The Flames always trade away their second round picks
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoThe 2019 NHL Draft is in three weeks in scenic Vancouver, British Columbia. As has become a trend over the last decade, the Calgary Flames won’t be drafting in the second round.
The Flames don’t have a second round selection in the 2019 NHL Draft. They traded it to the New York Islanders (along with their 2018 second round pick) for Travis Hamonic. At the time of the trade, general manager Brad Treliving joked that for somebody who says he doesn’t like trading away picks he sure does it a lot.
Historically, all recent Flames GMs sure trade away second round picks a lot. The last time the Flames drafted using their own second round pick was 2014. The time before that was 2003.
So where did all their second round picks go?
A selected history of the Flames trading away seconds
Darryl Sutter:
- 2003: Used team’s pick to draft Tim Ramholt; traded compensatory pick (awarded when Curtis Joseph didn’t sign) to San Jose for a third rounder and two fifth rounders.
- 2004: Traded team’s pick to Florida for Marcus Nilson. Acquired another pick from the Rangers by trading down in the first round, then traded it to Columbus for two third rounders.
- 2005: Traded team’s pick to San Jose for Miikka Kiprusoff.
- 2006 & 2007: Traded team’s 2006 and 2007 picks (and Jordan Leopold) to Colorado for Alex Tanguay.
- 2008 & 2009: Traded team’s 2008 pick (and Jamie Lundmark and a fourth rounder) to Los Angeles for Craig Conroy. Then re-acquired their own 2008 pick (and Mike Cammalleri) from the Kings in exchange for their 2008 first rounder and 2009 second rounder. In a parallel move, they got a different 2008 first and 2009 second from Montreal in exchange for Tanguay, then traded the second to Colorado as part of a package to re-acquire Leopold. [Every single trade in the 2000s involved Leopold or Tanguay.]
- 2010: Traded team’s pick to Chicago for Rene Bourque.
In eight drafts as GM, Sutter’s Flames only took a player in the second round twice (grabbing Ramholt and Mitch Wahl). If it seems like Sutter made increasingly weird trades to get back second round picks he already traded, then surely assistant GM Jay Feaster wouldn’t continue the trend… Right?
Jay Feaster:
- 2011: Sutter had previously traded the team’s pick to Toronto as part of a bigger trade to acquire Colin Stuart and Anton Stralman. But since Tim Erixon didn’t want to sign, the Flames were able to get two second rounders (and Roman Horak) from the Rangers for his rights.
- 2012: Traded team’s pick to Buffalo so they would take on Ales Kotalik’s contract in the Robyn Regehr trade. Managed to recoup a second rounder when they traded down in the first round.
- 2013: Traded team’s pick to Montreal as part of a bigger trade to acquire Karri Ramo and Mike Cammalleri.
Despite all the trades, the Flames still selected three players in the second round over three drafts: Markus Granlund, Tyler Wotherspoon and Patrick Sieloff.
Brad Treliving:
- 2014: Used team’s pick to draft Mason McDonald.
- 2015: Treliving made two trades to add second round picks – sending Curtis Glencross and Sven Baertschi out of town. Then their own pick and Washington’s pick were traded to Boston for Dougie Hamilton. They used Vancouver’s pick to draft Rasmus Andersson. They traded up into the end of the second round to draft Oliver Kylington.
- 2016: Treliving made two trades to add second round picks – sending Kris Russell and Jiri Hudler out of town. They traded their own pick to acquire Brian Elliott, and used the picks they acquired to draft Dillon Dube and Tyler Parsons.
- 2017: Traded own pick to Ottawa as part of a package to acquire Curtis Lazar. (This pick was conditionally traded to Arizona as part of the Mike Smith trade, but the Flames failed to make the playoffs in 2018 and so the condition was not met.)
- 2018 & 2019: Traded their 2018 and 2019 picks to the Islanders to acquire Travis Hamonic.
Through the first five drafts of his tenure (excluding 2019), Treliving’s Flames have made five picks in the second round. They’ve selected McDonald, Andersson, Kylington, Dube and Parsons. And compared to the moves Feaster and Sutter made with their second rounders, at least Treliving has managed to swap them for starting goaltenders and top four defensemen.
Update: If you want to get technical, Treliving traded the 2017 second rounder twice – once conditionally to Arizona for Smith and once later to Ottawa for Lazar – apologies for any confusion.
Recent articles from Ryan Pike
