With the NHL on pause for the 2026 Winter Olympics, there’s still plenty of non-NHL and non-international hockey to watch, as Flames prospects continue their dominance in the WHL, NCAA, and Russia. Flames draftee Ethan Wyttenbach also continues to lead the NCAA scoring race by eight points.

Let’s take a look at everything happening in the organization for the C-of Red.

The Win Column has defined a prospect as a skater who has played fewer than 65 NHL games and was born in 2001 or later.

Aidan Lane, Forward, Harvard University, NCAA

The Calgary Flames have leaned heavily on the NCAA recently, with selections like Cullen Potter, Ethan Wyttenbach, Trevor Hoskins, and even a current Wrangler like Aydar Suniev all going the college route.

More and more CHL players are also going to college, with Jaden Lipinski, Luke Misa, Eric Jamieson, Henry Mews, Cole Reschny, and Aidan Lane all leaving the Canadian Hockey League early to pursue their education.

Who is Aidan Lane?

Aidan Lane is a 2007-born winger from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The 6’01 winger grew up playing U18 hockey with St. Andrew’s College until a midseason shift in 2024–2025 to the USHL and OHL with the Green Bay Gamblers for two games, and the Brampton Steelheads for 13.

In his short OHL career, the forward was a point per game. This performance and his commitment to Harvard enticed the Flames to draft the Canadian in the 6th round of the 2025 draft. Lane is now in the middle of his freshman season with Harvard, where he largely plays a top-nine checking role.

Lane’s Game and Season so Far

Lane thrives as a puck-supporting power forward, with high-end physicality, smart senses, and good puck skills. This skill set has allotted him an average of 15 shifts and 13:01 TOI per game with Harvard in his first season with the Crimson.

The Ontario product is most noticeable on the forecheck, where he exerts suffocating physical pressure, lateral angles of attack, and consistent play disruption that effectively interrupts opponents’ breakouts.

The 6’01 forward’s skill set exemplifies good physicality. This physicality is articulated through quality muscle mass, grit, and willingness to battle for body positioning. Lane’s hit frequency is second to none, as he always finishes checks and has 1.12 hits per game.

All of these physical elements combine to make Lane an ideal supporting board play asset.

The Canadian winger showcases good hockey sense through constant awareness (scan frequency/play processing), hints of hockey IQ (habits, lane creation, and pressure awareness), and developing instincts. Lane always knows when and how to support plays, which demonstrate quality situational awareness.

The 2025 Flames draftee also showcases good puck skills through crisp passing ability, pass diversity, puck protection mechanics, and well-timed give-and-go playmaking that routinely moves plays forward. Lane’s puck retrievals and down-low support exemplify his puck skills and physicality combo.

Lane’s senses and puck skills are articulated by his 1.64 scoring chances generated per game. However, despite this playmaking aptitude, Lane is still developing a sense of timing and finishing, which explains why the power forward only averages 0:50 of power play time per game.

The winger’s main areas for improvement include his skating and compete level. Skating mechanics are a significant barrier for Lane, who employs limited hip mobility, a wonky stride, and slower stride recovery. These mechanical issues all combine to reduce his acceleration, power, and separation speed.

The Harvard forward is often the last one back in plays. His mobility significantly hampers his transitional play. Additionally, his low-pace mixed with a selective low-intensity game further reduces the overall effectiveness of his power-forward game.

What Flames Fans Should Expect

With Lane entering only his first season with the Harvard Crimson, he is a long-term project, so fans should not expect to see him for four to five years. With his power-forward game, he does have NHL upside. Lane could be a comfortable top-9 forward for the Flames if his skating and compete improve.

Calgary Flames prospect updates

AHL

The Wranglers split a pair of games against the Manitoba Moose this past week. The Wranglers lost 5–1 to the Moose on the 13th, but got some vengeance with a 3–2 SOW the following day.

Calgary now has 46 points on the season with a 17–20–12 record, which is good for 9th in the AHL’s Pacific Division.

William Stromgren continues to put together a solid resume this season. The Swede collected an assist on Calgary’s only goal in their first game.

Head Coach Brett Sutter continues to rely on the veterans, with Justin Kirkland, Martin Fryk, and Dryden Hunt leading the way for the Wranglers.

No roster moves were made for the Wranglers this past week.

ECHL

The Rush had a stellar weekend against the Tahoe Knight Monsters, going 2–0–0. Rapid City collected identical 6–3 wins on both the 13th and 14th.

Rapid City now has 45 points with a 21–22–3 record on the 2025–2026 campaign. The ECHL affiliate sits 6th in the ECHL’s Mountain Division.

The Rush have no Flames-affiliated players on their roster.

The Rush also made no roster moves in the past week.

NCAA

UND played Miami University (Ohio) on the 13th and 14th. Defenceman Abram Wiebe had his 5th multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist in their Valentine’s matchup. 1st-round two-way forward Cole Reschny also had an assist in that game.

