Barring any trades before draft night, the Calgary Flames are slated to pick more than once in the first round of the NHL draft for just the second time in team history. The last time it occurred was over a decade ago all the way back in 2013. So far that has been the only occurrence of multiple first-round picks since the team moved to Calgary in 1980.
Although on the surface it may seem like a rarity across the league given how little the Flames have done it, holding multiple first-round picks is an incredibly common occurrence around the NHL. So how often do other teams find themselves with multiple first-rounders, how do the Flames stack up, and how did it go the one and only time they were in that position? It’s not pretty.
History of multiple first-round picks across the NHL
As mentioned, the Flames are actually a rarity when it comes to the amount of times they’ve picked more than once in the first round. Almost every team in the NHL has picked more than once in the first round in two or more draft years since the turn of the century. Here’s a summary of how many drafts each team has picked more than once in the first round since 2000, as well as the last time they did it.
| Team | Drafts with multiple 1st round picks (since 2000) | Last Occurrence |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona Coyotes | 9 | 2023 |
| Anaheim Ducks | 7 | 2022 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 7 | 2022 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 6 | 2023 |
| New York Islanders | 6 | 2018 |
| Washington Capitals | 6 | 2012 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 5 | 2019 |
| Ottawa Senators | 5 | 2020 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 5 | 2023 |
| St. Louis Blues | 5 | 2023 |
| Winnipeg Jets | 5 | 2022 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 4 | 2022 |
| Florida Panthers | 4 | 2010 |
| New York Rangers | 4 | 2020 |
| Boston Bruins | 3 | 2016 |
| Colorado Avalanche | 3 | 2023 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 3 | 2023 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 3 | 2011 |
| Minnesota Wild | 3 | 2022 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 3 | 2022 |
| Nashville Predators | 3 | 2023 |
| San Jose Sharks | 3 | 2023 |
| Dallas Stars | 2 | 2017 |
| New Jersey Devils | 2 | 2021 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 2 | 2012 |
| Vancouver Canucks | 2 | 2014 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 1 | 2016 |
| Calgary Flames | 1 | 2013 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 1 | 2012 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 1 | 2011 |
The Flames have picked more than one time in the draft just once out of the 43 times they’ve drafted in team history so it’s not exactly a shock to see them sitting bottom of the league here. The Flames are one of only four teams league-wide that have only picked more than once in the draft just one time since the turn of the century.
The other teams are the Carolina Hurricanes, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s worth noting that in that same time span, the Hurricanes and Penguins have both won Stanley Cups, with the Penguins winning three. Even the Maple Leafs have won 56 playoff games in that time span compared to the Flames’ 41 playoff wins. The Maple Leafs have also finished as a top-10 team in the NHL in five of the past six seasons.
The Flames really are the major outlier here. Not only have they very rarely held multiple first-round picks, but they also haven’t had much success to make up for it. You’d think a team that sits at the bottom of the league for drafts with multiple first-rounders would rank high when it comes to playoff success right? Well, the Flames currently rank 25th for playoff wins since the year 1999–2000 season.
Not only that but since they last held multiple first-round picks all the way back in 2013, 23 different NHL teams have done it, some on multiple occasions. The only teams that haven’t held multiple first-rounders since the Flames last did it in 2013 are the Washington Capitals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Edmonton Oilers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Florida Panthers.
The Capitals, Lightning, and Penguins have all won Stanley Cups since 2013, the Panthers have made a Stanley Cup Final appearance, and the Oilers and Maple Leafs are yearly Cup contenders. The Flames? They’ve won two playoff rounds in that span and missed the playoffs five times.
The last time the Flames had multiple first-rounders
As discussed above, the one and only time the Flames have ever picked more than once in the first round was back in 2013. It was the Flames’ first post-Iginla draft and the organization was looking to kickstart their rebuild with three picks in the first round. They held the sixth, 22nd, and 28th overall picks going into the draft.
Unfortunately, instead of starting their rebuild off on a strong foot, the 2013 draft was a complete blunder by the organization and actually set the rebuild back years. The 2013 draft was widely regarded as one of the deepest drafts ever. In fact, 28 of the 30 players picked in the first round went on to play at least 50 games in the NHL. It just so happens that the Flames managed to pick the only two that didn’t with two of their three picks.
6th overall – Sean Monahan
At sixth overall Sean Monahan was at the time tied as the highest draft pick in franchise history. He was also the saving grace of this draft for the Flames. He was an absolute homerun pick at sixth. Monahan would become a major piece of the Flames’ mid-2010s rebuild and was one of the key players to guide them back to the playoffs. For a stretch of a couple of years after he was drafted, the Flames finally had a true top line centre in Monahan, something they had been searching for since the 1990s.
For nearly a decade he was a crucial part of the Flames roster, as well as a beloved fan favourite in the city. Unfortunately, a slew of major injuries eventually caught up to Monahan and he was never the same in Calgary after his dominant 82-point 2018–19 season. He would eventually be dealt to Montreal in the summer of 2022 after a couple of injury-filled seasons.
Monahan finished his Flames tenure with 212 goals and 462 points across nine years and 656 games in Calgary. He left the Flames franchise 11th all-time in points, seventh all-time for goals, third all-time for game-winning goals, and tied-first for overtime goals. If it weren’t for the multiple injuries he suffered, he would’ve ranked even higher on these lists. All said, you can’t ask for much more from a sixth overall pick than what Monahan gave Calgary.
22nd overall – Emile Poirier
With their second pick of the first round, the Flames took a gamble and went well off the board by selecting Emile Poirier out of the QMJHL. Poirier at the time was ranked as a second-round pick by most experts, with some even placing him in the third round. Instead, the Flames reached to select their guy. As we know now the gamble didn’t pay off at all.
After being drafted Poirier showed some promise in the QMJHL and even for the Flames AHL affiliate, posting 42 points in 55 AHL games as a rookie in 2014–15. It was downhill from there though as Poirier never reached those heights again in the AHL and struggled to earn a spot on the Flames roster.
Poirier would play in just eight games for the Flames, posting one point before walking as a free agent in 2018 just five years after being drafted. To make matters even worse, Andre Burakovsky was selected with the very next pick and Shea Theodore was picked just four spots after Poirier.
28th overall – Morgan Klimchuk
With their final pick of the first round and the pick acquired in the Jarome Iginla trade, the Flames selected Morgan Klimchuk out of the WHL. Unlike Poirier, Klimchuk was widely regarded as a first-round talent so this was graded as a solid pick by the Flames.
Like Poirier however, Klimchuk would post some solid results in junior and in the AHL after being drafted but could just never make the full-time jump to the NHL. There’s certainly an argument that the Flames mismanaged his development by only giving him one single NHL game, but the bottom line is that Klimchuk just never progressed in the AHL and failed to make an impression.
He was eventually traded in an AHL-only deal in 2018, five years after being drafted. To this day, his one game with the Flames in 2018 is the only taste of NHL action in his career.
A big opportunity ahead for Calgary
With the Flames slated to have at least two, with a chance to reach three or four first-round picks in the 2024 draft the organization has a massive opportunity to kickstart their retool on a strong note. If they can right the wrongs of the 2013 draft and find themselves multiple NHL players this year, they’ll be setting themselves up for long-term success.
