The Flames have five picks in the 2019 NHL Draft
By Ryan Pike
5 years ago If you’re anything like our staff, when the Calgary Flames got eliminated you had a choice: agonize by watching the remaining rounds of the playoffs or get really, really hyped for the 2019 NHL Draft in June. In the interest in fueling everyone’s draft excitement, here’s a quick glance at where the Flames are slated to pick.
Picks the Flames have
The Flames presently have five selections in the 2019 NHL Draft – three of their own and two they acquired via trades.
- 1st round selection, 26th overall [own pick]
- 3rd round selection, 88th overall [own pick]
- 4th round selection, somewhere between 114th and 124th [Islanders’ pick]
- 5th round selection, 150th overall [own pick]
- 7th round selection, somewhere between 207th and 217th [Hurricanes’ pick]
Picks the Flames do not have
The Flames traded away four of their own picks.
- 2nd round selection, 57th overall [to the Islanders]
- 4th round selection, 119th overall [to the Canadiens]
- 6th round selection, 181st overall [to the Hurricanes]
- 7th round selection, 212th overall [to the Senators]
Trades involving picks
Buckle up, gang, because some of these trades got weirdly complex.
The Flames acquired their fourth round pick in a swap with the New York Islanders; they traded their 2018 first round pick, their 2018 second round pick and their 2019 second round pick to the Islanders in exchange for Travis Hamonic and the Islanders’ 2019 fourth round pick. (The years of these picks originally was conditional as the availability of the 2018 second round pick was dependent on a condition related to the Mike Smith trade with Arizona, but the Flames missing the playoffs in 2017-18 locked them in.)
They acquired their seventh round pick in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes; they traded Keegan Kanzig and their 2019 sixth round pick to the Hurricanes for Eddie Lack, Ryan Murphy and Carolina’s 2019 seventh round pick. They subsequently bought out Murphy and traded Eddie Lack for Dalton Prout, while Kanzig spent the last two seasons in the ECHL.
The other two pick-related trades are actually fairly simple: the Flames traded their 2019 fourth rounder to Montreal for their 2018 fourth rounder so they could pick Milos Roman. They also sent their 2019 seventh rounder to Ottawa so they could audition Nick Shore as a fourth line center for six weeks.
A trade that almost happened
After the trade deadline, there was a lot of chatter about a scuttled trade between the Flames and the Minnesota Wild.
Shortly after the deadline, however, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported the Flames came close to acquiring Minnesota Wild winger Jason Zucker. The Athletic’s Michael Russo said the deal would’ve sent winger Michael Frolik and a draft pick to the Wild in return for Zucker.
While it’s unclear exactly what caused this swap to hit the ditch prior to the trade deadline, indications are that the Flames’ first round pick was part of the deal. Given how the Flames’ playoffs went, perhaps they revisit this and send the 26th overall pick to the Wild?
It’s possible, but given that the Flames had zero picks in the first 100 of last year’s draft it seems improbable that they would sent their first rounder out the door without having a means of getting some other picks back somehow.
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