Forward Jaden Lipinski played against the University of Connecticut on the 13th and 14th. He logged a near-season low 7:04 TOI in the first game. The WHL Alumnus redeemed himself in the second outing, finding the scoresheet with an assist. The 2023 4th-rounder is still finding his groove.

Luke Misa’s Penn State played the powerhouse University of Michigan on the 13th and 14th. In his second game of the week, Misa had his 3rd multi-point game of 2026 with a goal and an assist. Even more impressive across 28 games, Misa has not taken a single penalty, talk about discipline.

Aiden Lane played Brown University on the 13th and Yale on the 14th. The Harvard forward had a plus-one rating on the weekend and posted an assist against Yale.

The Wyttenbach for Hobey Baker campaign continues as the shifty forward had a pair of two-point games against Princeton University on the 13th and 14th. Wyttenbach’s shooting mechanics are ready for the pros as a freshman with a deceptive release and high-end shot placement.

OHL

Jacob Battaglia kept true to his playmaker title this week, putting up six points across four games, with two of which being multi-point games. The Firebird’s forward enters Wednesday on a four-game-point streak, and excels at opening lanes with smart deception, situational awareness, pressure absorption and delays that he turns into crip passes.

WHL

2023 7th-rounder Axel Hurtig played a pair of games against the Edmonton Oil Kings on the 13th and 14th, and then rounded out the week against Everett on the 16th. In his first game against the Oil Kings, the Swede found the scoresheet with an assist.

Hunter Laing had a busy week, playing four games. The big-bodied forward collected an assist in a 7–6OTL to Regina on the 11th, a goal in a 6–5 SOW against Swift Current on the 13th, and a second goal in a 5–4 SOL against Prince Albert on the 14th. The power forward was then kept off the scoresheet in a 3–2 loss to Brandon on the 16th.

Andrew Basha continues to light up the WHL by extending his point streak from last week to five games. Basha collected an assist in games against Red Deer and Everett, and then had a goal and an assist in his third game of the week (a 10–1 victory in a rematch against Red Deer).

Russia

Krill Zarubin had another stellar week, collecting a win over Dynamo-Kareliya Kondopoga, where he stopped 35/36 on the 10th. Zarubin then collected a 4–2 win over Belye Medvedi Chelyabinsk on a not-so-spooky Friday the 13th, stopping 38 of the 40 shots he faced.

Yegorov played 40 minutes of a 7–2 victory on the 11th against Krasnaya Mashina Yunior Krasnogorsk. The Flames draftee stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced, but has not played since.

Forwards

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMTeamLeagueRory KerinsC/LW461623390.8514Calgary WranglersAHLCullen PotterC/LW241214261.0816Arizona State UniversityNCAACade LittlerC/RW2847110.3926University of North DakotaNCAAHunter LaingC/RW502121420.8431Saskatoon BladesWHLCarter KingC/LW454480.184Calgary WranglersAHLCole ReschnyC/LW26422261.0012University of North DakotaNCAAJaden LipinskiC/RW2537100.4031University of MaineNCAALuke MisaC/LW2858130.460Penn State UniversityNCAATrevor HoskinsRW/C26819271.0410Merrimack CollegeNCAATheo StockseliusC/LW700002Djurgårdens IFSHLYan MatveikoC391419330.8516Krasnaya Armiya MoskvaMHLWilliam StromgrenLW/RW43724310.7232Calgary WranglersAHLMatvei GridinLW/RW361019290.8118Calgary WranglersAHLLucas CionaLW/RW374260.1663Calgary WranglersAHLParker BellLW/RW382240.1130Calgary WranglersAHLAndrew BashaLW/RW18917261.4414Medicine Hat TigersWHLJacob BattagliaLW/RW532317400.7547Flint FirebirdsOHLAydar SunievLW/RW38103130.348Calgary WranglersAHLEthan WyttenbachLW/RW322130511.5914Quinnipiac UniversityNCAAAiden LaneRW/LW2656110.4214Harvard UniversityNCAA

Defence

PlayerGPGAPP/GPPIMTeamLeagueYan Kuznetsov102020.202Calgary WranglersAHLEtienne Morin221230.148Calgary WranglersAHLArtyom Grushnikov430110.0215Calgary WranglersAHLJacob Leander302680.2757HV71U20 NatHunter Brzustewicz2749130.484Calgary WranglersAHLAxel Hurtig50510150.3038Calgary HitmenWHLHenry Mews100990.906University of MichiganNCAAEric Jamieson3369150.4541University of DenverNCAAMace’o Phillips301670.23124Green Bay GamblersUSHLAbram Wiebe30417210.706University of North DakotaNCAAGavin White 282350.188Calgary WranglersAHL

Goaltenders

PlayerGPGAASV%RecordSOTeamLeagueArsenii Sergeev133.23.8972-4-60Calgary WranglersAHLOwen Say193.36.8896-7-51Calgary WranglersAHLYegor Yegorov292.69.92411-13-01MHK Spartak-MAH MoskvaMHLKirill Zarubin372.03.93321-10-03AKM TulaMHLDaniil Chechelev102.42.9173-4-10Olimpiya Kirovo-ChepetskVHL

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