Team: Calgary Flames
GM: Jay Feaster
First-round pick: 14
Number of picks: Seven. Round 1 (14), 3 (75), 4 (105), 5 (122), 6 (165), 7 (186), 7 (195)
Recent first-round picks: LW Sven Baertschi (2011, 13th), D Tim Erixon (2009, 23rd), C/RW Greg Nemisz (2008, 25th), C Mikael Backlund (2007, 24th), G Leland Irving (2006, 26th)
Team needs: Jay Feaster has a top-15 pick for the second straight year and after a late push from last year’s No. 13 overall selection Sven Baertschi, it will be intriguing to see what direction the Flames’ GM goes this time around.
With a multitude of aging veterans, Calgary needs to employ an abundance of young, scoring forwards (preferably a centre) who can help rejuvenate a Flames offence that finished deadlocked with the Columbus Blue Jackets for 27th in the NHL in scoring last season.
While goaltending remains a strength with the resurgence of Miikka Kiprusoff, there is plenty of room for improvement on a blue-line that would undoubtedly benefit from a speedy, puck-moving defenceman that can help the forwards’ seemingly difficult task of putting pucks in the net.
Feaster faces the daunting task of deciding which will be more beneficial towards the future success of the franchise — using the No. 14 pick on a forward or defenceman prospect.
Likely first-round target: Olli Maatta, D, London Knights
Maatta is a defenceman with a solid stature and very good overall skills, though he is best suited to play a defensive-minded game. He has poise and patience with the puck and his positional play, as well as overall hockey sense, may be his strongest selling points thus far. While he does bring a big-body presence, he prefers to play the body only in situations that enable him to strip the puck from the opposition; making him a solid pick for the Flames, should he still be around at No. 14.
Other options: On a team that has a number of issues to address without a second-round pick, defencemen such as Derrick Pouliot of the Portland Winterhawks or Edmonton Oil Kings’ Griffin Reinhart could be perfect fits, both with ties to some of the young prospects already in the Flames’ system.
Reinhart also has NHL bloodlines tied to Calgary, as his father Paul played for the team throughout the 1980s. Reinhart has been heavily scouted by the Flames, who have already signed his brother Max.
Great moments in draft history: Looking back at the 1989 Stanley Cup-winning Flames, it was unquestionably the picks GM Cliff Fletcher made five years earlier that laid the groundwork for the team’s eventual success.
In 1984, Fletcher drafted Gary Roberts with Calgary’s first-round pick and Gary Suter with the ninth. Both players went on to be integral pieces of that Cup-winning team.
The club also found a hidden gem in the sixth-round. Calgary selected a high-scoring kid from the British Columbia Junior Hockey League by the name of Brett Hull. While his stay in Calgary was short, Hull went on to play 1,269 games in the NHL, scoring 741 goals and 650 assists for a combined total of 1,391 points.
A steal at No. 14: In 1992 the Washington Capitals chose wisely with their 14th overall pick, selecting Russian defenceman Sergei Gonchar from Traktor Chelyabinsk. Gonchar turned out to be a rock on the Capitals’ blue line for the entirety of his decade-long tenure in Washington, which lasted from 1994-2004.
In 2004, Gonchar was traded to the Boston Bruins for Shaone Morrisonn and two draft picks.
Following the 2004-05 NHL lockout, Gonchar signed a five-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins where he helped lead the team to the Stanley Cup final in 2008, before finally grasping the hardware in 2009 over the Detroit Red Wings.
The 38-year-old Gonchar is still making his presence felt in the NHL as a member of the Ottawa Senators.
Sportsnet says: "There was a time when the Flames were well stocked in big, drafted defencemen, but that was before Tim Erixon refused to sign in Calgary and Keith Aulie was dealt to Toronto in the Dion Phaneuf trade.
Now, with the 14th overall selection in a draft deep in defencemen, the Flames have a chance to recoup.
With no second-round pick (traded to Buffalo in the Robyn Regehr deal) the Flames would be thrilled if the 11th-ranked North American skater — Red Deer’s Mathew Dumba — were available when their turn comes on Friday night." – Mark Spector
