Calgary Flames 2024 NHL Draft live blog

Pals, welcome to the first day of the 2024 NHL Draft! Thanks for joining us at FlamesNation for our coverage of draft weekend, which begins at 5 p.m. MT time on Friday with Round 1!

We’ll have a ton of content on the site throughout the weekend, and please follow along on this live blog that we’ll update throughout the day.

The Calgary Flames enter the proceedings with nine draft choices in hand for the coming weekend. They’re slated to select at ninth and 28th overall on Day 1, as well as up to seven times on day two – the club has two selections in each of the first four rounds, which is quite a lot. The 2024 draft is the first since the Flames unabashedly entered their retool process; they traded Tyler Toffoli the day before the 2023 draft in Nashville, but have since shipped out Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin Chris Tanev, Jacob Markstrom and Andrew Mangiapane. Suffice it to say: the Flames are in the midst of a shift in the team’s composition.

We’re in the middle of a fascinating time for the hockey club, and the 2024 NHL Draft will be a big part of their transformation.

Friday, 3 p.m. MT – It’s been an interesting past few days in scenic Las Vegas. After seeing virtually zero transactions involving 2023 first-rounders a year ago in Nashville, we’ve seen three trades already involving 2024 first-rounders changing hands:

Could this be just some minor pre-draft shuffling, or the start of a larger trend of first round moves?

5:00 p.m. MT – Our live coverage is about to begin, and a couple interesting tweets came out regarding how the first few picks may unfold.

We’ll see what happens!

5:30 p.m. MT – Frank (and Cam) had it pegged. We have the first big shocker of the draft at third overall as Beckett Sennecke goes to the Anaheim Ducks. Sennecke was ranked 14th on Daily Faceoff’s final ranking from Steven Ellis.

5:53 p.m. MT – The eldest son of beloved Flames legend Jarome Iginla, Tij, has been selected sixth overall by Utah.

6:00 p.m. MT – Another curveball. Calgary Hitmen blueliner Carter Yakemchuk goes at seventh overall to Ottawa. He was ranked 13th overall by Ellis at DFO.

6:20 p.m. MT – The Flames have selected Zayne Parekh at ninth overall.

8:25 p.m. MT – The Flames have selected Matvei Gridin at 28th overall.

9:18 p.m. MT – Back in my hotel room after the first round has concluded. All-in-all, not a bad first round performance for the Flames. Having Parekh land in their laps at ninth overall was a tidy bit of business, especially considering how much buzz Parekh generated for his point production from the blueline this season. Meanwhile, Gridin was a player there was a fair amount of scouting variation in terms of rankings – some had him in the late first round, while on other lists he was a second-rounder – but he led the USHL in points this past season, so he’s another upside play.

If you’re one of the fans screaming “Draft for offensive upside!” well… that’s what they did in Round 1.

Saturday, 9:15 a.m. MT – I’m camped out in the media room of the main hotel for day two of draft coverage. Without the pageantry of a TV window to fill up, teams are given much less time to muddle through their selections. As a result, typically the second day of picks goes very quickly.

9:45 a.m. MT – The Flames have selected Calgary product Andrew Basha at 41st overall.

10:29 a.m. MT – The Flames have selected winger Jacob Battaglia at 62nd overall.

10:45 a.m. MT – The Flames have selected defenceman Henry Mews at 74th overall.

11:00 a.m. MT – The Flames have selected Russian goaltender Kirill Zarubin at 84th overall.

11:25 a.m. MT – The Flames have selected OJHL most valuable player Trevor Hoskin at 106th overall.

11:27 a.m. MT – The Flames have traded the 107th overall pick (acquired from Vancouver in the Elias Lindholm trade) to Philadelphia for the 150th overall pick and the 177th overall pick.

12:20 p.m. MT – The Flames have selected OHL forward Luke Misa at 150th overall.

12:47 p.m. MT – The Flames have selected WHL centre Hunter Laing at 170th overall.

12:55 p.m. MT – The Flames have selected WHL defender Eric Jamieson at 177th overall.