The National Hockey League’s entry draft is a bit of a balancing act. Teams have to attempt to project a player’s potential for future development when they’re 17, with limited amount of information available.

As a result, teams use a few different strategies when it comes to drafting and development. Usually the earlier picks are players with high developmental ceiling – and fewer questions about their developmental potential than later picks – while later picks are often players with longer runways and are typically projects.

With their final selection in the 2022 NHL Draft – seventh round, 2019th overall – the Flames selected centre Cade Littler from the British Columbia Hockey League’s Wenatchee Wild. For a late-round pick, it’s pretty easy to get why the Flames liked him; head scout Tod Button referred to Littler as “a big, strong, positional centre,” but he referred to him as “a long runway guy.”

Littler’s runway so far has been a little bumpy. Since he’s a late birthday – born in July and drafted as a 17-year-old – he was set to play the 2022-23 season in the BCHL and then head to Minnesota State University – Mankato for the 2023-24 season. But those plans changed after a coaching change: head coach Mike Hastings left the school for the University of Wisconsin, so Littler de-committed and shifted his collegiate plans to North Dakota for a 2024-25 arrival.

He spent his 2023-24 season split between the USHL’s Cedar Rapids Roughriders and the BCHL’s Penticton Vees. He had 11 points in 14 USHL games, then moved to Penticton mid-season, where he 21 points in 24 games playing on a stacked Vees team. It was a learning experience for Littler to experience new environments after a couple seasons in Wenatchee, playing on the team where his father (Bliss) serves as general manager.

“I think being a couple different places, I think you can learn something from everyone,” said Littler during Flames development camp at Winsport. “[When I arrived in] Penticton, you realize really quick how much of a winning culture it is, how winning is the expectation there, and I thought when you go in mid-season you just try to find your role on the team and make the team better.”

As far as college programs go, Littler is landing at a pretty good one. The Fighting Hawks have competed in the NCAA national championship tournament in three of the past four seasons and has been the top regular season team in their conference in three of the past four seasons.

And while half of North Dakota’s top eight point-producers from last season have gone pro, their men’s team will feature 15 players that participated in NHL development camps, 12 of which were drafted by NHL clubs – including Littler. He’s hoping to find a way to contribute during his freshman season.

“Get in the lineup every night, make a role for yourself, try to help the team in any way possible,” said Littler. “Going to be a freshman, but still help the team in some way.”

Littler is a tall, right shot centre. He’s a bit of a project pick and he’ll need time to fill out physically and grow his game. There are far worse places to do that than at the University of North Dakota. We’ll see how he progresses over the next few seasons.