How the 2020-21 Flames were built

By Ryan Pike
1 year agoWe’re rapidly approaching the 2021 National Hockey League trade deadline, which is 1 p.m. MT next Monday (April 12). As we head towards the deadline, let’s look back a bit and ponder: how were the current Flames built?
We’re focusing only on players under contract in the organization to make life simple here.
The rundown
Player | Date Acquired | Details |
D Mark Giordano | July 6, 2004 | Signed to three year contract. |
C Mikael Backlund | June 22, 2007 | Selected 24th overall in 2007 NHL Draft. -Acquired 24th overall (Backlund) and 70th overall (John Negrin) from St. Louis for 18th overall. [7/22/2007] |
LW Johnny Gaudreau | June 25, 2011 | Selected 104th overall in 2011 NHL Draft. |
C Sean Monahan | June 20, 2013 | Selected 6th overall in 2013 NHL Draft. |
LW Sam Bennett | June 27, 2014 | Selected 4th overall in 2014 NHL Draft. |
D Rasmus Andersson | June 27, 2015 | Selected 53rd overall in 2015 NHL Draft. -Acquired 2015 second round pick from Vancouver for Sven Baertschi. [3/2/2015] -Selected Sven Baertschi 13th overall in 2011 NHL Draft. [6/24/2011] |
D Oliver Kylington | June 27, 2015 | Selected 60th overall in 2015 NHL Draft. -Acquired 2015 second round pick (Tampa’s, 60th) from Arizona for 2015 third round pick (76th) and 2015 third round pick (Washington’s, 83rd). [6/27/2015] -Acquired 2015 second and third round picks from Washington for Curtis Glencross. [3/1/2015] -Signed Curtis Glencross to three year contract. [7/2/2008] |
LW Andrew Mangiapane | June 27, 2015 | Selected 166th overall in 2015 NHL Draft. |
G David Rittich | June 10, 2016 | Signed to one year contract. |
LW Matthew Tkachuk | June 24, 2016 | Selected 6th overall in 2016 NHL Draft. |
G Tyler Parsons | June 25, 2016 | Selected 54th overall in 2016 NHL Draft. -Acquired 2016 second round pick (Parsons) and 2018 fourth round pick (Demetrios Koumontzis) from Florida for Jiri Hudler. [2/27/2016] -Signed Jiri Hudler to four year contract. [7/2/2012] |
LW Dillon Dube | June 25, 2016 | Selected 56th overall in 2016 NHL Draft. -Acquired 2016 second round pick, Brett Pollock and Jyrki Jokipakka from Dallas for Kris Russell. [2/29/2016] -Acquired Kris Russell from St. Louis for 2014 fifth round pick. [7/5/2013] |
RW Eetu Tuulola | June 25, 2016 | Selected 156th overall in 2016 NHL Draft. |
RW Matthew Phillips | June 25, 2016 | Selected 166th overall in 2016 NHL Draft. -Acquired 2016 sixth round pick (Phillips) and Niklas Backstrom from Minnesota for David Jones. [2/29/2016] -Acquired David Jones and Shane O’Brien from Colorado for Alex Tanguay and Cory Sarich. [6/27/2013] -Signed Alex Tanguay to one year contract. [7/1/2010] -Signed Cory Sarich to five year contract. [7/1/2007] |
D Juuso Valimaki | June 23, 2017 | Selected 16th overall in 2017 NHL Draft. |
C Adam Ruzicka | June 23, 2017 | Selected 109th overall in 2017 NHL Draft. |
C Glenn Gawdin | November 16, 2017 | Signed to three year contract. |
D Noah Hanifin C Elias Lindholm | June 23, 2018 | Acquired from Carolina for Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland and Adam Fox. -Selected Adam Fox 66th overall in 2016 NHL Draft. [6/25/2016] -Acquired Hamilton from Boston for 2015 first and second round pick (both Calgary’s) and 2015 second round pick (Washington’s). [6/26/2015] -Acquired 2015 second and third round picks from Washington for Curtis Glencross. [3/1/2015] -Selected Micheal Ferland 133rd overall in 2010 NHL Draft. [6/26/2010] -Signed Curtis Glencross to three year contract. [7/2/2008] |
