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The Flames have had some big fourth-round hits (and a few misses)
Photo credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Over the past few years, the Calgary Flames have shown a willingness to move picks. But unlike in previous eras, they’ve opted to hold onto their early picks. And when they’ve missed out on rounds, it’s usually been the fourth round.
With a fourth-rounder in hand for the 2026 NHL Draft, and a history of some pretty savvy moves in that round, let’s take a look at the club’s recent history in this round.
Their last five drafts
Here are the last five drafts worth of fourth-round selections for the Flames:
Year | Pick | Player | Team |
2025 | — | — | — |
2024 | 106 | Cobourg (OJHL) | |
2023 | 112 | Vancouver (WHL) | |
2022 | — | — | — |
2021 | — | — | — |
Notes:
- The Flames traded their 2026 fourth-rounder to Florida as part of the Matthew Tkachuk trade in 2022.
- The Flames acquired New Jersey’s 2024 fourth-rounder from Vancouver as part of the Elias Lindholm trade in 2024, then traded that pick to Philadelphia as they traded back in the 2024 NHL Draft.
- The Flames traded their 2022 fourth-rounder to Seattle for Tyler Pitlick in 2021.
- The Flames traded their 2021 fourth-rounder to Los Angeles for Derek Forbort prior to the 2020 trade deadline.
Two picks over the past five drafts in the fourth round is obviously not a ton. However, they made some interesting bets. Jaden Lipinski has size and skill. He played briefly in the AHL with the Wranglers two seasons ago before heading back to the WHL for his overage season with the Vancouver Giants. (He’s now in college at Maine.) Trevor Hoskin was selected as a 20-year-old out of the OJHL after a breakout offensive season in junior A, and he’s followed those up with two strong collegiate seasons.
The Flames have made calculated gambles in the fourth round. Hoskin is trending towards potentially being a decent pro.
Historical hits
While the Flames haven’t landed on a great fourth-round pick in awhile, let’s go through the list of strong selections for a moment.
Easily the top fourth-rounder was the late, great Johnny Gaudreau. He was a prudent gamble at 104th overall.
Beyond him, though, they’ve made a ton of strong fourth-round selections:
- 1976 pick Kent Nilsson
- 1979 pick Jim Peplinski
- 1989 pick Robert Reichel
- 1996 pick Toni Lydman
- 2008 pick TJ Brodie
- 2012 pick Brett Kulak
These aren’t just guys that played NHL games, but also several players that became pretty important pieces for the franchise over the years.
Historical misses
Between 1998 and 2007, Flames fourth-rounders combined for one game with the hockey club and three NHL games total. Tomi Maki, their 2001 pick, played one game for the Flames, while 2003 pick Jamie Tardif played two games with Boston. Beyond that duo, that’s zero NHL games between Roman Rozakov (1999), Levente Szuper (2000), Yegor Shastin (2001), Yuri Artemenkov (2002), Kris Hogg (2004), Aki Seitsonen (2004), J.D. Watt (2005) and Hugo Carpentier (2006).
The Flames selected two-sport high-school star Tom Quinlan in the fourth round in 1986. Quinlan was also drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1986 in the MLB Draft. Originally intending to pursue both sports at the University of Minnesota, Quinlan opted for baseball, eventually playing parts of four seasons in the majors.
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