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The first round has produced several Flames regulars in recent years
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Photo credit: © Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Jun 13, 2025, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 12, 2025, 20:45 EDT
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If you’re a long-time Calgary Flames fan, you probably remember the time where there was a palpable anxiety about just about every first-round pick the franchise made. The team had pretty rough luck for awhile, with picks just not quite turning out as hoped.
Well, as the Flames have delved deeper into their retooling process – and the importance of hitting on their first-round picks has become even more pronounced – they’ve managed to see a shift in their fortunes early in the draft. In a bit of a departure from prior eras, they’ve found a few impactful NHL players in the first round… and there may be more to come.

Their last five drafts

Here are the last five drafts worth of first-round selections for the Flames:
Year
Pick
Player
Team
2024
28
F Matvei Gridin
Muskegon (USHL)
2024
9
D Zayne Parekh
Saginaw (OHL)
2023
16
F Samuel Honzek
Vancouver (WHL)
2022
—
—
—
2021
24
F Connor Zary
Kamloops (WHL)
2020
13
F Matt Coronato
Chicago (USHL)
Notes:
  • The Flames acquired Vancouver’s 2024 first-round pick as part of the Elias Lindholm trade in 2024 (and used it to select Matvei Gridin).
  • They traded their 2021 first-round pick (19th) to the NY Rangers, then traded the Rangers’ first-round pick (22nd) to Washington and received their pick (24th).
Zayne Parekh made his NHL debut in the 2024-25 Flames’ finale, while Sam Honzek made his NHL debut at the start of the season. With those two playing NHL games, the Flames have a streak of 13 consecutive first-round picks that have played NHL games for their hockey club – the last one that didn’t was 2009 pick Tim Erixon. (We’ll see if Gridin can extend that run.)
Zary and Coronato are NHL regulars. Parekh is likely going to push for a regular NHL gig in the fall. Honzek may be a bit of a project – a project that could progress quickly if he can stay healthy – but it’s hard to nitpick the results from the last few years of first-rounders.

Historical hits

Recently, the Flames got all sorts of value out of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Sean Monahan. They’ve also gotten oodles of games out of Mikael Backlund.
Prior to them, they hit big on players like Cory Stillman, Gary Roberts, Al MacInnis and Paul Reinhart. And their second-ever first-rounder, forward Tom Lysiak, provided the fledgling Flames with a ton of points and strong games in the early years of the franchise.

Historical misses

Excluding Gridin, who was just drafted, six Flames first-rounders did not play any NHL games for the hockey club. Excluding the late George Pelawa (who passed away in a car accident after being drafted) and Tim Erixon (who they traded), that leaves 1985’s Chris Biotti, 1987’s Bryan Deasley, 1993’s Jesper Mattsson and 2000’s Brent Krahn as the four picks that made you go “Oof.”
And yeah, we’ll concede that injuries played a big part in the struggles many of these guys faced, but they’re still gigantic missed opportunities early in their respective drafts.

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