If the goal of drafting is the put NHL players on your NHL team, the late 1990s were a time of moderate success and crushing, abject failure. Three of their five picks were out-and-out not that good, and were also followed by some really shoddy asset management. Two of their picks actually turned into good, albeit not star-level, NHL players, and helped the Flames get to the Stanley Cup Final in the decade that followed.
But just take into account how lucky the Flames are to have gotten Sean Monahan at sixth overall in 2013; the last two times they traded at that spot, they got Daniel Tkaczuk and Rico freakin' Fata.