FlamesNation Prospect Update: First star performances

Photo credit:Judy Simpson/Tri City Americans

6 years ago

It’s very early in the hockey season, with the main show not even started yet, but there’s still a decent amount of good news for Flames fans because of the prospects.

Well, I guess there’s not much that can top yesterday, but still good news.

Stockton Heat report

The Heat, now with Jon Gillies and Rasmus Andersson back, pretty much have a full roster now, but they’ve already finished their preseason. A 4-2 win against Bakersfield saw Hunter Shinkaruk and Emile Poirier score (Poirier was the first star for that game, and was apparently sensational). The next game against San Jose, a 2-1 OT loss, saw Tyler Parsons shine, stopping 21 of 21 before Mason McDonald took the net. The two will likely be the duo down in Kansas City this year.

Other notes

D’Artagnan Joly still has not played this season due to injury

Dillon Dube – C/LW, Kelowna Rockets, WHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Dube just got back into action this week with the Rockets, but the most exciting thing that happened was him getting a 10 minute misconduct for a mouthguard infraction. I’ve been there before, and it sucks.

He’ll be in action on Wednesday against Matt Phillips and the Victoria Royals.

Zach Fischer – RW, Medicine Hat Tigets, WHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Fischer also saw his first bit of WHL action this season, having missed the first week with a nagging injury from Flames camp. He had three shots.

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

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
KHL current	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Change from last week	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
VHL current	6	5	6	11	7	11	7	57.13
Change from last week	2	2	2	4	2	4	2	+3.79

Karnaukhov seems to be stuck in the tweener zone in Russia. He’s been an absolute force in the VHL but can’t seem to crack the KHL yet.

Linus Lindstrom – C/LW, Skelleftea AIK, SHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Change from last week	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Linus Lindstrom played two hockey games last week.

Matthew Phillips – C/RW, Victoria Royals, WHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	4	3	7	10	1	6	1	59.45
Change from last week	2	0	4	4	0	2	0	-11.89

Phillips had a slow week, or at least what you could consider a slow week for Phillips. Even in his lowest scoring game this year, a one-assist outing against Kamloops, he fired seven shots on net. He’s been the key force in Victoria’s powerplay, scoring eight points on the man advantage thus far. Victoria’s seen some undisciplined teams this year, having been handed 25 PP opportunities in just four games. Teams should stop taking penalties when Phillips is in the lineup, just some free advice.

Rushan Rafikov – D, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, KHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	16	0	1	1	1	0	0	3.79
Change from last week	3	0	1	1	1	0	0	+3.79

One of the last Feaster-era draft picks, Rafikov has been a solid second pairing player for Lokomotiv this season. He added his first assist this weekend.

Adam Ruzicka – C/LW, Sarnia Sting, OHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	4	2	3	5	2	4	1	30.75
Change from last week	2	2	1	3	1	3	1	-6.15

All of Ruzicka’s scoring this week came from a 6-2 stomping of the Kingston Frontenacs. There’s been a decent amount of hype around Ruzicka early on this season, and it’s easy to see why.

Filip Sveningsson – LW, HV71, Superelit

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
SHL current	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Change from last week	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Superelit current	8	4	4	8	5	6	3	16.4
Change from last week	3	2	1	3	3	2	2	0

There’s not much to get excited about when talking about Sveningsson, but he’s been dynamite for HV71’s U20 team so far this season, and he doesn’t even get premium minutes.

Eetu Tuulola – RW, HPK, SM-Liiga

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

Our cherubic boy has not yet produced for his hometown HPK club, but he is apparently getting people to notice him. At least according to the poorly translated Finnish on Twitter.

Juuso Valimaki – D, Tri City Americans, WHL

	GP	G	A	P	5v5 P	P1	5v5 P1	NHLe
Current	1	1	2	3	2	2	2	71.34

Valimaki came out of the gate storming, scoring a goal, potting two assists, and being named the first star of the game. It’s one game (on pace for over 200 points!), but hard not to get excited when he does things like this.

Also he looks dope in that Tri City throwback uniform.