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FlamesNation Mailbag: The draft lottery approaches
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Photo credit: Mike Gould
Ryan Pike
Apr 27, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 27, 2026, 01:03 EDT
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Pals, the National Hockey League’s draft lottery is on May 5. That’s next week, and as the Calgary Flames finalize their preparations for that event, it was front of mind for everyone in this week’s mailbag.
Let’s check in on everyone’s questions, shall we?
Disclosure: I watch more Western League hockey than any other feeder league, so my favourites are all from the Dub. I watched Medicine Hat’s first two playoff series extensively and I really enjoyed watching Liam and Markus Ruck play. They’re so fun. Calgary Hitmen blueliner Ben MacBeath is a really steady two-way defender with a ton of upside. Prince George’s Carson Carels is such a throwback – in a good way – as a big-bodied, physical defender. (And he uses his size very well.)
There are others, but those are the first names that come up from my perspective.
Trading up?
At this point, assuming Vegas is knocked out in the first two rounds and the Flames do not win the draft lottery, the Flames are looking at having the fourth overall and 24th overall picks in the draft. If they were hoping to jump up into the late first round, PuckPedia’s Perri Pick Value Calculator suggests that packaging their first two second-round picks – the New York Rangers’ at 35th overall and their own at 36th overall – would get them to around 21st overall. Adding Utah’s second-rounder at 51st overall could get that up to 17th. Adding their fourth pick, Ottawa’s at 56th overall, could get that up to 14th.
It’s really expensive, pick-wise, to get up that far into the first round, so you would likely be looking at moving a serious haul of assets, including picks, prospects and/or roster players to get into the top 10.
Trading down?
I’m not sure I see it, as Craig Conroy has discussed a group of six players they like early in the draft. Worst-case scenario is they slide to sixth after the draft lottery and get the last player on that ledge. They already have oodles of prospects. After building up a ton of depth in past drafts, they might want to make big swings at this year’s draft.
I’m digging into this on the site later this week, but I would not rule it out. The Flames extensively scout the Western League. They are aware of how great the Ruck twins are.
I’m hesitant to name names because I don’t know what players might be available. I think the Flames are on the look for a young centre with higher-end potential, and the thought from their camp is probably that some team will under-perform during the post-season and potentially think one of their younger top-nine centres just isn’t ready for the role they have them in. If such a team were looking to upgrade one of those spots with a veteran option, then the Flames would potentially be looking at taking advantage of such a situation.
We’ll see if anything ends up happening. Having four second-round picks gives the Flames a ton of wiggle room to make moves.
I don’t think so. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman seems to adore the divisional format and unless his mind is changed on the subject, I think we’re sticking with the current format for the foreseeable future.
Liam Ruck is currently 24th on our aggregated rankings, just ahead of Juho Piiparinen (25th), Mathis Preston (26th), Maddox Dagenais (27th), Alexander Command (28th), Markus Ruck (29th) and William Hakansson (30th).
I think the Flames are more likely to move up in a trade than make a move for another team’s player or prospect this year.
I think the Flames would love to add some left shot defenders or right shot forwards, but I think they’ve built enough depth across their prospect base that they don’t need to draft for positional need. They’re in a spot where best player available will likely be their approach more often than not.
Man, I am fascinated by Theo Stockselius as a player.
He was awesome in the U20 Nationell playoffs as a first line centre. He was perfectly acceptable as a bottom six winger in the SHL down the stretch when the senior team was really low on players due to injuries and needed stability. His North American junior rights are held by the Calgary Hitmen and I know they would love to have him next season. But does Stockselius’ showing in the SHL this season make him staying in Sweden a little longer more of a possibility? Or does he head to the Hitmen to try out a new challenge? I do not know, and I’m curious to see what the next steps are for him.
Why not both?
The Flames see the Wranglers, first and foremost, as an extension of their developmental apparatus. Their purpose is to turn prospects into NHL players, so they use the same systems and approach everything the same way. And I think based on how we saw a ton of Wranglers have NHL success this season, and the graduates to the NHL praise their AHL experiences, it’s working.
But the Flames also want it to be a competitive environment where the team has on-ice success, so it’s a balancing act. We’ll probably see a bunch of new faces playing full-time pro for the first time in 2026-27, including (but not limited to) Axel Hurtig, Abram Wiebe, Andrew Basha, Tyson Gross and Jonathan Castagna. That’s a nice injection of youth into the existing group, and adding a couple guys in Wiebe and Gross who have tasted the NHL already could add a ton of energy to the bunch.
I’m a big Sam Honzek guy. He may not produce a ton offensively, but I loved his two-way game during his 18 NHL games this season before his injury. I think he could have a Yan Kuznetsov-esque impact next season, as a reliable, consistent, set-it-and-forget-it forward on the penalty kill and tough five-on-five deployments. I don’t know if there’s another Matvei Gridin in the wings in terms of offensive impact, but I think Honzek could be that on the defensive side.
If you pro-rate Matvei Gridin’s output from after the trade deadline over an 82 game rate, he was on pace for 13 goals and 43 assists for 56 points. I don’t know if he can keep that scoring pace up for a full season, but I’d love to find out.
Got a question for a future mailbag? Contact Ryan on Twitter/BlueSky at @RyanNPike or e-mail him at Ryan.Pike [at] BetterCollective.com! (Make sure you put Mailbag in the subject line!)

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