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After several successes, the Flames’ fourth-round crop has gotten lean lately
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Photo credit: James Doyle/WHL
Ryan Pike
Jun 10, 2025, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 8, 2025, 15:56 EDT
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In the history of the Calgary Flames at the NHL Draft, the fourth round may be the round where the club’s scouts do their best work.
However, between trades and some picks that haven’t quite panned out yet, the recent crop of fourth-rounders aren’t nearly as impressive as those that came before them.

Their last five drafts

Here are the last five drafts worth of first-round selections for the Flames:
Year
Pick
Player
Team
2024
106
F Trevor Hoskin
Cobourg (OJHL)
2023
112
F Jaden Lipinski
Vancouver (WHL)
2022
—
—
—
2021
—
—
—
2020
96
G Daniil Chechelev
Russike Vityazi Chekhov (MHL)
Notes:
  • The Flames acquired New Jersey’s 2024 fourth-rounder from Vancouver as part of the Elias Lindholm trade in 2024, then traded that pick to Philadelphia as they traded back in the 2024 NHL Draft.
  • The Flames traded their 2022 fourth-rounder to Seattle for Tyler Pitlick in 2021.
  • The Flames traded their 2021 fourth-rounder to Los Angeles for Derek Forbort prior to the 2020 trade deadline.
  • The Flames traded their 2020 fourth-rounder to Los Angeles for Oscar Fantenberg prior to the 2019 trade deadline, then acquired San Jose’s fourth-rounder from Buffalo in exchange for Michael Frolik in 2020.
In part because of trades, it’s been downright lean in the fourth round for the Flames lately.
Daniil Chechelev was a decent enough gamble, but he hasn’t turned into much between the ECHL, AHL and Russia. Jaden Lipinski was a really solid WHLer, while Trevor Hoskin had a superb final season in the OJHL in his draft year and was strong in his first NCAA season in a weak conference. They’ll both be in college next season, so we’ll see what happens there.

Historical hits

In terms of recent success stories, Martin Pospisil has turned into pretty fun NHL player. And while Brett Kulak’s time with the Flames ended with some acrimony – he was placed on waivers during the arbitration process, then traded the following fall – he’s carved out a really nice career between his runs in Montreal and Edmonton.
In further history, three names really stand out in the fourth round: Kent Nilsson, TJ Brodie and Johnny Gaudreau. Nilsson and Gaudreau are two of the most dynamic and exciting offensive players in franchise history, while Brodie was a really, really effective blueliner during his time with the club.

Historical misses

Since the Flames selected Pospisil at 105th overall in 2018, their next four fourth-rounders were Demetrios Koumontzis, Milos Roman, Lucas Feuk and Daniil Chechelev. Those four players combined have played just three AHL games, and those were all by Chechelev.
The Flames had a similar dry spell in the fourth round in the early 2000s with few, if any, selections playing NHL games.

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