Penticton Roster Guesswork
By Ryan Pike
8 years agoWe’re into the back-half of August officially now, which means the beginning of training camp and the hockey season are creeping quietly towards us. Considering that the annual YoungStars Classic tournament begins in Penticton, BC on September 11, most likely that means that Calgary Flames rookie camp will commence on September 10.
So who’s going to be suiting up for the Flames at the event?
Here’s my understanding of the eligibility rules: unsigned junior draft picks, unsigned junior free agents and players on entry-level deals who have not yet played 25 NHL games. Based upon those rules and the information we have available to us, here are the players we suspect will be named to the Flames roster in three short weeks.
GOALTENDERS
- Jon Gillies
- Mason McDonald
- Nick Schneider
DEFENSEMEN
- Rasmus Andersson
- Jason Bell
- Riley Bruce
- Ryan Culkin
- Jason Fram
- Keegan Kanzig
- Brett Kulak
- Oliver Kylington
- Kenney Morrison
- Eric Roy
- Patrick Sieloff
- Tyler Wotherspoon
FORWARDS
- Tyson Baillie
- Sam Bennett
- Austin Carroll
- Garnet Hathaway
- Pavel Karnaukhov
- Morgan Klimchuk
- Andrew Mangiapane
- Mason Marchment
- Louick Marcotte
- Emile Poirier
- Julien Proulx
- Tomas Soustal
- Hunter Smith
Defender Jakub Nakladal, like David Wolf last year, isn’t eligible for the tournament due to his age despite being on an entry-level deal. He’s 27 and has played a lot of pro games, so it’s not wholly unexpected.
NOTES
- Reportedly invited to camp on amateur try-outs: Nick Schneider, Jason Bell, Jason Fram, Eric Roy, Tyson Baillie, Mason Marchment, Louick Marcotte, Julien Proulx and Tomas Soustal (link is in Czech).
- If those names sound familiar, it’s because the bulk of them (minus Roy) were at Flames development camp in July, and Roy is a former Flames draft pick. Roy went unsigned and went back into the NHL Draft, but since he wasn’t chosen he’s getting a shot at a deal here.
- Of the try-out bunch, I’d look at Fram and Baillie as contenders to get deals. Fram’s been to a ton of camps and has always looked good, and his numbers at the WHL level have been strong. Similarly, Baillie’s a tad under-sized but he’s been a strong offensive player in the Dub. The remainder of the try-out players seem like bodies to help the team fill out a full roster without burning anybody out too early in camp.
- As you can see, the Flames have a ton of young defenders in their system and are relatively lean on forwards for the tournament. As such, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Flames (a) left a defender or two in Calgary or (b) brought another forward or two in on try-outs so they can rotate bodies in and out over the three games. If there’s a player who’s going to stay behind, it’ll probably be Tyler Wotherspoon, who’s spent the most time on an NHL roster among the various players here.
- As usual, don’t expect to see any of the European pro players (Adam Ollas Mattsson and Rushan Rafikov) or any of the collegiate players, as the pro seasons will have begun in Europe and the NCAA players will have begun their school years at that point. So that means no Mark Jankowski or Brandon Hickey, no matter how much we’d like to see them in action in this event.
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