Calgary Flames: Former notable fourth-round picks

With the Calgary Flames not getting any draft picks this year until the fourth round, let’s check out some former notable fourth-round picks.

This year was supposed to be their year. The Calgary Flames put it all out on the table, traded away their picks, because they were sure they’d be getting far. But in an unfortunate series of events, they didn’t even make it to the playoffs and they didn’t protect their picks.

As a result, the Flames this year won’t have a draft pick until the fourth round. It’s been rumoured that GM Brad Treliving announced at a GM meeting that he wants to trade for a first-round pick, but nobody quite knows what he really has in store.

After the New York Islanders won the 12th pick, it seems like Flames fans can breathe a little easier knowing that the first-round draft pick they traded for Travis Hamonic wasn’t something higher. In fact, game 82 had a lot more importance than we initially would have thought. Their 7-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights signified the Isles having the pick they had, whereas they would have gotten the Carolina Hurricanes’ lottery balls as well (the Hurricanes won the third overall pick).

Even though the Flames don’t have a pick until the fourth round (for now), that’s not the end of the world. This team has had a few notable former fourth-round picks. So let’s look at them and see where they’re at now! Can you take a WILD guess and guess who’s first on this list?

*This will go in order of date from oldest to most recent.

Number Five: C Mark Lamb, 1982

Mark Lamb was drafted back in 1982 when the Calgary Flames were only in Calgary for two years at the point. He was taken in the fourth round at the 72nd overall pick, which in today’s NHL, would be in the third round. Lamb was playing in the WHL at that time with the Billings Bighorns where he put up 45 goals and 101 points in 72 games in his draft year.

Fun fact: Lamb’s son, Hunter Lamb, is eligible for the draft this year and will be playing in the AJHL this upcoming season.

Calgary Flames

The following year, Lamb played for two different WHL teams and played for the Colorado Flames of the CHL in the playoffs. In 1984-85, he played his first pro season, playing for the Moncton Golden Flames, Calgary’s AHL affiliate at the time. He put up 23 goals and 72 points in 80 games. The following year, he made his NHL debut with the Flames, but played in just that one game and returned to the AHL. He was picked up by the Detroit Red Wings the following year.

In 1987, he was picked up by the Edmonton Oilers. He went between them and their AHL affiliate before landing a permanent role on their roster in 1989-90 where he won his first ever Stanley Cup.

Never being that offensively gifted in the NHL, Lamb wasn’t protected in the expansion draft in 1992, and was picked up by the Ottawa Senators.

At the start of the 93-94 season, Lamb was named a co-captain of the Senators with Brad Shaw. After that, he played a few more seasons in the NHL for a couple of different teams before finishing his playing career in the IHL.

In 2002, Lamb retired and returned to the Oilers as an assistant coach. After that year, he spent six seasons with the Dallas Stars as an assistant coach. In 2009, he was named the GM/head coach of the Swift Current Broncos in the WHL, where he held that position for six years. Then in 2011, he was an assistant coach for Team Canada’s U18 team.

In 2016, Lamb was named head coach of the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL, the Arizona Coyotes‘ affiliate, but was relieved of duties after just one season. He hasn’t coached since 2017.

So what’s the moral of the story here? Well, even if you’re not that exceptional of a scorer, you can still win a Cup if you play with the right team.

Number Four: C Robert Reichel, 1989

Robert Reichel, a name almost every Calgary Flames fan knows, most hockey fans know, and definitely ever Czech fan knows. Reichel was drafted by the Calgary Flames in 1989 with the 70th pick.

Reichel had quite the illustrious junior level career. He won a gold medal with Czechoslovakia’s U18 team at the European World Juniors in 1988. Then won a silver medal the following year as he also put up the points at the tournament, and played for the U20 team at the World Juniors where Czech took home the bronze medal. It’s weird referring to the team as Czechoslovakia right now. You’re old, Robert.

In 1990, Czech again won a bronze medal at the World Juniors and Reichel, having the most goals and points at the tournament, was awarded the best forward at the tournament. He played for Team Czech at the World Championship later that year where he, again, took home another bronze medal.

Later that year, with being named the top Czech prospect, he finally made his NHL debut with the Calgary Flames on Oct. 8th, 1990, and recorded his first NHL goal that same game. He put up 19 goals and 41 points in 66 games in his rookie year. And you probably guessed it, he won another bronze medal at the World Championship in 1991.

He continued to improve every year and in 93-94, put up a career-high in goals and points with 40 and 93. In 1995-96, not being able to come to an agreement with the Flames, he played with the Frankfurt Lions of the DEL. He returned to Calgary the following year where he and the Flames agreed on a three-year contract. But he wasn’t quite the same as he was before he left.

Taking a big dip with just 43 points in 70 games, he was traded to the New York Islanders in March for Marty McInnis, Tyrone Garner, and a 1997 sixth-round pick. At the 1996 World Championship, he finally won a gold medal!

