The Calgary Flames may not have a ton of right-handed defencemen in their organization, but it’s all about quality over quantity for them at that position — and that line also applies to Henry Mews’s first season at the University of Michigan.

The 19-year-old rearguard appeared in just 10 games with the Wolverines to start the 2025-26 campaign before sustaining a season-ending ACL injury in early November. But Mews amassed nine points (all assists) and 20 shots in those 10 games, with Michigan winning all but one of them. He didn’t get to play much, but he still made the most of his shortened freshman season.

There are no guarantees about how Mews will recover from such a significant injury, but everything the Ottawa product has demonstrated since being drafted by the Flames suggests he should have a long and successful professional career. He’s been a premier producer with multiple teams at the major junior level and has looked completely at home in his early exposure to the collegiate game.

The Flames already had Hunter Brzustewicz and Zayne Parekh when they snagged Mews with the No. 74 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, but they couldn’t possibly pass up on that kind of value in the middle of the third round, especially considering Calgary’s lack of depth at the position.

Mews, Brzustewicz, and Parekh are all high-level prospects on the right side. But, with all due respect to Jakob Leander and Gavin White, they’re also the Flames’ only RHD prospects of note. Conversely, the Flames have plenty more left-handers in the organization, but none of them projects nearly as well as Mews, let alone Brzustewicz and Parekh.

In the 2023-24 season, Parekh and Brzustewicz were the two highest-scoring defencemen in the entire Ontario Hockey League. In 2024-25, Parekh and Mews finished at No. 1 and 3, respectively. Mews began this final OHL campaign with his familiar Ottawa 67’s, collecting 50 points in 38 games, before being traded to the Sudbury Wolves and adding 32 more points in 30 contests to finish the season.

It was essentially an open secret throughout Mews’s final OHL season that he was destined for the NCAA, and he officially committed to Michigan shortly after Sudbury’s prompt playoff elimination. The Wolverines elected to make Mews their No. 1 power-play quarterback to start the 2025-26 season, and he responded with three assists against Mercyhurst in his first NCAA game; he had another multi-assist outing against Notre Dame on Oct. 31, the day before he sustained his season-ending injury.

As one of the first Canadian major junior prospects to make the move to the NCAA, Mews is no longer governed by the terms of the CHL/NHL player rights agreement, which gives teams only two years to sign prospects before losing their rights. Now that Mews is at Michigan, the Flames will be able to hold onto his rights until he chooses to leave school.

Had Mews chosen to stay in the OHL, the Flames would’ve needed to sign him before June 1 of this year or risk him re-entering the draft. Now, they have much more wiggle room. Assuming that he is back to full health in time for the start of the 2026-27 season, the Flames can give Mews all the time he needs to regain his form, particularly with Brzustewicz and Parekh already occupying NHL spots.

Michigan is one of the strongest programs in all of NCAA Division I hockey, with tons of resources and a robust track record of success. After a lost freshman season, Mews could really stand to benefit from another year or two with the Wolverines. It should make his transition to the pro game, whether it’s with the Flames or the AHL’s Wranglers, all the more seamless.

Remember, Mews is only 19. Under that same CHL/NHL agreement, he wouldn’t have been able to play in the AHL this season. In the NCAA, he’s able to scale up and face tougher competition at an earlier stage in his development. The Flames can afford to be patient, and so can Mews. But it still won’t make it any easier for anybody to wait seven more months for his return to game action.

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