The Calgary Flames were one of the first National Hockey League organizations to scout and draft Russian players, making their first selection from what was then called the Soviet Union in 1983.

Starting with their first pick, the Flames have selected 36 Russians in the NHL Draft in their history. So far, 10 of them have played games with the franchise. But that 10 is fairly skewed towards present day; four of those 10 include goaltender Arsenii Sergeev, defenceman Yan Kuznetsov, and forwards Matvei Gridin and Aydar Suniev.

So if we choose to ignore the current Russians in the organization, as their stories are still being written, running down the top five drafted Russians in franchise history gets kinda lean pretty quickly.

With apologies to the great Andrei Trefilov, here are the top five Flames draft choices from Russia, in chronological order.

A 12th-round pick by the Flames in 1983, Makarov was the first Russian the Flames ever selected. He was 25 and already on his way to being a hockey legend when he was selected as one-third of the famed KLM line – along with Vladimir Krutov and Igor Larionov.

Makarov joined the Flames in 1989-90 and won the Calder Trophy as a 31-year-old, prompting the NHL to add an age restriction to the award. Regardless, he posted 292 points over 297 games with the Flames before being traded to Hartford in 1993 for draft pick.

A 12th-round pick in 1988, Priakin is actually a trivia answer: he was the first player that the Russian ice hockey federation gave permission to go to North America – everyone before him had to defect, essentially sneaking out of the country.

He played 46 games with the Flames split between 1988-89, 1989-90 and 1990-91, posting 11 points. He received a Stanley Cup ring in 1989, but he didn’t play enough playoff games to get his name on the Cup. He returned to Europe in 1991.

A 10th-round pick in 1993, Titov was a bit of an oddity in that he came over to North America right away, debuting for the Flames in 1993-94. He played 345 games with the Flames between 1993-94 and 1997-98, generating 228 points. He was traded to Pittsburgh during the 1998 off-season along with Todd Hlushko in a swap that made Dave Roche and Ken Wregget members of the Flames.

An 11th-round pick in 1994 – you’re probably noticing a pattern in all these late-round Russians – Torgaev had a weird run with the Flames.

He was in the Flames’ system for just over a year, playing 41 games with the big club in 1995-96 but heading to play in Switzerland early in 1996-97 after he was sent to the AHL. The Flames held onto his North American rights and he rejoined the team to begin the 1999-2000 season, but he was claimed off waivers by Tampa Bay in November 1999. He ended up with 18 points in 50 games with the Flames across his two stints.

Finally, Saprykin was a first-round pick in 1999, selected 11th overall. Unlike his predecessors on this list, Saprykin was already playing in North America, having joined the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds as an import.

Saprykin played 187 games with the Flames across parts of five seasons, posting 76 points. He’s probably best known for scoring the overtime winning-goal in Game 5 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Final, jamming in Jarome Iginla’s rebound to cap off The Shift. He was traded to Phoenix along with Denis Gauthier in exchange for Daymond Langkow during 2004 off-season, just weeks before the 2004-05 lockout began.