Calgary Flames News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Andrew Basha, Medicine Hat Tigers (Image: Brent Just)

How Flames Prospects Fared at the 2025 Memorial Cup

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Cody Gzowski | Last updated Jun 5, 2025 8:45 AM ET

As the Calgary Flames are looking to rebuild, part of the process is evaluating their drafted prospects on their journey to the NHL. Two Flames picks, Andrew Basha and Etienne Morin, followed their Canadian Hockey League (CHL) teams to the 2025 Memorial Cup. Although neither of them won, both of them put up interesting performances that could tell us more about their journey to the NHL and how they could fit in with the Flames.

Andrew Basha

Basha is a second-round pick and Calgary native who was chosen 41st overall in 2024, after putting up 85 points in 63 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers in his pre-draft year. This season, he put up comparable rate statistics, with 29 points in 23 games. He played all of his regular-season games at the beginning of the year, before injuring his ankle and needing to take most of his post-draft year off to recover from surgery.

The Tigers finished as one of the best teams in the Western Hockey League (WHL), even without Basha, and progressed steadily through the WHL playoffs, going 12-1 in their first three rounds. Basha finally recovered enough from his injury in time for the Final. He drew back into the lineup in Game 1 of the WHL Final against the Spokane Chiefs and scored a goal on his first shift back, assisted by Hunter St. Martin and Cayden Lindstrom.

Basha played most of his games during the series against the Spokane Chiefs and the Memorial Cup round-robin and Final with St. Martin and Lindstrom, who are drafted players by the Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets respectively. He put up five points in five games against the Chiefs, but finished the Memorial Cup with only one point in the four games, a power-play assist on a goal by Ryder Ritchie against the Moncton Wildcats.

His struggles in the Memorial Cup are probably best attributed to rust, since he missed just about four months recovering from his surgery, and the quality of his opponents. He still looked solid in all of his games — his skating is awkward but not slow (even hindered by ankle injury recovery, he was fast), and he is a gifted passer with creative vision.

Basha still has another year of WHL eligibility, and is likely to return to Medicine Hat for the 2025-26 season. With many players aging out or committing to the NCAA, he will get more opportunity to develop and try to stay injury-free.

Etienne Morin

Morin is a 20-year-old defenceman with the Wildcats of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Like Basha, the Flames picked him in the second round. His point totals are impressive for a junior defenceman — over the past three seasons, he has a points-per-game average of 0.96, and has missed minimal time with injury.

The Wildcats were the best team in the QMJHL this season, finishing with 108 points, a 12-point lead on second place. Under the stewardship of coach Gardiner MacDougall and including the contributions of Morin, the team went a stunning 16-3 in the QMJHL playoffs on their way to capturing the Gilles-Courteau Trophy. During the QMJHL playoffs, Morin finished with 20 points in 19 games.

In the Memorial Cup, the Wildcats were eliminated in the semi-final against the London Knights. Morin finished with three points in four games, including two goals. His point totals are high for a reason: he’s a gifted, dynamic skater who rarely makes the wrong decision and plays a lot of time on ice. While he lost some power-play time fighting for minutes with teammate Dyllan Gill, he was productive with what he had and rarely lost his cool, not making many mistakes.

As Morin has signed his entry-level contract with the Flames, he is ineligible to commit to the NCAA next year. He has the option to return to Moncton as one of the team’s three overage players, but he will burn a year of his contract if he does so, so the Flames may wish to put him in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Calgary Wranglers instead to develop alongside the plethora of other young defencemen in the system.

The appearance of not one, but two Flames prospects in the finals of junior hockey’s most prestigious trophy should excite fans. Everyone on a team has to contribute for a deep playoff run, and the competitive drive they showed making it this far is impressive and a good sign of things to come.