Back in 2021/22, the Calgary Flames were the best regular season team in the National Hockey League, but since then, the team have slowly trended towards a rebuild, and now under General Manager Craig Conroy, that's the direction things are going. While it's going to look dire in 2026/27, the future is looking brighter by the season under Craig Conroy, and with patience and fantastic scouting, the team have put together back-to-back-to-back deep and impressive NHL Draft classes.
That's led to this prospect pool being ranked as one of, if not the best in the entire league, and by the end of the upcoming season, we should see several potential future stars reaching the NHL in Calgary for the first time.
Calgary Flames U23 Group Ranked 8th in the NHL
In terms of pure prospects (players that haven't yet made the NHL or have played less than 25 games), the Flames have arguably the best group in the NHL led by Carson Carels, Cole Reschny, Ethan Wyttenbach and plenty of other talented young players that have bright futures ahead. However, the team don't have a major star, so in Corey Pronman's latest U23 rankings for the NHL, the team come in at No. 8, and given the stars like Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard and Leo Carlsson, it's no issue that the team fall behind teams like the San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks.
New @TheAthleticNHL:
— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) August 18, 2026
This year’s NHL Pipeline Rankings, ranking each team by their U23 talent pool. All 32 team files are posted today. https://t.co/BOiYSUDa0o
Given the lack of a potential, almost guaranteed superstar, it's actually much more impressive that the Flames rank as high as they do, and that's a testament to the value that Craig Conroy continues to get deep in the draft year after year.
The Athletic Boast Questionable Rankings for the Calgary Flames
That's not the disrespectful part however, as that comes in the Flames ranking specifically, as Pronman shows either very little awareness of the Flames prospect pool, or pure ragebait for fans to read. Either way, these rankings are questionable at best and incredibly offensive at worst, as this is arguably the worst ranking of Flames prospects that we've ever seen.
The first few names start off well, with Pronman ranking Carson Carels, Simon Nemec, Zayne Parekh and Cole Reschny as the Flames top-four (which is very similar to our own U23 rankings that you can read here).
Overall beyond this, the list is horrendous, but there are two major standout issues. Firstly, Pronman has Matvei Gridin, who was an AHL All-Star in just 37 games played last season, and given the tools he showed at the NHL level when he returned, he should be nowhere beyond No. 5, but in this ranking, Pronman has him at No. 10 behind the likes of Tobias Trejbal and Chase Harrington. Sure, both players have potential, but nowhere near as much as Gridin, who has already proved he can contribute at the next level, while neither of the others are guarantees to make it.
The next, and perhaps worst ranking on the entire 32 team list is Ethan Wyttenbach, the player who led college hockey in scoring as an 18-year-old freshman in 2025/26, one that also dominated the recent World Juniors Summer Showcase event for Team USA. Instead of giving him the respect he deserves, for no apparent reason, Pronman has him ranked 17th in the Flames prospect pool behind the likes of Eric Jameison and Max Curran, both of whom have potential, but nowhere near the level of a star like Wyttenbach.
Ultimately, this is just pure ragebait or incredible lack of awareness over what potential players in other prospect pools have, but if this somehow adds fuel to the fire for players like Wyttenbach and Gridin, it may not be a bad thing. For now though, it simply gives Flames fans a bit of fun, ridiculous reading that does not even come close to acurately representing this prospect pool.
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