Folks, it&#8217;s not a secret that the Calgary Flames have entered a new phase of their club&#8217;s development this past year. Whether you want to call it a retool, a rebuild, a strategic retreat or whatever, they&#8217;re aiming to freshen up their roster and begin a bit of a youth movement.
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If they&#8217;re going to succeed, they&#8217;re going to need to build up their prospect base. Over at Daily Faceoff, our pal Steven Ellis has spent August reviewing the prospect depth for all 32 NHL clubs, culminating his process by ranking the clubs in order of strength. After placing 17th on his rankings last year – basically right in the middle of the league – the Flames have crept up into the top half, <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/ranking-every-nhl-teams-2024-25-prospect-pool-from-1-32">landing at 15th in Ellis&#8217; 2024 rankings</a>.
Here&#8217;s how Ellis describes what differentiates different prospect bases via relative strength:
<blockquote>
But what makes a strong prospect pool? High-end talent, for sure. Typically, only the bottom-feeders in the NHL standings excel there. Depth is huge, too. You need more than just one or two guys carrying the pipeline if you’re going to build a successful future. Only a handful of teams can feel good about what they’ve got at every position, so it’s a testament to your drafting abilities when you land at least one key forward, defenseman, and goaltender.
</blockquote>
Here&#8217;s his rundown of the Flames&#8217; prospect base:
<blockquote>
Fresh off one of the best drafts of any team in Vegas last month, the Calgary Flames suddenly have one of the more intriguing prospect pools in the game. Zayne Parekh, Matvei Gridin, Andrew Basha, Jacob Battaglia, Henry Mews and Kirill Zarubin are all picks I’m excited about, and I thought Luke Misa as a fifth-rounder was a nice snag, too. The additions of Hunter Brzustewicz and Artyem Grushnikov via mid-season trades helped spice up the blueline in a big way. This year, Matt Coronato should challenge for a spot again, while Dustin Wolf has a realistic chance at being the team’s No. 1 goaltender before too long. The Flames are still outsiders looking to bulk up for another push at the playoffs, but they’ve got some young players who might not be far away from making an impact – and that’s exciting.
</blockquote>
While we&#8217;ve been doing our month-long countdown at FlamesNation, <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2024-25-nhl-prospect-pool-breakdown-calgary-flames-top-10">Ellis did his own top 10 ranking of Flames prospects as part of his league-wide coverage</a>. His top 10 featured Zayne Parekh [1], Dustin Wolf [2], Matt Coronato [3], Hunter Brzustewicz [4], Samuel Honzek [5], Jakob Pelletier [6], Etienne Morin [7], Andrew Basha [8], Jeremie Poirier [9] and Henry Mews [10]. It&#8217;s worth noting that Ellis&#8217; definition of prospect is slightly different than what we used for our rankings, so Coronato and Pelletier weren&#8217;t part of our rundown. Four players made Ellis&#8217; top 10 ranking that weren&#8217;t part of the Flames&#8217; organization a year ago: Parekh, Brzustewicz, Basha and Mews.
Fervent Flames fans will be excited to note how well the Flames placed on Ellis&#8217; list relative to the other six Canadian clubs. Yeah, Montreal (2nd) was a fair bit ahead of them, but the Flames were ahead of Winnipeg (17th), Vancouver (20th), Toronto (23rd), Edmonton (29th) and Ottawa (30th). For a club trying to get traction as they try to build towards being a contender, starting off with a prospect base better than their Canadian contemporaries is a good start.
Make sure to keep your eyes on Daily Faceoff&#8217; throughout the season as Ellis unveils his continuing coverage of the 2025 NHL Draft class!

Folks, it's not a secret that the Calgary Flames have entered a new phase of their club's development this past year. Whether you want to call it a retool, a rebuild, a strategic retreat or whatever, they're aiming to freshen up their roster and begin a bit of a youth movement.
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If they're going to succeed, they're going to need to build up their prospect base. Over at Daily Faceoff, our pal Steven Ellis has spent August reviewing the prospect depth for all 32 NHL clubs, culminating his process by ranking the clubs in order of strength. After placing 17th on his rankings last year – basically right in the middle of the league – the Flames have crept up into the top half, <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/ranking-every-nhl-teams-2024-25-prospect-pool-from-1-32">landing at 15th in Ellis' 2024 rankings</a>.

Here's how Ellis describes what differentiates different prospect bases via relative strength:
<blockquote>
But what makes a strong prospect pool? High-end talent, for sure. Typically, only the bottom-feeders in the NHL standings excel there. Depth is huge, too. You need more than just one or two guys carrying the pipeline if you’re going to build a successful future. Only a handful of teams can feel good about what they’ve got at every position, so it’s a testament to your drafting abilities when you land at least one key forward, defenseman, and goaltender.
</blockquote>
Here's his rundown of the Flames' prospect base:
<blockquote>
Fresh off one of the best drafts of any team in Vegas last month, the Calgary Flames suddenly have one of the more intriguing prospect pools in the game. Zayne Parekh, Matvei Gridin, Andrew Basha, Jacob Battaglia, Henry Mews and Kirill Zarubin are all picks I’m excited about, and I thought Luke Misa as a fifth-rounder was a nice snag, too. The additions of Hunter Brzustewicz and Artyem Grushnikov via mid-season trades helped spice up the blueline in a big way. This year, Matt Coronato should challenge for a spot again, while Dustin Wolf has a realistic chance at being the team’s No. 1 goaltender before too long. The Flames are still outsiders looking to bulk up for another push at the playoffs, but they’ve got some young players who might not be far away from making an impact – and that’s exciting.
</blockquote>
While we've been doing our month-long countdown at FlamesNation, <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2024-25-nhl-prospect-pool-breakdown-calgary-flames-top-10">Ellis did his own top 10 ranking of Flames prospects as part of his league-wide coverage</a>. His top 10 featured Zayne Parekh [1], Dustin Wolf [2], Matt Coronato [3], Hunter Brzustewicz [4], Samuel Honzek [5], Jakob Pelletier [6], Etienne Morin [7], Andrew Basha [8], Jeremie Poirier [9] and Henry Mews [10]. It's worth noting that Ellis' definition of prospect is slightly different than what we used for our rankings, so Coronato and Pelletier weren't part of our rundown. Four players made Ellis' top 10 ranking that weren't part of the Flames' organization a year ago: Parekh, Brzustewicz, Basha and Mews.

Fervent Flames fans will be excited to note how well the Flames placed on Ellis' list relative to the other six Canadian clubs. Yeah, Montreal (2nd) was a fair bit ahead of them, but the Flames were ahead of Winnipeg (17th), Vancouver (20th), Toronto (23rd), Edmonton (29th) and Ottawa (30th). For a club trying to get traction as they try to build towards being a contender, starting off with a prospect base better than their Canadian contemporaries is a good start.

Make sure to keep your eyes on Daily Faceoff' throughout the season as Ellis unveils his continuing coverage of the 2025 NHL Draft class!

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