CALGARY — There may not be a better fit in this entire NHL Draft than the one the Calgary Flames made Friday night.
A genuine cowboy is coming to Cowboy Country.
As the city that throws the world's biggest celebration of western heritage every July prepared to welcome its newest first-round pick, Carson Carels wasn't slipping on a tailored suit or working a red carpet.
He was wearing a striped farmer's shirt, jeans, cowboy boots and a belt buckle big enough to eat supper off of. The buckle read: DRAFT. A gift from his parents.
Instead of a stage front interview at KeyBank Center, the newest Flame addressed reporters over Zoom from a tent pitched on the family farm in Cypress River, Manitoba.
Population? About 50.
Actually, maybe a few more as word spread across the plains west of Winnipeg.
"I think there's over 50 people now, but we're kind of going to see how the night goes, because we kind of opened it up to whoever wants to come," Carels laughed, minutes after being drafted sixth overall by the Flames Friday.
"There's a lot of cars pulling in."
Behind him were family, friends, neighbours, cows, goats and enough prairie authenticity to make every Calgary Stampede executive smile.
Carels didn't come from a hockey factory.
He came from a cattle farm.
And if the Flames truly are trying to build an identity around being harder to play against, finding players with character before flash, it's difficult to script a better fit.
The six-foot-two, 198-pound left-shot defenceman put up eye-popping offensive numbers this season with the Prince George Cougars, scoring 20 goals and adding 53 assists in 58 games. But nobody talks about him strictly as an offensive defenceman.
Carels doesn't either.
"I'd say I'm a really two-way defenceman," said the slick-skating, hard-hitting defenceman.
"I take a lot of pride in defending and don't really sacrifice the defence for the offence. I'm a guy that's playing both ends of the ice, and I think I kind of have that extra physical nature to my game. Obviously Calgary is a little harder team to play against, and that's kind of the identity of me."
The Flames continue stockpiling young blueliners, adding Carels to a prospect pool that already includes his world junior teammate, Zayne Parekh.
"Obviously Calgary, it’s in Canada, and it's pretty close to home as well," said Carels, who said he hopes to mosey on over to his first Calgary Stampede next month.
"It's a good spot to play, and I think just with Zayne there right now too, it kind of helps.
"Yeah, I mean, all I see is kind of up. I think everything that they've done... just being a part of that is going to be amazing."
He'll spend next season at the University of North Dakota, less than four hours from home, alongside another World Junior teammate, Cole Reschny, who also happens to be a Flames first-rounder.
As the Flames confirmed during a half-hour combine interview, in which Carels said they spoke non-stop about the farm, what makes Carels different isn't simply his game.
It's the perspective that comes with growing up on a farm.
While hockey players often talk about forgetting mistakes, Carels has lived through challenges that make a bad turnover seem insignificant.
“It shaped me and who I am - there's a lot of losses in farming," he told reporters at the NHL Combine.
"I think you do everything you can for an animal and sometimes you still end up losing it. That taught me a lot. To just forget about the bad shifts... because there's bigger things in life."
That's maturity coaches can't teach.
Asked whether there was ever a debate about attending the draft in person, Carels shrugged.
"I don't think it was, honestly,” he said.
“I think it was more just a group decision to just do it, and I mean, I don't think if Brady (Martin) would have done it last year, that we would have changed our minds, we probably would have done the same thing. We're a really tight-knit family."
Besides, there was work to do.
"We're calving cows still,” he said.
“Right now we're kind of in between where we're getting a little off calving and getting into the haying.”
The hockey comparisons to this well-rounded 18-year-old include names like Jake Sanderson, Charlie McAvoy and Drew Doughty.
"They can play big minutes in all situations, can run power plays, but can defend and bring a physical element," he said.
That description explains exactly why Calgary was willing to use the sixth-overall pick on another defenceman.
The selection is sure to be debated for years, as it came at the expense of Swedish centre Viggo Bjorck, who was available.
“The thing is, if you have a guy play 20 to 25 minutes, a left-shot defenceman that can play in every situation, and you know the character that could become a captain one day of the Calgary Flames, I don't think you can pass that up,” explained GM Craig Conroy of the decision.
“I know we want forwards, and forwards are maybe more of a sexy pick sometimes in the draft, especially high in the draft. But I think when you look back, where he's going to be, where Carels is going to be over his career, we're going to be very excited to have him. He's going to play a long time, and he's going to be a very good player.”
The Flames addressed their need for talented middlemen with the 30th pick overall, when they took six-foot-two, 188-pound Jack Hextall. The native of Illinois had 20 goals and 58 points in 59 games with Youngstown of the USHL and is destined for Michigan State next year.
The Flames GM has consistently preached taking the best player available, not drafting for immediate need.
He clearly believes Carels and Hextall fit that description.
And if he's right, nobody in Calgary will care that another defenceman arrived before another scorer.
Especially if the kid from a town with fewer than 50 people grows into the type of cornerstone, minute-munching defender every contender covets.
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