After being selected by the Flames, Carels celebrated with family and friends at his family's farm in Cypress River, Manitoba.
Carels said the decision to pass on attending the draft had little to do with Brady Martin doing the same thing last year. Martin, selected by the Nashville Predators with the No. 5 pick of the 2025 NHL Draft, stayed home on the family farm rather than travel to Los Angeles for the draft.
"It was more just a group decision to just do it, and I mean, I don't think if Brady wouldn't have done it last year, that we would have changed our minds," Carels said. "We probably would have done the same thing. We’re a really tight-knit family. We're just calving cows still. Right now we're kind of in between, where we're getting a little off calving and getting into the haying."
Flames general manager Craig Conroy said it didn't bother him that Carels stayed home for the draft.
"We ask everybody, are you going to the draft, when we were at the (NHL Scouting) Combine," Conroy said. "He said, 'No, I'm going to do it from the farm.' Brady Martin did it last year. I thought it was great. When I talked to him, he was definitely having a party in the background. I could hear all the noise, so they were having fun. He seemed very excited, too, about being a Flame. It's an exciting time for the organization."
Flames director of player development Ray Edwards also supported Carels staying at home for his big night.
"The first thing that comes to mind for me is just you that that there's the character and the work ethic and the ability to fight through adversity and all those things are there," Edwards said. "There's a special player there. Obviously, we don’t want to put a lot of pressure on him, but to get him where we got him ... he was our No. 1 defenseman all the time. He was our guy.
"To get him where we got him, we were ecstatic."
