The Calgary Flames are projected to select 18th and 32nd on day one of the June 27-28, 2025 NHL Entry Draft.
Both picks are in rather awkward spots. Number #18 is near the end of the third perceived drop-off or possibly at the top of the fourth. There are good players at that spot, but it appears that middle-six seems to be the consensus for forwards in that range. There are some high-end swings such as Ben Kindel or Ivan Ryabkin that carry some risk. Kindel’s being his size and tendency to slow down the play to his liking. Ryabkin being some perceived attitude issues.
The pressure appears to be on the Flames to solve their center depth issues. If pundits and fans alike could do things their way, the organization would trade up and solve it in one fell swoop.
Is that the right approach? Would giving up multiple picks destroy their odds of getting a good player?
Let’s start with worst case: there may be no greater example of this than the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Both for the Flames and two other teams.
All In on Ryan Murray
Per former HockeyBuzz writer and reporting for the Columbus Dispatch, Aaron Portzline, now of The Athletic, reported in 2014 that the New York Islanders offered every pick they had in 2012 in order to move up from #4 to #2. Seven picks in total.
Courtesy of Elite Prospects.
The idea was to move up from where they expected Griffin Reinhart to land and pick Ryan Murray at #2. Both defencemen. Determined to solve their blue line, Islanders Genral Manager Garth Snow used all seven picks on defencemen that year.
A wild ride of an offer, and it may be even more heartbreaking that Columbus declined.
Adam Pelech in the third was a bigger hit for the Islanders than Murray or Reinhart, and at 560 games played, has a greater NHL resume than Murray (445) and Reinhart (37) combined.
More importantly, that draft was absolutely loaded with defencemen. 22 blue line picks from that year went on to play +450 NHL regular season games.
Jacob Slavin at #120 in round four was the steal of the draft, but Morgan Reilly is a close second when it comes to best career to date. The 13-season Maple Leaf was available one pick later at #5. Que Sera.
Just because Columbus bailed Snow out and declined, does not mean we can’t circle back and gasp at the horror of what could have been.
For fun, here are the defencemen Columbus could have selected if they moved down two spots and both theirs and Garth’s picks (4, 31, 34, 62, 65, 95, 103, 125, 152, 155, 182 and 185) at their disposal.
Morgan Reilly (4)
Jake McCabe (31)
Coilton Parayko (34)
Adam Pelech (62)
Shayne Gostisbehere (65)
Brett Kulak (95)
Jacob Slavin (103)
Colin Miller (125)
Matt Benning (152)
Christian Djoos (155)
Joakim Ryan (182)
Jacob Megna (185)
Every single one of those selections played more games than Reinhart’s 37. 21 defencemen from that draft year played more games than Ryan Murray’s 445.
That example was hyperbolic and egregious. Recent history has also shown us that the Flames are more inclined to trade down than up. Conroy’s sole draft day adjustment was moving #107 to Philly (Heikki Ruohonen) in exchange for #150 (Luke Misa) and #177 (Eric Jaimeson,) but he’s been on staff for some move-downs under former GM Brad Treliving and even a stinker under Jay Feaster before that.
Bless This Mess
The elephant at the end there is from the same draft year as the Islanders debacle; 2012. The Flames moved down from #14 to #21 in exchange for an extra second round pick. What could have been Tom Wilson, Andrei Vasilevsky, or Tomas Hertl was Mark Jankowski and Patrick Seiloff.
Jankowski played three seasons with the Flames before moving on. Most recently the Hamilton, Ontario product found success in Carolina with eight goals in 18 regular season games. Seiloff has had possibly the strangest career of any NHL washout. He’s played two games between Calgary and Ottawa and scored a goal in both of them. Despite that, his claim to fame is hitting Senators veteran David Clarkson from behind during a preseason scrimmage and having Bobby Ryan drop the gloves with him. Clarkson had a series of concussion issues keeping him from regular deployment.
(Footage not found)
If the Jankowski Event was a lesson, we’re not sure what next regime learned from it.
Brad Gives It a Try
Brad Treliving took six drafts before making his first draft day pick swap. The now Maple Leafs GM moved down in 2020 from #19 to #22 to #24 in exchange for two extra third round picks from New York and Washington respectively.
The Flames ended up drafting Connor Zary (#24), Jeremie Poirier (#72) and Jake Boltmann (#80) for their troubles.
For fun, would you trade those three for any of the picks made from 19-23?
Courtesy of HockeyDB.
Trader Darryl
In the words of Logan Roy: “I don’t do ancient history.”
With that said, let’s do a quick rundown of Darryl Sutter’s approach to moving around the draft. He liked doing it a lot more than the managers that followed.
His first trade was even a trade down and the first we’ll talk about in the article.
The 2003 NHL Entry Draft saw San Jose get a second from Calgary that turned into Matt Carle, a defenceman who dressed for 730 regular season and 127 postseason games.
In return? The Flames got a third and two fifths. The three selections played a combined 10 games of NHL hockey. Greg Moore played all ten of them.
You can’t win ‘em all. Let’s elaborate on that.
History Repeats Itself Itself Itself
Interestingly enough, both Darryl Sutter and Brad Treliving moved from pick #19 to #24. Both times it was New York acquiring #19.
In 2004, the Flames GM moved down and eventually selected Kris Chucko while picking up an extra second. Fans don’t currently love the memory.
Darryl then moved the acquired second to Columbus for two thirds; which kind of worked out.
