Connor Zary clearing waivers this week did more than sting in the moment. It brought Calgary’s draft history back into the spotlight, and not in a flattering way.
A former first-round pick getting through waivers untouched is the kind of outcome that forces a hard look backward, and for the Flames, that look leads straight to Brad Treliving’s years as general manager. Across nine drafts from 2014 through 2022, Calgary had some real wins. But the overall body of work has a long trail of misses, and Zary’s situation is the latest reminder that the pain is still lingering.
The Flames’ 2014 class is the one that really jumps off the page for all the wrong reasons. Calgary made six selections that year, including three in the first two rounds, yet three of those six players were out of hockey entirely within seven years. Only Sam Bennett reached the NHL, and even that came with a familiar caveat: he did not become a factor in Calgary, only later turning into a stud in Florida.
Treliving did hit big in 2015 and 2016, and those two drafts stand out as the peak of his work. Calgary made 14 picks across those years, and six of them turned into impact NHL players.
Matthew Tkachuk and Adam Fox were the headliners, but value also showed up in places like Andrew Mangiapane in the sixth round and Rasmus Andersson in the second. For a stretch, it looked like the Flames had found a drafting edge that would hold.
That edge disappeared fast.
By 2017, the cracks were obvious. Of Calgary’s five picks that year, only Juuso Valimaki and Ruzicka reached the NHL at all, and neither became the kind of player a team builds around.
Both were out of the league by their D+9 season. Zach Fischer, a fifth-round pick, was done with hockey just three years after being drafted.
The 2018 class was thin from the start because Calgary did not have a pick in the first three rounds, but the results were still rough. Three of the four selections never played in the NHL.
Roman and Zavgorodniy were in Europe by their D+5 season, with Petterssen following a couple of years later. Martin Pospisil was the one notable success, even if he has settled in as only a modest NHL contributor.
Then came 2019, a class that looked ordinary until Dustin Wolf changed the story. Calgary found Wolf in the seventh round, and that swing took the draft from forgettable to worthwhile.
Outside of him, the returns were thin. Jakob Pelletier flashed early but never stuck as an NHL player and has become the classic case of a strong AHL scorer who cannot translate it at the top level.
Behind him, the Flames got almost nothing, with Ilya Nikolaev, Lucas Feuk and Josh Nodler combining for 35 AHL games, all from Nikolaev.
The 2020 draft seemed more promising at first glance. Four Calgary picks reached the NHL, which sounds productive enough, but none became impact players. Now three of them are back in the AHL after Zary cleared waivers, and Yan Kuznetsov looks like the only one with a chance to remain a full-time NHLer, and even that comes with a ceiling as a third-pairing defenseman at best.
Jeremie Poirier was once viewed as a steal and even made the AHL All-Rookie team in 2022-23, but a serious injury and trouble adapting his game knocked him off track before he ever earned a real shot with the Flames. And Jake Boltmann remains one of the stranger picks from the Treliving era: Calgary used a third-round selection on a player widely viewed as more of a late-round option, then watched him produce two goals and 20 points in his next 126 NCAA games.
The 2021 class was another mess, with only Matt Coronato and maybe Arseni Sergeev offering much reason for optimism. By their D+4 season, three of Calgary’s eight picks were already in U Sports.
Then there was the decision at the top of the class: Logan Stankoven was there, and the Flames passed. Instead, they took William Stromgren, a 6’3″ winger out of the SHL.
Stankoven is now a top-six forward and Stanley Cup champion. Stromgren has played three NHL games.
Sergeev at 205th overall at least gives Calgary something to dream on, but the sample is still far too small to call that one a win.
And 2022 closed the book in familiar fashion. Calgary had limited draft capital, passed on talent for size, and came away with nothing from the class.
After missing on Stankoven the year before, Treliving repeated the mistake by passing on Lane Hutson and selecting Topi Ronni, a 6’2″ Finland-born forward. Ronni never played a game in North America.
Hutson, meanwhile, has become a yearly Norris candidate.
Zary’s waivers story may be the trigger, but the broader message is the same one Calgary keeps running into: the Treliving draft ledger is still costing the Flames.
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