2023 NHL Draft Thread

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I suddenly had the urge to go down the rabbit hole of past Flames picks that had some hype to them but eventually vanished into nothing and… wow… that was more depressing than I thought.

From wondering what Parsons is up to this year after bailing on the team, to Irving unsuccesfully slogging away in Europe, to Howse becoming a scout for some minor minor league team, to Chucko becoming a banker…

Being a draft pick that doesn’t meet expectations must be a weird life.

I know he had a reasonably long / decent NHL career, but this still made me chuckle:

https://www.remax.com/real-estate-ag...e-az/102025062

[devo22]

ROUND 1

2014 # 4 C Sam Bennett
2016 # 6 L Matthew Tkachuk
2017 #16 D Juuso Valimaki
2019 #26 L Jakob Pelletier
2020 #24 C Connor Zary
2021 #13 R Matt Coronato

ROUND 2

2014 #34 G Mason McDonald
2014 #54 R Hunter Smith
2015 #53 D Rasmus Andersson
2015 #60 D Oliver Kylington
2016 #54 G Tyler Parsons
2016 #56 C Dillon Dube
2020 #50 D Yan Kuznetsov
2021 #45 L William Strömgren
2022 #59 C Toppi Rönni

ROUND 3

2014 #64 D Brandon Hickey
2016 #66 D Adam Fox
2019 #88 C Ilya Nikolaev
2020 #72 D Jeremie Poirier
2020 #80 D Jake Boltmann
2021 #77 C Cole Huckins
2021 #89 D Cameron Whynot

ROUND 4

2016 # 96 C Linus Lindstrom
2017 #109 C Adam Ruzicka
2018 #105 C Martin Pospisil
2018 #108 L Demetrios Koumontzis
2018 #122 C Milos Roman
2019 #116 L Lucas Feuk
2020 # 96 G Daniil Chechelev

ROUND 5

2015 #136 L Pavel Karnaukhov
2016 #126 C Mitchell Mattson
2017 #140 R Zach Fischer
2019 #150 C Josh Nodler
2020 #143 C Ryan Francis
2021 #141 D Cole Jordan
2022 #155 L Parker Bell

ROUND 6

2014 #175 D Adam Ollas-Mattsson
2015 #166 L Andrew Mangiapane
2016 #156 R Eetu Tuulola
2016 #166 C Matthew Phillips
2017 #171 C D'Artagnan Joly
2018 #167 C Emilio Pettersen
2020 #174 C Rory Kerins
2021 #168 L Jack Beck
2021 #173 L Lucas Ciona

ROUND 7

2014 #184 R Austin Carroll
2015 #196 D Riley Bruce
2016 #186 D Stepan Falkovsky
2017 #202 L Filip Sveningsson
2018 #198 L Dmitry Zavgorodniy
2019 #214 G Dustin Wolf
2020 #205 D Ilya Solovyov
2021 #205 G Arseni Sergeev
2022 #219 C Cade Littler

-----

certainly not a lot of tendencies that jump right at you. They do seem to love defensemen in round 3 (5 out of 7 picks) and forwards in rounds 4 and 5 (6 out of 7 picks each). Forward positions are obviously up for debate, I took the one listed on hockeydb.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

I know he had a reasonably long / decent NHL career, but this still made me chuckle:

https://www.remax.com/real-estate-ag...e-az/102025062

I seem to recall other ex-NHLer getting into the realty racket after their playing days. I don't think it's a bad gig to get into and good for him staying busy and going for a second career.

[Hockey-and_stuff]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

What would interest me is what positions they are picking with 1st rounders.

Obviously, you take BPA. But when there are options, I would favour Cs in the first round, Ds in the 2nd round, and wide open the rest of the way. With one random goalie at least every other year.

In the same period:

3 Wingers (Coronato, Tkachuk, Pelletier)
2 Centers (Bennett, Zary)
1 Defenseman (Valimaki)

Only 6 draft picks in 9 years, with half of them being wingers. The sample is likely too small to make any inferences on draft bias with such a small data set.

[Samonadreau]

^The 2 seasons before were Centers in round 1 as well. Monahan and Jankowski

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Hockey-and_stuff

In the same period:

3 Wingers (Coronato, Tkachuk, Pelletier)
2 Centers (Bennett, Zary)
1 Defenseman (Valimaki)

Only 6 draft picks in 9 years, with half of them being wingers. The sample is likely too small to make any inferences on draft bias with such a small data set.

2 of the picks were moved for D-Men too though (Hamonic, and Hamilton), so think you have to consider that as well.

I still feel like 1st and two 2nds for Hamonic remains Treliving's worst move as a GM. So much draft capital for a non-impact player that was already older than the rest of the core of the team.

[Hockey-and_stuff]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

^The 2 seasons before were Centers in round 1 as well. Monahan and Jankowski

Yes. I mentioned it on a different post, but I only included draft picks since Treliving was the GM.

You are correct that we took two additional centers the years prior to that, but I didn't include those years in my original post looking at draft picks under Treliving.

[Hockey-and_stuff]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

2 of the picks were moved for D-Men too though (Hamonic, and Hamilton), so think you have to consider that as well.

I still feel like 1st and two 2nds for Hamonic remains Treliving's worst move as a GM. So much draft capital for a non-impact player that was already older than the rest of the core of the team.

That's just the draft history, with no thought or reference given to what the Flames did with picks that were moved. I think that's another discussion.

I was just looking at the teams most recent draft picks to see if there was any bias toward Centers or Wingers as Freeway said. From looking at the most recent picks, it's essentially even across the current tenure of the FO.

