If the Calgary Flames decide they wanted to move up in the first round of next Friday’s NHL Draft, it might not be as hard as normal to find a willing trade partner this year.

That hasn’t generally been the case in recent drafts, as teams have desperately clung on to their first-round picks.

This year, though, a combination of factors has led to lottery teams being open to trades, says Flames GM Craig Conroy.

“My first year, I don’t think we had a player move or a team move up or down, it just didn’t happen that year,” said Conroy, who started as the Flames GM just before the 2023 NHL Draft. “People really liked that draft, and I’m not saying they don’t like the draft this year, but they might be saying ‘I can get the same player if I go from position A and move back four or five spots.’

“They’re willing to do that because no one is really locked in and feels like they know exactly the way this draft is going to go. There are good players, you’re going to like these players, it’s just a matter of which team likes them and where they’re going to take them.”

The Flames have two picks in the first round of Friday’s draft, Nos. 18 and 32, and definitely could use a potential first-line centre if one was available. That’s true of a lot of teams, of course, but for the Flames in particular.

If they were to package both of their first-rounders or include a player, they likely could build an intriguing package that could move them into the top-10 if someone they really liked was available.

Working in their favour, as well, is the way the draft lottery played out. The Utah Mammoth, who are drafting fourth overall, the Seattle Kraken, at ninth, Columbus Blue Jackets, at 14, and a couple other teams are not strictly in rebuilding mode. They’re trying to get better as soon as next season.

“Teams are looking to make trades and use those picks to get players to help their team right now,” Conroy explained. “Everyone wants to make a push, it feels like, and they say they want to get better next year. With draft picks, they’re going to take some time. You’d love to say they’re going to play next year, but the reality is you see how many players do that every year and even in that second year, it’s not easy.

“It really is a three-, four- or five-year window before these guys are ready and some teams feel like they’re closer and ready to make that push now, whether it’s to get into the playoffs or take that next step in the playoffs.”

None of this is to say the Flames necessarily will make a move and the uncertainty of who will be picked – and when – might actually make it more challenging to pull off trades in advance.

The Flames scouting staff usually are able to predict the top 10 or 15 picks with relative accuracy, but it might be trickier this season. They’re expecting a run on forwards once Matthew Schaefer comes off the board early but, beyond that, there’s uncertainty.

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They won’t move up just for the sake of moving up. You’d pull off a deal because you knew you could get a player you really liked and, with nobody knowing exactly how things will shake out next Friday, it’s probably prudent to hold off on trading up until the Flames know for sure the player they’d want is available.

“Our list has to be in an order where if Conny wants to make a move or there’s a trade, he doesn’t have to come to that ten minutes before our pick,” Flames director of amateur scouting Tod Button said. “He knows ahead of time, he knows the levels we put on each group of players and players who in certain picks, we wouldn’t want to move out of, players at certain picks who we’d love to move up to try to get if it was possible and then just like we did when we picked Connor Zary.

“We had four or five guys we knew we could get by moving down a couple spots who we really liked and had pretty equally rated. You have to have that in place ahead of time. Conny wants everything in place before he comes to us, not after he comes to us.”