FlamesNation prospect update: December begins

Photo credit:J 1982/Wikimedia commons

3 years ago

It’s finally December and the hockey world remains in a state of flux. The World Juniors are approaching but COVID-19 is causing some leagues on both sides of the Atlantic to pause.

Let’s check in on the Calgary Flames prospects currently playing.

Jake Boltmann- D, Lincoln Stars, USHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Change from last week	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	n/a

Boltmann played once and had zero points (and four penalty minutes) in a 5-4 win over Sioux Falls.

Lucas Feuk- LW, AIK, Allsvenskan/Superelit

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Allsvenskan up to date	6	1	0	1	1	1	1	5.19
Change from last week	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Superelit up to date	8	2	8	10	6	6	3	19.78
Change from last week	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Due to COVID-19 considerations, AIK (and the entire J20 circuit in Sweden) hasn’t played since early November.

Ryan Francis- C, Cape Breton Eagles, QMJHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	15	6	15	21	10	15	8	32.60
Change from last week	1	1	2	3	3	2	2	+2.66

Francis had a big game this week and remains one of his team’s best offensive players.

Johannes Kinnvall- D, HV71, SHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	13	5	9	14	5	7	3	52.63
Change from last week	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	-10.90

This was a quiet week by Kinnvall’s standards. He’s currently third in the SHL among defensemen in points, trailing only Joel Persson and Nolan Zajac. (Kinnvall is at over a point per game, but has played fewer games than the other two.)

Demetrios Koumontzis- LW, Arizona State University Sun Devils, NCAA

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	6	2	0	2	2	2	2	9.10
Change from last week	2	2	0	2	2	2	2	+9.10

Arizona State swept a pair of games against Wisconsin over the weekend – a Sun Devils team that had two goals over their previous four games put up 11 over their two wins. Koumontzis had a pair of goals on Saturday, but was banged up a bit on Sunday. We’ll see if he plays this weekend against Notre Dame.

Yan Kuznetsov- D, University of Connecticut Huskies, NCAA

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	2	0	1	1	1	1	1	16.11
Change from last week	2	0	1	1	1	1	1	+16.11

UConn’s weekend series with Maine was postponed after Maine paused winter sports activities. Kuznetsov’s off to Russia to participate in his country’s World Junior selection camp.

Mitchell Mattson- C, Michigan State University Spartans, NCAA

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	4	2	1	3	3	3	3	20.48
Change from last week	2	1	1	2	2	2	2	+6.83

The Spartans split a pair of weekend games with Ohio State. But the bigger story is Mattson, who doubled his collegiate goal-scoring totals with his second in as many weekends (along with an assist in the other game).

He’s a 22-year-old junior. He could be finding his game after two seasons of being a fringe guy for MSU, or he could just be getting some bounces. Either way, scoring goals sure beats not scoring goals.

Ilya Nikolayev- C, Buran Voronezh, VHL / Loko Yaroslavl, MHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
VHL up to date	17	5	4	9	3	8	3	16.97
Change from last week	2	1	2	3	1	3	1	+4.15
MHL up to date	12	6	7	13	12	12	9	23.10
Change from last week	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

As a teenager in a men’s league, Nikolayev has become a reliable offensive option for Buran this season. He’s more reliant on power play time for offense than is ideal – six of his nine points are with the extra man – but eight primary points overall seems to indicate that he’s doing stuff when he has the puck.

Josh Nodler- C, Michigan State University Spartans, NCAA

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	4	0	2	2	1	2	1	13.65
Change from last week	2	0	1	1	1	1	1	n/a

Nodler had another good weekend, with an assist and going a combined 26-for-37 (70.3%) at the face-off dot. He wasn’t invited to USA Hockey’s World Junior camp, though.

Jakob Pelletier- LW, Val-d’Or Foreurs, QMJHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	9	3	10	13	6	11	6	33.64
Change from last week	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	n/a

Pelletier was away from his club team, but didn’t miss much.

Jeremie Poirier- D, Saint John Sea Dogs, QMJHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	15	5	11	16	11	12	8	24.84
Change from last week	1	0	2	2	2	1	1	+1.55

Poirier had a multi-point game to cap off a November effort that saw him named the Q’s Defenseman of the Month.

Martin Pospisil- C/LW, HC Kosice, Tipsport Liga

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	15	8	4	12	7	11	7	n/a
Change from last week	3	1	2	3	2	3	2	n/a

Pospisil continues to chug along in Slovakia’s top league. He’s third on his team in points and second in goals. All of this week’s offense came in a single 7-3 win.

Ilya Solovyov- D, Dynamo Minsk, KHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
KHL up to date	23	0	3	3	3	1	1	8.58
Change from last week	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	-0.81

Solovoyv had a quiet week offensively and was a healthy scratch on Tuesday.

Head coach Craig Woodcroft had this to say (via Google Translate and Dynamo’s official site):

We think that he did not play very well in the last matches, and therefore he needs to be given time to think about his performance. He spends a lot of time on the ice, benefits the team, but he is probably a little tired, which led to a poor performance. He needs to rest.

Filip Sveningsson- LW, MODO Hockey, Allsvenskan

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	15	2	3	5	5	2	2	10.85
Change from last week	2	0	2	2	2	0	0	+3.34

Sveningsson had secondary assists on the second and sixth MODO goals in a 7-2 win. His offense is sporadic despite playing top six minutes.

Eetu Tuulola- RW, Vasterviks IK, Allsvenskan / SaiPa, SM-Liiga

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Allsvenskan up to date	11	2	2	4	4	3	3	8.88
Change from last week	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
SM-Liiga up to date	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Change from last week	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	n/a

Tuulola played twice and had no points.

Juuso Valimaki- D, Tampereen Ilves, SM-Liiga

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	19	2	17	19	10	14	8	36.98
Change from last week	2	0	2	2	0	1	0	n/a

Point-per-game Juuso Valimaki remains a point per game player in SM-Liiga. He’s sixth in league scoring and leads all defenders in Finland’s best league.

He also absolutely trucked a guy.

Dmitri Zavgorodniy- C/RW, SKA St. Petersburg, KHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Up to date	6	0	3	3	3	2	2	36.98
Change from last week	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	-2.48

With several SKA forwards off to Russia’s World Junior camp, Zavgorodniy played for the first time in weeks. Well, he played for two periods and was on SKA’s fourth line, but it’s a start after sitting for three weeks.

SKA’s arena has been closed due to COVID-19 issues, so it’s unclear how that’ll impact their schedule for the time being.