As we delve into the top 10 of our t0p 20 Calgary Flames draft picks countdown, it’s rather appropriate that the #10 pick is still active in the Stanley Cup playoffs, albeit for a different team.
Let’s discuss the 10th-best draft pick in Flames history: Matthew Tkachuk, the sixth overall selection in the 2016 NHL Draft.
The eldest son of longtime National Hockey League player Keith Tkachuk, Matthew was born in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1997 (while his father played for the Coyotes) but was primarily raised in the St. Louis area. He followed his father into hockey and was part of a really talented cohort of young hockey players in that neck of the woods, playing on youth teams with the likes of Luke Kunin, Logan Brown and Clayton Keller. (Names like Trent Frederic, Joseph Woll and Matthew’s younger brother Brady went through St. Louis minor hockey a little later than Matthew.)
Tkachuk went on to play two seasons in the United States National Development Program, spending 2013-14 with their under-17 team and 2014-15 with their under-18 team, capturing gold medals at the Under-17 Hockey Challenge and the Under-18 World Championship. Despite previously committing to the University of Notre Dame, Tkachuk instead opted to play for the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights (who had drafted him in 2013) for his 18-year-old season, 2015-16. The Knights were a powerhouse already, and adding Tkachuk made them moreso. Tkachuk meshed really well with Christian Fischer and Mitch Marner, helping lead the Knights to capture the OHL crown and the Memorial Cup.
One of the most highly-rated players in the 2016 NHL Draft class, Tkachuk ended up falling into the Flames’ lap as a consequence of Columbus surprising many by selecting Pierre-Luc Dubois at third overall. (Dubois was highly-regarded, but not quite as high as third overall.) Tkachuk signed his entry-level deal a couple weeks later and ended up making the Flames roster out of training camp… and never looked back.
If we’re going to attempt to boil down Tkachuk’s rapid success with the Flames to two factors, it’s that he’s really smart and the Flames gave him a clear role. He spent his first four seasons on Mikael Backlund’s left side on the “tough minutes” shutdown line, usually flanked by Michael Frolik (2016-19) or Andrew Mangiapane (2019-20). Matched up against the other team’s top guns and being asked to try to out-score them, the challenge really seemed to suit the ultra-competitive Tkachuk.
Yeah, his competitive nature got him a rough reputation early on, as he was speaking rather frequently with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety during his first couple seasons. He was suspended three times during his first two seasons, but then he seemingly figured out where the line was separating competitive play and “Oh god Matthew please don’t do that.”
Let’s put this a different way: for five of Tkachuk’s six seasons with the Flames, he was put on a consistent line with a consistent role. For all five of those seasons, his line was the Flames’ best line and one of the top lines in the entire NHL. Was that because the Flames gave Tkachuk clear parameters under which to operate? Sure! Was Tkachuk going to make his line stronger regardless of instructions? Yeah, probably. He’s a really good player, and he probably got up to his potential faster than anticipated because he was given effective guardrails. By the time he was thrown onto a pure scoring line in 2020-21, his two-way play was rock-solid because of his experience playing with Backlund on a shutdown line. He didn’t need to change much.
In terms of production, Tkachuk kept growing his output over six seasons. His peak was 40 goals and 109 points in 2021-22, but he also had a pair of 20-goal campaigns (23 in 2019-20, 24 in 2017-18). Arguably the most impressive offensive accomplishment, given his role at the time, was scoring 34 goals and 77 points in 2018-19 while playing on the shutdown line with Backlund and Frolik. Tkachuk received votes for the Calder Trophy in his rookie year, finishing in seventh spot behind the winner, Auston Matthews. He returned to awards ballots in 2021-22, receiving votes for the Hart Trophy and Selke Trophy, and was voted to the Second All-Star Team.
A restricted free agent following the 2022 season, Tkachuk received pitches from a few teams and informed the Flames of his desire for a long-term future elsewhere. After a few days of negotiations, the Flames signed Tkachuk to an eight year contract extension, then traded him to the Florida Panthers (along with a 2025 fourth-round pick) in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt and a 2025 first-round pick. It was the NHL’s first-ever sign and trade deal.
Tkachuk played 431 games with the Flames over six seasons, posting 152 goals and 382 points. He was a driving force on the team’s best line for the majority of his tenure with the club. When he left, he helped orchestrate a scenario where he went where he wanted, and the Flames received a bunch of assets in the process. For a sixth overall selection, Tkachuk provided the Flames with an impressive amount of value.
