Naturally, the 2020 NHL Draft cracked some crevices in our first spitballed Calgary Flames prospect rankings—you need to reorganize the freezer to squeeze in fresh meat, after all. Undersized yet supremely skilled QMJHL centreman Ryan Francis thereby wriggled into our list after the Flames nabbed him in the fifth round last month, likely thanks to his generosity and ingenuity with the puck.
How did we get here?
Born in Beaver Bank, Nova Scotia, Francis has skated on the ice slabs of Canada’s Ocean Playground for his entire life. The 5’9″, 176 pound pivot played Bantam AAA at Newbridge Academy in Lower Sackville, a Halifax suburb, and logged one Midget season in that Atlantic hockey prodigy factory known as Cole Harbour.