The 2026 NHL Draft is in the books, and it was a busy one for general manager Craig Conroy and the Calgary Flames.

The Flames made nine draft choices over the course of Friday and Saturday’s festivities in Buffalo. We’ll be digging into the prospects in more detail in the coming days – and seeing many of them up-close at development camp next week – but for now, here’s a quick and dirty rundown of the nine newest Flames.

The Flames system boasts four pretty high-end young right shot defenders in Simon Nemec, Zayne Parekh, Hunter Brzustewicz and Henry Mews. They desperately needed a high-end left defender with a complimentary skill-set. Well ask, and you shall receive. A Manitoba farm kid boasting equal parts size, smarts, skill and work ethic, Carels is arguably the Platonic ideal of what the Flames want their team to be adding right now. [Read more about Carels here.]

At the end of the first round, the Flames opted for another centre for their system with Hextall. A right shot with pace, tenacity, grit and skill, Hextall has impressed at USHL Youngstown playing a mixture of centre and the wing across a lot of game situations. [Read more about Hextall here.]

A skilled winger from the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, Harrington is a bit of a chameleon, having the versatility to play a skill game or a gritty, physical game depending on his linemates and game situation.

The Flames traded up from 51st overall to land Trejbal, considered by many to be the top goalie in the draft. A Czech product who excelled with USHL Youngstown and was named their goalie of the year last season, he’s headed to college. Considering the Flames have depth in net right now, he’ll can build his game with UMass… but there’s already a lot to like.

One of the youngest players in the 2026 class, Shaikhlislamov increased his scoring rate in Russia’s top under-20 league year-over-year as a 17-year-old and even made his KHL debut in September. The analytics-driven model from Hockey Prospecting’s Byron Bader loved this kid, particularly for his production given his age.

We think his name is pronounced Shake-Lis-Lamov.

The youngest son of Jarome, and younger sibling to Tij (Utah, NHL) and Jade (PWHL Hamilton, PWHL), Joe’s another very young player in this draft class who dealt with an unclear role and an injury with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings followed by a trade. Once he got his feet under him with the Vancouver Giants, he ended up starting to find a rhythm. It’s a bet on upside with some boom/bust potential involved, but considering the depth the prospect base has… you can understand why the Flames had the confidence to make the swing. [Read more about Iginla here.]

After a couple seasons in the USHL, Barabanov impressed in the OHL as a 19-year-old. We would put this in the same category as the Trevor Hoskin pick from 2024: both guys impressed in their overage seasons playing against younger opponents and there’s probably some offensive upside worth betting on at this point in the draft. He’s been touted by some as the top overage player in this draft class.

A year ago, there was some chatter that Katolicky, a Czech kid playing in Finland, could be a first-round pick. Now, after a tough year that saw him tumble down the draft boards a bit, the Flames are buying low and hoping for a bounce-back. He’s headed to join the OHL’s Sarnia Sting next season.

A defender from a hockey family where his dad and two older brothers played college puck, Laylin is a USHL defender that had pretty decent numbers with Tri-City and will be moving to the WHL’s Everett Silvertips next season before heading to college the year after that. This is a bit of a project pick, but the Flames are bullish on his potential.

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