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Friends, there’s Calgary Flames hockey this weekend as they take part in the Young Stars Classic tournament in scenic Penticton. Sure, it’s not meaningful hockey, but for the first time since April, players wearing Flames jerseys will be playing games against another team. It’s gonna be a blast.
On Wednesday, the Flames announced their 25-player roster which features some of their best and brightest prospects. Heck, eight of the top 10 players from FlamesNation’s annual prospect rankings are headed to the Okanagan.
But how do the Flames’ kids compare to the teams being fielded by Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg? Let’s take a look!

Goaltenders

Flames
Oilers
Canucks
Jets
Waltteri Ignatjew
Connor Murphy
Matt Radomsky
Brett Brochu
Nathaniel Dry
Connor Ungar
Jonathan Lemieux
Nikita Tolopilo
Ty Young
Domenic Divincentiis
Thomas Milic
The goaltending mix in this tournament is kinda weird. The Flames are sending two goalies from the Rapid City Rush and newcomer Waltteri Ignatjew, who’s got a heck of a resume but hasn’t played a single game in North America. And that’s not an outlier; the goaltending group is a mix of AHLers, ECHLers and junior players.
(Ungar played for the Flames during 2021’s prospect camp.)
Edge: Of the goalies listed here, Tolopilo arguably had the best 2023-24 performance, so we’ll give Vancouver the edge.

Defencemen

Flames
Oilers
Canucks
Jets
Hunter Brzustewicz
Artem Grushnikov
Axel Hurtig
Eric Jamieson
Joni Jurmo
Henry Mews
Etienne Morin
Zayne Parekh
Beau Akey
Nate Corbet
Hyde Davidson
Marc Lajoie
Frankie Marrelli
Rhys Pederson
Pier-Olivier Roy
Max Wanner
Parker Alcos
Joe Arntsen
Christian Felton
Akita Hirose
Kirill Kudryavtsev
Sawyer Mynio
Elias Pettersson
Basile Sansonnens
Dylan Anhorn
Dawson Barteaux
Dmitry Kuzmin
Hunter Mayo
Elias Salomonsson
Graham Sward
Ben Zloty
There are a few really interesting blueliners here. Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson, the namesake of the other Elias Pettersson, is coming to North America after playing in Sweden previously. The Jets counter with Elias Salomonsson, who’s also coming over from Sweden. And then there’s the Flames, who have three of the highest-producing blueliners from the OHL last season in Zayne Parekh, Hunter Brzustewicz and Henry Mews.
(Corbet is the son of former Flames forward Rene Corbet.)
Edge: We’re obviously biased here, but the top-to-bottom depth of the eight blueliners the Flames are bringing is quite good.

Forwards

Flames
Oilers
Canucks
Jets
Andrew Basha
Jacob Battaglia
Parker Bell
Lucas Ciona
Matvei Gridin
Samuel Honzek
Trevor Janicke
Hunter Laing
Jaden Lipinski
Luke McNamara
Luke Misa
Sam Morton
David Silye
William Strömgren
Carl Berglund
Brayden Boehm
Connor Clattenberg
Ethan de Jong
Vincent Desjardins
Jayden Grubbe
Jesse Heslop
William Nicholl
Sam O’Reilly
Matvey Petrov
Matthew Savoie
James Stefan
Brady Stonehouse
Dalyn Wakely
Vilmer Alriksson
Arshdeep Bains
Josh Bloom
Ty Glover
Ty Halaburda
Danila Klimovich
Jonathan Letterimaki
Deagan McMillan
Ty Mueller
Riley Patterson
Aatu Raty
Anthony Romani
Max Sasson
Cooper Walker
Colby Barlow
Nikita Chibrikov
Carson Golder
Kevin He
Jacob Julien
Ben King
Brad Lambert
Connor Levis
Mark Liwiski
Markus Loponen
Chaz Lucius
Luke Mistelbacher
Henri Nikkanen
Daniel Torgersson
Kieron Walton
Brayden Yager
Danny Zhilkin
All four teams are bringing at least one forward selected in the first round: Matvei Gridin and Samuel Honzek for Calgary, Matthew Savoie and Sam O’Reilly for Edmonton, Jonathan Letterimaki for Vancouver, and Colby Barlow, Chaz Lucius and Brayden Yager for Winnipeg. The Canucks seemed to go for balance – they’re basically bringing Abbotsford’s forwards – while the Flames are bringing a younger group. The Jets and Oilers brought a mixture of try-out players and a smattering of prospects.
(King played for the Flames during 2021’s prospect camp.)
Edge: It’s either Calgary or Vancouver and we’re not sure. Calgary’s group has upside and could be really good. Vancouver’s group is older and they’re closer to what they’re going to be, but that means they can be expected to be consistent from game to game.

Top 90 picks

Flames
Oilers
Canucks
Jets
Zayne Parekh (9th, 2024)
Samuel Honzek (16th, 2023)
Matvei Gridin (28th, 2024)
Andrew Basha (41st, 2024)
William Strömgren (45th, 2022)
Artem Grushnikov (48th, 2021)
Etienne Morin (48th, 2023)
Jacob Battaglia (63rd, 2024)
Henry Mews (74th, 2024)
Hunter Brzustewicz (75th, 2023)
Joni Jurmo (82nd, 2020)
Matthew Savoie (9th, 2022)
Sam O’Reilly (32nd, 2024)
Beau Akey (56th, 2023)
Jonathan Letterimaki (15th, 2022)
Danila Klimovich (41st, 2021)
Elias Pettersson (80th, 2022)
Sawyer Mynio (89th, 2023)
Brayden Yager (14th, 2023)
Chaz Lucius (18th, 2021)
Colby Barlow (18th, 2023)
Brad Lambert (30th, 2022)
Daniel Torgersson (40th, 2020)
Nikita Chibrikov (50th, 2021)
Elias Salomonsson (55th, 2022)
Danny Zhilkin (77th, 2022)
Dmitry Kuzmin (82nd, 2021)
The Flames have the most players selected in the first 90 picks of the NHL Draft coming to this event. They have 11, followed by Winnipeg’s nine, Vancouver’s four and Edmonton’s three. Heck, the Flames have as many top 90-selected prospects drafted by other teams (Grushnikov, Brzustewicz and Jurmo) than the Oilers have going to this event.
If the Flames are going to have a good showing at this event, their high picks will have to live up to their draft pedigree.
Edge: The Flames, on paper.
Which prospects are you most excited to see at the Young Stars Classic? Let us know in the comments!