In the National Hockey League, one of the most important things to be good at is drafting and development – especially in a salary cap system. Since Brad Treliving’s arrival, the Calgary Flames have become very effective at drafting and finding players to plug into their roster.

With the 2020 NHL Draft seemingly set for October (fingers crossed), we figured it’s about time to empty the notebook a bit and unveil our final NHL Draft rankings.

Some disclaimers, pals.

First off, this is a list of who I would pick in what order with an aim towards maximizing the value of each pick. When I look at draft-eligible prospects, the things I look at are what they’re good at, how good they are at those things, and what the potential is for them to translate that to the pro (and NHL) level. I’ll freely admit that I tend to underrate goalies compared to NHL scouts and major ranking agencies, and I’m a bit pessimistic about junior A and high school prospects.

I primarily see Western Hockey League games in person and supplement those viewings with video, reading and checking in with colleagues around the globe. These are one man’s opinion and your mileage may vary.

First and foremost, I’m higher on Luke Prokop than just about anybody else. He’s big. He moves well. And with the Hitmen losing a bunch of veteran defenders, Prokop is going to play a ton in every situation. He’s poised for a big growth year.

The first round of forward-heavy, and has a lot of forwards with different skillsets. Left shots! Right shots! Offensive dynamos! Shutdown forwards! Two-way guys! All-arounders! Russians! There’s also some borderline first round forward talent that spills into the second round – I could even see the likes of Thomas Bourdeleau and Jean-Luc Foudy going in the late first round.

The defensive crop isn’t as top-heavy as it was a year ago, but there are a lot of good blueliners availlable – and there’s depth as you get deeper into the draft. Jake Sanderson is legit and behind him are a lot of very good prospects, including a pair from the WHL in the form of Kaiden Guhle and Braden Schneider.

In goal? Well, historically it makes sense to be nervous about taking a goaltender early in the first round. I looked for reasons to bump Yaroslav Askarov down the list and he only fell as far as 11th. World Junior goalie Nico Daws is the next-best, and then there’s a few interesting goalies with some question marks.

As we get closer to the draft, we’ll break down the top WHL players available in the draft and look at the key contenders for the Flames’ first round pick in a lot of detail.