For Brayden Pachal, the sting of not being drafted to the NHL for the second year in a row was immediately burried. After all, the 18-year-old from Estevan had work to do and a development camp to attend. 

Right after the draft, the Prince Albert Raiders defenseman received a phone call from the Calgary Flames. They wanted him to attend their prospect development camp on July 4. Pachal is eagerly anticipating the chance to display his skills.

"I had an idea a little bit before the draft," he said of the invite to Calgary. "It's a great opportunity, just getting that chance to go to camp and show my stuff."

"I'm more of a defensive defenseman," he added. "I kind of changed my game last year. Now I play against the top lines and I like to play hard against those top guys. I guess you can call me a bit of a disturber on the ice."

Despite his defensive awareness, Pachal took a step forward offensively as well. As an assistant captain with the Raiders, he posted a respectable seven goals and 26 points from the back end. According to Pachal, he learned this year what coaches everywhere tell their players: take care of the defensive zone, and the offense will come naturally.  

"The coaching staff really helped me find my way this year," he said. "I was kind of lost, I didn't know what kind of player I was but playing against those top lines really helped me find my way and know what kind of player I want to be at the next level. Just playing against those guys hard every night, not making anything easy on them and trying to shut them down, really helped a lot."

"Playing against the top lines it is tough to get those points so I'm not too worried about it, but being one year older and the game slowing down a bit helped with the points."

After attending Ottawa's camp last year and just trying to soak it in, Pachal has some specific goals in mind for his early audition with the Flames organization.

"Last year it was just the experience for me. It was eye-opening at first but once I settled in I did well," he said. "Going into Calgary this year, my second camp, it's different. My mindset is trying to push for a rookie camp spot. I'll just try to perform the best I can and hopefully get a chance to play in the rookie tournament."

With all this ahead of him, Pachal has hardly had time to think about being passed over in the draft. When asked about it, he seemed to shrug it off and view it as a speed bump rather than a roadblock.

"The draft doesn't mean much," he said, adding that a conversation with the Flames staff helped him get in the right mindset. "Their captain Mark Giordano was undrafted in the CHL, undrafted in the NHL, and now he's a captain and he's going to play over 1000 games. The draft doesn't mean as much as the work you put in after."

Pachal has spent his offseason alternating training in Estevan and Regina. He is eligible to return to the Prince Albert Raiders this fall and is a strong candidate to be team captain.