Over the past few seasons, two things have happened to the Calgary Flames fairly regularly. They’ve drafted well and have usually had a standout prospect. But they’ve also regularly graduated their top kids to the National Hockey League level fairly rapidly.
Sam Bennett? Right to the NHL. Matthew Tkachuk? Right to the NHL. By the time players like Rasmus Andersson, Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane rose to prospect prominence, they were whisked into the NHL.
But due to some injuries, some surprising performances and a few other developments, you could argue that for the first time in years the Flames don’t have a bonafide top prospect in their system.