Flames GM: The cost of trading for 1st-round pick doesn't make sense right now

Unless the trade market cools down over the next week, it seems rather unlikely that the Calgary Flames will be making a first-round pick this year.

The Flames don't have a pick in the first three rounds of the draft and while general manager Brad Treliving would love the chance to make a deal for a first-round selection, that's easier said than done as the asking price appears to be too much to stomach.

"Would we like to have a pick? Sure. The reality is it's expensive to get into the first round of the draft and for a reason," Treliving told Sportsnet 960, according to Sportsnet's Josh Beneteau. "If there's something that we can get done and a player sitting there that we like and a deal makes sense, we'll try to do it. But I wouldn't be holding our breath right now.

"The cost right now is a really good young player that's on your roster. And we can all connect the dots to those names," Treliving said. "And to move somebody like that just to go up and pick a player and hope and pray that they turn out to be at the level of the guys you have right now, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

The Flames are without a draft pick in the first three rounds due to dealing this year's first- and second-round picks to the New York Islanders as part of the Travis Hamonic deal, as well as trading away their third-round selection to the Arizona Coyotes as part of the Mike Smith deal.

Barring a trade to move up, the Flames' first pick of the draft will be in the fourth round, 105th overall.

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