Gould: Calgary Flames' top 10 prospects outside pro ranks with 2026-27 season off and running

It’s hardly a secret that the Calgary Flames are gunning for the best possible draft lottery odds this season.

Fourth-year general manager Craig Conroy has spent almost the entirety of his tenure to date embarking upon one of the most aggressive teardowns in recent NHL history, trading away countless veterans while accumulating a remarkable stockpile of draft picks and prospects.

It’s a well-tested strategy previously followed by the vast majority of the league’s current Stanley Cup contenders. The Flames are counting on it working for them, too, and everything they’re doing is in service of shifting the odds in their favour.

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If they finish last in the NHL in 2026-27, the Flames will be guaranteed their first top-3 draft selection since relocating to Calgary in 1980. Not even the draft lottery, their perennial adversary, can get in the way of that. Get ready to hear plenty about Landon DuPont, Dima Zhilkin, Sergei Skvortsov and many more of the hockey world’s top 2008- and 2009-born talents as the season continues.

But why get so far ahead of ourselves? After all, the new season has only just begun, and it’s been a mere three-and-a-half months since the Flames selected Carson Carels with the sixth-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. The nine players they drafted in Buffalo have only just begun their playing careers as Flames prospects.

Flames fans can be dissatisfied all they want by the team’s performance on the ice, but help is on its way. The 2026-27 regular season has begun, and Calgary’s top 10 prospects outside their pro ranks are off and running.

Even after falling two spots in the 2026 draft lottery, the Flames got the guy who made the most sense for them all along. A farm boy from rural Manitoba, Carels projects to be a natural fit as the steady, smooth-skating lefty on a future Flames defensive pairing with Zayne Parekh or Simon Nemec.

Reschny scored twice and added an assist as North Dakota won both ends of its home-and-home set with Bemidji State last weekend. As much as Flames fans clamour for another high-end centre in the draft, Reschny might already be that guy. He logged a staggering 24:49 of ice time for the Fighting Hawks in their 4-3 win on Oct. 10; Carels ranked second on NoDak with 22:31.

After leading all of NCAA Division I with 59 points in 40 games last season, Wyttenbach is off to a great start as a sophomore. The Long Island product is already up to 11 points in his first five games to begin his second year at Quinnipiac. Get ready to hear Wyttenbach’s name in a lot of Hobey Baker conversations for top NCAA player this season.