Are the Flames playing themselves out of a top 2027 NHL Draft prospect?

The Calgary Flames started the 2026-27 season as many expected, with regulation losses in their first five games, well on their way to securing a lottery pick in the star-studded 2027 NHL Entry Draft.

But the Flames, led by strong goaltending in Devin Cooley and Dustin Wolf, as well as key offensive contributions from Joel Farabee and Matt Coronato, have won seven of their last 10 games and find themselves above several teams in the standings who made the playoffs last spring, including the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers.

On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss Calgary’s start to the season and if they’re playing themselves out of a top pick in next summer’s draft.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I look at this Flames team right now, and they have some good players: Zayne Parekh is good; I like Matt Coronado, he’s a quality piece, but I still don’t think this Flames organization or fanbase has that one prospect that they can point to, that one young player in their lineup and go, “that’s our face of the franchise, that’s our guy that’s taking us to the promise land.” And you need that in today’s NHL.

I don’t want to rain on the parade. You need to win hockey games … front offices can tank, but players and coaches aren’t going to tank, and maybe that’s what’s happening here. It’s just a good run.

But if I’m a Flames fan, I’m watching this and thinking, “Hey we won, but, shit, we won.”

Carter Hutton: That’s the thing: you can find ways to win hockey games. I think they’ve assembled a group of useful players where there’s depth, there’s guys who are projects, but that game-breaking offensive talent isn’t there. It’s really hard to just go out and buy it. Which guys do we see even get to free agency?

As a younger player, it really has to be selected in the draft and homegrown. They have the goalie, they’re getting the new rink, but it’s just so interesting that where this team is at.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…