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A pair of Flames prospects will play in new places, and another in their usual spot, in the 2026-27 season
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Photo credit: Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff
Ryan Pike
Jul 1, 2026, 16:41 EDT
Over the last little while, we’ve seen some moves involving Calgary Flames prospects potentially playing in new places for the 2026-27 season. On Wednesday morning at Winsport for the club’s development camp, the assembled media had a chance to catch up with Flames director of player development.
So we asked Edwards about the 2026-27 homes for 2025 seventh-rounder Jakob Leander, 2025 third-rounder Mace’o Phillips and 2025 second-rounder Theo Stockselius.
Leander was selected by the Calgary Hitmen in the CHL’s Import Draft on Tuesday. Our pal Pat Steinberg reported that he was joining the Hitmen for next season, and Edwards noted that’s the case.
Yeah, we had a big hug last night. So Cass [Bruni, Hitmen general manager] and his crew came up here and met with Jacob after the draft. That’s been something that’s been in the work for a while. We tried to keep it quiet because they wanted him, Jacob wanted to go there, obviously, with Mike [Stone] and Brent [Seabrook] here in town and Danielle [Fujita] in town and our relationship with the Hitmen. We love those guys, and they do a great job. If you look at Axel Hurtig, we think that Jacob’s plan could be really similar to his, and that was sort of the mindset. So we were really excited yesterday, and it was great to be able to get that done.
Also on Tuesday, the Medicine Hat Tigers acquired Phillips from the Portland Winterhawks. After Steinberg and the Medicine Hat News’ James Tubb reported that Phillips would be a Tiger in 2026-27, Edwards confirmed that’s the case, too.
Yeah, another good development for us. And again, everything happens differently for everybody. In this case, Mace had committed to go to Minnesota, and there was a coaching change there. And any time that happens, things change. And I give Mace’o a lot of credit and his family a lot of credit. They pivoted really well. And Willie [Desjardins] and his staff, they fought hard to get his rights from Portland and did a great job selling Mace’o on what they do at Medicine Hat. And obviously with us having Bash [Andrew Basha] there, we’re real comfortable with Willie and his group there. So we’re excited about Mace being three hours down the road.
Finally, Stockselius signed his entry-level contract with the Flames back in May. It was strongly suggested to us by a few smart people that the Flames could be loaning Stockselius back to his club team, Djurgardens of the Swedish Hockey League, for his 19-year-old season, his contract’s slide year, as the San Jose Sharks had done the prior season with Leo Sahlin Wallenius. Turns out that’s happening, too.
Yes, so he’ll be in Djurgardens next year.
The Flames will have five players in the Western League in 2026-27: Chase Harrington in Spokane, Joe Iginla in Vancouver, Phillips in Medicine Hat, Leander in Calgary and Bode Laylin in Everett. Simon Katolicky in Sarnia projects as their lone Ontario junior prospect.

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