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Some unique Flames prospect will be made on Saturday night in Texas

Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

By Ryan Pike

Oct 30, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 30, 2026, 10:44 EDT

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Over the past few seasons, the Calgary Flames have really leaned into their youth movement, sending veteran players elsewhere in exchange primarily for prospects and draft choices.

Since Craig Conroy became general manager in 2023, the Flames have made seven first-round selections across four NHL Draft classes, making multiple picks in each of 2024, 2025 and 2026.

On Saturday night, we’ll get to see some of the highlights of Conroy and the scouting staff’s work all in a single game. In Austin, Texas, in the annual U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game, the University of North Dakota will face Michigan State University. North Dakota features a pair of Flames first-rounders in Cole Reschny (2025) and Carson Carels (2026). Michigan State also features a pair of Flames firsts in Cullen Potter (2025) and Jack Hextall (2026).

When you look at games played outside of the NHL, it’s the most Flames first-rounders that have ever gone head-to-head as opponents in a single game, just the second time Flames firsts have played each other, and it’s among the most first-rounders the Flames have ever had in a single game.

Let’s dive into the historical significance a bit!

Flames first-rounders as teammates

Since entering the NHL in 1972, the Flames franchise has selected 54 players in the first round. But because the Flames have tended to spread their high picks out – they’ve only selected multiple first-rounders in the same year six times (in 1973, 1976, 2013, 2024, 2025 and 2026) – and usually selected from a bunch of different leagues, they’ve rarely had their runs in leagues below the NHL overlap.

In 1976-77, Harold Phillipoff and Dave Shand (both 1976 picks) were teammates with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the American Hockey League.

After that, it wasn’t for well over a decade that prospect tenures overlapped, as players spent time with the International Hockey League’s Salt Lake Golden Eagles:

In 1989-90, Chris Biotti (1985) and Bryan Deasley (1987) were teammates with Salt Lake.
In 1991-92, Deasley and Jason Muzzatti (1988) were teammates with Salt Lake.
In 1992-93: Muzzatti and Trevor Kidd (1990) were occasionally teammates with Salt Lake. (Muzzatti bounced between Salt Lake, the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL and the Canadian National Team that season.)

The Flames moved their farm team to Saint John of the AHL in 1993, and began a run where it wasn’t uncommon for multiple first-rounders to play with the Baby Flames:

In 1993-94 and 1994-95, Muzzatti, Niklas Sundblad (1991) and Cory Stillman (1992) were teammates.
In 1995-96: Sundblad and Jesper Mattsson (1993) were teammates. (Denis Gauthier, 1995, joined the team briefly after his junior season ended.)
In 1996-97: Mattsson, Chris Dingman (1994) and Gauthier were teammates. (Derek Morris, 1996, joined the team briefly after his junior season ended.)
In 1997-98: Mattsson and Dingman were teammates.
In 1998-99: Dingman and Gauthier were teammates.
In 1999-00 and 2000-01: Daniel Tkaczuk (1997) and Rico Fata (1998) were teammates. (Morris joined the team briefly as well.)
In 2002-03, Oleg Saprykin (1999) and Chuck Kobasew (2001) were teammates.

For a couple seasons, the Flames shared the Lowell Lock Monsters AHL team with Carolina, before reinstating their own farm team for a period we’ll call the Nomadic AHL Period, since their farm team moved around a bunch.

In 2004-05, Brent Krahn (2000) and Kobasew were teammates with Lowell.
In 2006-07, Eric Nystrom (2002) and Kris Chucko (2004) were teammates with the Omaha Ak-Sar Ben Knights.
In 2007-08, Nystrom and Chucko were joined by Matt Pelech (2005) with the Quad City Flames.
In 2008-09, Chucko, Pelech and Leland Irving (2006) were teammates in Quad City.
In 2009-10, the farm team moved to Abbotsford. Chucko, Pelech, Irving and Mikael Backlund (2007) were teammates for most of the season. The following season, 2010-11, up to four firsts were with the Heat at once: Chucko, Pelech, Irving, Backlund and Nemisz (2008) – Chucko only played two games in October 2010, while Backlund was down for just a single game in January 2011. In 2011-12, Irving and Nemisz were teammates. In 2012-13, they were joined by Sven Baertschi (2011). In the final season in Abbotsford, 2013-14, four firsts spent time with the Heat but didn’t all play together: Nemisz was traded mid-season and Baertschi was up and down from the NHL, with Morgan Klimchuk (2013) and Emile Poirier (2013) joining the Heat late after their junior seasons ended.
The Heat moved to Adirondack in 2014-15, where Baertschi and Poirier returned. After they moved again to Stockton in 2015-16, there were three seasons with three firsts with the club: Mark Jankowski (2012), Klimchuk and Poirier. In 2018-19, Klimchuk was joined by Juuso Valimaki (2017).

In the period following the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen the Flames’ farm team relocate to Calgary – Stockton played in town temporarily in 2020-21 due to border issues, then moved formally in 2022. We’ve seen a a handful of prospects play together, with a rotation of players spending time with 2019 first-rounder Jakob Pelletier on various clubs.

Pelletier and Connor Zary (2020) were teammates at the 2020 World Juniors for Canada’s national team. They also played together with Stockton in 2021-22, joined by Valimaki, and 2022-23 with the Wranglers.
Pelletier and Matt Coronato (2021) were teammates with the Wranglers in 2023-24 (for the season) and 2024-25 (for two games). Pelletier played with Sam Honzek with the Wranglers for a few weeks in 2024-25.

Based on what we can find: four first-rounders as teammates with the minor-league team has happened from time-to-time, especially during two seasons in Abbotsford: 2009-10 and 2010-11. It also potentially happened in Saint John in 1996-97, but we don’t have game sheets from that season.

Flames first-rounders as opponents

We dug around and could only find one other instance of Flames first-rounders that clashed outside of the NHL. It happened on Nov. 26, 2004 in the NCAA, as the University of Minnesota (with Kris Chucko, 2004) facing the University of Michigan (Eric Nystrom, 2002). Minnesota won by a 5-1 score. Chucko had an assist.

Long story short: Saturday night’s game is a historic occasion in terms of high-end Flames prospects all hitting the ice in the very same game. Four first-rounders in the same game is pretty rare. Four going head-to-head in the same game is unprecedented in Flames franchise history.

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