The Calgary Flames may not have a can’t-miss superstar sitting at the top of their U23 group, but their young talent is still getting plenty of respect in the big picture. In Corey Pronman’s latest NHL U23 rankings for The Athletic, Calgary checks in at No. 8, a spot that lands behind teams built around names like Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard and Leo Carlsson.
That overall placement lines up with the way the Flames have quietly built this thing. Since their 2021/22 run as the NHL’s best regular season team, the organization has shifted toward a rebuild under general manager Craig Conroy.
The results are starting to show. With patience and strong scouting, Calgary has stacked back-to-back-to-back draft classes that have given the franchise one of the league’s strongest prospect pools.
Among pure prospects - players who have not yet made the NHL or have played fewer than 25 games - the Flames might actually have the best group in hockey. Carson Carels, Cole Reschny, Ethan Wyttenbach and others give the system real depth and real upside. That lack of a true franchise headliner is the main reason Calgary lands where it does in Pronman’s U23 rankings, but even at No. 8, the organization is being acknowledged as one of the league’s best at collecting young talent.
The real debate starts when you dig into the individual Flames rankings.
Pronman’s top four for Calgary includes Carson Carels, Simon Nemec, Zayne Parekh and Cole Reschny. After that, though, the list gets messy fast.
The biggest eyebrow-raiser is Matvei Gridin, who was an AHL All-Star in just 37 games last season. Given what he showed at the NHL level when he returned, Gridin feels like a player who should sit no lower than fifth in the organization’s prospect order.
Instead, Pronman has him 10th, behind Tobias Trejbal and Chase Harrington.
Then there’s Ethan Wyttenbach, who may be the most glaring miss on the entire list. Wyttenbach led college hockey in scoring as an 18-year-old freshman in 2025/26 and also stood out at the recent World Juniors Summer Showcase for Team USA. Rather than placing him near the top of the Flames pool, Pronman slots him 17th, behind Eric Jameison and Max Curran.
For Flames fans, that makes this one a tough read. Calgary’s overall U23 standing is strong, but the player-by-player order looks wildly off in spots, especially when it comes to Gridin and Wyttenbach. If nothing else, it gives the fan base a little extra motivation to keep watching how this young group develops.
In Other News...
Flames Prospect Respect Is Growing But The Rebuild Debate Isn't Over
The Flames rebuild got a little more respect this week when Corey Pronman of The Athletic slotted Calgarys prospect pipeline eighth leaguewide among players under 23. The biggest reason for that jump is the blue-line talent starting to pile up, with young defensemen such as Carson Carels, Zayne Parekh and Simon Nemec giving the organization a deeper and more intriguing foundation than it had a year ago, when Calgary was sitting much lower in the same exercise.
Pronman went deep enough to rank the top 18 prospects in the system, but the list still left room for debate, which is part of the point for a team trying to prove its rebuild is on the right track. Some familiar names landed lower than many Flames fans would expect, while others were left out entirely, and that is where the conversation gets interesting: the talent is there, but the exact shape of Calgarys future remains open to argument. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Fans Still Remember This Wild Saddledome Playoff Comeback
Some playoff moments linger in Calgary long after the final horn, and the 2008 first-round series against San Jose is one of them. The Flames had the Saddledome buzzing with a comeback win at home in that matchup, the kind of night that reminded everyone how quickly a series can swing when the building gets behind its team.
The Sharks still pushed the series all the way to Game 7 and finished it there to move on to the second round, but the memory of that comeback has stuck with Flames fans ever since. Calgary would reach the postseason again in 2009 and 2015, yet that 2008 run remains a familiar reference point whenever the conversation turns to the drama the Saddledome can still deliver. [Read more 🡒]