Matvei Gridin is absolutely torching the AHL

The Calgary Flames made two first round picks in 2024, the first being potential phenom Zayne Parekh, and the second being Russian winger Matvei Gridin. While the Gridin pick was a bit off the board at the time, he shocked not just the Flames but the entire NHL by making the team out of camp. He was sent back to the AHL after four games. Since then, Gridin has absolutely torn up the AHL.

Leading scorer

Through 18 AHL games, Gridin has amassed an impressive eight goals and 20 points, good for 1.11 points/game. This places Gridin 10th overall in AHL scoring. Funnily enough, former Flame Jakob Pelletier leads the AHL in scoring this season.

Among AHL rookies, however, Gridin is all alone at the very top of the AHL scoring leaders. For a player who just came off his very first season in the QMJHL last year to be putting up these types of numbers in the second-best professional league in the world is truly impressive.

Gridin is also sporting a plus-eight rating and a whopping 56 shots, which averages to over three shots per game for the Wranglers.

Oh, and did I mention Gridin is only 19 years old?

Early MVP?

Gridin has lined up on the Wranglers’ top line for the better part of the season. Whether on the right side of Justin Kirkland and Dryden Hunt, or Martin Frk and Rory Kerins, the right-wing spot in L1 has been a fixture.

As the team’s leading scorer, Gridin is making a real case to not only be the Wranglers’ MVP this season, but also an easy call-up if/when the Flames decide to trade away a veteran forward or two.

The 2024 draft class is looking like an absolute dynamo for the Flames. Parekh and Gridin project to be impact NHLers already, and are overshadowing solid progress from other draftees like Luke Misa, Henry Mews, Jacob Battaglia, Eric Jamieson, and Andrew Basha. Could the Flames have themselves a franchise-changing draft class? Time will tell.