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One of the Calgary Flames’ longest-serving employees will have a new job title on July 1. The club announced on Monday that vice-president communications Peter Hanlon will shift to the hockey operations side of things next month, becoming an assistant general manager.
According to the press release announcing the move, Hanlon “will be involved in all areas of hockey operations including player evaluation, player recruitment and strategic planning.” He’ll join Dave Nonis and Brad Pascall as assistant general managers under general manager Craig Conroy. (Jarome Iginla remains as a special assistant to the GM.)
The #Flames announce Peter Hanlon, formerly Vice President of Communications with the club, as an Assistant General Manager!
: https://t.co/58yye3cpEL pic.twitter.com/3v29EueyL9
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) June 16, 2025
Now, if you’re unfamiliar with Hanlon’s history or the Flames’ history, you may be asking yourself, “Someone making the switch from the communications side to hockey operations seems a bit odd. Is it odd?” And the answer to that is, “No, not really.”
Hanlon broke into the management side of hockey in 1991 (according to Elite Prospects), serving as team manager and head of media relations for the St. John’s Maple Leafs of the American Hockey League. After a stint at the AHL head office, he joined the Flames in 1997-98 and has served in the communications department ever since. If you’ve watched Flames TV coverage of any press conference or scrum with a player, Hanlon’s often standing in the background paying close attention to the proceedings. Being head of communications means you need to pay a close eye on everything league-wide, and as a result Hanlon has a great amount of relationships and knowledge of the hockey landscape.
In terms of Flames history, Hanlon isn’t even the only member of the Flames’ hockey ops department to make the jump from communications. Senior director of hockey administration Mike Burke originally worked in public relations for the Flames, and assistant GM (and vice-president of hockey operations) Brad Pascall worked in communications for Hockey Canada before shifting to hockey operations with that organization. Former Flames GM Al Coates also began his run with the Flames in public relations before making the switch.
Hanlon’s paid his dues and developed a strong reputation within the league for his knowledge and work ethic. We’re excited to see how he does in his new role.
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Clark Bishop had some big skates to fill going into this season. The Wranglers’ inaugural captain, Brett Sutter, made the decision to retire in the off-season and take on a coaching position with the team. This left his regular linemate, Clark Bishop, as best placed to replace him. While this wasn’t announced right away, Bishop still had a few games to show off his skill and get to know the newcomers. Beyond being named the second captain in team history, he also had some key moments in the season that helped drive his team to success.
Bishop was a fifth round draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, going 127th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft. He started the first few years of his professional career between the ECHL and AHL, winning a Calder Cup with the Charlotte Checkers in 2019. He followed that up with his NHL debut with the Ottawa Senators in the 2020-21 season. He played between them and the Belleville Senators for the seasons following before he came to the Wranglers in the 2022-23 season. He had 23 points in his first season in Calgary and 22 points in his second, leading into this year.
2024-25 expectations
What was expected of Clark Bishop was pretty much the same of what we saw out of him in 2023-24. Be a leader on the team who can relate to NHL and Calder Cup experience to pass on tribal knowledge to the prospects. Also, contribute to helping the young guys coming in learn the style of play at this level and aid in their development. Bishop was typically a third or fourth liner on a veteran line and a similar role was anticipated for his third year in the organization.
2024-25 results
Clark Bishop is one of the Wranglers who definitely exceeded the expectations for the season. Naming him captain to follow Brett Sutter felt right, but the level of play that followed was unprecedented. He had a career year with the team, putting up the most points he has in his whole professional career.
When he talked about leading this team he said:
He went on to talk about how he was prepared to take on the role when Sutter’s intentions for his hockey career were known. Bishop said:
Bishop put the play behind his veteran leadership and was a clutch player in the first half of the season. His efforts got him noticed by the NHL squad, earning him his first NHL games in three years. He stuck around for six games and managed to find the back of the net in just his second game back.
FLAMES GOAL
Clark Bishop scores his first goal as a Calgary Flame!! That's his first NHL goal in 2,242 days!
: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames #mnwild pic.twitter.com/ObKvmGKn5N
— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) January 26, 2025
Time with the Flames this year on top of being at his best professionally with the Wranglers for a career year, made quite an individual accomplishment when he reflected on his season. He said:
Bishop’s game declined with the teams during their rough patch of games through February, but once they were through the worst of it, he was looking more like himself. He finished the year with 66 games played, only missing time for the birth of his daughter. His stat line finished with 19 goals and 19 assists for number 19 for a total of 38 points on the season. He also picked up the most game winning goals on the team with seven.
