Patient Flames confident they’ll get good pick at No. 16
Treliving not expecting immediate dividends from the team’s choice
Brad Treliving is willing to wait for his trip to the podium. In fact, he prefers to wait. Barring a trade, the Calgary Flames’ general manager will watch half of his cohorts step to the microphone before his turn to announce the 16th-overall selection in Friday’s first round of the 2017 NHL Draft at United Center in Chicago.
By then, any ready-for-primetime prospects should be spoken for.
That’s a good problem for the Flames to have.
“The good news is you want to be picking later in the draft every year. That means you’ve played better,” Treliving reminded. “Sometimes, it’s a little more clear when you’re picking at four or five, but you certainly want to get out of that front row and move further back.
“There’s been a lot of talk of the top two picks — and rightly so, they’re real good players — if things go the way all the pundits and experts talk about it. But there are players after No. 2, some real good players, and we’re hopeful we’re going to get one. We’re confident we’re going to get one.”
The 2017 NHL Draft is headlined by Brandon Wheat Kings standout Nolan Patrick and fellow centre Nico Hischier of the Halifax Mooseheads. There’s little consensus, though, beyond those two, and the skyrocketing stock of Calgary-raised blueliner Cale Makar (Brooks Bandits, AJHL) has only complicated mock drafts and other prospect rankings.
Taking a break from his reported pursuit of a top-four defenceman on the trade market, Treliving wasn’t offering any hints Thursday about what traits he would target at No. 16, saying the short-list of candidates included “different shapes, sizes and positions.”
“We’re hopeful that one of the players that we have circled drops to us,” he said. Could happen. By all accounts, Friday’s opening round at United Center is as tough to predict as any in recent years.
“This year, this draft class probably hasn’t gotten their due,” Treliving said. “The idea that this is a bad draft? We’ve referred to it as a tighter draft, because there are less gaps between players. Maybe it doesn’t have the sex appeal as when you’ve got the McDavids and Matthews and some of the players in the last number of years. But you could go through a lifetime and not see certain players like that. I think it gets compared to what maybe has happened in recent memory, especially at the top of the draft. But there are really good players.
“At No. 16, we’re very confident we’re going to get a really good player there. Now, one thing I would say — and you say it every year at this time and then you’re proven wrong in October — is that the number of players that I think are ready to step in … That’s not a deciding factor of why you pick or don’t pick a player, but we’ve seen a handful of guys each year step in. I think that’s going to be a shorter list this year. You get by the first two, three maybe. I think there’s a little bit longer runway with guys.” Well, waiting is the theme here. And when the name-calling resumes Saturday for Rounds 2-7, Treliving’s patience will be tested yet again.
The Flames traded away their second-round selection in a deadline-day swap for Curtis Lazar, a 22-year-old forward who definitely factors into the long-term plan at the Saddledome.
Just nine days earlier, Treliving surrendered a third-rounder in exchange for defenceman Michael Stone, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent next weekend.
Beyond their first-round holler, Calgary’s stash of picks for the twoday proceedings at United Center also includes Nos. 109, 140, 171, and 202.
Treliving will continue to work the phones in hopes of adding to that assortment.
“We’ve got Curtis Lazar, who represents a second-round pick, and we feel we probably don’t get into a position to be in the playoffs (this past season) without the addition of Mike Stone. So we think we’ve spent them wisely,” Treliving said. “You always like making picks. But I think when we get to the mid-40s or late-40s pick, if we had a chance to yell Curtis Lazar’s name versus the names that are there, we’ll do that.
“But the scouts have been working so you’d like to give them something to do and names to call, so we’ll see.”
This year, this draft class probably hasn’t gotten their due. The idea that this is a bad draft? We’ve referred to it as a tighter draft …