The Flames Have Many, Many Picks In June

It’s garbage bag day down at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Players and media are chatting to reflect on the team’s past and its future. Around here, our thoughts are already drifting from the impressive season the Flames have put together towards the near future and the 2015 NHL Draft in late June.

To be blunt, the Calgary Flames have amassed a metric ton of picks for the Draft.

The scuttlebutt is that it’s a fairly deep draft, though there’s likely a drop-off after, say, the 20th or 22nd pick or so (but it’s gradual). So the Flames will likely get a really good player as the worst team to make the playoffs. I wouldn’t be shocked if they coveted a player slightly above their pick and package a pick and/or player to move up. When your team’s biggest need is puck-moving defenders, you’ll do what you can to get them.

The Washington and Vancouver picks could move around a bit, primarily if Washington advances to the conference finals. However, this is a veritable bounty of potentially good players. The Washington pick is fro the Curtis Glencross trade, the Vancouver pick is from the Sven Baertschi move.

Again, multiple picks in a single round. Again, Washington’s pick may slide to later in the round. Again, there will likely be good players available here. Again, the Washington pick is from the Glencross trade.

They traded this pick away for T.J. Galiardi.

Depth picks, but they can occasionally turn into useful players. Heck, Micheal Ferland was a late round pick of this nature, as was Joni Ortio.

We’ll have extensive coverage for you here of the run-up to the 2015 NHL Draft, but for now, this is what the Flames are beginning their draft journey with.