The Calgary Flames’ organizational depth took a big hit this week when they lost both Adam Ruzicka and Nick DeSimone on waivers this past week to the Arizona Coyotes and New Jersey Devils respectively. Now that the Flames are without the services of the Slovak centre, they have lost the final piece from their 2017 draft class.
Once a very promising class—headlined by Juuso Valimaki—this quickly became a highly forgettable group of players. Here’s what happened to all the players from this group.
Juuso Valimaki
The Flames had few defensive prospects in their system and took Valimaki with their 16th overall pick out of the Tri-City Americans of the WHL. Having come over from Finland a couple of seasons prior, Valimaki finished as the seventh leading scorer among defencemen in the league that year while also boasting an NHL-ready frame.
He put up above a point-per-game the following season, then went to Stockton for half a season before making the jump to the NHL. The challenge with Valimaki was his ability to put it all together at the NHL level. It felt like there were flashes of brilliance interspersed with long periods of marginal play on top of injury woes. He simply did not do enough to earn more at the NHL level in Calgary, and while he definitely had the potential to be an elite two-way defenceman who could play top powerplay minutes, he just didn’t get there.
The Flames placed him on waivers at the start of last season, and he was claimed by the Arizona Coyotes, which was probably the best-case scenario for everyone. Valimaki put up 34 points in his first season, tripling his career output in Calgary, but has since put up just seven points in 33 games, frequently being a healthy scratch for the Desert Dogs.
What happened to the Flames’ 2017 second- and third-round picks
The Flames’ second-round pick this season was sent to the Ottawa Senators as part of the deal that brought Curtis Lazar to Calgary. That pick became Alex Formenton, who is currently on personal leave from his European Club. There are strong presumptions that he was involved in the ongoing Hockey Canada scandal.
The Flames’ third-round pick was traded to the Arizona Coyotes along with a 2018 fifth-round pick to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Michael Stone. He was an integral part of the team for years, serving mostly as a seventh defenceman, and is now part of the team staff.
Arizona then traded down, sending the pick to the Edmonton Oilers, in exchange for a later third- and fifth-round pick. Both of those picks amounted to nothing for Arizona, but the Oilers selected netminder Stuart Skinner, who has since become their starting goalie and key to Edmonton’s historic win streak
Adam Ruzicka
Expected to be a project when he was drafted in the fourth round, Ruzicka developed incredibly well to the point of becoming a legitimate NHLer over the past two seasons.
Selected out of the Sarnia Sting in the OHL, scouts had a lot of differing opinions on the Slovak forward, with some praising his two-way game and others denying its existence outright. The Flames clearly leaned towards the former and selected him with the 109th overall pick.
He was above a point per game in each of his next two junior seasons before earning an entry-level contract from the Flames. He then went on to be a threat at the AHL level for the next full season, then earned a call-up the year after, splitting his season evenly between the Flames and Stockton Heat.
While this season has not been perfect for him, Ruzicka did get into 39 NHL games before being claimed by the Coyotes, thus ending the 2017 draft class’s time with Calgary.
Zach Fischer
The Flames took a flyer on over-ager Zach Fischer with their fifth-round pick. Coming off of a 63-point season with 145 penalty minutes, it feels like the Flames went for size over skill with this selection. He would play 46 games the following season, with an injury ending his final WHL season, and his point totals not quite being where they were the season previous.
The Flames did not qualify him, but he would spend a season in the organization, playing primarily with the Kansas City Mavericks in the ECHL. He no longer plays professional hockey, and according to his LinkedIn, works in sales in Lloydminster and as a part-time hockey instructor out of Edmonton.
D’Artagnan Joly
A dual Canadian and Dutch player, the Flames took Joly out of the QMJHL’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar following a season in which he put up 48 points in 66 games. He then put up big numbers, going above a point per game with 68 points in 55 games the following season.
From there, he took a massive step backward, being pushed down the lineup, called out by his coaches and subsequently traded to the stacked Rimouski Oceanic, where he finished with less than a point per game.
Joly was not qualified by the Flames, played two seasons in USports with Brock University, and is currently with the Tilburg Trappers in Germany’s third division.
Filip Sveningsson
Seventh-round picks are always a gamble, and the Flames took a flyer on the Swedish left winger with their last pick in this draft. Sveningsson put up a good first year after being drafted, going above a point per game in the Swedish J-20, but really did not do much in the SHL. He never made the jump to North America and still plays in the HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-highest league.
Looking back at Calgary’s 2017 draft
Ironically, the best player that came from an original Flames pick in this draft is playing in net 300km up the QEII. This will go down as one of the Flames’ worst draft classes in recent memory, despite flashes of goodness from both Valimaki and Ruzicka. So long 2017 Draft Class, you will not be missed.
