2025 NHL Draft Thread

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Pronman has the Flames taking Cole Reschny at 18 and Malcolm Spence at 22 in his mock.

Top 5:
1. Schaefer
2. Misa
3. Desnoyers
4. Hagens
5. Frondell

I don't think he has Ryabkin in the first round at all.

If the Flames can take a swing on Ryabkin in the second round, sign me up. Its a gamble though. Hopefully they have a good sense of other teams' lists.

[Roof-Daddy]

My left eye starts twitching when I see mocks that have the Flames taking wingers.

[Funkhouser]

Originally Posted by DuckSauce

Tell me more about Zannon.. I feel like he is a bit of a forgotten man in the mix of who is likely to be available around our picks. I have seen mixed information about whether he is LW or C.

I understand he played C this year, and was a winger in prior years. I think he projects more as a winger.
His frame has room to grow and he has wheels despite having an awkward stride. I think he has upside to be a middle six fwd.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

My left eye starts twitching when I see mocks that have the Flames taking wingers.

yeah I saw one mock with them taking their 'future PP QB on D' with the 18th pick and followed up with a winger

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

My left eye starts twitching when I see mocks that have the Flames taking wingers.

Agreed. C or bust. Organizational need needs to override BPA at this point.

Hopefully a deal can be made with a team that also needs to prioritize organizational need (Sharks, Sabres) to get the Flames a better C option than we are looking at in our current draft spots. But if not, we still need to take the best Cs available with the most boom potential.

[devo22]

Zonnon is listed as LW everywhere, but he's played C almost exclusively this year. Would be a sneaky good pick in the latter part of the 1st round, I think.

[Wastedyouth]

I'd take Kashawn Aitcheson is he was there at our pick. He is very projectable as an impact D man at the NHL level.

In my opinion.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

I'd take Kashawn Aitcheson is he was there at our pick. He is very projectable as an impact D man at the NHL level.

In my opinion.

question is whether his offense translates or not. But yeah, at worst he's pain in the ass second pairing defenseman. One of my favourites in this class.

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by devo22

question is whether his offense translates or not. But yeah, at worst he's pain in the ass second pairing defenseman. One of my favourites in this class.

Lead his team in scoring and had 65% of his points be even strength. On a team with some talent, I would guess he would be rivalling Mews if not better in his draft year. My guess is his offence will translate well. He also has a rocket of a shot. And very physical.

Big fan.

[Ba'alzamon]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

Lead his team in scoring and had 65% of his points be even strength. On a team with some talent, I would guess he would be rivalling Mews if not better in his draft year. My guess is his offence will translate well. He also has a rocket of a shot. And very physical.

Big fan.

He's good, but that goal/assist ratio is suspicious for a defenseman. Especially one that doesn't shoot very much and who doesn't have a history of scoring a lot of goals. His assist total also basically stayed flat, and he barely shot more than he did last year as well.

For reference, he shot over 15.6% this year. Parekh shot 13.5%. Do you think Aitcheson is a better goal scorer than Parekh?

[Tbull8]

Alright I'm sold on Zonnon, looks like he's gonna be a solid middle sixer with quite a bit of room to grow into his frame

[Bonded]

Reschny or Ryabkin would be great swings

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by Ba'alzamon

He's good, but that goal/assist ratio is suspicious for a defenseman. Especially one that doesn't shoot very much and who doesn't have a history of scoring a lot of goals. His assist total also basically stayed flat, and he barely shot more than he did last year as well.

For reference, he shot over 15.6% this year. Parekh shot 13.5%. Do you think Aitcheson is a better goal scorer than Parekh?

9th most shots in the league for a Dman. He shoots a lot. Especially on a team that generates so little offence. He increased his shot rate by almost 40%.

No, he's no Parekh, but then again I think long term we might not have seen a Parekh at this level for a long long time. He's a special breed. Kashawn has a rocket of a slap shot. Kinda Phaneufian. Which will ebb and flow for success with his shooting percentages.

The key thing is though, he is generating this offence while being a very staunch physical and defensive presence on a team severely lacking it.

That being said I am not advocating for a mid teens pick, but i think of draft eligibles in the 20s, he has the highest floor of all Dmen.

