2025 DRAFT

[Darth Vladar]

If one of Ryabkin, McQueen, or Desnoyers is still available around in that 11-15 range then I would have no issues trading our better 1st and our 2nd or even both 1sts to move up for one of them. The prospect pool is in decent shape but the lack of a high ceiling C prospect is glaring. I don't doubt our scouts are watching these guys closely to see which they would prefer even though our pick doesn't look to be in that range and we'll likely be handing it off to Montreal anyway.

Personal preference would be McQueen, big kid still growing into his body. Can really shoot the puck and skates well if maybe a little out of control. Been injured most of the year so that's concerning but he's got the package I think is worth taking a big swing on. The kind of puck protection that would make him a playoff matchup nightmare if he pans out.
Second would be Ryabkin, another player having an interesting kind of stuttering year. Great vision and handles. A little like Kucherov with his approach to the game, probably one of the better Russian C prospects since Malkin. Very long way to go both physically and defensive competence and might end up being a winger.
Third would be Desnoyers who I admittedly haven't seen as much of. First impressions are that he's likely to be a well balanced middle 6 type C.

It’s for the above reason that I might actually be ok with hanging onto Razzy until the last year of his deal, unless a trade this year would include a 2026 1st instead of a ‘25. Conny is under no pressure to move him before this deadline if no GM comes along with a deal worth taking.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

I would trade basically every pick we have to get Desnoyers or McQueen. We have a bunch of prospects to sign and can only give out so many ELCs.

Ryabkin I could easily see fall to 20+. He’s having a brutal year.

I do like the trade up this year but who knows what our scouts think of the guys in this draft

 

[Darth Vladar]

I would trade basically every pick we have to get Desnoyers or McQueen. We have a bunch of prospects to sign and can only give out so many ELCs.

Ryabkin I could easily see fall to 20+. He’s having a brutal year.

I do like the trade up this year but who knows what our scouts think of the guys in this draft

A lot can change in four or five months, but as of right now, Desnoyers’ projected numbers are actually fairly close to what Zonnon’s are. I’d almost as soon buy low on the latter (depending on how far he climbs up the rankings, as @Dack suggested he might) than move both picks to gamble on the former. Same reason I wouldn’t gamble on McQueen for what else in addition to the two other 1sts it would cost us. We have two picks in ‘26 as well, possibly another if Conny ends up moving Razzy for a package that includes one.

 

[Fig]

I would trade basically every pick we have to get Desnoyers or McQueen. We have a bunch of prospects to sign and can only give out so many ELCs.

Ryabkin I could easily see fall to 20+. He’s having a brutal year.

I do like the trade up this year but who knows what our scouts think of the guys in this draft

If we can't move up, what about the idea of trading our later picks for an unknown pick in 26? Similar to what Oilers did last year to draft OReilly?

Worst case scenario, the gamble doesn't pay off and we are a few slots lower than if we drafted this year, but if this year is a problem to trade up, but next year isn't, then maybe doing this allows us to trade up and get what we really need instead?

Agreed I trust our scouts though. It'd be interesting to see what happens.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

A lot can change in four or five months, but as of right now, Desnoyers’ projected numbers are actually fairly close to what Zonnon’s are. I’d almost as soon buy low on the latter (depending on how far he climbs up the rankings, as @Dack suggested he might) than move both picks to gamble on the former. Same reason I wouldn’t gamble on McQueen for what else in addition to the two other 1sts it would cost us. We have two picks in ‘26 as well, possibly another if Conny ends up moving Razzy for a package that includes one.

You can’t trust the list though. If you have your guy at C. Then I say go and get him. Zonnon, O’Brien, Bear would all be good options.

 

[Darth Vladar]

Can’t find a whole lot of tape on Gastrin, but the kid looked downright dominant in an 8 (!) point effort vs. the Swiss last year at the Hlinka-Gretzky tourney.

 

[Yepthatsme]

I would trade basically every pick we have to get Desnoyers or McQueen. We have a bunch of prospects to sign and can only give out so many ELCs.

Ryabkin I could easily see fall to 20+. He’s having a brutal year.

