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The Calgary Flames select Berkly Catton (and/or Tij Iginla) in NHL.com’s latest mock draft

Originally posted on Flamesnation | By Ryan Pike | Last updated 5/10/24

It’s mock draft season, folks! Following Tuesday’s National Hockey League draft lottery, there’s all sorts of mock draft content across the hockey sphere. Over at NHL.com, Adam Kimelman and Mike Morreale unveiled a two-pronged mock draft where each walked through the first 16 draft selections.

After consensus on the first three picks – Macklin Celebrini, Artyom Levshunov and Anton Silayev – they each had a different player landing with the Flames at ninth overall. Kimelman had Spokane forward Berkly Catton wearing the Flaming C, while Morreale had Tij Iginla joining the club.

Mock 2024 NHL Draft: After our top 3 of Celebrini, Levshunov, Silayev, many different scenarios https://t.co/2ScKslTCDM

— Mike Morreale (@mikemorrealeNHL) May 8, 2024

Here’s Kimelman on Catton:

Catton (5-10, 170) has pull-away speed with a top-end offensive skill set and was fourth in the WHL with 116 points (54 goals, 62 assists) in 68 games this season. The Flames have done well to get younger and more athletic with forwards Connor Zary and Matt Coronato taking larger roles, and Jakob Pelletier and Samuel Honzek, the No. 16 pick of the 2023 draft, not far behind them. Catton could be the best and most skilled of the bunch if he is the pick.

Here’s Morreale on Iginla:

The 17-year-old son of Hockey Hall of Fame forward Jarome Iginla is a dynamic offensive talent with speed, quickness and natural instincts you can’t teach. Iginla (6-foot, 182) led Kelowna with 47 goals and was second with 84 points and 11 power-play goals in 64 regular-season games. He had 12 points (six goals, six assists) in seven games for gold medal-winning Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Under-18 Championship.

Our pal Steven Ellis over at Daily Faceoff previewed his post-Under-18s draft rankings earlier this week on the Draft Lottery live show, and he had Catton at seventh and Iginla at 11th. TSN’s Bob McKenzie had Iginla 10th and Catton 11th on his recent rankings. Catton led the WHL’s draft eligible players in goals and points during the regular season, entering the season with a lot of hype and largely living up to it offensively. Iginla started the season as a bit of a question mark, but really found his rhythm offensively as the season wore on and has climbed up the draft rankings as a result.

Selecting a player from the Western Hockey League certainly wouldn’t be out of character for the Flames. Since the franchise’s move to Calgary, they’ve drafted more players from the Dub than any other league. Recent Flames first-rounders from the WHL include 2023’s Samuel Honzek, 2002’s Connor Zary, 2017’s Juuso Valimaki and 2011’s Sven Baertschi.

The 2024 NHL Draft goes June 28 & 29 from the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This article first appeared on Flamesnation and was syndicated with permission.

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