Flames still own a lot of high draft picks
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoFaced with a relatively shallow prospect pool, the Calgary Flames managed to add to their defensive depth at the NHL trade deadline. They added two roster players without moving out a regular player, plus they barely touched their stockpile of draft selections.
Here’s a rundown of the picks they held onto.
The 2020 NHL Draft
The Flames have their own first, second, fifth, sixth and seventh rounders free and clear of any trade conditions. This is a good draft, so having two picks in the first three rounds guaranteed is good strategy.
Here’s the deal with the third round:
- If James Neal scores 21 goals and scores 11 more goals than Milan Lucic, the Flames will get a third round pick. If that condition isn’t met, they don’t get squat. (And if you’re a conspiracy theorist, outside of making the player cranky there’s nothing stopping Edmonton from sitting Neal until the end of the regular season to hold onto the pick.)
- If the Flames only have their own pick, that pick goes to Chicago for Erik Gustafsson. If they have their own pick and Edmonton’s, whichever pick is higher will go to Chicago.
Calgary traded their fourth round pick to Los Angeles for Oscar Fantenberg. They got San Jose’s when they sent Michael Frolik to Buffalo.
In short? They have first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh round picks in this year’s draft. If James Neal scores two more goals, they’ll have a third rounder, too.
The 2021 NHL Draft
The Flames have all of their own picks in the 2021 NHL Draft for sure, except for their fourth rounder.
Their fourth is tied up in the Derek Forbort trade. If Forbort re-signs or if the Flames make the conference finals and he plays in half the games, then the fourth becomes a 2022 third round pick.
The 2022 NHL Draft
As mentioned, the Flames have all their own 2022 picks. But if the Forbort condition is met, then their 2022 third goes to Los Angeles instead of their 2021 fourth.
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