I do like the trade up this year but who knows what our scouts think of the guys in this draft

I’ll play devil’s advocate: this is exactly the wrong year to trade up. The 8/10-20 group and the 20+ group of forwards is pretty “middle 6 guy with a chance at 2C” compared to “middle 6 guy with a chance at 2C with a good amount of question marks”. There also looks to be some pretty talented “top 6 or bust” with heavy question marks late in the round. We could walk out of the 1st with a Ryabkin and Schmidt while sitting in the 20s without losing a single pick. Their is a good chance neither is even an NHL player, but with the plethora of picks we have may as well not be afraid to waste some.

 

[Darth Vladar]

I’ll play devil’s advocate: this is exactly the wrong year to trade up. The 8/10-20 group and the 20+ group of forwards is pretty “middle 6 guy with a chance at 2C” compared to “middle 6 guy with a chance at 2C with a good amount of question marks”. There also looks to be some pretty talented “top 6 or bust” with heavy question marks late in the round. We could walk out of the 1st with a Ryabkin and Schmidt while sitting in the 20s without losing a single pick. Their is a good chance neither is even an NHL player, but with the plethora of picks we have may as well not be afraid to waste some.

I’ll probably change my mind a dozen times before the actual draft, but for posterity’s sake, I’m leaning towards taking Gastrin and Zonnon with our two 1sts. I have a feeling @Dack ’s prediction that the latter rises in the rankings before season’s end will be proven correct. There are still 20ish games to go, not including playoffs. There’s no way he’ll still be there if they wait to take him in the 2nd round.

 

[User1996]

I’m starting to get the sense that this is not the year to trade up. It’s a weak class, and no one player (that we have a realistic shot at) moves the needle as much as a first round pick should for our prospect pool. It’s just a whole bunch of middle six F’s or 2nd line players outside the top 7ish.

I’d honestly rather Conroy finds a way to defer some of the excess picks this year into 2026 since that is shaping up to be a much better class.

 

[FLAMESFAN]

I’m starting to get the sense that this is not the year to trade up. It’s a weak class, and no one player (that we have a realistic shot at) moves the needle as much as a first round pick should for our prospect pool. It’s just a whole bunch of middle six F’s or 2nd line players outside the top 7ish.

I’d honestly rather Conroy finds a way to defer some of the excess picks this year into 2026 since that is shaping up to be a much better class.

Agree, but also just because we'll be tight with contracts. Would be nice to push some of that to future picks.

 

[JPeeper]

Pull a reverse Edmonton and trade our firsts this year for firsts next year.

 

[Lunatik]

Agree, but also just because we'll be tight with contracts. Would be nice to push some of that to future picks.

Will we? We're at 43/50 now, with 7 picks in the 2025 draft and 9 in 2026.

	After 24-25	After 25-26	After 26-27
Pending UFAs	11 Mantha, Rooney, Kirkland, Bishop, Hunt Frk, Barrie, Hanley, Tinordi, Aspirot, Vladar	6 Backlund, Lomberg, Anderson, Bean, Miromanov, Cooley	1 Coleman
Contracts that will stop sliding	2 or 3 Honzek, Morin and maybe Parekh	2 or 3 Gridin, Basha and Parekh if he didn't the year before	tbd
Prospects that could sign and not slide	Up to 2 Suniev, Sergeev	Up to 7 Battaglia, Jamieson, Mews, Misa, Hurtig and Suniev/Sergeev if they don't sign the year before	tbd
RFAs that will probably not be qualified	None	Up to 3 Ciona, Bell, Jurmo	tbd
Draft Picks	2025 Draft: 7	2026 Draft: 9	2027 Draft: 7

With lots of contracts coming off the books, the likelihood of prospects not being signed or re-signed... we don't have any more of a jam coming up than any other year.

 

[Body Checker]

I’m thinking Ottawa forfeits this year’s first which will bump our NJ and Florida picks up one spot each. Likely our pick to MTL and the aforementioned picks will all fall into the 16-21 range barring conference final runs. So the Monohan trade wouldn’t look as bad as it was looking.

 

[Lunatik]

I’m thinking Ottawa forfeits this year’s first which will bump our NJ and Florida picks up one spot each. Likely our pick to MTL and the aforementioned picks will all fall into the 16-21 range barring conference final runs. So the Monohan trade wouldn’t look as bad as it was looking.

yeah that is a possibility this year with the Senators possibly making the playoffs

 

[HighLifeMan]

I do wonder if a guy like McQueen might drop into the 12-15 which makes a trade up very possible.

