The Flames’ 2016 draft could potentially be fuelling the franchise for years to come. The class features an established NHLer in Matthew Tkachuk, two of the WHL’s best in Dillon Dube and Matthew Phillips, college hockey superstar Adam Fox, up-and-coming (yet snakebitten) goaltender Tyler Parsons, and intriguing Europeans in Eetu Tuulola and Linus Lindstrom.
Lindstrom is the focus for this wrap-up. He made waves last year as one of the only teenagers to play full time for an SHL team, a rarity given the development options the Swedish hockey system offers its clubs. The pivot was given heavy defensive workloads on a team that didn’t really need him to do that and succeeded enough to stick around.