The third round of the draft, depending on the class, is often where things sort of lean out.

This is the point in the draft where head scouts start to lean on their area scouts a bit more, and you can start to tell what teams value based on what sort of gambles they’re willing to take in the third round.

Lately, the Flames have taken a few gambles that seem like they could be pretty prudent, all things considered.

Their last five drafts

Here are the last five drafts worth of first-round selections for the Flames:

Notes:

• The Flames acquired Vegas’ 2024 third-rounder as part of the Noah Hanifin trade in 2024 and used that pick to select Zarubin.
• The Flames traded their 2023 third-rounder to Seattle as part of the Calle Jarnkrok in 2022, then reacquired that pick from New Jersey as part of the Tyler Toffoli trade in 2023.
• The Flames traded their 2022 third-rounder to Boston for Dan Vladar in 2021.
• The Flames acquired Toronto’s 2022 third-rounder for David Rittich in 2021, then traded that pick to Chicago for Nikita Zadorov.
• The Flames traded their 2020 third-rounder to Chicago for Erik Gustafsson in 2020, but acquired the NY Rangers’ 2020 third-rounder by trading back in the first round from 19th to 22nd (taking Jeremie Poirier with that pick), then acquired Arizona’s 2020 third-rounder from Washington by trading back from 22nd to 24th (taking Jake Boltmann with that pick).

The Flames have made six selections in the third round over the past five drafts, and some of the picks seem pretty astute.

Yes, we’ll concede that high-school shutdown defender Jake Boltmann might not have been the best grab, but he did come right after offensive-minded ace Jeremie Poirier, so you can sort of see the type of balance they were trying to strike between player types. Cameron Whynot didn’t pan out either, but the next three picks – forward Aydar Suniev, blueliner Henry Mews and goalie Kirill Zarubin – all seem pretty promising.

Have they hit home runs in the third round lately? Not yet. But you can look at what they’re doing lately in the third round and get what types of gambles they’re trying to make.

Historical hits

The best third-rounders in Flames history are probably 1979 third-rounder Tim Hunter and 1981 third-rounder Mike Vernon. Yes, they’re both local kids drafted out of the Western League. yes, they were both drafted in the 50s – in other words, way earlier than many contemporary third-rounders – but damn, they were huge pieces of the Flames glory days.

More recently, strong third-rounders have a lower bar to clear because they’re drafted way later. But let’s give some shout-outs to the likes of Sandy McCarthy, Chris Clark, Matthew Lombardi and Lance Bouma. Were any of them Vernon-level stars? Not really. Were all of them pretty useful role players that helped their clubs win hockey games? Heck yes.

Historical misses

In recent years, the Flames have been kind of hit and miss in the third round. Aydar Suniev played Game 82 for the Flames at the end of the 2024-25 season, but he was the first Flames third-rounder to play a game for the club since 2012 third-rounder Jon Gillies. So… it’s been awhile. (That stretch represents eight picks that played zero games for the Flames, including Adam Fox and Brandon Hickey, who they at least packaged into trades.)

The Flames had a similar gap between 1983 third-rounder Brian Bradley and 1991 third-rounder Sandy McCarthy, featuring five thirds that never suited up for the Flames.