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It’s almost playoff szn: a Calgary Flames prospect update

Originally posted on Flamesnation | By Ryan Pike | Last updated 3/27/24

Last week, friends, we talked about signing szn when it came to prospects. And hey, the Calgary Flames signed Joni Jurmo shortly afterwards. That’s kind of fun.

This week, let’s talk playoffs!

The NCAA conference tournaments are complete. The NCAA begins their national championship tournament on Thursday. In Canada, major junior playoffs begin this coming weekend.

In terms of the AHL, the Calgary Wranglers are virtually guaranteed a playoff spot. After Tuesday’s loss to Coachella Valley, their magic number to clinch a playoff spot was seven points – earned by them or not earned by Henderson – with nine games left. It’s not a lock, but it’s pretty close. If the Wranglers go .500, they’re in easily.

The fascinating thing, to me, will be to examine how the Wranglers handle their last nine games. They have dates with Coachella Valley (1), San Jose (2), Bakersfield (2) and Abbotsford (4) left on the docket. Aside from the Barracuda, those are seven games against playoff opponents. Can the Wranglers round themselves into playoff form in time for the third week in April? And can they do that while adding some extra bodies from around the Flames system like Parker Bell and Jurmo whose club seasons have ended?

Like I said: it’s going to be fascinating, because the Wranglers have a few different things to juggle all at once.

Let’s dive into this week’s prospect update!

Parker Bell – LW/C, Tri-City Americans, WHL

20; Calgary’s fifth round pick (155th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	59	33	31	64	50	35	31	231	26.86
2022-23	55	25	39	64	51	36	28	187	28.82

Tri-City missed the playoffs and their season is over. All indications are that Bell will soon be joining the Wranglers for the remainder of the season.

Jake Boltmann – D, University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish, NCAA/Big 10

22; Calgary’s third round pick (80th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	30	0	2	2	2	2	2	36	1.82
2022-23 (NCAA)	37	1	4	5	3	5	3	42	3.69

Boltmann’s NCAA season and college career are complete.

Hunter Brzustewicz – D, Kitchener Rangers, OHL

19; Vancouver’s third round pick (75th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft; Acquired in a trade with Vancouver

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	67	13	79	92	46	65	34	140	36.37
2022-23 (OHL)	68	6	51	57	32	31	21	110	22.20

Kitchener has finished their regular season and Brzustewicz had one of the most productive seasons by a blueliner in the OHL and in Kitchener history.

Hats off to Hunter Brzustewicz for matching the all-time #OHLRangers single season record for points by a defenceman! Brew ties Jason Gladney (1993-94) with 92 points this season. He also passed Gladney for the most assists by a Rangers d-man in a single season with 79! pic.twitter.com/myR2z0TBl7

— Kitchener Rangers (@OHLRangers) March 25, 2024

They’re matched up with the Erie Otters in the first round of the playoffs.

Lucas Ciona – LW, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

21; Calgary’s sixth round pick (173rd overall) in the 2021 NHL Draft; 11th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	53	4	2	6	5	6	5	62	4.51
2022-23 (WHL)	63	28	47	75	53	54	37	194	29.48

Ciona played in three of the Wranglers’ four games. He had an assist, but otherwise was quiet.

Matt Coronato – RW, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

21; Calgary’s first round pick (13th overall) in the 2021 NHL Draft; 2nd-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	40	15	27	42	28	27	17	137	41.84
2022-23 (NCAA)	34	20	16	36	31	19	16	141	24.31

Coronato is in the NHL. He’s eligible to return for the AHL’s playoffs.

Riley Damiani – C, Texas Stars/Calgary Wranglers, AHL

23; Dallas’ fifth round pick (137th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft; Acquired in a trade with Dallas

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	62	11	13	24	19	16	13	93	15.43
2022-23 (AHL)	59	13	18	31	24	18	14	87	20.94

Damiani scored his first as a Wrangler against Coachella Valley on Tuesday night. He’s playing primarily in their bottom six.

Damiani notches his first goal with the Wranglers! pic.twitter.com/dd10xS3sey

— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) March 27, 2024

Artem Grushnikov – D, Texas Stars/Calgary Wranglers, AHL

20; Dallas’ second round pick (48th overall) in the 2021 NHL Draft; Acquired in a trade with Dallas

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	56	1	5	6	5	6	5	61	4.27
2022-23 (OHL)	65	8	9	17	10	14	9	116	6.93

Grushnikov registered his first point as a Wrangler, an assist, against Coachella Valey.

