The Calgary Flames are officially beginning their on-ice preparations for the 2025-26 season on Thursday at Winsport.
After a long summer, the Flames kicked off their prospects training camp on Wednesday with fitness testing and medicals before getting fully underway. Here’s everything you need to know before this weekend’s action kicks off.
What is the Prospects Camp?
Before the Flames get their full training camp started next week, they’re bringing in 24 young players (three goalies, eight defencemen and 13 forwards) for a tune-up camp to get them up to speed. Most of the Flames’ draft picks from the past couple years will be in attendance and the team will play two games against the Oilers’ prospects.
The first tilt is on Friday in Edmonton (7 p.m.) and the second will be back in Calgary at the Saddledome on Sunday (4 p.m.), but camp gets started with an on-ice session on Thursday at Winsport (11 a.m.). Both games will be live-streamed on the Flames’ website.
How is this different from past years?
For years, the NHL’s Western Canadian teams all assembled with their top prospects at the start of training camp in the Okanagan for the Young Stars Classic. The Penticton, B.C., showcase was cancelled this year, though, leaving teams like the Flames to figure out alternate arrangements.
That led to this week’s setup, with the two games against the Oilers and a couple of practices. Given that the idea is to give the young players a bit of a head-start before they’re competing with NHL veterans at training camp, there’s not that much that’s being lost with the new arrangement.
Who will be skating at the camp?
While there are a few faces who won’t be on the ice for the prospects camp or the two games against the Oilers, the majority of the Flames’ top prospects will be there.
That includes 2023 first-round pick Sam Honzek, who had an outstanding training camp last summer, 2024 second-rounder Andrew Basha, 2025 third-round pick Mace’o Phillips and a number of players like Aydar Suniev and Hunter Brzustewicz, who will be pushing for playing time with the Flames this year.
For anyone looking to get a glimpse at what the Flames’ future holds, many of the guys who are expected to carry the franchise forward over the next decade will be at the prospects camp.
Who is missing?
There are a few notable names from the Flames prospect pool who won’t be attending camp and it’s mostly because they’ve decided to play NCAA college hockey in the U.S. this season. Drafted players who go that route don’t attend NHL training camps, while CHL players typically do.
That means we won’t be seeing 2025 first-round picks Cole Reschny, who will be playing at the University of North Dakota this season, or Cullen Potter, who attends the Arizona State.
Others who won’t be in attendance because of their NCAA commitments include 2025 picks Ethan Wyttenbach (Quinnipiac) and Aidan Lane (Harvard), as well as Henry Mews (Michigan), Trevor Hoskin (Merrimack College), Luke Misa (Penn State) and Eric Jamieson (Denver), all of whom were 2024 picks.
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Several European based prospects, including 2025 second-round pick Theo Stockselius and seventh-rounder Jakob Leander, also will not be in attendance.
What About Zayne Parekh?
The most exciting prospect the Flames have in their system is Parekh, who they selected with the ninth-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. He then went on to put up insane numbers with the Saginaw Spirit in the OHL last season, leading all CHL defencemen with 107 points.
He won’t be skating at Winsport on Thursday or in either of the Flames youngsters’ games against the Oilers because of a lower-body injury he has been dealing with this summer.
Flames GM Craig Conroy told Sportsnet 960 on Tuesday that Parekh would be held out for precautionary reasons but the team is hopeful he can be on the ice when main camp starts next week.
It’s a big season for Parekh, who won’t be returning to the OHL and is too young to play in the AHL. He needs a good camp to earn his spot on the Flames’ NHL roster, so the sooner he can get back, the better.