Next season’s expectations
Clark Bishop is an unrestricted free agent this summer as his last two year contract with the Flames has expired. Bishop raved about his time in Calgary so far and would very much take up the Flames organization on returning. He said:
As a team that went through almost every situation an AHL squad could imagine, Clark Bishop coming back for consistency in their leadership group would be a welcome decision.
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Was there a first-time general manager in recent NHL memory dropped into a more challenging first few months than Craig Conroy was?
In the spring of 2023, Conroy was promoted to GM of the Calgary Flames after nearly a decade as an assistant GM under Brad Treliving. And Conroy inherited a veritable house of cards from his predecessor, best encapsulated by seven prominent Flames entering the final year of their contracts (seven potential unrestricted free agents) and a ticking clock.
When the dust had settled by the 2024 NHL Draft, Conroy had opted to retain Mikael Backlund, allowed Oliver Kylington to leave in free agency, and traded away – deep breath – Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom and Andrew Mangiapane.
By contrast to what he inherited from Treliving, 2025’s off-season seems downright quiet. The big question looming over the next few months, and a frequent topic conversation among Flames fans, is the future of blueline Rasmus Andersson. A longtime Flame, the 2025-26 season will be the final one on Andersson’s current contract.
Speaking with Ryan Pinder and Dean “Boomer” Molberg of Barn Burner this past week, Conroy provided an update on how things have been going in terms of talks with Andersson’s camp.
“When he left he wanted to just take a mental break, not talk about any of this, so now over the last week we’ve reached out to them and now we’ve started the dialogue,” said Conroy. “So it’s the beginning of the process. We definitely have a term and number that we like and they have a term and number they like, and that’s where it begins. But you know that’s part of the process and I think when you’re looking how this goes it will determine a little bit of what path we’re going to go down.”
For context, the 2023-24 season was a bit messy. The team got off to a rough start under new head coach Ryan Huska, culminating with a flat performance at the 2023 Heritage Classic against the Edmonton Oilers. It seems pretty obvious that having so many big pieces of that team on expiring deals caused a bit of a distraction for the Flames. While it wasn’t the only reason the season went off the rails, it certainly didn’t help things.
So if the Flames can’t come to terms with Andersson on an extension by a certain date, like the upcoming NHL Draft or the start of the season, would the Flames need to make a trade?
“I give Raz a lot of credit, he’s just very honest,” said Conroy. “And he just said, ‘hey if we can’t come to a deal or we do come to a deal, like, I’m a Calgary Flame. Even if i come back next year and i don’t have a deal, like, I’m here, I’m gonna play hard, you know, I’m gonna do everything I can for the team.’ So if anything he’s been real open to, beforehand, those conversations. I don’t think he would be upset, I don’t think there’s a deadline for me. ‘Oh, you don’t get him signed, he has to go,’ like Rasmus isn’t in that mindset. Rasmus knows he wants to have a great year next year because that helps his contract, like we all do. Every time I went in a final year, you’re thinking ‘oh I want to have a big year here.'”
Given the situation and Andersson’s contract status, is Conroy listening on offers for Andersson?
“Well that’s just part of the job, you have to do that with every player.” said Conroy. “I mean, you really do, because you don’t know what’s going to come up. What someone’s needs, maybe there’s a great fit I never thought of it, the other guy did, and that that’s part of it. If there’s a way someone just calls and says ‘hey we would be willing to do XYZ,’ and it’s ‘oh that that makes total sense for the next 10 years for our team,’ you would look at it. But it’s not just Raz, it’s everybody.”
Would keeping Andersson long-term or moving on from Andersson cause the Flames’ current retooling process to change course?
“I don’t think so,” said Conroy. “I don’t think one leads the other, because the goal is always to continue to get better.”
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The Calgary Flames have gone through some pretty significant changes since the spring of 2023. We’ve discussed from time to time the contractual house of cards that general manager Craig Conroy inherited, but it feels like we don’t truly appreciate what head coach Ryan Huska had to navigate when he ascended to the top coaching job prior to the 2023-24 season.