LW Martin Pospisil | June 23, 2018 | Selected 105th overall in 2018 NHL Draft. |
LW Emilio Pettersen | June 23, 2018 | Selected 167th overall in 2018 NHL Draft. |
RW Dmitry Zavgorodniy | June 23, 2018 | Selected 198th overall in 2018 NHL Draft. |
C Derek Ryan | July 2, 2018 | Signed to three year contract. |
C Luke Philp | March 19, 2019 | Signed to two year contract. |
G Artyom Zagidulin | April 9, 2019 | Signed to one year contract. |
D C.J. Lerby | May 7, 2019 | Signed to two year contract. |
D Alexander Yelesin | May 10, 2019 | Signed to two year contract. |
LW Jakob Pelletier | June 21, 2019 | Selected 26th overall in 2019 NHL Draft. |
G Dustin Wolf | June 22, 2019 | Selected 214th overall in 2019 NHL Draft. -Acquired 2019 seventh round pick, Eddie Lack and Ryan Murphy from Carolina for Keegan Kanzig and 2019 sixth round pick. [6/29/2017] -Selected Keegan Kanzig 67th overall in 2013 NHL Draft. [6/30/2013] |
C Byron Froese | July 1, 2019 | Signed to one year contract. |
LW Justin Kirkland | July 2, 2019 | Signed to one year contract. |
LW Milan Lucic | July 19, 2019 | Acquired from Edmonton with conditional pick (3rd round, 2021) for James Neal. -Signed James Neal to five year contract. [7/2/2018] |
D Connor Mackey | March 20, 2020 | Signed to one year contract. |
D Colton Poolman | March 20, 2020 | Signed to one year contract. |
D Johannes Kinnvall | April 29, 2020 | Signed to two year contract. |
C Connor Zary | October 6, 2020 | Selected 24th overall in 2020 NHL Draft. -Acquired 24th overall (Zary) & 79th overall (Arizona’s, Jake Boltmann) from Washington for 22nd overall. [10/6/2020] -Acquired 22nd overall & 71st overall (Jeremie Poirier) from NY Rangers for 19th overall. [10/6/2020] |
D Yan Kuznetsov | October 7, 2020 | Selected 50th overall in 2020 NHL Draft. |
D Chris Tanev | October 9, 2020 | Signed to four year contract. |
G Jacob Markstrom | October 9, 2020 | Signed to six year contract. |
RW Buddy Robinson | October 9, 2020 | Signed to one year contract. |
D Alex Petrovic | October 9, 2020 | Signed to one year contract. |
LW Zac Rinaldo | October 9, 2020 | Signed to one year contract. |
G Louis Domingue | October 10, 2020 | Signed to one year contract. |
LW Joakim Nordstrom | October 19, 2020 | Signed to one year contract. |
RW Dominik Simon | October 22, 2020 | Signed to one year contract. |
D Nikita Nesterov | October 23, 2020 | Signed to one year contract. |
LW Josh Leivo | October 24, 2020 | Signed to one year contract. |
RW Brett Ritchie | January 17, 2021 | Signed to one year contract. |
D Michael Stone | January 18, 2021 | Signed to one year contract. |
Some details
Four players here were acquired by general manager that’s not Brad Treliving: Giordano and Backlund (Darryl Sutter), Gaudreau and Monahan (Jay Feaster). Everyone else is a Treliving asset.
Giordano (2004) and Backlund (2007) are obviously the longest-serving assets, but when you include the assets used to acquire picks (e.g., the full asset tree), then Phillips (2007), Lindholm, Hanifin and Kylington (2008) also slot in with impressive longevity.
The Flames have back-filled their prospect depth fairly effectively in recent years with European and college signings. They’ve also managed to sign and/or retain multiple players from every draft since 2014.
Yes, Dustin Wolf and Matthew Phillips were both drafted with “throw in” late draft picks the Flames got in trades. Yes, asking for another draft pick to be included in every trade – even if it’s “only” a sixth or seventh round pick.
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