Flames and Jets forced to watch the 1st round

Calgary and Winnipeg had traded away their top selections in draft

DALLAS — The Calgary Flames sat and watched the first 31 picks of the NHL draft on Friday night.

And as things stand, they’ll also be waiting at their table at American Airlines Center for a good chunk today.

Calgary doesn’t have a selection this year until midway through the fourth round with picks No. 105 and 108 after making two trades at last year’s draft.

The Flames dealt their first- and secondround selections in 2018 to the New York Islanders as part of the package to acquire defenceman Travis Hamonic last June.

The trade didn’t go according to plan as Calgary nose dived late in the regular season and missed the playoffs. The Islanders used the first rounder acquired from the Flames to take defenceman Noah Dobson of the Memorial Cup champion AcadieBathurst Titan 12th overall Friday.

New York will pick 43rd today with the other selection.

Calgary also doesn’t have a pick in the third round after trading that selection to the Arizona Coyotes to acquire goalie Mike Smith.

After the Flames choose two players in the fourth round — the second of the two picks was obtained from the Florida Panthers for Juri Hudler in 2016 — they will again have to wait.

The club’s fifth-rounder is also property of the Coyotes after the Flames scooped up defenceman Michael Stone from Arizona in 2017.

Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Jets were also minus a first-round pick, but the team’s general manager, Kevin Cheveldayoff, is focusing his attention on their free agents.

The Jets dealt their top selection in 2018 — which turned out to be No. 29 overall — to the St. Louis Blues at the trade deadline as part of the package to acquire veteran centre Paul Stastny ahead of the Jets’ playoff run.

The trade worked out for both sides as Stastny excelled in Winnipeg, helping make it all the way to this season’s Western Conference final. But the Jets are now trying to sign Stastny, who can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Cheveldayoff also has a host of restricted free agents on the docket, including defencemen Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey, as well as goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who finished second in Vezina Trophy voting. Cheveldayoff told reporters ahead of Friday’s draft that while getting back into the first round would be nice, the Jets understood they could be sidelined when they made the Stastny trade.

Cheveldayoff added the priority now is getting as many of his players signed as possible.

St. Louis ended up trading the 29th pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who used the selection to take Swedish defenceman Rasmus Sandin from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.