The NHL Draft is a big occasion for young hockey players, and it’s often a big weekend for NHL teams looking to shake up their rosters. More and more, draft weekend (and the day before) has been a source of big, big trades.

We’ve discussed some trades at the NHL Draft that didn’t turn out terribly well for the Calgary Flames. Now, let’s look at some of their successes.

Here are six big draft weekend trades, in chronological order.

1982: 1982 first-round pick, 1982 second-round pick, 1983 first-round pick and 1983 second-round pick to Buffalo for Don Edwards, Richie Dunn, 1982 second-round pick and 1983 first-round pick

In 1981-82, the Flames had a young netminding tandem of Reggie Lemelin and Pat Riggin. They were fine, but both were pretty young and prone to ups and downs. The Flames seemed to prefer an older netminder to pair with Lemelin. Riggin was sent to Washington in another trade, and Don Edwards was acquired from Buffalo to replace him.

This trade, when you cancel out the various picks, boils down to Edwards and Richie Dunn for a first-rounder and a second-rounder. Reasonable people can disagree if the price tag was too high, but Edwards and Lemelin were a really strong tandem, and helped bridge the gap until Mike Vernon arrived and took over the net.

1985: Kent Nilsson and 1986 third-round pick to Minnesota for 1985 second-round pick and 1987 second-round pick

Two things can be true. Man, Kent Nilsson was a fantastic offensive player, and his 131-point effort in 1980-81 still stands as the Flames single-season record. But man, the Magic Man was a frustrating player away from the puck. After a first-round playoff elimination at the hands of Winnipeg where Nilsson had a single point, he was shipped to the North Stars.

The 1985 second-rounder the Flames acquired was used to select an obscure college player with a hard-to-spell name called Joe Nieuwendyk. The 1987 second-rounder became Stephane Matteau.

1999: Jan Hlavac, 1999 first-round pick and 1999 third-round pick to NY Rangers for Marc Savard and 1999 first-round pick

This was some tidy work with some value added throughout.

The Flames had acquired Jan Hlavac’s NHL rights from the New York Islanders the year before in exchange for Jorgen Jonsson’s rights, and while highly-touted he hadn’t signed yet. Marc Savard was a month away from turning 22 and on the upswing. They ended up trading back two spots, selecting Oleg Saprykin at 11th overall, and got Savard in the process.

2001: Fred Brathwaite, Daniel Tkaczuk, Sergei Varlamov and 2001 ninth-round pick to St. Louis for Roman Turek and 2001 fourth-round pick

The Flames had quietly been building a decent little team – if you squinted, you could see the shape of what would eventually become the 2004 club – but they lacked high-end goaltending. Fred Brathwaite was a really solid netminder and settled things down for the team when they needed consistency, but Roman Turek was a out-and-out upgrade, and the price to upgrade was a couple prospects and a late-round pick.

2015: 2015 first-round pick, 2015 second-round pick and 2015 second round pick to Boston for Dougie Hamilton

We’ve discussed this move a lot over the years, and we think it still holds up really nicely. Brad Treliving had shipped out Sven Baertschi and Curtis Glencross prior to the 2015 trade deadline and approached the draft with six picks in the first three rounds – one first-rounder, three second-rounders and two third-rounders.

By the time anyone started to hear chatter that Dougie Hamilton and the Bruins weren’t seeing eye-to-eye on his contract following the expiry of his entry-level deal, he had been traded to the Flames for three draft picks. They got immediate offensive help for their blueline, and they still had enough picks left to select Rasmus Andersson and Oliver Kylington, who would provide help later on.

2018: Dougie Hamilton, Adam Fox and Micheal Ferland to Carolina for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin

Three years after Treliving acquired Hamilton, he decided he just wasn’t quite a fit for what he wanted the Flames to be. Defensive prospect Adam Fox made it known that he preferred playing closer to home and wasn’t going to sign with the team. Micheal Ferland had been a tremendous player, but he had a year left on his deal and the Flames anticipated he’d earn a big, big raise.

So Treliving basically did the same thing he did in 2015, getting Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin – each coming off their entry-level deals and still with a ton of team control left – in exchange for three assets that he didn’t see as long-term fits for the hockey club. And then Lindholm and Hanifin played several years for the Flames before they, too, were shipped out as expiring assets.

If the idea is to squeeze as much value and controllable years out of assets as you can as a GM, the Hamilton asset chain worked wonders.