67 games into the current Calgary Flames season, one fact is indisputably true: the Flames’ smallish forwards are among the most skilled and most important players. The challenge for the club is that developing that type of player takes care, precision and time.
Right now, the Flames roster boasts four skilled forwards who are less than six feet in height: Johnny Gaudreau (5’9″), Dillon Dube (5’11”), Andrew Mangiapane (5’10”) and Derek Ryan (5’10”). All but Gaudreau required seasoning in the American Hockey League before stepping onto NHL ice – and Gaudreau is basically a hockey unicorn.
If you look at the Flames’ prospect list, one thing jumps out: aside from Glenn Gawdin and Dustin Wolf, pretty much all of the most exciting Flames prospects are forwards that come in under six feet in height:
- Matthew Phillips (5’7″), currently with Stockton
- Luke Philp (5’10”), currently with Stockton
- Emilio Pettersen (5’10”), currently with the University of Denver
- Dmitry Zavgorodniy (5’9″), currently with Rimouski
- Jakob Pelletier (5’9″), currently with Moncton
The key to the pipeline is Stockton, where prospective Flames get a chance to get puck touches and try to translate what made them effective juniors or college players into fully-fledged strong pros.