The Calgary Flames achieved something extraordinarily rare during their recent matchup against the Los Angeles Kings, when three players selected in the first round of the NHL Draft combined for a single goal.
Zayne Parekh, the team's 2024 first-round selection, notched his first NHL goal of the 2025-26 season with assists from fellow first-rounders Matt Coronato (2021) and Matvei Gridin (2024). The milestone represents just the 10th time in franchise history that three Flames first-round picks have connected on a regular season goal.
Since joining the NHL in 1972, Calgary has scored 13,462 regular season goals. The remarkable statistic reveals that goals scored by a first-round pick and assisted by two other first-round selections account for merely 0.07 per cent of all Flames regular season tallies.
A Look Back at Franchise History
The Flames' first-round selections have contributed 2,072 goals throughout team history, representing approximately 15.4 per cent of all regular season scoring. However, the all-first-rounder combinations remain exceptionally uncommon.
The phenomenon has occurred in clusters throughout franchise history. Three such goals happened within a three-week span in 1978, involving players like Tom Lysiak, Harold Phillipoff, and Richard Mulhern. Another trio of goals occurred in the mid-1980s featuring the legendary Al MacInnis alongside Dan Quinn and Paul Reinhart.
Following a 20-season drought, the trend resumed in recent years with combinations involving Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Mark Jankowski, Sean Monahan, and Mikael Backlund.
Draft Strategy and Development
The rarity of these occurrences reflects historical roster management approaches. Former general manager Cliff Fletcher, known for his drafting acumen, frequently traded promising prospects before they could depreciate as assets, limiting the number of first-round picks on the roster simultaneously.
Among the top 10 goal scorers in Flames history, only four players—Gary Roberts, Mikael Backlund, Al MacInnis, and Sean Monahan—were homegrown first-round selections, highlighting the challenge of developing multiple high draft picks into productive NHL contributors.
With Calgary's recent emphasis on accumulating young talent through the draft, similar combinations may become more frequent as prospects like Parekh, Coronato, and Gridin continue developing their chemistry at the NHL level.
This article is based on reporting by FlamesNation.