Gang, in last year’s draft, the Calgary Flames made two selections in the seventh round. In the 2026 NHL Draft, though, they don’t own a selection in the final round of the proceedings as the event approaches.

Nevertheless, the Flames’ seventh-round history is pretty unique, with some of the most exciting and interesting prospects in recent years selected that late in the picking process.

Here’s a quick look back at a surprisingly fruitful seventh-round history for the Flames.

Here are the last five drafts worth of seventh-round selections for the Flames:

When Arsenii Sergeev played in Game 82 this past season, it made it three consecutive drafts that produced seventh-rounders that played NHL games for the Flames – Dustin Wolf in 2019, Ilya Solovyov in 2020 and Sergeev in 2021.

The Flames’ seventh-round strategy in recent years has been players with size and some higher-ceiling attributes. Sergeev has size and a strong resume in lesser-known junior leagues. Cade Littler has size and offensive talent. Axel Hurtig has size and a willingness to crash and bang in the defensive zone. Jakob Leander is similar to Hurtig. Yan Matveiko, selected as an overager last year, has size and some two-way smarts.

All have shown some flashes of strong play in high-end hockey, with Sergeev making his NHL debut last season and Hurtig having played in the World Juniors last season and captained the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen this past season.

At this point in time, the Flames are looking for diamonds in the rough in the seventh round. They’ve had some decent success with that approach.

Aside from Wolf, the Flames’ starting goalie for the foreseeable future who they got 214th overall in 2019, the Flames have nabbed some pretty fun players late in the draft. Among them: Dave Moss (2001), who played 317 games for the Flames, Stu Grimson (1985), who played just four games for the Flames but developed into a great role player, and Bobby Gould (1977), who played 20 games for Atlanta but developed into a Selke Trophy calibre two-way forward with Washington.

By the seventh round, we’re not prone to calling any pick a miss. After everyone’s had the chance to select six times, you’re choosing from some players with flaws or individuals whose developmental arcs make them projects by definition. So we won’t throw our hands up and go “Oh god, I can’t believe they picked Joe Whatshisname in the seventh!” because they’re all lottery tickets at that point.