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FN’s 2026 Flames summer prospect rankings – #4 (Tied): Cullen Potter

Photo credit: Sun Devil Athletics

By Ryan Pike

Aug 27, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 27, 2026, 01:34 EDT

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When it comes to the game of hockey, speed kills. There have been oodles of talented players over the years that weren’t able to make the jump to the highest level for various reasons. But the chances of success go way up when talent is joined by speed.

Tied for fourth spot on our annual prospect rundown is 2025 first-round selection Cullen Potter, a player who may not have a big frame, but makes up for it with speed and talent.

Cullen Potter

Forward; shoots left
Born Jan. 10, 2007 (age 19) in Minneapolis, Minnesota
5’10”, 172 pounds
Drafted in the first round (32nd overall) by Calgary in the 2025 NHL Draft

Man, Potter is a downright fascinating young man. A Twin Cities product, he’s the son of Rob, a coach and former collegiate player, and Jenny, a four-time Olympian with a full set of medals. (His older sister, Madison, also played a bit.)

As you might expect, having such high-achieving parents probably contributed to making Potter a pretty driven young man. If you look at his hockey career so far, he tends to move around a lot, chasing a bigger challenge. He played high-level minor hockey in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Texas, and he played in both the Brick Invitational and the Quebec City International Pee Wee tournament.

Potter joined the U.S. National Development Program in 2023, as a 16-year-old, committed to Michigan State University for 2025-26, and spent 2023-24 with the National Under-17 Team. He also represented USA Hockey at the Under-17 World Challenge, earning a silver medal. After his strong season and wanting a bigger challenge, he attempted to move up his commitment to Michigan State rather than spend 2024-25 with the National Under-18 Team. When the Spartans didn’t have a spot for him, he was able to de-commit and move to Arizona State University instead.

As a result, Potter spent his 17-year-old season with the Sun Devils and had 22 points in 35 games… as one of the youngest players in the NCAA. His play improved over the year, and he closed out his season with a bronze medal at the Under-18 World Championships. He was selected 32nd overall by the Flames in the 2025 NHL Draft, with the pick the Flames received from Florida in the Matthew Tkachuk trade.

Potter’s 2025-26 season, his sophomore NCAA campaign, was a bit uneven and ended prematurely due to injury, but he posted 26 points in 24 games overall. A slow start likely cost him a trip to the World Juniors, but when he was good he was really good. He entered the transfer portal following the season and moved onto Michigan State, the school he was originally committed to, for the 2026-27 season.

We reached out to the Arizona State Press’ Alex Swift for his insight into Potter’s season:

2025-26 was an interesting one from him for sure. After his incredible freshman year, expectations were obviously high and his early production started low.
Then, he showed why he was the best on the team. In November/December, ASU’s season peaked after splitting series with high ranked teams like NoDak, Duluth, etc., and a lot of it was because Potter took over and played his best hockey for the Sun Devils.
His injury came at just about the worst time. Heading into the game he got hurt, he had 10 points in his last 6 games and his injury seemed to kill the team for the rest of the season. They went 2-10 after he got hurt after starting 12-11-1 and being a 4-6th place team in the NCHC sitting in the 20s in NPI.
He seemed to be the exact type of player ASU needed as well. He’s obviously an incredible skater and very comfortable with the puck on his stick, but he showed a lot of value in the D-zone, always being active when asu didn’t have the puck. It’s definitely not the most important part of the game, but he also felt like the best 3-on-3 player in the country at times. A few games went into overtime, and it felt like once it went to 3 on 3, he’d take it from his d-zone to the net in the blink of an eye and the game would be over.
He didn’t have the perfect season, it took him a bit to get going obviously, but putting up 26 points in 24 games, finishing as the third highest scorer despite missing the final 12 makes for a pretty good season.

Expectations for 2026-27

Now fully recovered from surgery after his season-ending injury back in January, Potter could have a pretty eventful 2026-27. He’s joining a Michigan State team that is, to be blunt, pretty stacked, and has ambitions to challenge for a national championship. Considering the NCAA recruitment arms race we’ve seen over the past year or so, competition in college puck should be even more intense than it was last season.

Coincidentally, Potter’s new head coach at Michigan State, Adam Nightingale, is coaching USA Hockey’s World Junior team. And while Potter wasn’t on the ice at the Summer Showcase for precautionary reasons, we’re expecting that he’ll be given every opportunity to play his way onto the national junior team over the first several months of the college season.

And whenever Potter’s college season ends, the current expectation – courtesy of Potter himself at development camp – is that he’ll be signing an NHL contract and heading to the professional ranks.

It could be a really exciting, eventful year for one of the most fascinating people in the Flames’ system.

2026 prospect rankings

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