Prospects Camp Notebook - 11.09.25

A total of 24 Flames prospects hit the ice Thursday morning at WinSport in preparation for a pair of contests against the Oilers this weekend.

Calgary will visit Edmonton Friday night at 7 p.m. MT before returning home Sunday for the NextGen Showcase, set for 4 p.m. MT at the Scotiabank Saddledome. TICKETS

Get caught up on Thursday's news of the day with our Prospects Camp Notebook!

Sam He Is

Sam Honzek was the story of Flames training camp last fall, and he’s hoping to create his own headlines once again this September.

The first-round pick from 2023 worked his way onto Calgary’s opening-night roster last season, making his NHL debut in Vancouver before appearing in a total of five NHL contests in 2024-25.

This year, Honzek is bigger - and heavier - telling the assembled media he put on 15 lb. over the course of the summer, which he spent back home in Slovakia, once again training alongside countryman and teammate Martin Pospisil.

All with an eye on catching people’s attention this year.

“I put some weight on, and I feel a little bit heavier on the ice,” Honzek explained. “But I think my speed stayed the same, which is good. I think I worked on really hard with Pospy during the summer, lots of off-ice and on-ice skating training.

“It’s been a really, really hard summer, but hopefully, it pays off now.”

“He’s way stronger than last year, like he’s pushing me now,” Pospisil told us in July. “It’s fun to practice with him.

“I think a lot of people, they are not going to believe what happened with him.”

Honzek echoed Pospisil’s comments on their push-pull relationship Thursday, alluding to exactly the type of internal competition that Flames brass want to see over the next days and weeks, as those final roster decisions get made.

For Honzek, it’s part of the process, and one he’s hoping will pay off.

“This time I maybe I can say, maybe I kind of pushed him,” he said. “I just want to be better than him and he wants to be better than me.

“It’s a good kind of competitiveness between us. We had a great summer and he looks good.”

Easy Brz-y

Hunter Brzustewicz made his NHL debut in a Flames jersey this past April, debuting as part of a season-ending 5-1 victory in Los Angeles.

The young defender missed Development Camp in July, but he’s back and ready to try and earn more NHL appearances this winter.

Brzustewicz skated on a pairing with Etienne Morin Thursday, the duo acting as elder statesmen for the group of prospects set to face the Oilers twice this weekend.

“I think on the back end, I'm the only guy that's been here for a year,” he said Thursday. “I think it’s a good time to step up.”

Brzustewicz appeared in 70 AHL games last winter in his first season of pro hockey, finishing second among Wranglers defencemen with 32 points.

But it’s that NHL exposure he’s after. And this year, he’s got extra support in his family tree too, after his younger brother Henry was selected by the Kings in the first round of this past June’s NHL Draft.

Each bit of exposure to the NHL - be it on the ice or off it - helps spur each Brzustewicz brother on.

“You see it, you're in it,” he said. “I was texting my brother over the summer when he was at the Combine and when he was at Development Camp just like every single thing you see, within the NHL teams, it makes you want it that much more just to be there.”

Summer Of Shows

Amid a summer of training, 19-year-old Jacob Battaglia took a bit of time to be himself.

For the young forward, summer season meant concert season.

“I saw John Summit, Zach Top and Dierks Bentley,” he recalled Thursday afternoon. ”And I also saw Rüfüs Du Sol with my dad, so that was awesome.”

Top’s latest record, Ain’t In It for My Health, hit record-store shelves and streaming services two weeks ago, but Battaglia admits he hasn’t heard all of the Washington-born country singer’s latest offering.

Yet.

“That's definitely a must,” he smiled. “He was huge back in Kingston with our team last year.

“He was always playing in the room, so, you know, it kind of grew on me.”

This year, Battaglia is being tabbed as a real threat for the Ontario Hockey League scoring title, after putting up 40 goals and 90 points with the Frontenacs in 2024-25.

The second-round pick from the 2024 Draft is taking things one shift at a time, though, putting his work boots on one foot after the other, with an eye on being one of the go-to guys this weekend in the two-game prospects series with Edmonton.

“I’ve been here before and again, I know what to expect,” he said of his role this weekend. “So just kind of being there for the younger guys or the newer guys. Obviously, I'm still at the bottom of the barrel in the age, but still just kind of being a leader and helping guys out.

“(I’m) super-excited for this weekend.”