While Conroy had to navigate several complex contract negotiations with players on expiring contracts, and then had to deal with trade negotiations on many of them in-season, Huska had to field a competitive hockey club with aspirations of qualifying for the Stanley Cup playoff. Huska did all of this while running his own bench as head coach for the first time in the NHL, and first time at any level since 2017-18.
Oh, and some pretty big pieces of his team were swapped out throughout the season, causing Huska’s staff to change things up on the fly. They somehow remained within a stone’s throw of the playoff cut line for most of the campaign.
Even though the 2024-25 Flames roster was, on paper at least, weaker than the 2023-24 edition, Huska was able to field a consistent lineup for the entire season. And while external expectations were pretty low for the Flames heading into the season, Huska got buy-in from the Flames’ veterans and they ended up having a pretty good season, missing the playoffs by just the regulation wins tiebreaker against St. Louis.
The 2025-26 season will be the third on Huska’s current contract. And while coaching contracts generally aren’t public knowledge, the expectation is that it’s the final year on Huska’s original contract as Flames head coach. Speaking with Ryan Pinder and Dean “Boomer” Molberg on Barn Burner this past week, Conroy certainly made it sound like an extension for Huska won’t be a hard sell.
“It’s definitely something that I prioritize,” said Conroy. “But for me him going into the last year doesn’t do it. I said it a long time ago: he’s my coach, we’re building this together and I think we need some continuity. We’ve had a lot of coaching change here and I think that’s it’s hard to keep systems and coaches and then just philosophy.”
Conroy had a lot of praise for Huska’s performance as head coach.
“I think Ryan has done an amazing job,” added Conroy. “We took a step and now, we’re always hoping to take another step. That’s the goal, take another step, get better. But as far as timing, I don’t think it for me it doesn’t mean as much. I don’t think it’s like, ‘oh my god,’ it’s something bad. He’s not lame duck coach. He’s done a great job for us and when when we do get time and we both can agree on a deal, I would love to do something with him.”
Conroy became an assistant GM during the 2014 off-season after previously serving as a special assistant. The same summer that Conroy was made AGM, Huska was recruited to coach the Flames’ AHL team. Huska has been on the NHL coaching staff since 2018-19. It probably goes without saying that Conroy and Huska know each other well after that many years working in the same orbit.
If you give Huska the benefit of the doubt on the chaotic 2023-24 season, the team’s performance during 2024-25 provides a nice benchmark for what the Flames could build with Huska behind the bench. Time will tell what Huska’s next deal with the Flames looks like, but it certainly sounds like one is coming before too long.
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The Calgary Wranglers have announced who will be taking over head coaching duties for the team in 2025-26 and it is a face familiar to the team and the organization: Brett Sutter.
Sutter has been with the Wranglers since their inaugural season in 2022, serving as their captain for the first two seasons up until 2024. Last summer, he made the decision to retire as a player and was offered an assistant coaching job with his former team.
Brett Sutter has been named head coach of the @AHLWranglers!
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) June 20, 2025
In the 2024-25 season, Brett Sutter received a temporary promotion to Interim Head Coach when Trent Cull was called up to the Flames to cover Brad Larsen’s leave of absence and Interim Head Coach at the time, Joe Cirella, needed to take a couple of weeks away from the team to recover from a routine eye procedure.
Sutter ended up coaching for the better part of February. He also filled in for Cirella to Coach Team Pacific at the AHL All-Star game on February 2nd and 3rd. He was joined by Rory Kerins and Devin Cooley, who also represented the team at this event.
In his first year as an Assistant Coach and briefly Interim Head Coach, the Wranglers finished fifth in the Pacific Division and qualified for the first round of playoffs. They were then knocked out by the Coachella Valley Firebirds in game two of a best-of-three series. Trent Cull re-joined the team for playoffs at the conclusion of the Flames season and his Assistant Coaching position has been made permanent as of late May.
As a player, Brett Sutter played 60 NHL games and 1,090 AHL games. He celebrated his 1,000th game with the Wranglers on December 21, 2022 against his former team, the Ontario Reign. As if the night wasn’t memorable enough, he was also scored the game-winning goal.
Brett Sutter was drafted by the Flames back in 2005, going 179th overall in the sixth round. In his playing career, he put up 463 points in the AHL and 10 points in the NHL. Sutter played 18 games with the Flames and yes, he is the son of former Flames Head Coach Darryl Sutter. His roots run deep in this organization and he is the best placed person to continue on his personal legacy and the legacy of his family with a key developmental piece of the club.
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