The Calgary Flames’ prospect pool has gotten deep enough that even good young players can end up on the outside of the top 20. In FlamesNation’s 2026 summer prospect rankings, 38 players were eligible for consideration, and three more names landed in the honorable mention group: Luke Misa, Yan Matveiko and Jakob Leander.
Luke Misa is the kind of forward who keeps nudging his way forward. Born Nov. 25, 2005, in Oakville, Ontario, the left-shot centre was drafted in the fifth round, 150th overall, by Calgary in the 2024 NHL Draft.
At 5-foot-10 and 176 pounds, he’s a bit undersized, but he’s been productive enough to stay interesting. After four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Mississauga/Brampton Steelheads, he moved on to Penn State to keep developing his game.
His first NCAA season looked a lot like a standard freshman year. Misa mostly skated in the middle six, often on the third line, and spent the opening stretch adjusting to the college pace.
Things picked up for him in the second half. He finished with 19 points, which was good for eighth on a deep Penn State team.
As a sophomore in 2026-27, he should have a chance to earn more ice time, especially with some departures from last year’s roster.
Yan Matveiko followed a different path, but the Flames liked the growth they saw enough to take him in the seventh round, 211th overall, in the 2025 NHL Draft. The left-shot forward, born Aug. 13, 2006, in Moskva, Russia, stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 150 pounds. Calgary waited until his second year of eligibility after he showed progress and added some size following his 2024 pass-over.
Matveiko has held his own as a centre in Russia’s top junior league, even if he hasn’t been a star. On a deep junior club, he finished fourth on the team in scoring and worked mostly on the second line, with responsibilities in all game situations.
His road to the KHL may be a little steeper because he hasn’t been a dominant junior player, though he did get into one game for Zvezda Moskva, the Red Army’s second-tier pro team. He has since signed a contract extension, which should give him more chances to keep building over the next couple seasons.
Jakob Leander brings the kind of frame teams dream on. Born Feb. 3, 2007, in Jönköping, Sweden, the right-shot defenceman was picked in the seventh round, 208th overall, in the 2025 NHL Draft.
He’s listed at 6-foot-4 and 214 pounds, and his game is built around size and a willingness to use it defensively. The comparison that comes up here is Axel Hurtig, another late Flames pick who has moved along nicely, though Leander is described as a less polished version of that player.
Leander spent last season with an HV71 junior team that struggled, so his offensive numbers never really popped and he didn’t get a crack at pro hockey. That changes in 2026-27, when he’s set to join the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen and take the import spot that opened up when Hurtig moved on to the pro ranks. Hurtig arrived with a stronger resume because of national team opportunities, but Leander has a similar profile, and now the question is whether he can follow a comparable development path in Calgary.
In Other News...
Sean Monahan Trade Looks Different For Flames Than Fans First Thought
When Sean Monahan left Calgary for Montreal, the move was widely framed as a straightforward salary-cap decision, a way for the Flames to get out from under an injured players contract and reset part of their books. At the time, it seemed like a deal that said as much about the Flames roster pressures as it did about Monahans future, especially after the injuries had altered the way his career was being viewed.
What has unfolded since has made that transaction look far less simple than fans first assumed. Montreal came to see Monahan as a useful asset, and his value kept showing up in ways that reached beyond that first trade, with his name surfacing in later moves as teams around the league tried to manage him as part of a broader asset cycle. For Calgary, it is a reminder that even trades made for financial relief can end up looking different once a player keeps finding ways to contribute elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Fans Still Have Reason To Debate The Tyler Toffoli Trade
Nearly four years after the deal, the Tyler Toffoli trade still gives Flames fans plenty to chew on. Montreal sent the winger to Calgary on Feb. 14, 2022, and the return was a mix of immediate depth and future value in Tyler Pitlick, Emil Heineman, a first-round pick and a fifth-round pick. For Calgary, Toffoli brought the kind of reliable offense the club was looking for right away, and he kept producing after his time in red and white ended.
The reason the debate lingers is simple: the Canadiens were playing the long game, turning the package into rebuilding capital that helped them keep building out the roster and maneuver for other moves. Heineman and the draft picks became part of that larger asset pile, while Calgary had to decide whether the scoring it got in the moment was worth what it gave up. Even now, the trade sits right in the middle of the classic deadline dilemma: win now, or keep collecting pieces for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]