Flames still need some impact defense guys to go with all these Dingers

Older profile of him, but one I liked.

https://www.recruitscouting.com/2025...awn-aitcheson/

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/pu...orce-of-nature

[Wastedyouth]

Wonder if the Flames might target Epperson in the 3rd round?

Re-entry kid, but a rookie in the OHL and took a massive step this year.

[Caged Great]

The Flames need to use 3 or 4 of their 4 picks in the top 3 rounds on centers. We simply don’t “need” defensemen or wingers with any urgency like we do with centers.

I would not be sad if all the picks were centers even.
Similarly, would not be disappointed to trade down a bit to get more picks depending on the situation either.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

The Flames need to use 3 or 4 of their 4 picks in the top 3 rounds on centers. We simply don’t “need” defensemen or wingers with any urgency like we do with centers.

I would not be sad if all the picks were centers even.
Similarly, would not be disappointed to trade down a bit to get more picks depending on the situation either.

Yup. Even if they pick 7 Cs, it will still be the weakest position in the organization.

[stemit14]

What is concerning is that Montreal has been known to draft high upside players with their later picks (i.e. picks outside the top 10) and they are a team that is deep at the wings and at defence just like the flames. They likely will be looking for skilled centers out of this draft as well. Which sucks because the most likely draft order right now is:

16th overall: Montreal (from Monahan trade)
17th overall: Montreal (their own pick)
18th overall: Calgary (from Markstrom trade)

I could absolutely see Montreal taking the two centers with the highest offensive upside with those two picks. Which could be very frustrating.

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by stemit14

What is concerning is that Montreal has been known to draft high upside players with their later picks (i.e. picks outside the top 10) and they are a team that is deep at the wings and at defence just like the flames. They likely will be looking for skilled centers out of this draft as well. Which sucks because the most likely draft order right now is:

16th overall: Montreal (from Monahan trade)
17th overall: Montreal (their own pick)
18th overall: Calgary (from Markstrom trade)

I could absolutely see Montreal taking the two centers with the highest offensive upside with those two picks. Which could be very frustrating.

Why? You couldn't have prevented it from happening and nothing you do or say affects the outcome. Why would you allow yourself to be frustrated over it?

[YyjFlames]

Originally Posted by stemit14

What is concerning is that Montreal has been known to draft high upside players with their later picks (i.e. picks outside the top 10) and they are a team that is deep at the wings and at defence just like the flames. They likely will be looking for skilled centers out of this draft as well. Which sucks because the most likely draft order right now is:

16th overall: Montreal (from Monahan trade)
17th overall: Montreal (their own pick)
18th overall: Calgary (from Markstrom trade)

I could absolutely see Montreal taking the two centers with the highest offensive upside with those two picks. Which could be very frustrating.

They've got Michael Hage, Owen Beck and Oliver Kapanen in their system.

I suspect they'll grab at least one centre b/c it's a centre heavy draft, but they'll be picking best player available as they've got fairly good prospect balance.

I'd worry more about Columbus at 13 prioritizing a centre on that pick, even though it's not a position of need, but if they think the teams in between their picks at 13 and 20 will reach for centres regardless, leaving them a better winger or defender at 20... but I also think they'll just prioritize BPA.

Really, though, I'm not too worried about Calgary not getting a decent centre prospect or two out of the first couple of rounds of this draft. There are a lot of decent prospects. I am only worried that they won't get a shot at Reschny, because he looks special to me, and I want to watch Calgary's future top prospect a dozen or so times a year before he goes pro.

[stemit14]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

Why? You couldn't have prevented it from happening and nothing you do or say affects the outcome. Why would you allow yourself to be frustrated over it?

It can happen in any draft… I would be frustrated if the player I want the flames to pick is taken a pick or two before they are on the clock. Just a typical fan reaction I think.

That’s not to say it couldn’t still work out for the flames. Projecting these picks into the future is tough - especially outside the top 10. The flames could end up with the better player anyways. Great example is last year... I really wanted Tij Iginla with the flames pick and was frustrated that he went to Utah. But 1 year later and I’m very excited that they got Parekh. Would still love for them to get Tij somehow but not at the expense of having Parekh.