{"id":545761,"date":"2026-04-07T15:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545761\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:49:11","slug":"calgary-flames-ranked-no-3-in-the-athletics-nhl-prospect-pool-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545761\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary Flames ranked No. 3 in The Athletic\u2019s NHL prospect pool rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rebuild is on in Calgary, and the Flames continue to build up an already impressive prospect pool<\/a>. In Scott Wheeler\u2019s latest NHL prospect pool rankings<\/a>, the Flames climbed all the way up to third this year. The ranking represents a +10 increase from last year when they ranked 13th, and is also their highest ever ranking on Wheeler\u2019s list.<\/p>\n

So, how does the ranking break down, and what does it mean for the Flames\u2019 future? Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n

The top 15 according to Wheeler<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the teams\u2019 top 15 prospects rank according to Wheeler.<\/p>\n

RankPositionPlayerChange from 20251st (Tier 1)RDZayne Parekh02nd (Tier 2)CCole ReschnyNEW3rd (Tier 2)RWMatvei Gridin-14th (Tier 3)CCullen PotterNEW5th (Tier 3)LW\/RWEthan WyttenbachNEW6th (Tier 3)RDHunter Brzustewicz-27th (Tier 3)LW\/CSamuel Honzek-48th (Tier 4)RDHenry Mews-19th (Tier 4)LDAbram WiebeNEW10th (Tier 4)CJonathan CastagnaNEW11th (Tier 5)LWWilliam Str\u00f6mgren012th (Tier 5)LWAydar Suniev-413th (Tier 5)RWTrevor HoskinNEW14th (Tier 5)GArseni Sergeyev-415th (Tier 5)LWAndrew Basha-3<\/p>\n

Breaking down the list<\/p>\n

Some obvious trends stand out right away. Let\u2019s take a look at the biggest risers, fallers, and more.<\/p>\n

A lack of high-end talent<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s no doubt the Flames have put together a strong prospect pool, the group clearly lacks high-end talent. Zayne Parekh is the only blue-chip Tier One prospect in the organization currently. After Parekh, you have a lot of Tier Two good but not great prospects. Parekh is currently the only prospect in the organization who projects as a top-of-the-lineup player.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hoping the 2026 draft lottery helps the Flames change that. Adding a Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg to the top of this list would go a long way.<\/p>\n

A lot of new additions in the past year<\/p>\n

First off, Craig Conroy has added a ton of new talent to the prospect pool in the last year, either through the 2025 draft or through trades. Five of the team\u2019s top 10 prospects are new additions who weren\u2019t in the organization this time last year, including three of the top five, all picked at the 2025 draft.<\/p>\n

Newcomers via trade include the ninth-ranked prospect Abram Wiebe and the tenth-ranked prospect Jonathan Castagna.<\/p>\n

Biggest risers<\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, there aren\u2019t any true risers from last year\u2019s ranking. The Flames didn\u2019t see a single player ranked in 2025 who ranked higher in 2026. The only notable riser is Trevor Hoskin, who was unranked on Wheeler\u2019s 2025 list but moved up to 13th on the 2026 list. The 2024 fourth-round pick has posted back-to-back point per game seasons in the NCAA and should make his AHL debut next year.<\/p>\n

Biggest fallers<\/p>\n

The Flames did, however, have a ton of fallers compared to last year\u2019s list, which isn\u2019t surprising given they picked multiple times in the first two rounds of the 2025 draft. The biggest faller is no doubt Etienne Morin, who went from being ranked fifth on last year\u2019s list to outside the top 15 in 2026. A trip down to the ECHL in your first pro season will do that.<\/p>\n

Another major faller was Sam Honzek, who went from third on last year\u2019s list to seventh this year. Given his low ceiling and injury history, it\u2019s not surprising he isn\u2019t considered one of the team\u2019s top prospects anymore. Aydar Suniev, Andrew Basha, and Arseni Sergeyev all moved down four spots compared to last year as well. All three players struggled in their jump to the AHL this season, which moved them down the list compared to last year.<\/p>\n

Positional breakdown<\/p>\n

How does the team\u2019s pool look by position? Here it is. I\u2019ll use a player\u2019s primary position if they play more than one.<\/p>\n

PositionNumber of Prospects in the top 15LW5RD3C3RW2LD1G1<\/p>\n

The Flames\u2019 biggest needs right now are clearly a high-end LD and a high-end centre. Nothing against the likes of Reschny, Potter or Castagna, but none of those players projects as first-line centres. You need a truly elite top-line centre to win in the NHL, and the Flames don\u2019t have one yet.<\/p>\n

At LD, the team has a massive gap after Kevin Bahl. There aren\u2019t really any notable LDs in the system right now, with Wiebe projected more as a bottom-pairing, fringe NHL player. Adding a top-four LD to the system would give the organization a huge boost.<\/p>\n

The Flames are absolutely loaded on the wings, though, with seven of their top 15 prospects playing on the wing. In other words, it would be best to avoid drafting more left wings at the 2026 draft if possible as the Calgary Flames prospect pool already has enough.<\/p>\n

A good start<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, Craig Conroy has brought the Calgary Flames\u2019 prospect pool from the depths of hell under Brad Treliving to one of the top pools in the league. With that said, there is still a ton of work to be done as the team is still needs a couple more high-end pieces to play with Parekh.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rebuild is on in Calgary, and the Flames continue to build up an already impressive prospect pool.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[895,26,5294,896,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-545761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary-flames","8":"tag-calgary","9":"tag-calgary-flames","10":"tag-calgaryflames","11":"tag-flames","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116364218451559358","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}