After the Calgary Flames’ shocking trade with the Philadelphia Flyers, yet another Brad Treliving first-round pick walked out the door. By trading Jakob Pelletier a few years after he was drafted, the Flames parted way with another high-profile pick made by Calgary’s former general manager.
It’s a story that’s become all too familiar in Calgary—another one of Treliving’s prized assets leaving the organization. With Pelletier now in Philadelphia, Matt Coronato and Connor Zary are the only remaining first-round picks from the Treliving era, despite the Boston Pizza heir running the team for nine drafts.
Treliving’s first-round picks
During his time with the organization, Treliving was in charge of the team for nine drafts. Across those nine drafts, he selected in the first round six times. Below are his selections each year, and where they were picked in the first round.
| Draft Year | Player | Draft Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Matthew Coronato | 13th |
| 2020 | Connor Zary | 24th |
| 2019 | Jakob Pelletier | 26th |
| 2017 | Juuso Valimaki | 16th |
| 2016 | Matthew Tkachuk | 6th |
| 2014 | Sam Bennett | 4th |
A couple of observations can be made right away here. One, the Flames didn’t exactly have solid draft capital to work with during Treliving’s tenure. After the Bennett and Tkachuk picks, the team selected in the top 15 just one more time during Treliving’s tenure. Two, Brad Treliving liked to trade away first-round picks. He ended up trading away three in 2015, 2018, and again in 2022. One misstep in particular was when he dealt the eventual 11th overall pick in 2018 for Travis Hamonic, a trade that ended up being a complete disaster for Calgary.
Impact in Calgary
So of the six picks, only two remain in Calgary. How many have had actual impacts though? Let’s take a look.
| Draft Year | Player | Games Played in Calgary | Points in Calgary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Matthew Coronato | 82 and counting | 37 and counting |
| 2020 | Connor Zary | 103 and counting | 56 and counting |
| 2019 | Jakob Pelletier | 61 | 21 |
| 2017 | Juuso Valimaki | 82 | 16 |
| 2016 | Matthew Tkachuk | 431 | 382 |
| 2014 | Sam Bennett | 402 | 140 |
After Bennett and Tkachuk, it gets rough. The duo are the only first-round picks by Treliving across nine years in charge to cross the 150 games played mark or the 75-point mark in Calgary. Now obviously Coronato and Zary will almost certainly cross both of those marks within the next year or so barring another shocking trade, but it’s still a pretty ugly-looking table of first-round picks right now.
Pelletier managed just 61 games in the NHL across nearly six years before being dealt last week, putting up just 21 total points. Valimaki meanwhile skated in just 82 games and posted a measly 16 points. That’s a five-year stretch between 2015 and 2019 where the Flames had just one single first-round pick manage 100 games as a Flame. Not great.
Where did the first-rounders end up?
Here’s where Calgary’s picks have ended up.
| Draft Year | Player | Year They Left the Organization | Transaction Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Jakob Pelletier | 2025 | Traded to Philadelphia |
| 2017 | Juuso Valimaki | 2022 | Lost on waivers to Arizona |
| 2016 | Matthew Tkachuk | 2022 | Traded to Florida |
| 2014 | Sam Bennett | 2021 | Traded to Florida |
Treliving loved sending first-round picks to Florida. As we know now, it came back to bite him and the Flames in a huge way. The Flames dealt Bennett to Florida in 2021, and then Tkachuk to Florida in 2022. To his credit, both trades were perceived as wins at the time, but they only took a single year before backfiring as the Panthers would take two straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final, winning in 2024 with Bennett and Tkachuk playing massive roles.
Valimaki was probably the best example of poor asset management though. The Flames never found a home for their 2017 first-round pick in their lineup, eventually placing him on waivers in 2022. He’d end up getting claimed, leaving the Flames with nothing to show for their 16th overall pick just five years later. Valimaki has since turned into a regular NHL defenceman in Arizona/Utah.
Lastly, Pelletier was placed on waivers this season five years after being drafted but somehow went through unclaimed. With that said he’d only last a few more months before being shipped to Philadelphia, becoming the fourth Treliving first-rounder to find themselves out of the organization.
A history of mismanagement
It’s no secret that Treliving had an up and down behind the wheel of the Flames. In particular, his drafting was all over the place. At times Treliving looked like an ace at the draft, while other times he completely whiffed. Case in point, the organization has just two Treliving-era first-rounders to show for the nine years the former general manager was in charge.
