Hockey Wilderness Community 2011 NHL Mock Draft: Calgary Flames

The Carolina Hurricanes have a few needs on their list. Stud forward and goaltender are securely in the done column. Still, with the 12th overall pick, the Hockey Wilderness community, with the help of the Canes Country community, the Hurricanes are taking another stud center. Yes, apparently having one isn't quite good enough for the Caniacs, and they selected Mark McNeill to add to the stables. 

And the Joel Armia slide continues.

Our mock draft thus far:

1. Edmonton Oilers: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
2. Colorado Avalanche: Gabriel Landeskog
3. Florida Panthers: Adam Larsson
4. New Jersey Devils: Sean Couturier
5. New York Islanders: Jonathan Huberdeau
6. Ottawa Senators: Ryan Strome
7. Atlanta Thrashers: Mika Zibanejad
8. Columbus Blue Jackets: Dougie Hamilton
9. Boston Bruins: Ryan Murphy
10. Minnesota Wild: Sven Bartschi
11. Colorado Avalanche: Duncan Siemens
12. Carolina Hurricanes: Mark McNeill

The thirteenth pick belongs to the Calgary Flames, which is fitting. After the jump, find out why, and remember to vote and to make your case. 

The Calgary Flames are having a terrible off-season. They just had to trade their top prospect, Tim Erixon, to the New York Rangers, or they would have lost his rights and he would have went back into the draft. Everyone in the big city is excited about this, as Erixon would likely have been a top ten pick on the 24th. Instead, he is off to the Big Apple, and Flames fans are wondering what happened to the "players love to sign in Canada" mojo.

Without their former top prospect, the Flames move forward. They have some nasty salary cap trouble this season, which has nothing to do with the draft, but it is still fun to bring up. I mean... um... I'm sorry I brought it up. 

Looking at the draft board, the talent still available will not likely replace Erixon at the top of the Flames prospect charts, but there is still some solid talent to be had. Joel Armia, Zach Phillips, Brandon Sadd are still up there. Or, do they try to replace Erixon with another d-man like Nathan Beaulieau? 

Guess what? That's up to you.