{"id":797647,"date":"2026-07-12T19:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T19:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/797647\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T19:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T19:27:09","slug":"carson-carels-tops-daily-faceoffs-flames-top-10-prospects-countdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/797647\/","title":{"rendered":"Carson Carels tops Daily Faceoff\u2019s Flames top 10 prospects countdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Call it a retool or a rebuild or a re-whatever, but the long and the short of it is that the Flames have traded a lot of established NHL players for younger players and draft choices. And in doing so, they\u2019ve dramatically overhauled their prospect pool.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Ellis began his breakdown:<\/p>\n

The Flames might very well have the best pipeline in hockey.<\/p>\n

A pair of star defenders? Check. A potential top-six center? Yup! One of the best goaltending prospects in the game? You betcha. Calgary has done a good job of drafting prospects in the first round and finding some hidden gems. Ethan Wyttenbach, in particular, was one of the most exciting prospects in the game this past season. No matter what level of hockey you watched, if there was a Flames prospect involved, they were typically one of the best players in the league.<\/p>\n

It always felt like if the Flames were going to take a defenseman, they would try to snag the best left-handed blueliner on the board. The New York Rangers ultimately took Alberts Smits at No. 5, but I still like Carels more. He was one of the best young defenders in the CHL, and scouts love him. Carels brings that rugged, heavy-lifting mentality he and his family use on the farm right onto the ice. When you combine his elite defensive awareness, seamless two-way game, punishing physique and off-the-charts hockey IQ, you get a truly premium defensive prospect. He showed high-end flashes during the World Juniors, and he possesses every tool necessary to become a top-pairing defender one day. You won\u2019t find many more defensemen as rounded as him in the draft, and he hits like an absolute truck. Carels is the type of prospect who\u2019ll work his tail off no matter what, and you have to love that.<\/p>\n

The rest of Ellis\u2019 top five included Zayne Parekh, Cole Reschny, Matvei Gridin and Hunter Brzustewicz.<\/p>\n

Our annual prospect rankings are coming up next month. And while we have slightly different criteria \u2013 we use Calder Trophy eligibility so Parekh, Gridin and Brzustewicz have played too many games to be considered prospects under our ranking \u2013 but it\u2019s always illuminating to see who Ellis, someone who watches a ton of hockey across every organization and league, sees as the Flames\u2019 best prospects.<\/p>\n

Head on over to Daily Faceoff for Ellis\u2019 full Flames prospect list breakdown!<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s time for a truck that can play in every zone. Which means, it\u2019s time to Toyota! Its standard i-FORCE engine delivers more power than ever and a towing capacity of up to 6,400 lbs. It helps you take on challenging landscapes with confidence with its available Panoramic Multi-Terrain View Monitor that provides a live, underfloor view of the terrain your tackling. It even makes loading and unloading gear effortless with its available Power Liftgate. Whether it\u2019s for early morning practice or weekend away games, the Tacoma is a teammate you can rely on. Visit your local Prairie Toyota dealer today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Call it a retool or a rebuild or a re-whatever, but the long and the short of it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-797647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}