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Flames will lose NHL rights to prospect Hunter Laing if not signed by June 1
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski/USA Today Sports
Ryan Pike
May 7, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: May 7, 2026, 02:36 EDT
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The Calgary Flames have made 24 draft choices over the last three seasons. If he’s not signed by June 1, or commits to college by then, the Flames will lose the NHL rights to one of them.
On Wednesday, our pals at PuckPedia published their annual listing of draftees whose signing rights are set to expire on June 1. Among them? Saskatoon Blades forward Hunter Laing.
Laing’s a right shot forward, primarily a winger but occasionally a centre, listed at 6’6″ and 205 pounds. His father is longtime former pro Quintin Laing, who played three seasons with the Abbotsford Heat (including two as captain) back when they were the Flames farm team.
Hunter played his minor hockey with Okanagan Rockets and RINK Kelowna. He was a second-round pick by the Prince George Cougars at the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft. He became a full-time Western Leaguer two years after being drafted, for his 17-year-old season. He was a sixth-round selection by the Flames, 170th overall, in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Laing’s spent three seasons in the Dub, split between Prince George and Saskatoon. He was traded to Saskatoon midway through the 2024-25 campaign.
  • In 2023-24, he had 11 goals, 14 assists for 25 points in 66 games, going minus-5 and winning 48.1 of his face-offs
  • In 2024-25, he had 25 goals, 23 assists for 48 points in 64 games, going plus-18 and winning 48.7% of his face-offs
  • In 2025-26, he had 24 goals, 31 assists, 55 points in 62 games, going minus-3 and winning 53.5% of his face-offs
Here’s what Flames director of amateur scouting Tod Button said about Laing when they selected him in June 2024:
“With Hunter Laing, another guy, Quintin’s boy, was on our list. Again, a guy our western guys really liked. And then what happened was Jarome [Iginla, special advisor to the GM] was sort of the finisher. Jarome really liked the kid. He knows the family, live in Kelowna. He says he’s going to take him in the garage and wrestle with him and train him. And if he can handle that then he’s going to a player for us one day.”
On one hand, Laing has size and smarts and he’s shown some progression in the Dub. On the other hand, he didn’t take big steps in his 19-year-old season with Blades, as he was a good but not dominant WHL forward.
And since Laing’s been drafted, here’s a quick rundown of the forward prospects the Flames have added to their system: Carter King, Cole Reschny, Cullen Potter, Theo Stockselius, Ethan Wyttenbach, Aidan Lane, Yan Matveiko, Jonathan Castagna, Max Curran and Tyson Gross. We can’t say for sure if Laing will or won’t be signed by June 1, but if he isn’t, it’s probably more due to the sheer numbers game in a rapidly-crowding Flames system than Laing not being a quality hockey player.
We’ll see how things pan out between now and June 1.

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