There’s a new Iginla in the Flames organization. The NHL club drafted Joe Iginla in the third round of the NHL draft Saturday morning, 65th overall. Joe played 59 games last season for Edmonton and then the Vancouver Giants, scoring 15 goals and adding 16 assists for 31 points. The 5′10, 175 pound right winger was drafted by the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2023, scoring nine goals and adding seven assists in 61 games in the 2024-25 season. Joe’s brother Tij, who was drafted in the first round last year by the Utah Mammoth, plays for the Kelowna Rockets, where he scored 41 goals and added 49 assists for 90 points last year. Joe’s sister Jade was drafted by PWHL Hamilton in the second round this year from Brown University. The expansion team starts play this fall. Joe’s father Jarome, all-time Calgary Flames leading scorer and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, works for the team as a special advisor to general manager Craig Conroy. Carson Carels Friday night, Calgary selected defenceman Carson Carels with the sixth pick in the NHL draft Friday night. Carels had 73 points (20 goals, 53 assists) in 58 games this season with the Western Hockey League’s Prince George Cougars. Carels, who is committed to the University of North Dakota in 2026-27 and didn’t attend the draft, added a goal and nine assists in 10 playoff contests after also suiting up for Canada’s bronze-medal team at the world junior hockey championship. The pick was announced by Flames legend Lanny McDonald. Carels wasn’t at the draft. He was back home in Cypress River, working on his family’s farm. With the 30th pick of the first round, the Flames selected centre Jack Hextall, who played in 2025-26 for the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League (USHL). Hextall will join Michigan State in the fall. Saturday morning, Calgary selected forward Chase Harrington. Harrington, from Prince George B.C., played in the WHL last season for the Spokane Chiefs, where he racked up 28 goals and 57 points. The Flames made a deal to move up in the second round swapping the 51st and 68th picks to the Carolina Hurricanes for the 42nd selection. Calgary used the 42nd pick to take goaltender Tobias Trejbal, who was a teammate of Hextall’s on the Phantoms. Trejbal will be at the University of Massachusetts in the fall. With the 55th pick, the Flames selected Russian forward Alan Shaikhlislamov. The six-foot, 190 pounder, who won’t turn 18 until September, played last season for Tolpar Ufa in the MHL, the Russian junior hockey league. In the fourth round, with the 100th pick overall, the club selected forward Egor Barabanov from the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL, where he had 91 points in 68 games. Barabanov, who is listed at six feet tall and 190 pounds, is committed to the University of Massachusetts in the fall. In Round 5, Calgary used the 132nd pick to select Simon Katolicky, a 17-year-old 6′5 forward originally from Czechia. Bode Laylin from the United States Hockey League’s Tri-City Storm was the Flames’ final draft pick, made during the sixth round. He’s spent the past two seasons with Tri City of the USHL, and he’s headed to join the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips for the 2026-27 season. He had 11 goals and 38 points in 55 games for Tri-City this past season. The Toronto Maple Leafs selected former Medicine Hat Tiger Gavin McKenna with the first pick. With files from The Canadian Press
