2026 NHL Draft Thread

[Royle9]

Stay away from the Q imo
Out of the 3 CHL leagues its the weakest, and while not always true, a large % of high scoring forwards from there almost never translate to pro success, its kind of wild.

[stemit14]

Originally Posted by Southside

There are a few teams that might be good targets for picking up an additional 1st round pick.

Carolina - Have the Dallas 1st and then nothing until the San Jose 4th. They might be interested in a move to acquire another pick or two.

Buffalo - Have their own 1st and then nothing until the Edmonton 4th. They too might be interested in a move to acquire another pick or two.

NY Islanders - Have their own 1st and then nothing until their own 4th.

Given the Flames hold four 2nds (two that will be early 2nds) and what will be two early 3rds, options to move up should be there.

Another one might be San Jose IMO but they are likely not looking for picks and could instead want good vets. I wonder what the cost would be to get the Oilers’ pick from them? There were rumours they were interested in Whitecloud. Not eager to trade him but if he could return the Oilers’ 1st (currently 17th overall), I would be intrigued.

[Tbull8]

Originally Posted by stemit14

Another one might be San Jose IMO but they are likely not looking for picks and could instead want good vets. I wonder what the cost would be to get the Oilers’ pick from them? There were rumours they were interested in Whitecloud. Not eager to trade him but if he could return the Oilers’ 1st (currently 17th overall), I would be intrigued.

Whitecloud and one of our early 2nds?

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Stay away from the Q imo
Out of the 3 CHL leagues its the weakest, and while not always true, a large % of high scoring forwards from there almost never translate to pro success, its kind of wild.

The Q and Finland.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Stay away from the Q imo
Out of the 3 CHL leagues its the weakest, and while not always true, a large % of high scoring forwards from there almost never translate to pro success, its kind of wild.

By and large agree with this but there are, obviously, exceptions.

If the Flames have the opportunity to draft Alexis Joseph next year, you would have to have a compelling argument to not do so.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

Coronato has been noticably worse this year than last. Sometimes these 1-year blips are nothing to worry about, but sometimes they're an indicator of regression. Let's see how/if he bounces back next year.

Funny I'd the say the opposite.

I see Coronato as better this year, minus some finishing luck. Better player driver. Seems faster, and way better metrics ... just not getting much puck luck.

Stats:

5 on 5 points
LY 1.27 / 60
TY 1.42 / 60
Up

Individual expected 5 on 5 goals
LY 0.65 / 60
TY 0.81 / 60
Up

Individual HD
LY 2.37 / 60
TY 3.1 / 60
Up

5 on 5 xGF60
LY 2.56
TY 2.69
Up

Shooting %
LY 10.56%
TY 6.06%
Down

And his PP production is way down despite his PP metrics being way up (HD 5.64 to 9.43 as an example).

This is a 35 goal guy with a tough luck season.

[Njord]

If other draft rankings are like Buttons newest draft rankings then the Flames don't have a hope getting the Ruck twins unless CC does some fancy manoeuvring

[Cheese]

Not sure if Buttons latest has been posted:

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/article/craig...ke-rapid-rise/


