Flame for the time being (not sure how you could’ve missed this one but just in case)!
Speaking of small Flames sixth round picks, Matty Phillips finally got inked to an ELC.
Thanks to tons of Flames representation at the tournament, we had some extensive WJC coverage. Here’s our reports from days one, two, three, four, five, six, the quarterfinals, and the medal games.

Rasmus Andersson – D, Stockton Heat, AHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	28	4	17	21	9	10	8	28.91
Change from last week	6	1	4	5	0	2	1	0.89

Rasmus is just dominating the AHL right now. It’s silly how good he’s been this season.

Austin Carroll – RW, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	13	1	0	1	1	1	1	2.96
Change from last week	5	1	0	1	1	1	1	2.96

Carroll finally hit the score sheet after ripping off seven shots against the Ontario Reign.

Dillon Dube – C/LW, Kelowna Rockets, WHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	27	18	21	39	20	28	14	34.35
Change from last week	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Dube was off doing better things during this break, which we’ll recap at the bottom of this post.

Zach Fischer – RW, Spokane Chiefs, WHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	31	18	11	29	19	20	15	22.25
Change from last week	6	4	2	6	3	4	2	-0.71

Keep in mind that he’s an overager, but Fischer has been one of Spokane’s most consistent scorers. I’m a particular fan of his power forward game, which we’ll hopefully see blossom in Stockton next season.

Spencer Foo – RW, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	31	7	8	15	7	13	6	18.64
Change from last week	7	2	1	3	2	2	2	1.37

Foo has started to find the net more often, even with his center (Marek Hrivik) being shuffled off to the NHL. He’s on a line with Brett Findlay and Ryan Lomberg now, for what it’s worth.

Adam Fox – D, Harvard Crimson, ECAC

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	10	0	9	9	3	3	0	16.97
Change from last week	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Hasn’t seen action since coming back from the WJC.

Glenn Gawdin – C/RW, Swift Current Broncos, WHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	41	32	43	75	39	58	29	43.50
Change from last week	7	1	6	7	3	4	2	-2.77

It’s hard to find fault with scoring a point per game, but Gawdin slowed down dramatically with Aleksi Heponiemi and Tyler Steenbergen disappearing to the WJC. Perhaps an illness was to blame, but it’s a minor cause for concern. There’s also the threat of Matteo Gennaro, who stepped up in the absence of Gawdin’s linemates, usurping him on that line if things keep going this way.

Josh Healey – D, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	25	0	1	1	0	1	0	1.54
Change from last week	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	-0.14

Played six games.

D’Artagnan Joly – RW, Baie-Comeau Drakkar, QMJHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	31	13	18	31	17	28	17	20.50
Change from last week	5	3	2	5	2	4	2	0

Joly has probably been the most consistently scoring Flames prospect, maintaining a point-per-game pace week in, week out.

Pavel Karnaukhov – LW/C, CSKA Moscow, KHL/Zvezda, VHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
KHL current	11	0	2	2	2	1	1	11.03
Change from last week	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
VHL current	27	11	18	29	17	22	13	33.47
Change from last week	3	2	4	6	3	5	3	0

Same old story: too good for the VHL, not good enough for the KHL.

Morgan Klimchuk – LW, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	32	10	13	23	14	17	11	27.7
Change from last week	7	0	5	5	3	2	1	-0.05

With pretty much everyone in the NHL, Klimchuk is now the leading scorer on the Stockton Heat. Whenever Jagr gets taken off the active roster (either through being put on the IR or being released), perhaps he can join his teammates?

Oliver Kylington – D, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	29	2	15	17	10	10	7	22.59
Change from last week	4	0	3	3	2	2	1	0

Kylington missed his two games this past week, causing some speculation, but it is only because he has the flu.

Linus Lindstrom – C/LW, Skelleftea AIK, SHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	26	2	1	3	3	2	2	5.49
Change from last week	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

No news for Lindstrom this week, as he has yet to return to Skelleftea.

Ryan Lomberg – LW, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	31	3	6	9	9	6	6	11.19
Change from last week	7	1	4	5	5	3	3	1.89

Lomberg seems to have found his offensive game now that he’s not buried on Stockton’s bottom lines, more than doubling his scoring totals during the break.

Andrew Mangiapane – LW/C, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	29	14	19	33	19	24	15	43.85
Change from last week	4	4	2	6	4	6	4	0

Not that it really matters now, but Mangiapane had a few great games before heading to the NHL.

Mitchell Mattson – C/LW, Sioux Falls Stampede, USHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	29	7	10	17	14	15	12	13.46
Change from last week	5	1	4	5	4	5	4	1.13

Mattson never really had any scoring consistency last year, but seems to have found it so far this season. Again, overager in the USHL, but it’s a positive step.

Adam Ollas Mattsson – D, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Change from last week	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

No games played. Unclear if injury or coaching decision.

Matthew Phillips – C/RW, Victoria Royals, WHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	43	30	35	65	28	45	21	35.95
Change from last week	7	6	6	12	8	6	5	0.87

The winter break seemed to have rejuvenated Phillips (or perhaps it’s that contract). He’s come alive the past few games, scoring at least two points per his past three games.

Emile Poirier – LW/RW, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	31	3	12	15	9	14	8	18.64
Change from last week	7	1	1	2	2	2	2	-1.14

The lineup shuffles in Stockton leave Poirier with Joseph Cramarossa, Brett Pollock, and Mike McMurtry. Yikes.

Brett Pollock – LW/C, Stockton Heat, AHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	13	0	1	1	0	0	0	2.96
Change from last week	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	-0.25

All apologies to Brett.

Daniel Pribyl – RW/C, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Still injured.

Rushan Rafikov – D, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, KHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	36	1	10	11	10	7	6	18.54
Change from last week	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Didn’t play this week. Injured.