After a full season with the Islanders and two half seasons, he went on to also play for the Phoenix Coyotes and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Reichel finished his playing career with the HC Litvinov in Czech, where he was captain for six years before hanging up his skates in 2010.

Reichel also went on to play for four more World Championships, where he had two bronze medals and two gold. He also played for two Olympic games: 1998 and 2002. In 1998, he had the infamous shootout goal against Canada in the semi-finals to defeat them, head to the Gold medal game, where they took home the nation’s first-ever gold medal.

In 2002, as captain of Team Czech, his brother decided to play for Team Germany since they’re of German descent, and it was only the second time in Olympic history that two brothers played against each other at the ice hockey games.

After retiring from hockey, Reichel spent a few years coaching multiple Czech national teams at different junior levels. He hasn’t coached since 2017. Reichel has yet to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, however, he’s been inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame and Czech’s Hockey Hall of Fame.

Although Reichel didn’t have incredible numbers prior to being drafted and was thus not drafted until the fourth round, he went on to become one of the Czech’s most respected hockey players.

Number Two: D TJ Brodie, 2008

We finally have an active player and a player who isn’t a centre. In 2008, the Calgary Flames selected TJ Brodie with the 114th pick. In his draft year, he had four goals and 30 points in 68 games with the Saginaw Spirits of the OHL. He continued to play with them until 2009-2010, when he was traded midway through the season to the Barrie Colts.

For the 2010-11 season, he went pro and played for the Flames’ affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat. He did make his NHL debut that year but played in just three games for the Flames. Putting up 34 points in 68 games with the Heat, Brodie was considered one of the Flames top prospects. Consequently, he had a bigger role for the Flames the following season after an injury to Anton Babchuk left him unable to play in November.

He had two goals and 14 points in 54 games with the Flames that season. The following year in 2012-13, he again split his time between the Flames and the Heat. He had the same amount of points with the Flames as the year before but in seven fewer games. After their season ended, Brodie was invited by Team Canada to play at the World Championship, his first ever international tournament. He recorded one assist in seven games at the tournament, but Canada was eliminated in the quarter-finals.

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Brodie got a full-time job with the Flames to start off the 2013-14 season and became a prominent member in 2014-15, when the Flames were known as the “comeback kids” and made it to the playoffs for the first time in six years. He alongside Mark Giordano for that top pairing were considered one of the best defensive duos in the NHL.

The past two seasons, Brodie took somewhat of a dip in his point production and his defensive abilities in general. Many people attributed that to being paired with Dennis Wideman last season but it seems like this season, he’s making his own mistakes and it’s hard to point the blame at someone else. Lately, there have been trade speculations circulating with his name involved, however, the Flames may not be able to get a lot of trade value for him after this past season.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this off-season plays out.

Number One: RW Johnny Gaudreau, 2011

The most anticipated fourth-round pick in this list. Johnny Gaudreau has grown to be one of the Calgary Flames best players. He didn’t get drafted until the fourth round even though he had respectable numbers in the USHL the year of his draft and he was commended by scouts for his speed and puck-moving abilities, but he’s also one of the smallest guys on the ice, which had a big factor in his draft position.

Gaudreau played for Boston College of the NCAA for three years starting in 2011 and was one of the highest touted college players at the time. In 2013, he played for Team USA at the World Juniors where he put up seven goals and nine points in seven games at the tournament to help the Americans win a gold medal. He also had the most goals among all skaters at the tournament and was named one of Team USA’s top three players.

The 2013-14 season was a big one for him. He had a personal best of 36 goals and 80 points in 40 games, which led the entire NCAA in goals, assists, and points. He was named New England’s best forward and MVP and won the Hobey Baker award. When his season ended, he made his NHL debut with the Flames in their final game of the season where he picked up his first NHL goal and the lone Flames goal of the game. He then went on to play for Team USA at the World Championship where he picked up two goals and 10 points in eight games. USA lost in the quarter-finals.

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In 2014-15, he landed a permanent role with the Flames after an impressive training camp. He put up 24 goals and 64 points in his rookie year to help the Flames make the playoffs for the first time in six years. Gaudreau alongside Jiri Hudler and Sean Monahan were one of the most exciting lines to watch, especially with their ability to come back in games. He finished second on the team in scoring, after Hudler, and was a finalist for the Calder trophy that year.

After that season, Gaudreau has led the Flames in points every year. This past season, he had a career-high of 84 points in 80 games. For a couple months of the season, he was at the top of the scoring race, being second or third in the entire league.

Gaudreau has played in other international tournaments as well. He played for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey as well as two other World Championship. He most likely would have made Team USA for the Olympics if NHL players went to the Olympics this year. At the Worlds, he won a bronze medal this year and was named a top-three player for Team USA last year.

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In summary, a draft position isn’t a telling of where a player will end up in their careers or in their lives. I mean, look at other stars who were drafted even later, like Theo Fleury and Pavel Datsyuk. Or even players who were never drafted, like Mark Giordano, Joe Mullen, or Martin St. Louis.

As the great Britney Spears once said, choose your own destiny. Thanks, Britney.