The Calgary Flames have found a lot of value in the seventh round of the NHL Draft

The seventh round of the NHL Draft can be a weird time. It’s the final round of the draft. A lot of the teams are starting to pack up their tables. Heck, a lot of teams are trying to figure out whether to get dinner before heading to the airport for their flights home.

But there’s still value to be found in the final round of the draft. And while the Flames don’t have a seventh-round pick this year – it’s the first time since 2011 they haven’t had one – they’ve found a lot of value in this round over the past few years.

The Flames’ 2024 seventh-rounder was traded to the Seattle Kraken in the Calle Jarnkrok trade at the 2022 trade deadline.

Their last five picks

Here are the last five seventh-round selections for the Flames:

The Flames’ 2019 and 2020 seventh-rounders not only spent 2023-24 under NHL deals with the club, but they combined for 27 NHL games last season. Heck, Dustin Wolf is considered one of the most exciting young prospects in the league.

Sergeev, Littler and Hurtig are all interesting late-round projects, which is what teams typically hope to find in the late rounds. Sergeev and Littler will spend 2024-25 in the NCAA, while Hurtig is migrating to North America to play with the Calgary Hitmen.

Some historical hits

In the history of the Flames making selections in the seventh round, three of their picks ended up playing over 200 NHL games:

• 1977 pick Bobby Gould played 697 NHL games across 11 NHL seasons. He only played 20 games with Atlanta/Calgary, with the majority of his NHL run coming with the Washington Capitals after a trade in 1981 in exchange for Pat Ribble.
• 1985 pick Stu Grimson played 729 NHL games across 14 NHL seasons. He played just four games with Calgary before being claimed off waivers by Chicago, but he went on to establish himself as one of the most feared pugilists in hockey – he was aptly nicknamed “The Grim Reaper.”
• 2001 pick David Moss played 501 NHL games across nine NHL seasons. He played 317 games with the Flames – he scored 20 goals in 2008-09 – before moving to Phoenix as a free agent.

And while he didn’t quite hit the 200 game mark typically used to denote a pick as a success, 1994 pick Ladislav Kohn just missed that mark, with 186 NHL games – including a dozen with the Flames over two stints with the club.

Some historical misses

There’s no such thing as a miss in the seventh round. When you reach the later rounds, if a player ends up playing quality games in your minor league system, you probably look at it as a small win for your scouting group. If they play any NHL games for your side, you’re probably very happy with that outcome.