The 2022 NHL Draft will be the ninth for the Calgary Flames under the guidance of general manager Brad Treliving. As we prepare for the upcoming draft, let’s dive into some macro-level trends in the Flames’ drafting under the current regime.
Drafting, at a glance
The Flames have made 51 selections over the prior eight drafts (2014-21), an average of 6.375 per draft. The most picks they’ve made at a single draft is nine (in 2016); the fewest was five (in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019).
The Flames have selected five goaltenders, 14 defencemen and 32 forwards (10 left wings, 8 right wings and 14 centres). Among skaters, the Flames have selected 32 left shots and 14 right shots.
The Flames have drafted 45 players in their first year of draft eligibility and six players in their second or third year of eligibility.
10 Flames’ draft picks from 2014-21 have played NHL games, nine of them for the Flames. (This excludes Dustin Wolf, who’s dressed twice as Flames backup but didn’t get any game action in.)
If you’re willing to say that it takes two years to reasonably expect any prospects to push for NHL jobs, then we’re judging 35 picks from 2014 to 2019. So 10 of 35 have played NHL games (28.6%), six have played 200+ games. (Oliver Kylington should cross the 200-game threshold next season.)
Draftees by outcome
37 prospects have reached the point where they had to be signed or the Flames would lose their rights. Here’s a rundown of the outcomes:
- Not signed to ELC (10): Ryan Francis, Milos Roman, Zach Fischer, D’Artagnan Joly, Filip Sveningsson, Linus Lindstrom, Stepan Falkovsky, Pavel Karnaukhov, Riley Bruce and Adam Ollas Mattsson
- Traded before signing ELC (2): Adam Fox and Brandon Hickey
- Signed to ELC (25): Connor Zary, Yan Kuznetsov, Jeremie Poirier, Rory Kerins, Ilya Solovyov, Jakob Pelletier, Ilya Nikolaev, Dustin Wolf, Martin Pospisil, Emilio Pettersen, Dmitry Zavgorodniy, Juuso Valimaki, Adam Ruzicka, Matthew Tkachuk, Tyler Parsons, Dillon Dube, Eetu Tuulola, Matthew Phillips, Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington, Andrew Mangiapane, Sam Bennett, Mason McDonald, Hunter Smith and Austin Carroll
14 additional prospects have yet to be signed, but are still eligible: Matt Coronato, William Stromgren, Cole Huckins, Cameron Whynot, Cole Jordan, Jack Beck, Lucas Ciona, Arsenii Sergeev, Jake Boltmann, Daniil Chechelev, Lucas Feuk, Josh Nodler, Demetrios Koumontzis and Mitchell Mattson.
Coronato and Beck seem like sure-fire signings, while a couple of the remaining unsigned prospects could also end up signing.
Draftees by league/source
Here are the leagues that the 51 players were drafted out of, using the highest league that a player spent significant time in as a guideline:
- Ontario Hockey League (12): Stepan Falkovsky, Riley Bruce, Rory Kerins, Ilya Solovyov, Adam Ruzicka, Matthew Tkachuk, Tyler Parsons, Rasmus Andersson, Andrew Mangiapane, Sam Bennett, Hunter Smith and Jack Beck
- Western Hockey League (11): Milos Roman, Zach Fischer, Pavel Karnaukhov, Connor Zary, Dustin Wolf, Juuso Valimaki, Dillon Dube, Matthew Phillips, Austin Carroll, Cole Jordan and Lucas Ciona
- Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (8): Ryan Francis, D’Artagnan Joly, Jeremie Poirier, Dmitry Zavgorodniy, Jakob Pelletier, Mason McDonald, Cole Huckins and Cameron Whynot
- United States Hockey League (7): Adam Fox, Martin Pospisil, Emilio Pettersen, Matt Coronato, Josh Nodler, Jake Boltmann and Mitchell Mattson
- Sweden (6): Filip Sveningsson, Linus Lindstrom, Adam Ollas Mattsson, Oliver Kylington, William Stromgren and Lucas Feuk
- Russia (2): Ilya Nikolaev and Daniil Chechelev
- United States high school (1): Demetrios Koumontzis
- NCAA (1): Yan Kuznetsov
- North American Hockey League (1): Arsenii Sergeev
- Alberta Junior Hockey League (1): Brandon Hickey
- Finland (1): Eetu Tuulola
The Flames have drafted 10 college-committed players (plus Kuznetsov, who was already in college), while the remainder were Canadian major-junior players (31) or players contracted to European organizations (9).
Five of the 12 OHL draftees have played NHL games, followed by three WHLers and one from Sweden.
Draftees by country of origin
This might shock you, but the Flames love Canadians. Just under half of the players they’ve selected in the draft have been from scenic Canada.
- Canada (20): Riley Bruce, Rory Kerins, Andrew Mangiapane, Sam Bennett, Hunter Smith, Jack Beck, Zach Fischer, Connor Zary, Dillon Dube, Matthew Phillips, Cole Jordan, Lucas Ciona, Ryan Francis, D’Artagnan Joly, Jeremie Poirier, Jakob Pelletier, Mason McDonald, Cole Huckins, Cameron Whynot and Brandon Hickey
- Provinces of birth: Ontario (6), Alberta (4), Nova Scotia (3), Quebec (3), Saskatchewan (1), British Columbia (1), Manitoba (1) and New Brunswick (1)
- United States (10): Matthew Tkachuk, Tyler Parsons, Austin Carroll, Dustin Wolf, Adam Fox, Matt Coronato, Josh Nodler, Jake Boltmann, Demetrios Koumontzis and Mitchell Mattson
- States of birth: Arizona (2), Michigan (2), New York (2), Minnesota (2), Pennsylvania (1) and California (1)
- Sweden (7): Rasmus Andersson, Filip Sveningsson, Linus Lindstrom, Adam Ollas Mattsson, Oliver Kylington, William Stromgren and Lucas Feuk
- Russia (5): Dmitry Zavgorodniy, Ilya Nikolaev, Daniil Chechelev, Yan Kuznetsov and Arsenii Sergeev
- Belarus (3): Stepan Falkovsky, Ilya Solovyov and Pavel Karnaukhov
- Slovakia (3): Adam Ruzicka, Milos Roman and Martin Pospisil
- Finland (2): Juuso Valimaki and Eetu Tuulola
- Norway (1): Emilio Pettersen
The Flames have gotten NHL games out of draft picks from Canada (4), Sweden (2), United States (1), Slovakia (1) and Finland (1).
If you were creating the Platonic ideal of what a Flames draft selection is under Treliving’s regime, it would probably be a Canadian-born left shot centre or defenceman from the Ontario or Western Hockey League.
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