Flames opt for big-bodied forwards at 2022 NHL Draft

He’s a probably, we call, a middle-six centre. He’s really responsible positionally and we’re hoping he gains a little more confidence in making plays offensively to add that to his toolkit. But our Finn lives in the city that he plays in, so we feel we knew him really well. He played a lot with the men’s league and we saw him mostly with his national team. We like him. Potential to be a middle-six, 200 foot centre.

Personally I didn’t see Parker play, but our western guys, they really like him. He’s a big kid, really works hard. They think he’s got a huge ceiling, in regards to that he hasn’t really trained a lot as a young kid. And they think when he gets exposed to that at a higher level and he commits to it, they think he has a lot of room to grow.

And then we took the coach’s son. Bliss Littler’s son, Cade, in the seventh round. He’s another kid. He’s a big, strong, positional centre. He’s going to go to Mankato State in two years, we believe he’s going to Wenatchee again next year. And again, two-way, positional. He’s a long runway guy, but we have time on him.