FN’s 2025 Flames summer prospect rankings – #8: Andrew Basha

Throughout the 2023-24 junior hockey season, scouts flocked to Medicine Hat Tigers game to check out Cayden Lindstrom. And Lindstrom, even though he dealt with injuries during that year, was worth the hype, boasting a really exciting combination of size, speed and skill.

But on trips to see Medicine Hat games, it was impossible to ignore one of Lindstrom’s teammates: winger Andrew Basha.

Lindstrom ended up selected fourth overall by Columbus at the 2024 NHL Draft, with Basha getting selected by the Calgary Flames in the second round. Basha lands at eighth spot on FlamesNation’s 2025 summer prospect rankings.

Andrew Basha

Left wing, shoots left
Born Nov. 8, 2005 (age 19) in Calgary, AB
6’0”, 187 pounds
Drafted in the second round (41st overall) by Calgary in the 2024 NHL Draft

A Calgary kid who, according to Elite Prospects, played his youth hockey with the Glenlake association, Basha came up through local minor hockey. He spent time with the Calgary Royals and was drafted by the Tigers in the 2020 WHL Prospects Draft. He spent the following season with the Royals and then started 2021-22 with the South Alberta Hockey Academy before making his WHL debut in late November.

By the time Basha was drafted by the Flames in the 2024 NHL Draft, he had played just shy of three full WHL seasons, so the scouting community probably felt like they had a good handle on his game, his trajectory, and his potential as a pro. That said, those impressions might have actually been an underestimate: Basha played most of his draft season (2023-24) with an injured ankle, and he estimated he was playing at 60 per cent.

By December 2024, Basha opted to go under the knife for surgery to deal with the injury rather than keep playing through it, then he grinded his way through gruelling rehab in order to return to the Tigers’ lineup in time for the WHL’s championship series. While obviously working through a bit of rust, and playing against opponents who weren’t in the form of the Spokane Chiefs, Basha was still noticeable as he helped the Tigers win the Ed Chynoweth Cup. And while the Tigers fell short in the Memorial Cup, Basha showed flashes of brilliance in the tournament.

We’re pretty sure that Basha is quite good. He was really good during his draft year, after all. But because we haven’t seen him playing at 100% in quite awhile, we probably don’t have a clear picture of what his ceiling is. But man, what we’ve seen is really impressive. He’s talented and smart, but he’s also tenacious enough to use his skill and physicality to wear down opponents over the course of games. (In our viewings early in his draft year, you could almost see opposition defenders see him forechecking and go “Aw geez, this guy again?”) And he was driven enough to commit himself to his rehab and get back for the WHL playoffs.

Here’s what Derek Neumeier of McKeen’s Hockey had to say about Basha’s season:

“It surely must have been a frustrating year for Basha, who missed the majority of his season due to injury. On the bright side, he did get back into the lineup just in time to help Medicine Hat clinch their WHL title and take part in the Memorial Cup, though he was clearly not fully healthy for any of those games. While Basha is eligible to play in the AHL for 2025-26 the Flames will also have the option of sending him back to the Tigers for his overage season, if they determine that him replacing the junior games he missed would ultimately be the best thing for his long-term development.”

Expectations for 2025-26

Basha has a lot of options available to him heading into the coming season.

He missed a lot of his 19-year-old WHL season and as a player entering his 20-year-old, he could return to the Dub as an overager. He could get a ton of game action and potentially get his rhythm back after missing so much time. But would that be challenging enough to help him grow as a player?

Because he’s a late birthday – he doesn’t turn 20 until November – he’s eligible to go to the American Hockey League and become a full-time pro. Basha’s play-style in the WHL seems pretty well-suited for the pro game, but he’ll need some time to adjust, as pretty much everybody does when they move to the pros. And considering the time he missed, would that be too tall an order for him? (Counterpoint: Basha, playing below 100% health, was one of the best players during Flames training camp last fall.) At this point, we’re under the impression that he’s going to be given every chance to become a full-time pro this season with the Wranglers.

For the first time since being drafted, Basha is expected to head into a season at 100%. When he was playing hurt, he still emerged as one of the most fascinating players in the Flames system with his mix of size, skill, smarts and sheer tenacity. We’re not sure what the next year holds for him as he potentially jumps to the pro ranks and continues to grow his game, but we’re excited to see how he progresses.