Dallas Stars fans shouldn’t be the only ones waking up and cursing the St. Louis Blues today.
By virtue of the Stars’ 6-1 loss to St. Louis in Wednesday’s Game 7, the Calgary Flames lost out on a first-round draft pick.
In February’s deadline trade that sent defenceman Kris Russell to Dallas, Calgary received defenceman Jyrki Jokipakka, forward Brett Pollock, and a conditional second-round selection in the 2016 NHL Draft.
That condition? If Dallas had advanced to the Western Conference final and Russell played in at least half of the Stars’ playoff games (which he did), that second-rounder would have been upgraded to a first-rounder.
So it made sense that Flames fans were seen rooting for the Stars Wednesday night:
Were it not for the Blues, Calgary — which owns the sixth-overall pick — would have become the sixth team with two first-round selections at the draft this June.
Thanks to the Russell and Jiri Hudler (Florida) rental trades, the Flames now have a total of three picks in Round 2.