There could be one or two, maybe even three or four, future Calgary Flames on the ice Tuesday night at the Saddledome.
You’ll just have to wait until June to find out who they are.
The CHL USA Prospects Challenge features many of the top talents eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft.
This two-game showcase series, which continues Wednesday in Lethbridge, will pit an all-star squad of potential picks from Canada’s major-junior loops — the OHL, QMJHL and WHL — against the USA Hockey National Team Development Programs U-18s.
Every NHL organization will send its most trusted talent evaluators. On the annual star search, this would be considered one of the can’t-miss events.
“I’m going to say 32 teams x 8 — that’s how many scouts you will probably see,” said Flames director of amateur scouting Tod Button.
Calgary’s contingent will include general manager Craig Conroy, Button and his deputies Fred Parker and Rob Sumner, plus several of their regional scouts.
J.P. Hurlbert, left, has scorched to the WHL’s scoring lead with 18 goals and 44 points in 25 games this fall with the Kamloops Blazers.
That doesn’t include, of course, the thousands of fans who will be in attendance for this glimpse into the future, keen to develop an opinion of their own on which kids could help to fast-track the rebuild.
With the Flames floundering near the bottom of the standings, the focus on the upcoming NHL Draft is as sharp as ever.
“It sucks when you look and you’re at the bottom of the standings. No matter what the future might hold, it sucks,” Button told Postmedia this past week, before the Flames’ current three-game win streak. “That aside, it doesn’t impact our job. Our job is to evaluate the players, put the list together and get ’em in the right spot. I’ve said that when we were picking 15th or when we were picking 28th, that our list has to be in order and our evaluations have to be on.”
It’s worth noting that the projected top three selections in the 2026 NHL Draft — Gavin McKenna, Keaton Verhoeff and Ivar Stenberg — are not participating in the CHL USA Prospects Challenge.
McKenna and Verhoeff are standout freshmen in the NCAA, while Stenberg is setting a torrid pace in the Swedish Hockey League.
This is still a prime opportunity to see a bunch of could-be lottery picks and even though the C of Red is locked in on ‘Mission McKenna,’ it’s up to Button and his scouting staff to be prepared for any outcome or draft order. They’re paid to track everybody, to file hundreds and hundreds of reports through the winter, not just to watch and then rewatch highlights of a few faves.
Keep in mind that Conroy has already acquired another first-rounder — prying that away from the Vegas Golden Knights when Noah Hanifin was shipped out — and will angle for more in any upcoming trade talks.
So who might catch their attention during Tuesday’s show-off at the Saddledome?
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Windsor Spitfires power forward Ethan Belchetz — with soft hands and a 6-foot-5 frame, he’s trying to model his game after Brady Tkachuk — has been listed as high as fourth on some early-season rankings. Ryan Roobroeck of the Niagara IceDogs is another physical specimen who comes highly touted.
Texas-raised J.P. Hurlbert is rapidly rising as he tears it up with the Kamloops Blazers. The speedy right-winger leads the WHL with 18 goals and 44 points in 25 outings. (As Hurlbert practised Monday at WinSport, he was named player of the week in ‘The Dub’ for the second time this season.)
There are also a couple of notable names with big-league bloodlines — Team CHL captain Caleb Malhotra of the Brantford Bulldogs and Team USA leading scorer Victor Plante.
Cole Reschny celebrates his goal in the 2024 CHL USA Prospects Challenge. Reschny was selected by the Calgary Flames in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft.
If you check the CHL roster from a year ago, you can count up the first-rounders — 16 of 32, or precisely half. Some kid named Cole Reschny notched the winning goal in the second game. He was nabbed by the Flames at No. 18 overall this past June.
According to Button, this short series can provide a valuable window into how the up-and-comers will react to the stress of playing out of position or without their usual linemates or defence partners.
“I don’t look at a game like this as a pass-fail,” Button stressed. “I look at it as another evaluation — ‘OK, this guy is pretty good at that, but can he continue to do that in this format? Or is our evaluation a little off and he has to improve on that?’ If you’re a goal-scorer, are you getting yourself open and moving around and getting chances to score? If you’re a playmaker, are you making plays? If you’re a physical player, be physical.
“But I always tell people, it’s two games in a full-season window. It’s good to see it. It’s good to get all the guys in a competitive format and watch ’em play. But it’s just two more data points. You can’t get caught up in two games — ‘Oh, he’s a good player if he plays good. He’s a bad player if he doesn’t.’ That’s where perspective comes in. That’s why I say, yeah, it’s a really good evaluation tool. But it’s just a piece of the evaluation, not the whole thing.”
The CHL USA Prospects Challenge will also be broadcast on TSN. On both Tuesday and Wednesday, puck drop is set for 6 p.m. MT.