Samuel Honzek – LW/C, Vancouver Giants, WHL/Slovakia, WJC

19; Calgary’s first round pick (16th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft; 4th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
WHL season to date	33	10	21	31	22	16	11	86	23.26
WJC season to date	5	3	1	4	3	2	1	10	n/a
2022-23 (WHL)	43	23	33	56	40	36	26	134	32.25

Honzek completed a rather pedestrian regular season offensively with an assist this week. This year’s been a bit of a wash for him, between his abdominal injury and then a jaw injury after the World Juniors that saw him wear a shield for awhile. He can erase the bad taste of this regular season with a good playoffs, though.

The Giants are matched up with Everett in the first round.

Axel Hurtig – D, Rögle BK, J20 Nationell/SHL / Kristianstads IK, HockeyEttan

18; Calgary’s seventh round pick (208th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
J20 season to date	27	3	8	11	7	11	7	54	15.10
SHL season to date	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
HockeyEttan season to date	4	0	1	1	1	1	1	5	n/a
2022-23 (J20)	34	2	6	8	3	7	3	47	3.82

Hurtig’s season is complete, as Rögle was beaten in three games (of their best-of-three playoff series) with Frölunda. Hurtig had zero points and was minus-3 over three games.

Ben Jones – C, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

24; Free agent signing; 12th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	63	20	21	41	32	27	22	182	25.94
2022-23 (AHL)	71	17	37	54	41	28	21	202	30.31

Jones keeps doing his thing. He had a goal and an assist over four games.

Joni Jurmo – D, Ilves Tampere/KooKoo Kuovola, Liiga/CHL

21; Vancouver’s third round pick (82nd overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft; Acquired in a trade with Vancouver

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Liiga season to date	46	1	4	5	3	4	3	63	4.03
CHL season to date	6	0	1	1	1	1	1	8	n/a
2022-23 (Liiga)	52	5	8	13	8	11	6	118	9.27

Jurmo signed his entry-level deal with the Flames. He’s expected to join the Wranglers on an amateur try-out deal shortly.

Rory Kerins – C, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

21; Calgary’s sixth round pick (174th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft; 14th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	46	12	16	28	23	18	14	104	24.26
2022-23 (ECHL)	38	17	20	37	31	25	21	117	22.36

Kerins played zero of the Wranglers’ four games this past week.

Adam Klapka – RW, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

23; Free agent signing; 18th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	57	19	21	40	31	28	20	156	27.97
2022-23 (AHL)	60	13	12	25	18	16	11	103	16.61

Klapka keeps doing his thing. He had four points over four games this past week.

Demetrios Koumonztis – D/RW, Idaho Steelheads, ECHL

23; Calgary’s fourth round pick (108th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	43	8	10	18	10	13	9	77	9.61
2022-23 (NCAA)	37	7	11	18	12	10	7	67	13.28

Koumontzis slid out of the Steelheads’ forward rotation after going cold offensively for a few games.

Yan Kuznetsov – D, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

21; Calgary’s second round pick (50th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft; 17th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	56	5	7	12	9	11	8	82	8.54
2022-23 (AHL)	63	5	14	19	11	19	11	65	12.02

Kuznetsov played twice and was scratched twice.

Jaden Lipinski – C, Vancouver Giants, WHL

19; Calgary’s fourth round pick (112th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft; 16th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	67	24	42	66	47	33	23	181	24.39
2022-23 (WHL)	66	19	32	51	36	35	23	152	19.14

Lipinski finished off a really nice 19-year-old season. He was named a second team divisional all-star.

Introducing the 2023-24 Second Team All-Stars from the B.C. Division!

— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 26, 2024

Cade Littler – C, Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, USHL / Penticton Vees, BCHL

19; Calgary’s seventh round pick (219th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
USHL season to date	13	8	3	11	9	8	6	30	19.43
BCHL season to date	24	9	12	21	17	9	6	–	5.51
2022-23 (BCHL)	51	29	39	68	47	36	27	–	8.75

Littler is out for the rest of the regular season with an injury.

Brady Lyle – D, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

24; Free agent signing

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	46	6	9	15	9	7	3	100	13.00
2022-23 (AHL)	51	7	24	31	16	13	6	124	24.22

Lyle is injured. He last played on Feb. 19.