RK Player
Team Pos HT WT GP G P
1 Gavin McKenna Penn State (NCAA) LW 5′11 170 34 15 51
2 Carson Carels Prince George (WHL) D 6′1 ½ 189 58 20 73
3 Chase Reid Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) D 6′2 ¼ 188 45 18 48
4 Ivar Stenberg Frolunda (SHL) LW 5′11 183 43 11 33
5 Keaton Verhoeff North Dakota (NCAA) D 6′3 ½ 208 33 6 20
6 Viggo Bjorck Djurgårdens (SWE J20) C/RW 5′9 177 42 6 15
7 Alberts Smits Jokerit (SM Liiga) D 6′3 205 38 6 13
8 Daxon Rudolph Prince Albert (WHL) D 6′2 ¼ 206 68 28 78
9 Oliver Suvanto Tappara (SM Liiga Jr) C 6′2 ¾ 207 48 2 11
10 Liam Ruck Medicine Hat (WHL) RW 5′11 ¾ 176 68 45 104
11 Caleb Malhotra Brantford (OHL) C 6′1 ¼ 182 67 29 84
12 Markus Ruck Medicine Hat (WHL) C 5′11 ½ 167 68 21 108
13 Ethan Belchetz Windsor (OHL) LW 6′5 228 57 34 59
14 Elton Hermansson Modo (SWE J20) RW 6′1 181 38 11 21
15 Oscar Hemming K-Espoo (SM Liiga Jr) LW 6′3 ½ 193 19 1 8
16 Alexander Command Orebro (SWE J20) C 6′1 183 30 17 44
17 Tynan Lawrence Boston U (NCAA) C 6′0 ½ 185 18 2 7
18 Juho Piiparinen Tappara (SM Liiga Jr) D 6′1 201 29 0 3
19 Egor Shilov Victoriaville (QMJHL) C 6′0 ½ 177 63 32 82
20 Nikita Klepov Saginaw (OHL) RW 5′11 ½ 178 67 37 97

[Tbull8]

Assuming we dont end up winning the lottery, I think Carels might be my guy at 3/4 now. Any lower than 4 and I lean Bjorck/Malhotra

[Tacoman]

Lawrence at 17 is interesting.

[Tbull8]

Originally Posted by Tacoman

Lawrence at 17 is interesting.

Imagine he falls to wherever the Vegas pick ends up. Would be a run to the podium moment

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Tacoman

Lawrence at 17 is interesting.

See, that's a spot I don't mind us picking him at with the VGK pick. He's a project, gonna need a lot of development time. But if he truly panned out to be a top 6 C/LW in the future, then he would be breaking out into the league at around the time I hope we are started to make playoff pushes.

[mile]

Read on HF that Carels might play for UND next season

Would be cool to see him and Reschny tear it up together

[Tbull8]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

See, that's a spot I don't mind us picking him at with the VGK pick. He's a project, gonna need a lot of development time. But if he truly panned out to be a top 6 C/LW in the future, then he would be breaking out into the league at around the time I hope we are started to make playoff pushes.

I think I'd be excited with him as high as 11. There were rumors around the Flames being very high on him earlier in the year, so I could even see him being a move up target using the Vegas 1st and other picks

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Tbull8

I think I'd be excited with him as high as 11. There were rumors around the Flames being very high on him earlier in the year, so I could even see him being a move up target using the Vegas 1st and other picks

I have hope that with his low production as a very young collegiate athlete, that he drops a little and then pops off once selected with the VGK pick.

[Five-hole]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

See, that's a spot I don't mind us picking him at with the VGK pick. He's a project, gonna need a lot of development time. But if he truly panned out to be a top 6 C/LW in the future, then he would be breaking out into the league at around the time I hope we are started to make playoff pushes.

Carels with our pick (assuming we're not top 2) and Lawrence with the VGK pick would be an absolute home run.

[Sandman]

Carels had 32 points in his last 20 games.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Sandman

Carels had 32 points in his last 20 games.

And four days younger than an already young Verhoeff.

[cral12]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Stay away from the Q imo
Out of the 3 CHL leagues its the weakest, and while not always true, a large % of high scoring forwards from there almost never translate to pro success, its kind of wild.

Unless it's a lad drafted out of the USHL and spends a season in the Q in his D + 1 yr. The Gridin Exception.

[looooob]

https://bestest-goodest-nhl-draft-simulator.base44.app/


I think this is a new sim tool (sorry if old news) from scouching, which I found pretty fun, you can fiddle with things, like how much deviation from norm the sim picks go etc, anyways tried it once, Flames went 5 after the lottery. I was just throwing darts by some of the 3rd and 4th round picks- the Rucks (and I'm not on a singular Ruck train) remain undervalued in the listing here and were there for the taking at 35 and 36, there was however a run on players I really wanted between 36 and 50


5 Carels
18 Morozov
35 L Ruck
36 M Ruck
50 Valentini
52 Galvas
65 Edwards
68 Amrhein
100 Nycz