{"id":763192,"date":"2026-06-27T06:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/763192\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T06:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:41:08","slug":"what-you-need-to-know-about-the-flames-round-1-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/763192\/","title":{"rendered":"What you need to know about the Flames\u2019\u00a0Round 1 picks\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, the Calgary Flames<\/a> used the ninth-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft to add an immensely talented blue-line prospect, Zayne Parekh. Earlier this week, the club acquired one more young, talented defenceman via trade: 2022 second-overall pick Simon Nemec.<\/p>\n

On Friday night, at the 2026 NHL Draft, Calgary added yet\u00a0another blue-chip talent to their promising defence corps, using their sixth-overall pick to select Carson Carels from the WHL\u2019s Prince George Cougars.<\/p>\n

The Western Canada standout is coming off an exceptional season in B.C., and is headed to the University of North Dakota next season to suit up alongside fellow top prospect Keaton Verhoeff (who heard his name called three picks later, by San Jose).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know about the Flames\u2019 newest blue-line gem, and the club\u2019s other first-round selection, Jack Hextall::<\/p>\n

Sixth Overall:\u00a0Carson Carels<\/p>\n

2025-26 Team:\u00a0Prince George Cougars, WHL<\/p>\n

Stat Line:\u00a020G-53A-73PTS in 58 games<\/p>\n

Carels was a workhorse in Prince George. He averaged over 25 minutes per game of ice time while being used in all situations. His skating and agility stand out but he also pushes back physically and contributed 20G-53A in the regular season. Carels didn\u2019t test at the combine in Buffalo. He\u2019s rehabbing an upper-body injury that occurred at the end of the year in Prince George. I\u2019m positive teams will ask for his medical information before they step up to draft Carels, but he\u2019s a high-end prospect and potential top-pairing NHL defenceman in time. Carels is committed to North Dakota starting next fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NHL Projection: Top pairing defenceman\u00a0<\/p>\n

What you need to know about the player:<\/p>\n

Growing up in Cypress River, Man., Carels first made waves at the Pilot Mound Hockey Academy, 45 minutes south of his hometown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The smooth-skating defender made quick work of putting his talent on display and dominating all corners of the sheet in Pilot Mound. His former coach at the academy, Rick McConnell, said he and his coaching staff were in awe the first time they saw the young defenceman fly around the ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the time Carels was leaving Pilot Mound to join the WHL\u2019s Prince George Cougars, he\u2019d collected 103 points over 75 games, and\u00a0established himself as a rare talent on the sheet.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was exceptional,\u201d McConnell\u00a0said earlier this month<\/a>. \u201cI just remember on the power play, always telling my forwards to keep their sticks on the ice, because you never knew when Carson would find players \u2014 he would see things that nobody else did, and put that puck through seams. I don’t know how he did it, but he did it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a knack for reading plays before they happened \u2014 Gretzky-like, to be very honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

That elite vision led to an exceptional run through the junior hockey ranks, too. The 18-year-old enters the Flames organization fresh off a 20-goal, 73-point campaign in Prince George, and moves on from the WHL having collected 111 points through 125 games from the blue line overall.<\/p>\n

Next up: a chance to test his skill against quicker, stronger opposition in the NCAA, alongside another sterling defensive talent.<\/p>\n

Rather than taking the stage in Buffalo like his fellow top prospects, Carels decided to stay true to his roots and take in the Draft from his family\u2019s farm, a few minutes outside Cypress River.<\/p>\n

At the Scouting Combine two weeks ago, the young defender opened up about the lessons he learned from life on the farm, how it gave him not just his unceasing work ethic, but some crucial perspective, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shaped me and who I am \u2014 there\u2019s a lot of losses in farming,\u201d Carels\u00a0said in Buffalo earlier this month<\/a>. \u201cI think, just, you do everything you can for an animal and sometimes you still end up losing it. That taught me a lot.\u00a0To just forget about the bad shifts and forget about all that, because there\u2019s bigger things in life that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

30th Overall:\u00a0Jack Hextall<\/p>\n

2025-26 Team:\u00a0Youngstown Phantoms, USHL<\/p>\n

Stat Line:\u00a020G-38A-58PTS in 59 games<\/p>\n

Hextall is at his best when he\u2019s driving play and creating chaos on the forecheck. He contributed 20G-38A this year with nine of his goals coming on the power play. Hextall is headed to Michigan State.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NHL Projection: Middle-six forward\u00a0<\/p>\n

What you need to know about the player:\u00a0<\/p>\n

The American centre is coming off a sterling season with the Phantoms. But he kicked off his campaign with some hardware before he even stepped foot on the ice at Youngstown\u2019s\u00a0Covelli Centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis guy\u2019s a worker bee,\u201d Sportsnet\u2019s Sam Cosentino said on Friday night\u2019s broadcast. \u201cHe got off to a really good start to the year, winning gold at the [2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup]. He had three points in the gold-medal game, and helped the U.S. to win that tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always around the puck, always digging for pucks. I like this guy. I like the motor that he brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hextall was named the Americans\u2019 player of the game for his efforts in that gold-medal tilt, before going on to post a point-per-game season with the Phantoms. The right-shot centre helped the club finish atop the USHL, and post its highest point total in franchise history.<\/p>\n

According to Sportsnet\u2019s Colby Armstrong, a staple in the Pittsburgh hockey community an hour\u2019s drive from Youngstown, Ohio, Hextall grew to become a pivotal piece for the Phantoms this past season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoungstown loves this guy,\u201d Armstrong said Friday \u201cI popped in there, had a chat with some of them, their strength coaches, everyone around the rink. \u2026 They raved about this kid. From last year\u2019s season into this season, the improvement, his work ethic, his leadership around the room \u2014\u00a0he was the jewel of their team, the way they talk about everything that he does day-to-day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re getting one of those hard-nosed, in-there-every-day, getting-it-done leaders that you can build around.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old is set to suit up for Michigan State next season, alongside fellow Flames prospect Cullen Potter, the No. 32 pick in last year’s draft.<\/p>\n

The centre’s familiar name is a link to the Hextall family hockey dynasty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jack\u2019s father, Cory, is the cousin of longtime NHL netminder Ron Hextall, who was himself a third-generation NHLer following in the footsteps of grandfather Bryan Hextall (who played 11 seasons in the league) and father Bryan Hextall Jr. (who played 10 seasons in the league).<\/p>\n

Cory Hextall was a hockey player himself, logging four seasons in the NCAA, and his brother Donevan (Jack\u2019s uncle), logged time in the AHL and ECHL after emerging as a WHL standout in Prince Albert.<\/p>\n

Now, the young Flames prospect looks to one day continue his family\u2019s legacy in the big leagues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two years ago, the Calgary Flames used the ninth-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft to add an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-763192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}