FLAMES HOCKEY IS BACK! Kind of… Sort of…

The Flames kind of sort of have their first activity of the 2015-16 season as the Penticton Young Stars Tournament kicks off. Calgary bolstered its prospects pool in the offseason and there is plenty of youth that will look to impress and earn a potential NHL spot. Others will just be looking to earn a spot in Stockton (typing that feels very foreign).

Things kick off tonight at 5 p.m. MT, when the Flames prospects will take on the Jets‘. You’ll be able to watch it via the Flames site and app.

Leading the way will be the fourth overall phenom, Sam Bennett. He did more than his fair share for the Flames last year when he returned from injury, got called up from the OHL and put up points both in the regular season and in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That was a limited sample size however and at 19 years old, he’s still young and has plenty left to prove. Impressing in the tournament would be a nice first step.

The other most notable debuts will be Oliver Kylington and Rasmus Andersson. While the Flames did some fantastic work to acquire Dougie Hamilton for what wound up being some guy that failed his conditioning stint, the team will still need help on the left hand side as soon as it can possibly get there.

The two Swedish defensemen took different career paths: Kylington played overseas, while Andersson played in the OHL. Both slipped in the draft but could provide some strong two-way play should they pan out as hoped.

Standing at 6’6″, there’s also literally the biggest additions to the club in Jon Gillies and Riley Bruce, though the two have quite different career expectations. Gillies might be the most underrated goalie prospect in all of hockey at the moment; he was completely dominant for Providence in his three years there, and just led them to the national championship. Bruce is a lumbering defensive defenseman who is a long shot to make it to the professional level.

There are also a handful of unfamiliar names, whom you can learn about here.

Here is the roster as it stands (sorted alphabetically by last name):

by Les Mavus