Diminutive forward Phillips punching above his weight

On this stage, you couldn’t miss him.

Still, nobody is classing Calgary Flames forward prospect Matthew Phillips as a can’t-miss kid.

A sixth-round selection in the 2016 NHL Draft, Phillips was among the standouts in Sunday’s development camp scrimmage at WinSport’s Markin MacPhail Centre.

The puck seems to follow this guy around.

At 5-foot-7 and 155 pounds, the doubts are never far behind.

His offensive gifts are obvious, but can the itsy-bitsy right-hander translate those talents to the pro ranks, with the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat as his likely next stop?

“The one thing with Matthew, he always seems to find a way,” said Flames assistant general manager Craig Conroy of the 20-year-old Phillips. “You think, ‘How is he going to do it?’ Well, he’s going to be the one to show us how he is going to do it.

“Because it’s going to be a challenge. There are going to be some bumps in the road. It’s just like when Johnny (Gaudreau turned pro) … You kind of navigate through — where can I go, what can I do, what works to make me an effective player out here? He’s going to have a hard time at fiveon-five, at times, to start, until he figures that out. But on the power play, three-on-three … You give him a little time and space, a bit more ice, those type of things are where he’s going to excel. And then while he is excelling in those areas, he works on the other parts.

“He’ll adjust, and you have to. Because each step you make, it’s harder. It’s bigger, it’s faster … But he always finds a way.

“So how is he going to do it? I don’t know yet, but he’ll determine that.”

Since being drafted by his hometown team in June of 2016, all Phillips has done is fill the net. Over his past two campaigns with the Western Hockey League’s Victoria Royals, he totalled 98 goals and 202 points in 141 regular-season outings.

Whoa.

Phillips buried a man-advantage marker and provided several high-end setups in Sunday’s fan-friendly scrimmage, which featured segments of five-on-five, four-on-four, three-on-three and some special-teams action.

Dillon Dube, Brett Pollock, Martin Pospisil, Eetu Tuulola and forward tryout Michael Little also scored for Team Conroy in a 6-4 victory.

Emilio Pettersen and Milos Roman, a pair of selections from the 2018 NHL Draft, were among the lamplighters for Team Gelinas, with undrafted invitees Bobby McMann and Merrick Rippon also bulging twine in a losing cause.

“It’s a scrimmage in July, so you’re not making the team out of a scrimmage,” said Phillips, who has been in the gym this summer with several of the Flames’ full-timers. “But you still want to show your best.”

At this point, Phillips can’t prove much during an off-season no-hitter, the sort of setting that doesn’t answer the big question about any guy so small in stature.

He could’ve scored six times Sunday and doubts still would have followed the smiling sniper out the door at WinSport and into the afternoon sun.

A sixth-round gem?

We’ll have to wait to find out. “He looks quicker right now, and that’s going to be a big thing for him to be elusive,” Conroy said. “He has no fear out there, and he’s competitive. He competes hard. He might not be big, but I was watching him on the wall and he’s in there with guys all around him, he’s battling, and he steps on the puck and throws it over to Dube. I mean, smart little plays like that.”