Adam Ruzicka – C/LW, Sarnia Sting, OHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	37	20	21	41	16	33	12	27.26
Change from last week	3	0	2	2	1	2	1	-0.96

Ruzicka’s struggling to find his earlier season form. Perhaps it’s just puck luck, as he’s still near the top of the OHL in shots and shots per game.

Hunter Shinkaruk – F, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	30	11	4	15	10	14	10	19.27
Change from last week	7	3	1	4	4	4	4	1.38

Shinkaruk has quietly become a consistent scoring machine for the Heat. His NHL future still seems to be up for debate, but in the meantime, he’s making a case for himself as a potential call-up.

Hunter Smith – RW, Kansas City Mavericks, ECHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	35	9	7	16	13	16	13	10.5
Change from last week	9	1	0	1	0	1	0	-0.63

The holidays were not kind to Hunter, who has disappeared from KC’s scoresheet.

Filip Sveningsson – LW, HV71, Superelit/SHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
SHL current	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Change from last week	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Superelit current	17	9	13	22	13	17	9	21.22
Change from last week	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Sveningsson has been playing in the fourth line/extra forward spot for HV71, which is pretty good for a kid like him. Perhaps he sees more ice time than the three minutes he’s averaging (heavily skewed by Sweden’s insistence on considering healthy scratch forwards as having playing 0 minutes per game).

Eetu Tuulola – RW, HPK, SM-Liiga

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	28	8	4	12	5	9	4	15.11
Change from last week	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Hasn’t played since the WJC.

Juuso Valimaki – D, Tri-City Americans, WHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	19	5	15	20	9	14	6	25.10
Change from last week	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Ditto. His final interview after losing in the WJC elimination round is pure emotion. I recommend you check it out. Pretty gutsy stuff:

Tyler Wotherspoon – D, Stockton Heat

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	32	4	16	20	10	12	8	24.09
Change from last week	7	1	3	4	2	2	1	-1.6

Wotherspoon is scoring more often than most Heat forwards (ditto for Kylington and Andersson), begging the question: when does he get a look?

Jon Gillies – G, Stockton Heat

	GP	TOI	SV%	SA
Current	21	1262.1	0.919	654
Change from last week	5	306.09	-0.001	230

Gillies has been steady in recent appearances, which is good for a guy who pretty much owns the starter’s net now. He’s 10th in SV% among qualified AHL goalies, which is also pretty good.

Mason McDonald – G, Kansas City Mavericks

	GP	TOI	SV%	SA
Current	19	1069	0.896	527
Change from last week	8	480	0.011	257

With the goalie shuffle bringing Tyler Parsons to Stockton, you feel McDonald’s fate is sealed. His stats compared to Parsons in the ECHL in about the same sample size clearly demonstrates that one is the better goalie and the other is unfortunately not.

Tyler Parsons – G, Stockton Heat

	GP	TOI	SV%	SA
ECHL Current	19	1034	0.907	567
Change from last week	0	0	0	0

It’s been a whirlwind holiday season for Parsons, who began recovering from a knee injury (for you social media sleuths who noticed that he was in Calgary, that was the reason he was in town: seeing big team doctors) and wound up backing up Jon Gillies in Stockton. Not bad. He hasn’t played yet (perhaps precautionary) but I feel he’ll get a run out soon. I imagine they ease him in, limiting his appearances. I don’t think he usurps Gillies this year, but given where he is during a season where he could still be playing in the OHL, it’s hard to count everything out.

David Rittich – G, Stockton Heat – X

The Eddie Lack trade has more or less signified that the NHL backup net is Rittich’s to lose, so he is the second departure from this list this season. See ya!

Nick Schneider – G, Calgary Hitmen, WHL

	GP	TOI	SV%	SA
Current	36	2071	0.885	1084
Change from last week	7	383	-0.001	230

Schneider has passed the 1,000 shots against benchmark, which is generally a large enough sample to judge a goalie’s SV% (after all, it is calculated on the basis of shots saved per 1,000 shots on net). Schneider’s numbers are not very good, especially given the rest of the WHL field. He’s on a crap team, but these numbers are unfortunately around his career average.

WJC wrap-up and thoughts

Dillon Dube: It’s hard to name anyone else but Dube the Flames’ prospect of the tournament. He didn’t put up a gaudy number of points, but he was just effective all over the ice. His wicked shot got some good looks on the powerplay, and his hockey smarts shined on the PK and 5v5. The kid nearly made the Flames out of camp, and if the roster wasn’t already full of veterans, he would’ve probably at least seen the nine-game cup of coffee. He has a good shot of being here next year.

Adam Fox: Fox, like Dube, just looked a head above. Perhaps it’s the veteran status, but his offensive skills and craftiness just seems a level above. There were some defensive mishaps here and there, but it’s scary to think what he can do.

Linus Lindstrom: He’s certainly earned the Backlund-lite distinction others have given him. He was relied on heavily by the Swedes, even if he isn’t an offensive threat like Elias Pettersson or Lias Andersson. He’s a long-term project, but there’s a lot of promising signs that he could be overseas sooner rather than later.

Adam Ruzicka: I must admit that I was not very impressed with Ruzicka. Of course, being on the worst team of the six probably hurt, but he looked just as overwhelmed as the rest of his teammates. Some of his real ugly flaws were on display, such as the defensive laziness and general tuning out.

Eetu Tuulola: Didn’t really see much of him, but Tuulola looked alright in the few games he played.

Juuso Valimaki: Valimaki was also one of the more impressive Flames. He’s very poised and smooth skating with some pretty good offensive skills, although he wasn’t always on the powerplay for some reason. I really like where he’s going, and there’s an outside chance he pushes for an NHL spot by next year.

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