Etienne Morin – D, Moncton Wildcats, QMJHL

18; Calgary’s second round pick (48th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft; tied for 5th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	58	12	37	49	32	21	13	191	19.67
2022-23 (QMJHL)	67	21	51	72	47	34	21	213	25.03

Morin finished off a fairly disappointing offensive season. But like Honzek, he can erase that with a good post-season. Moncton plays Chicoutimi in the first round.

Sam Morton – C, Minnesota State University Mankato Mavericks, NCAA / Calgary Wranglers, AHL

24; Free agent signing

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
NCAA season to date	37	24	10	34	32	20	19	151	24.00
AHL season to date	5	1	2	3	3	2	2	16	23.91
2022-23 (NCAA)	10	6	2	8	7	3	3	28	21.00

Morton had a couple points over four games this week. He’s settled into a nice spot in-between Ben Jones and Jakob Pelletier on the Wranglers’ top line.

Ilya Nikolaev – C/LW, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

22; Calgary’s third round pick (88th overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	29	3	3	6	6	6	6	33	8.25
2022-23 (ECHL)	40	13	20	33	21	22	15	97	18.94

Nikolaev didn’t play any of the Wranglers’ games this week.

Jakob Pelletier – LW, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

22; Calgary’s first round pick (26th overall); 3rd-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	9	3	4	7	5	3	3	16	31.00
2022-23 (AHL)	35	16	21	37	32	18	14	92	42.13

Pelletier found his mojo a bit offensively, with four points in four games. (Disclaimer: three of the points all came in the same game.)

Jeremie Poirier – D, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

21; Calgary’s third round pick (72nd overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft; tied for 5th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	16	1	11	12	4	5	2	32	29.89
2022-23 (AHL)	69	9	32	41	20	21	13	172	23.68

Poirier went a bit quiet offensively, with just a single power play assist over four games.

Cole Schwindt – C/RW, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

22; Florida’s third round pick (81st overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft; Acquired in a trade with Florida; 9th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	57	14	19	33	25	21	14	114	23.07
2022-23 (AHL)	70	14	18	32	20	16	10	118	18.22

In 13 fewer games, Schwindt has surpassed last season’s point output. He passed 2022-23’s production with a three point week. And if you look at his underlyings: he’s less reliant on power play time for scoring and putting more pucks on net than a year ago. He’s still just 22.

Ilya Solovyov – D, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

23; Calgary’s seventh round pick (205th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft; 8th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	45	5	8	13	9	12	9	77	11.51
2022-23 (AHL)	68	4	14	18	9	16	8	82	10.55

The same week that Poirier went a bit quiet offensively, Solovyov – typically a shutdown type – had a two-goal game and three points overall. Hockey’s weird sometimes.

William Strömgren – LW, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

20; Calgary’s second round pick (45th overall) in the 2021 NHL Draft; 19th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	59	5	15	20	16	13	11	67	13.51
2022-23 (SHL)	45	3	5	8	6	6	5	31	8.69

Strömgren continued his quietly effective back-half of the season with a three point week.

Aydar Suniev – LW/C, University of Massachusetts Minutemen, NCAA/Hockey East

19; Calgary’s third round pick (80th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft; 13th-ranked prospect

	GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	35	12	13	25	19	16	12	100	23.02
2022-23 (BCHL)	50	45	45	90	73	47	40	–	11.81

Suniev and UMass were walloped by Boston College and eliminated from their conference tournament, but qualified for the NCAA national tournament as an at-large team. They’ll face Denver on Thursday in their region’s semi-final round.

Daniil Chechelev – G, HC Vityaz, KHL / Ryazan-VDV, VHL

22; Calgary’s fourth round pick (96th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft

	GP	TOI	SV%
KHL season to date	1	58	.880
VHL season to date	5	271	.908
2022-23 (ECHL)	39	2135	.892

Chechelev’s season is finished.

Arsenii Sergeev – G, University of Connecticut Huskies, NCAA/Hockey East

20; Calgary’s seventh round pick (205th overall) in the 2021 NHL Draft; 15th-ranked prospect

	GP	TOI	SV%
Season to date	16	934	.913
2022-23 (NCAA)	19	1104	.912

Sergeev’s season is finished.

Dustin Wolf – G, Calgary Wranglers, AHL

22; Calgary’s seventh round pick (214th overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft; 1st-ranked prospect

	GP	TOI	SV%
Season to date	35	2025	.923
2022-23 (AHL)	55	3239	.932

With Dan Vladar getting shut down for the season, Wolf will be with the NHL club for the remainder of the regular season. He’s eligible to return for the AHL’s playoffs.