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Flames prospect round-up: Andrew Basha moves on to the WHL Eastern Conference Finals
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Photo credit: Medicine Hat Tigers
Ryley Delaney
Apr 22, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 22, 2026, 00:49 EDT
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At least one Calgary Flame prospect is a champion in 2025-26.
This is the Apr. 15-20 edition of the Calgary Flames prospect round-up, where we look at how Flames prospects have done every week. Specifically, we’ll look at players playing overseas, in junior hockey, or at the college level, as the American Hockey League prospects have an article of their own in the Wranglers Recaps. 
In this edition of the Flames prospect round-up, one of the last ones for the 2025-26 season, we’ll look at what happened in Western Hockey League action, as well how Theo Stockselius’ championship aspirations panned out. Let’s dig in!

Western Hockey League

In the last edition, the Saskatoon Blades were down 3-0 in their series against the Prince Albert Raiders. It was the same case for Axel Hurtig and the Calgary Hitmen, as Andrew Basha’s Medicine Hat Tigers were on the cusp of making the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference Finals.
Starting with the Blades, their season came to an end on Wednesday, falling 5-3 to the Raiders. Flame prospect Hunter Laing scored a goal midway through the second period to cut the lead to 4-2, and the Blades got to within one, but ultimately fell short. Laing finished his regular season with 24 goals and 55 points in 62 games, with four goals and nine points in 11 post-season games. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Laing this off-season.
Likewise, Hurtig’s Hitmen were swept by Basha’s Tigers, falling 5-2 in Game 4. Basha picked up an assist on one of the Tigers’ five goals, while Hurtig was held pointless. So far this postseason, Basha has nine goals and 14 points in nine games. 
Hurtig’s junior career has come to an end, finishing the regular season with six goals and 19 points in 64 games. In the Hitmen’s eight playoff games, Hurtig scored a goal and picked up two assists. For his entire junior career in the WHL, Hurtig scored 11 goals and 35 points in 119 regular season games. In his 19 playoff games, Hurtig scored twice with six points.
As noted earlier, Basha will be the lone Flames prospect who’ll play a game this week. His Tigers take on the Raiders in the Eastern Conference Finals, looking to go back to the Memorial Cup.
Game 1 is on Friday, followed by Game 2 on Saturday. Both those games will be in Prince Albert. The series will shift to Medicine Hat for Game 3 on Tuesday. As for the rest of the series, Game 4 is set for Apr. 29, then if needed, Game 5 is on May 1, Game 6 is on May 3, and Game 7 would be on May 5. If the Tigers win, they’ll take on either the Penticton Vees or Landon DuPont and the Everett Silvertips in the WHL finals. 
Elsewhere in the Canadian Hockey League, the Brantford Bulldogs will play the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference Finals. The Western Conference will be contested between the Kitchener Rangers and the Windsor Spitfires. Former Flame prospect Jacob Battaglia saw his Flint Firebirds knocked out by the Spitfires.
In the Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, Étienne Morin’s former team, the Moncton Wildcats take on the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the semifinals. In the other semifinal series, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies take on the Chicoutimi Saguenéens.
Three of these 12 teams will play in the Memorial Cup, which will be hosted by the Kelowna Rockets.

Sweden

In the last edition, Theo Stockselius’ Djurgårdens IF U20 needed one more win over Frölunda HC U20 to win their second consecutive championship. Less than a minute in, Djurgårdens IF U20 jumped out to a 1-0 lead, then made it 2-0 less than two minutes later. Stockselius picked up an assist on the goal to make it 3-0.
Djurgårdens IF U20 scored another early goal in the second, then Stockselius added a second assist on a power play goal seven and a half minutes into the second. Then, he scored a power play goal of his own late in the second period to make it 6-0.
Their seventh goal saw Stockselius pick up his third assist of the game. With just under three minutes left in the game, Frölunda HC U20 cut the lead to six in what was a 7-1 Djurgårdens IF U20 victory to win the championship.
Overall, the Flames’ second-rounder in 2025 scored nine goals and 20 points in 10 games en route to winning the MVP for the playoffs. During the U20 regular season, Stockselius scored four goals and 16 points in 11 games. Additionally, the Swedish centre played 16 regular season games for their senior club, picking up an assist. He was held pointless in their three post-season games.

Russia

The last time we looked at Yan Matveiko, the Flames’ seventh-rounder last year had his series all knotted up at one. His Red Army won 4-2 in Game 1, but lost 6-3 in Game 2.
Game 3 was last Tuesday, with Red Army picking up a 4-3 victory thanks to three first period goals. Matveiko was held pointless in this one. Red Army had two chances to clinch the series, but fell 2-1 on Friday to set up a winner-take-all Game 5. That game didn’t go Red Army’s way either, falling 2-0 in the game and 3-2 in the series.
Matveiko finished his regular season with 15 goals and 37 points in 50 games, but tailing off in the second half of the season. In nine post-season games, the 19-year-old scored a goal and two points, but was a minus-4 and finished with a 44.6% face-off percentage.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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