Flames prospect Samuel Honzek departs for Slovakia's world juniors camp on an offensive high note

Calgary's 2023 first-round pick has collected eight points in five WHL outings since returning from the injury suffered at the end of the NHL's pre-season

Calgary Flames 2023 first-round pick Samuel Honzek departed for the World Juniors pre-tournament camp having netted three goals and eight points in five games for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants.

This is to be his third world juniors for Slovakia. Last year, Honzek suffered a skate cut on the leg in the second game of the tournament and was out of action until mid-February.

Honzek, the 6-foot-4, 195-pound left wing who celebrated his 19th birthday last month, missed the first two months of the WHL season after suffering an injury late in the NHL’s pre-season.

Barring a surprise, the Giants captain will be the only Flames prospect at the tournament, which begins Dec. 26 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

That said, it was a good week for a couple of other 2023 draft picks.

Jaden Lipinski, Honzek’s Giants teammate, collected two goals and four points in their wild 8-7 loss to the Everett Silvertips on Saturday.

Lipinski, who was selected in the fourth round, has collected 10 goals and 26 points in 29 games for Vancouver, which is eighth in the Western Conference.

Meanwhile, Aydar Suniev, the third-round pick at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, was named Hockey East’s top freshman of the week after netting three goals and six points in a pair of games against the University of Alaska-Anchorage. His five-point outing in the first game of the set is the most by a school freshman since becoming a Division 1 team.

Suniev is tied for the team lead with seven goals, and has 12 points in 25 games.