The last time we dug into a recent Calgary Flames draft class, it was a banner crop in the form of the 2015 class.

Now, we skip forward a couple years to the 2017 NHL Draft. And, if we’re being polite, it wasn’t nearly as good a class as they experienced in 2015. Like, nowhere close.

The picks

The Flames were allocated seven picks through the usual draft process – one in each round – and ended up keeping four of their picks to select players and trading three of them for other assets.

In the first round, 16th overall, the Flames selected defenceman Juuso Valimaki. Valimaki played 82 games with the Flames before being claimed off waivers by Arizona. Valimaki was a really promising young blueliner, but his progression was really hampered by a couple injuries – a high ankle sprain and a knee ligament tear – that really stalled his development.

In the fourth round, 109th overall, the Flames selected forward Adam Ruzicka. Ruzicka played 114 games with the Flames before being claimed off waivers by Arizona. Yes, the Coyotes claimed both of the Flames picks that ended up playing NHL games, albeit they did it a couple years apart.

In the fifth round, 140th overall, the Flames selected overage forward Zach Fischer. Fischer played a year in the Flames’ minor league system on an AHL contract, but he didn’t end up signing an NHL deal.

In the sixth round, 171st overall, the Flames selected forward D’Artagnan Joly. Joly wasn’t offered a contract and the Flames lost his rights. (Great name, though.)

In the seventh round, 202th overall, the Flames selected forward Filip Sveningsson. Sveningsson wasn’t offered a contract and the Flames lost his rights.

The trades

The Flames traded their second-round pick, 47th overall, to Ottawa, along with Jyrki Jokipakka, in exchange for Curtis Lazar and Mike Kostka. Lazar played 70 games for the Flames before leaving in free agency.

The Flames traded their third-round pick, 78th overall, to Arizona, along with a conditional 2018 fifth-round pick, in exchange for Michael Stone. (The conditional pick was triggered when Stone re-signed with the Flames.) Stone played 228 games for the Flames before retiring. Famously, he was bought out by the Flames one summer, then re-signed to a new contract later that off-season after Valimaki tore a knee ligament and required surgery.

The verdict

All-told, the Flames four selections and traded three of their picks for players. Between the players they picked and the players they acquired, their assets amassed 494 NHL games. Combined. And nearly half of those were by Stone.