FN’s 2025 Flames summer prospect rankings – #10: Étienne Morin

The Calgary Wranglers will have a strong defensive core in 2025-26.

One defenceman who is likely to join the Calgary Flames’ American Hockey League team is Étienne Morin, who played three seasons with the Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League’s Moncton Wildcats.

Let’s take a look at what the prospect who is ranked 10th in FlamesNation’s 2025 summer rankings has to offer!

Étienne Morin

Defenceman, shoots left
Born Mar. 9, 2005 (aged 20) in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, QC
6’1”, 185 pounds
Drafted in the second round (48th overall) by Calgary in the 2023 NHL Draft

As was the case in last summer’s rankings, Morin ranks as the Flames’ 10th-best prospect. Personally, I had him ranked as my 11th-best Flames’ prospect, as I liked what I saw from him when I tuned into Moncton Wildcats’ games in the spring.

Drafted in the second round of the 2023 draft, Morin’s strongest QMJHL season was in his draft year, as he scored 21 goals and 72 points in 67 games, with two goals and 17 points in 12 post-season games. His production dipped in 2023-24, as he scored just 12 goals and 49 points in 58 games, playing just four post-season games.

In his age-19 season, Morin was the best defender on the best QMJHL team, as he scored 14 goals and 58 points in 62 games. The Wildcats finished with a 53-9-2 record, second-best in all of the Canadian Hockey League. In the post-season, Morin scored two goals and 20 points in 19 games, helping the Wildcats win the Gilles-Courteau Trophy.

By winning the QMJHL’s trophy, the Wildcats represented the league in the 2025 Memorial Cup, joined by the Rimouski Océanic, who hosted the tournament and were the runners-up. With a 1-2 record, the Wildcats went on to the semifinals, where they fell to the eventual champions, the London Knights. The Knights defeated Andrew Basha’s Medicine Hat Tigers in the finals.

Here’s what Jer Tremblay from McKeen’s Hockey has to say about the 20-year-old left-shot defenceman:

“For being his last season in the QMJHL, it was quite one. Not only his team was the best in the QMJHL in the regular season, but they also won the playoffs and got a ticket to the Memorial Cup, a once in a lifetime opportunity for Morin. After finishing third in scoring among defenders this season, Morin is up to a bigger challenge than the QMJHL, where his development could not improve further. The next step is clearly the AHL, where he will be able to work on his defensive abilities and his physicality. His explosivity will also need to be quicker if he wants to have the same ease on the ice that he had in the QMJHL, but even without it, Morin will bring a lot to his AHL team, being a solid passer and a good two-way defender that likes to jump in the offence as much as possible.”

Expectations for 2025-26

On Jul. 5, 2024, the Flames signed Morin to an entry-level contract. He played a game with the Wranglers in 2023-24, but returned to the Wildcats for the 2024-25 season. The left-shot defenceman will be considered a 20-year-old under CHL rules for 2025-26, so if he returns to major junior, it will be as an overage player. He’s probably going to be going pro.

Morin’s first taste of real professional action may be in the ECHL with the Rapid City Rush, as the Wranglers’ defence core is stacked, featuring Artem Grushnikov, Yan Kuznetsov, Ilya Solovyov, Hunter Brzustewicz, and Jérémie Poirier. But considering that Morin is a highly-touted prospect within the Flames system, we suspect he’ll be given every chance to stick with the Wranglers.