CALGARY -- The Flames chose centre Connor Zary with their first pick in the NHL draft Tuesday. 

 

He was the first of eight players the Flames selected in a busy 2020 draft where they made two trades before they even made their first pick. The haul included four defencemen (Yan Kuznetsov, Jeremie Poirier, Ilya Solovyov and Jake Boltmann from the Lincoln Stars of the USHL.

They also chose three forwards (centre Ryan Francis, and centre Rory Kerins in addition to Zary), and a goaltender, Daniil Chechelev, from the Vityazi Chekhov Juniors in the MHL (Russia).

The team's general manager Brad Treliving said he walked away from the draft satisfied.

"Last night and this morning we worked pretty hard to try and get up higher into the second round, to start today and weren't able to do that," he said. "We (ultimately) got a little bit of everything. You know obviously it's been talked about (around here), the lack of defencemen picked (by the Flames) in the last little bit. That's the way our (draft) board fell.

"Obviously we wanted to come out of here with some defencemen, but we preached a lot (to ourselves) about being disciplined (with our picks) and not reaching."

Flames Director of Amateur Scouting Todd Button said he was pleased with the players the team got.

Super smart, energetic player

Zary played for the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL, finishing fifth in scoring in the league with 86 points.

"Super smart, energetic player," said hockey analyst Sam Cosentino, "who handles pressure well."

Former Flames president of hockey operations Brian Burke gave two thumbs up to the selection.

"His compete (competitive) level is there," he said. "His hands are there. He just has to work on his skating."

"Dad's a cop," Burke added, "Mom's a teacher. He's an 85 student. He's going to make it."

Not only did the Flames choose Zary, but they netted a couple extra third round picks.

That's because general manager Brad Treliving traded down from the 19th pick to the 22nd pick in a swap with the New York Ranger, that also netted them the Ranger's 72nd pick.

Then, they traded the 22nd pick to the Washington Capitals, in exchange for the 24th and 80th picks.

The Flames also announced Wednesday that they made qualifying offers to four players, including Glenn Gawdin, Oliver Kylington, andrew Mangiapane and Tyler Parsons.

They did not make qualifying offers to Mark Jankowski, Andrew Nielsen, or Nick Schneider.