Flames have better than 10% chance to win top-three pick in draft lottery

The Calgary Flames have never had a top-three pick in franchise history, but that could all change tonight.

After a slow start to the 2023-24 season, a playoff spot became unlikely for the Flames. Any hopes of sneaking into a wild-card spot diminished completely ahead of the trade deadline following the trades of Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin.

The Flames ended up finishing 24th in league standings with a 38-39-5 record, which was good enough to have them finish in the top 10 in the draft lottery odds. Heading in, they are projected to select ninth overall, with a 64.4% chance of doing so. There is also a slight chance of them sliding down the order, with a 23.5% chance of falling to 10th and a much slimmer 1.7% chance of dropping to 11th.

On a much more positive note, there is also a chance they see themselves rise way up the order. They have a 5% chance to select first overall, a pick which most agree will be used to select Boston University’s Macklin Celebrini. The 17-year-old scored 32 goals and 64 points as a freshman this season.

There is a slightly higher 5.2% chance that they will land the second-overall pick. Their opportunity for the third-overall selection is much lower at 0.2%.

Tankathon

Should the Flames stay at ninth overall following tonight’s lottery results, it will be their first top-10 pick since 2016, when they selected Matthew Tkachuk at sixth. The highest pick in franchise history came back in 2014 when they took Sam Bennett fourth overall.

Aside from Celebrini, the most talked about player by Flames fans heading into this year’s draft is Tij Iginla, the son of franchise icon Jarome. Yesterday, TSN’s Bob McKenzie had him at 10 in his draft rankings.

The lottery is set to get underway at 4:30 pm MT.