Columbus took Adam Pineault with the second. Three NHL games played. With the thirds, Calgary selected Brandon Prust and Dustin Boyd. Here’s how the players in the deals broke down in terms of NHL games played.
To NYR
#19: Lauri Korpikowski – 609 GP
To CLB
#46: Adam Pineault – 3 GP
To CGY
#24: Kris Chucko – 2 G
#70: Brandon Prust – 486 GP
#90: Dustin Boyd – 220 GP
You can decide for yourself whether you would rather have Brandon Prust or Lauri Korpikowski, but it’s worth noting that Andrei Mezaros, Travis Zajak and Wojtek Wolski were selected between #19 and #24.
Tough Deal
Darryl went the other way the following draft in 2005, moving up from #87 to #74 in exchange for an extra fourth round pick to the Sabres.
Buffalo selected Marc Andre Gragnani and Chris Butler. Calgary selected offensively gifted winger Dan Ryder.
The brother of Michael Ryder, Dan’s story is a tough one. If you’re interested, go for it.
Would you be astounded if I told you that the Flames traded down to #24 three ******* times? Well buckle up, because this is their finest.
Forever Home
This one is thankfully not involving the 19th overall pick. Darryl did us all a favour in 2007 and traded the 18th overall pick to move down to—24th—and select longtime fan favourite and current Flames captain Mikael Backlund.
Finally, a defined win!
St. Louis selected rugged defenceman Ian Cole, who has had a fine career, but doesn’t compare to the value Backlund has brought over 1066 NHL regular season games. The extra third brought in defenceman John Negrin, who only played three NHL games, but concluded a respectable career in 2020.
Getting Their Guy
Darryl must have realized that the Flames need to trade down a little more than once in this entire article and moved two fifths to draft Mickey Renaud and two sixths to draft Keith Aulie on Day Two of 2007.
Aulie was included in the Dion Phaneuf trade in the last-second of negotiations and Renaud tragically passed away in February 2008.
The Windsor Spitfires retired Renaud’s number 18 on September 25, 2008, and the OHL introduced the Mickey Renaud Captain’s Trophy in 2009. Per the OHL, the award is given to "the OHL team captain that best exemplifies leadership on and off the ice, with a passion and dedication to the game of hockey and his community" as was demonstrated by Renaud throughout his OHL career.
Darryl made one more day of it during his time making trades for the Calgary Flames. Thankfully, it didn’t involve moving down to #24.
One Last Time
On June 26, 2009, the Flames moved pick #20 in exchange for pick #23 and an extra third.
Gotcha.
New Jersey selected center Jacob Josefson, who really loved the New York area, and Calgary drafted defenceman Tim Erixon, who really loved the New York area.
Josefson played eight seasons between New Jersey and Buffalo, and Erixon refused to sign with Calgary in the last minute, opting to play in New York where his dad played.
“For me, I had just finished playing,” said current Flames General Manager Craig Conroy back in 2014 when he was an assistant. “I couldn’t believe it. I’m like, ‘Really?’ I couldn’t figure out why. I understand why he wanted to go to New York. It was shocking. Calgary’s an unbelievable city, you’re in a hockey market. We really liked him, and Jay made it clear he was going to play in the NHL. Or go back to Sweden. We gave him everything he wanted.”
here was an uncomfortable level of collusion. Thankfully, that didn’t ever happen again.
This picture of Adam Fox is probably AI.
The Erixon deal worked out in the long run. Tim wasn’t a fit in New York and played only one season before being included in a deal that sent him to Columbus along with Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon, and a 2013 first-round draft pick to Columbus in exchange for Rick Nash, Steven Delisle, and a 2013 third-round pick.
The Flames got center prospect Roman Horak and two second-round picks in 2011 for Tim “Not the Centerpiece” Erixon. The picks turned into Markus Granlund and Tyler Wotherspoon.
A fun fact, Adam Fox, who famously really loved the New York area, was coincidentally also traded to New York in a deal that involved two second round picks. Carolina got a second in 2019 and 2020 in exchange for the future Norris Trophy winning defenceman.
Not that they used Erixon’s deal as precedent. No way, but they might have figured that the Horak-level prospect made the deal an overpay last time around.
We Get It
Back to the Erixon deal. The third that the Flames received ended up turning into Nicolas Deslaurier who, at 677 games played, has dressed for more games than Erixon and Josefson combined. He remains a fan favourite enforcer in Philadelphia.
Unfortunately for the Flames, they didn’t make that pick.
They dealt Deslaurier’s pick and a fourth to move up in the third round and draft Ryan Howse, who played a total of 81 pro games between the AHL, ECHL, and North PHL following his CHL career. He did have a 51-goal season in his final year of Dub hockey, which generated a good amount of hype.
Looking Forward
What can we take from this? Should Conroy consider moving down from #18 to #24? It would certainly be on brand.
The Flames are arguably 1-2-5 on draft day pick swaps; Backlund being the only clear winner, and the majority being either harsh life circumstances or too early to call such as the Zary or Misa deals. A lot of cases seem to be that the Flames lose on the first round pick they move down to, but make it up by beating the odds later in the draft.
Perhaps the conclusion is that moving from the late 10’s to the early 20’s doesn’t move the needle enough to make a tangible difference over the long term. Moving down the third or moving down the fourth still ultimately lands a player that 29-31 other teams have passed on twice over.
Time will tell what Conroy does. This writer would like to see the Flames land defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson, who is equal parts rugged and skilled with the puck. If it required their second round pick this year?
Courtesy of Elite Prospects. 
Courtesy of HockeyDB. 
This picture of Adam Fox is probably AI. 
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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