Taking Stock of Calgary’s Draft Picks And Prospect Depth
By Ryan Pike
8 years agoThe Calgary Flames are (shockingly) within spitting distance of a playoff spot, but considering that we’re just a few months shy away from the 2016 NHL Draft, let’s focus on the future a little bit.
While a bunch of outlets have been chugging along and churning out draft rankings, it’s probably about time to take stock of the picks the Flames have and the holes they have in their organization looking forward.
THEIR PICKS
Here are the picks the Flames presently have in the 2016 NHL Draft.
- 1st Round Pick
- 2nd Round Pick
- 3rd Round Pick
- 4th Round Pick
- 5th Round Pick
- 6th Round Pick
- 7th Round Pick
(All picks are Calgary’s own.)
In terms of conditional picks, the Flames most likely will gain a pick from Nashville through the Max Reinhart trade. They sent a conditional 7th round pick to Colorado for Freddie Hamilton, and most likely the conditions on both those picks are based on games played targets. For conditional picks, typically there’s a higher pick awarded if the targets are hit and a lesser pick awarded if not. They also acquired goalie Kevin Poulin from the Tampa Bay Lightning for future considerations, which could impact their draft picks going forward.
I’m expecting the Flames to have an extra mid-round pick for Reinhart, but I’m not sure if they lose this year’s 7th rounder or not.
THEIR ASSETS
What do the Flames have and need right now in terms of young players? To give a glimpse, here’s what amateurs and entry-level professionals they have on their reserve list right now.
GOALIES (3)
- Jon Gillies (21)
- Mason McDonald (19)
- Nick Schneider (18)
McDonald either joins the entry-level system next season or returns to the QMJHL as an overager.
DEFENSEMEN (14)
- Rasmus Andersson (19)
- Riley Bruce (18)
- Ryan Culkin (21)
- John Gilmour (22)
- Brandon Hickey (19)
- Keegan Kanzig (20)
- Brett Kulak (21)
- Oliver Kylington (18)
- Kenney Morrison (23)
- Jakub Nakladal (27)
- Adam Ollas Mattsson (19)
- Rushan Rafikov (20)
- Patrick Sieloff (21)
- Tyler Wotherspoon (22)
Morrison, Nakladal and Morrison are finishing their entry-level deals this season. Andersson is able to go pro next season. Gilmour is done college and could go pro next season, whether or not it’s with the Flames organization. Hickey may go pro but can return to college. Ollas Mattsson’s contract in the SHL reportedly expires this season, so he could come over. Rafikov is reportedly under KHL contract for one more season.
FORWARDS (14)
- Sam Bennett (19)
- Austin Carroll (21)
- Matt DeBlouw (22)
- Johnny Gaudreau (22)
- Markus Granlund (22)
- Tim Harrison (21)
- Garnet Hathaway (24)
- Mark Jankowski (21)
- Pavel Karnaukhov (18)
- Morgan Klimchuk (20)
- Andrew Mangiapane (19)
- Sean Monahan (21)
- Emile Poirier (20)
- Hunter Smith (20)
Gaudreau, Granlund and Monahan are graduating from the entry-level system after this season. DeBlouw and Jankowski are done college this season and will probably go pro. Mangiapane could go pro (he’ll be 20) but hasn’t signed a deal yet.
THEIR NEEDS
Goaltending seems fine, for now. Schneider’s extremely young but has room to grow, while McDonald will get World Junior experience and potentially can go pro next season. The Flames could have two really young, raw goalies with upside in their entry-level system next year, which could be huge.
Andersson and Hickey are easily the best Flames prospects on the blueline not already in the entry-level system. There’s not a lot of high-end depth behind them, but as you can see, the AHL squad will probably be STACKED on the back-end next season – especially if both Andersson and Hickey go pro.
The forward ranks are arguably thinner at the top end. Karnaukhov is good but he’s a secondary prospect, while Mangiapane is probably the only high-end player that’s not a pro already. They’re gonna have to accumulate a lot of bodies in the draft just to re-stock the cupboards in that respect since they’ve had high-end picks in 2013 and 2014 go pro right away and thin out the herd, as well as their tendency in recent years to grab older players in the later rounds that go pro after a season rather than in two.
WILD CARDS
The big X-factor for the Flames are their many pending UFAs: Jiri Hudler, David Jones, Kris Russell, Karri Ramo, Jonas Hiller and Jakub Nakladal. Particularly in regards to Hudler, Jones and Russell, the Flames could easily recoup more picks – particularly high ones for Hudler and Russell – if they decide to trade those players.
My expectations? The Flames move both Hudler and Russell and gain back some picks. I figure the Flames will go into the 2016 Draft with five picks in the first three rounds, like they did last year. But this year, I figure they actually use most of them to draft players given how shallow their talent pool is outside of their entry-level system.
Recent articles from Ryan Pike
