When FlamesNation head honcho Ryan Pike published the full list of 10 players who did not receive any top-20 votes for this year’s edition of our prospect rankings, those of you in the comments section expressed a fair amount of concern.

Some of you felt — quite understandably, I might add — that some of those players merited full articles of their own. Guys like Lucas Ciona, Trevor Hoskin, and Joni Jurmo, among others, have enough intrigue as prospects that they probably could’ve cracked our main list three or four years ago. That this is now the case is a testament to the depth Craig Conroy has added to this system.

While it would go a little beyond our collective capabilities to write detailed articles on each of the 16 players who didn’t qualify for our prospect rankings, I nevertheless bring good news. About a week ago, we here at FlamesNation made the editorial decision to devote full articles to each of the six players who just barely missed the cut — the ones who received votes from our panel of writers, but did not appear on enough ballots to crack the top 20.

Not only does this give you, our readers, more to chew on in the dog days of August, but it also serves to shine more of a spotlight on a half-dozen players who absolutely have the potential to become quality professionals. With that having been said, let’s kick things off with our first honourable mention, who earned but a single No. 20 vote from our panel.

In the years since the Flames drafted Sergeev with their final pick in 2021, the Russian goaltender has seen his standing in the organization shift somewhat.

The one constant ahead of him on the depth chart has been Dustin Wolf, who has held the mantle as the club’s top young goaltender practically ever since he joined the organization in 2019. Dan Vladar also remains with the Flames, although it’s entirely possible this will be his final year in Calgary.

Beyond that, practically everything has changed. Longtime starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom has bade Calgary farewell as he prepares to join the New Jersey Devils this coming season. We’ve likely seen the end (at least in North America) of Daniil Chechelev, who preceded Sergeev in the organization by one year. And over the last two drafts, the Flames have added two more Russian goalie prospects who have stolen a bit of Sergeev’s thunder.

At least on the surface, Sergeev’s own results over the last two seasons have been perfectly solid. He certainly isn’t the biggest goalie around, but over his freshman and sophomore years at UConn, Sergeev managed a 19-14-1 record with one shutout and a .913 save percentage. There’s nothing wrong with any of that — and at times, he dropped jaws around the NCAA with saves like this:

But … after making the majority of the starts for the Huskies in the 2022-23 season, Sergeev started to lose his crease to Clarkson University transfer and Nashville Predators prospect Ethan Haider around Veterans’ Day last year and only took it back around the middle of February. He fared well against a few strong opponents, including UMass and Northeastern, but struggled against Boston College, Boston University, and Providence, allowing five or more goals per game against those three top teams.

Sergeev is still young. He’s also about to embark upon a new opportunity at Penn State University, whose hockey program represents a bit of a step down from the one at UConn — but it could afford him a bit more playing time as the only NHL-affiliated player currently on the roster. There’s a very strong chance Sergeev finally bears the workload of a true No. 1 collegiate goaltender this coming season.

Outgoing Nittany Lions starter Liam Soulière managed an .874 save percentage in 28 games last year without a single NHL defence prospect in front of him. Even though 6’11” viral sensation Alexander Carmanov won’t be ready for NCAA hockey for another few years, Penn State’s roster will still look a bit different this year. If Sergeev can stay in the .910 range next year while playing even more games behind a demonstrably weaker defensive group, he might be able to force his way back onto the main list.