I know GM's and scouts love big C's, but with his injury, age, and production (21 points in 20 games) he does come with some risk and red flags.

If there ever was a year to push for a playoff spot this seems like one to do it. The top end of this draft isn't great.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

I do wonder if a guy like McQueen might drop into the 12-15 which makes a trade up very possible.

I know GM's and scouts love big C's, but with his injury, age, and production (21 points in 20 games) he does come with some risk and red flags.

If there ever was a year to push for a playoff spot this seems like one to do it. The top end of this draft isn't great.

I'd be surprised if he makes it past 10. There will be someone (not Buffalo) who will take a chance on him returning to his pre-season pedigree.

 

[Darth Vladar]

I do wonder if a guy like McQueen might drop into the 12-15 which makes a trade up very possible.

I know GM's and scouts love big C's, but with his injury, age, and production (21 points in 20 games) he does come with some risk and red flags.

If there ever was a year to push for a playoff spot this seems like one to do it. The top end of this draft isn't great.

Pushing for (and indeed making) the playoffs could also boost the value of our impending UFAs and other roster players in time for a fire sale, freeing up roster spots for a younger lineup next year so we can go tank mode for the stronger draft class (and perhaps a shot at Gav Mac).

 

[Siignal]

Maybe one of McQueen or Ryabkin drops to NJD pick?

 

[FLAMESFAN]

Pushing for (and indeed making) the playoffs could also boost the value of our impending UFAs and other roster players in time for a fire sale, freeing up roster spots for a younger lineup next year so we can go tank mode for the stronger draft class (and perhaps a shot at Gav Mac).

If we didn't tank this year, we sure won't next year.
As far as McQueen, with the recent reaggravation, I could for sure see him dropping out of the top 10, maybe even to 15.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Maybe one of McQueen or Ryabkin drops to NJD pick?

Either. Then hope the other one is available with Florida's pick.

It's the kind of "swing for the fences" type move that the Flames need to make in this draft.

 

[Darth Vladar]

If we didn't tank this year, we sure won't next year.
As far as McQueen, with the recent reaggravation, I could for sure see him dropping out of the top 10, maybe even to 15.

I mean, the Habs made the SC final as the lowest-seeded team (albeit in the shortened season) and had the 1st overall pick the very next year. I’m not saying any tanking would be intentional so much as circumstantial from stripping our roster to the bare bones save for our youngsters and whatever vets we need to keep for us reach the cap floor. Studs like Gav Mac only come along every so often, and with the timing of the new arena and where the Flames are in terms of the franchise direction, etc., it just seems like the best timing to properly bottom out, if they were ever going to for once. Trade Razzy for another ballot in the Gav Mac sweepstakes, and package all three 1sts plus whatever else necessary to get him if by chance we don’t win the lottery.

 

[FLAMESFAN]

I mean, the Habs made the SC final as the lowest-seeded team (albeit in the shortened season) and had the 1st overall pick the very next year. I’m not saying any tanking would be intentional so much as circumstantial from stripping our roster to the bare bones save for our youngsters and whatever vets we need to keep for us reach the cap floor. Studs like Gav Mac only come along every so often, and with the timing of the new arena and where the Flames are in terms of the franchise direction, etc., it just seems like the best timing to properly bottom out, if they were ever going to for once. Trade Razzy for another ballot in the Gav Mac sweepstakes, and package all three 1sts plus whatever else necessary to get him if by chance we don’t win the lottery.

I hear ya, and I was fully on the Team Tank Train at this time lastyear, but we'd need long term injury to Wolf, Kadri and Weager for us to be a bottom feeder. Slim chance.

 

[Darth Vladar]

I hear ya, and I was fully on the Team Tank Train at this time lastyear, but we'd need long term injury to Wolf, Kadri and Weager for us to be a bottom feeder. Slim chance.

You don’t think we have the assets to package with three 1sts for the 1st overall pick if the Flames themselves can’t/wont bottom all the way out?

 

[FLAMESFAN]

You don’t think we have the assets to package with three 1sts for the 1st overall pick if the Flames themselves can’t/wont bottom all the way out?

I think it's a pipe dream

 

[Darth Vladar]

I think it's a pipe dream

I’m just saying, if we were to indeed trade Raz for another 2026 1st, there aren’t too many players on our roster that I wouldn’t be willing to package up with those three 1sts for a shot at a generational talent in Gav Mac.