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

2 of the picks were moved for D-Men too though (Hamonic, and Hamilton), so think you have to consider that as well.

I still feel like 1st and two 2nds for Hamonic remains Treliving's worst move as a GM. So much draft capital for a non-impact player that was already older than the rest of the core of the team.

Agreed, especially when you look at who was taken shortly after.

Barzal
Connor
Chabot
Erikson Ek
Boeser
Konecny.

Among others.

[Mass_nerder]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

Agreed, especially when you look at who was taken shortly after.

Barzal
Connor
Chabot
Erikson Ek
Boeser
Konecny.

Among others.

Those guys were all from the 2015 draft; I think we got good value for the Hamilton trade.
The Harmonic trade we missed out on Dobson, but after that there weren't a lot of guys that are big impact players (yet at least). Still the worst trade from Tre though.

[dustygoon]

Nice list Devo. Thanks!

I like our 6th and 7th rounds better than the 4th and 5th rounds. Wonder why that is. Perhaps something similar to how Gaudreau and Kucherov were not really ranked by Calgary but held on a special side list to be picked in later rounds. Maybe some voices in draft room stronger than others? Gut feel used on later rounds perhaps?

[Ashes]

I know there's a big divide between fans wanting the team to tank and fans wanting them to try run the table and squeek into the playoffs. But I think it's worth highlighting some of the players that will likely be available in the 14-20 range - let's be honest that seems the most likely draft spot for the Flames:

Matthew Wood, ranked at #18, guy is a 6'3 point per game rookie in the NCAA, Right Shot, RW, raised in Lethbridge.

Brayden Yager, ranked at #16, he's a Right Shot Center playing in the WHL, 70 points in 61 games so far, and some very solid scouting reports like this one from Bob Mackenzie: "The Moose Jaw Warrior centre has all the tools to be a well-rounded No. 1, at worst high-end No. 2, NHL centre who can impact the game in every way — offensively, defensively, goal scoring and playmaking"

Andrew Cristall ranked #10 by some, and ranked around #20 by others. He's a 5'10 and 165 pounds so definitely a smaller skilled option at LW but his scouting reports sound like a Gaudreau comparable - pass first guy with elite playmaking capabilities. Playing in Kelowna right now with 77 points (34 goals) in 45 games in the WHL.

There's many more prospects to highlight and I'm sure the summer is the best time to really get into all of it, but it gives me a bit more hope that the Flames will be basically guaranteed to get a high quality player wherever they draft this summer. So hopefully this helps some others that are struggling with the mediocrity of the Flames this season!

Since it's such a forward heavy draft though I would hope that they prioritize drafting a Center above all else and if Yager is available I'd be very happy to add him to the prospect pool.

[the-rasta-masta]

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

Those guys were all from the 2015 draft; I think we got good value for the Hamilton trade.
The Harmonic trade we missed out on Dobson, but after that there weren't a lot of guys that are big impact players (yet at least). Still the worst trade from Tre though.

Definitely turned out to be a horrible trade, with hindsight (and that hindsight was apparent pretty quickly after the trade). At the time though, it seemed like a great deal for a young well respected player in Hamonic. Many here were ecstatic. Perhaps a slight overpay but seemed like a great trade at the time.

[Robbob]

So with this draft, where are the perceived ledges? The talk has been for a while the draft is deep, how deep are we talking?

Are we talking something like:
Bedard at the top
3-4 players in the 2nd tier (would be 1st tier if not for Bedard)
half a dozen or so players in the 3rd?

Is the sweet spot around 11 or twelve before there is a noticeable drop?

[Bingo Jr.]

Originally Posted by Robbob

So with this draft, where are the perceived ledges? The talk has been for a while the draft is deep, how deep are we talking?

Are we talking something like:
Bedard at the top
3-4 players in the 2nd tier (would be 1st tier if not for Bedard)
half a dozen or so players in the 3rd?

Is the sweet spot around 11 or twelve before there is a noticeable drop?

I keep seeing a clear cut Top 7, then 7-20 being preferential picks.

Top 7 would be: Bedard, Michkov, Fantilli, Sale, Benson, Carlsson, Smith.

But again, draft is so deep it's not going to pan out anywhere near what we project.

[SuperMatt18]

Bedard

Fantilli
Michkov
Carlsson
Smith
Benson

I think those are the top two tiers and probably the top 5-6 of the draft.

Honestly after that though I feel like there is a lot of variation from like 7-20 in every different list.

I'm actually not sure how huge the difference between say 10-15 is going to be in this draft.

Very similar to 2015 in that regard actually where good players are going to be available throughout the first round - just have to make the right picks.

[Paulie Walnuts]

How many players outside Bedard are ready to be plugged in next season and make a difference ?

[genetic_phreek]

I'd like to snag Oilver Moore this year. He's a burner, we need a true speedster and he has dangles.

Not a Rico Fata.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I seem to recall other ex-NHLer getting into the realty racket after their playing days. I don't think it's a bad gig to get into and good for him staying busy and going for a second career.

https://www.macounrealestate.com

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Robbob

So with this draft, where are the perceived ledges? The talk has been for a while the draft is deep, how deep are we talking?

Are we talking something like:
Bedard at the top
3-4 players in the 2nd tier (would be 1st tier if not for Bedard)
half a dozen or so players in the 3rd?

Is the sweet spot around 11 or twelve before there is a noticeable drop?

Ledges:
#1
#2-4
#5-8ish
9-15ish