Flames 2020 draft selections are now set

The first round of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs is complete and, as luck would have it, the teams that could impact the draft position of the Calgary Flames have all been eliminated. As a result, the draft positioning is set for the Flames heading into the 2020 NHL Draft in October.

The Flames will select 19th in the first round, the first time they’ve selected in that spot since 1994 (when they grabbed Chris Dingman). This pick is smack-dab in the middle of a very complex, chaotic cluster of prospects in the 2020 class.

Recent Flames firsts include Jakob Pelletier, Juuso Valimaki and Matthew Tkachuk.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie has Russian forward Rodion Amirov at 19th, while FC Hockey’s rankings have Shawinigan winger Mavrik Bourque at 19.

The Flames haven’t drafted in the second round since 2016, when they nabbed Tyler Parsons and a non-bearded Dillon Dube. They’re slated to select at 50th, which would be the first time they’ve used their own second round selection since 2014 (when they selected Mason McDonald).

McKenzie has Barrie winger Luke Evangelista ranked 50th, while FC Hockey has Saint John defenseman William Villeneuve.

Okay, here’s where things get a bit complex.

The Oilers will send the Flames their third rounder in 2020 or 2021, at their own choice (as part of the Milan Lucic deal). The Flames will send Chicago their earliest third round pick (to complete the Erik Gustafsson deal).

Right now, the Oilers have no second round pick (traded to Detroit in the Andreas Athanasiou swap) and no fourth rounder (traded to Detroit for Mike Green), so it seems unlikely that they’ll give the Flames this pick and play solitaire between their first rounder (14th) and fifth rounder (138th).

So based on this reasoning, don’t expect the Flames to have a third round pick.

The Flames traded their own fourth rounder to Los Angeles for Oscar Fantenberg a year ago. But they got San Jose’s fourth rounder back (from Buffalo) in exchange for Michael Frolik.

Recent Flames fourths include Lucas Feuk, Martin Pospisil, Demetrious Koumontzis, Milos Roman and Adam Ruzicka.

FC Hockey has goaltender Samuel Hlavaj from Sherbrooke ranked 96th.

Recent Flames fifths include Josh Nodler, Zach Fischer and Mitchell Mattson.

FC Hockey has Ottawa 67’s defenseman Alec Belanger at 143rd.

Recent Flames sixths include Emilio Pettersen, D’Artagnan Joly, Eetu Tuulola and Matthew Phillips.

FC Hockey has Finnish winger Petteri Puhakka at 174th.

Recent Flames sevenths include Dustin Wolf, Dmitry Zavgorodniy and Filip Sveningsson.

FC Hockey has Russian winger Maxim Beryozkin at 205th.

We’ll have all kinds of preview content over the next six weeks as we approach the 2020 NHL Draft, held digitally on October 9 & 10.