Last week, Calgary Flames forward Mikael Backlund made a little frachise history. Backlund suited up for his 700th NHL game, become part of an elite club who’ve lasted so long with the Flames.
Backlund is one of five past Flames first rounders that remains with the club, and he’s one of the most prolific. Let’s see how he, and the other four, stack up against team’s other past first round selections.
The five that remain
As noted, five prior first round selections remain with the Flames:
- Backlund, a 2007 pick by then-general manager Darryl Sutter
- Sean Monahan, a 2013 pick by former GM Jay Feaster
- Sam Bennett, a 2014 pick by current GM Brad Treliving
- Matthew Tkachuk, a 2016 pick by Treliving
- Juuso Valimaki, a 2017 pick by Treliving
The Flames hold the rights to Jakob Pelletier (2019) and Connor Zary (2020), and we’re ignoring them because it’s silly to compare Backlund to junior players drafted 12 and 13 years after him.