Ranking the 5 Worst Calgary Flames Draft Picks In Recent Memory
Over the past decade, the Calgary Flames have built a solid roster, but unfortunately, their work on draft night has left plenty to be desired, with several big misses that could have them competing for a Stanley Cup, but instead, they find themselves once again looking to swing big in the 2023 NHL Draft. Sure, they’ve hit on some big time picks landing the likes of Rasmus Andersson, Matthew Tkachuk and Sean Monahan, but for each of those, the Flames have missed big, taking away Flames fans optimism about the organization on draft night.
That was the old regime however, and before Craig Conroy, Jarome Iginla, Ryan Huska and the new front office have their first attempt at drafting come July 1, let’s take a look back at the past 10 years of Flames draft picks and assess the 10 worst selections over that time.
5. Sam Bennett – No. 4 overall in 2014
While Sam Bennett has turned into a great player that was a key piece on the Florida Panthers run to the 2022-23 Stanley Cup Finals, his tenure in Calgary can’t be labelled as anything but a major disappointment, especially seeing names like William Nylander, Dylan Larkin, David Pastrnak and Adrian Kempe drafted throughout the first round. In seven years with Calgary, Bennett managed just 140 points in 402 games (he has tallied 104 in 144 games with Florida), and despite the love of the Flames fans, he could just never put it together.
Ultimately, Bennett has turned into a solid player, and that will take him out of any type of bust argument, but unfortunately for the Flames, he just wasn’t used correctly and has excelled since leaving, making him a very poor draft pick for Calgary, even if they are equally to blame for these failures.
4. Tyler Parsons – No. 54 overall in 2016
Overall, the Flames have to be quite happy with their 2016 NHL Draft, as they managed to land both Matthew Tkachuk and Dillon Dube, as well as Adam Fox who later became a big piece in acquiring Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm, but unfortunately, they weren’t so successful on their other second round pick. That pick was a young goalie named Tyler Parsons out of the London Knights in the OHL, and unfortunately, he started just 28 games for the Stockton Heat to very little success.
The 2018-19 AHL campaign saw him start a career high 20 games, and in that time, Parsons finished with a 3.70 GAA and an .898 save percentage, and he would start just one more game for the Heat after that, and while the Flames now have their goalie of the future in Dustin Wolf, they would have loved for Parsons to see significant NHL time.
3. Mason McDonald – No. 34 overall in 2014
The Flames may now be set in net for the foreseeable future with Jacob Markstrom and Dustin Wolf, there was a time that they were desperate for a goaltender of the future, and in 2014, it led them to Mason McDonald with the No. 34 overall pick. After some solid years in the QMJHL, the big prospect was a great pick for Calgary at the time, but unfortunately, he was able to make just four starts for the then Stockton Heat in the AHL, and has struggled to land a job since being released by the Flames.
In his final AHL season with Stockton in 2017-18, McDonald made just 4 starts, allowing 13 goals over that time, and after seeing Thatcher Demko, Alex Nedeljkovic and Vitek Vanecek being selected with three of the next four picks, this one must hurt Flames fans even more.
2. Morgan Klimchuk – No. 28 overall in 2013
While Morgan Klimchuk was born in Regina, he grew up in Calgary, and when he was available at No. 28 in the 2013 NHL Draft, the Flames swooped on the home town kid after he put up a combined 150 points in his last two years in the WHL with the Regina Pats before the draft. Unfortunately, his game just didn’t translate to the AHL level, and after five years in the Flames system and one game in the NHL, he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Andrew Nielsen, never to play another NHL game again.
Given his Calgary roots and the production in the WHL, many Flames fans were hoping the talented left wing could slot in alongside Sean Monahan for years to come, but things don’t always work out, and this one was especially hard to take.
1. Emile Poirier – No. 22 overall in 2013
The Flames landed on their first pick in 2013 in a big way with franchise icon Sean Monahan, but with three picks in the draft, they were no doubt disappointed with No. 28 Klimchuk, but also No. 22 overall Emile Poirier, who managed just 8 games at the NHL level. Despite putting up an impressive 197 points in his three seasons playing in the QMJHL, he couldn’t even translate that to the AHL level, as he tallied a career high of 42 points back in 2014, and unfortunately, he just never made his way into a significant role in the NHL.
While the 2013 class after Poirier wasn’t exactly loaded (Andre Burakovsky and Shea Theodore rounded out the first-round), this one is especially disappointing given the failure on two out of three picks in the round, as well as his production coming into the draft, but ultimately, no team can hit on every one of their picks.