rickross
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Everything posted by rickross
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Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
rickross replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
Another draft has come and gone and it looks like the Flames came away with another fruitful couple of days! I'm still fairly surprised we were able to land Tkachuk and it looks like we may have found some potential gems in the later rounds such as Tuulola. Finally the Flames prospect pool has some competitive depth at every position. It would have been nice to see Mangiapane and Prybil but overall it looks like we should have a better AHL product on the ice this season. It will be interesting to see how the new coaching staff goes about training camp with some obvious tough decisions ahead. Very curious to see what the final roster will look like come the fall. Overall i'd give the Flames an A grade as they really covered a lot of bases with this years draft. -
BT will get it done, I could even see a reasonable bargain with JH $ 7-7.5M range and Monny $6.5-7M. The goalie is the big puzzle, it would be nice to keep 2 of our 3 2nd Rd picks to acquire a goalie, maybe package one with a D prospect. If we can somehow drop salary and pick up a RW like Okposo our 1st and and 2nd lines are set at RW with Frolik in there. New coach and a ton of contracts to negotiate...their doing things quietly behind the scenes and it won't surprise me if we hear multiple announcements
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Why Saskatchewan has never been in the expansion conversation is still shocking. As the rabid Roughriders fans they are I could only imagine the support an NHL team would receive there.
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Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
rickross replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
I think that was the result of the unexpected success the Flames had. After the playoff run Hartley likely felt they had the right personnel to make another run. It's hard to blame him as even he didn't expect playoff success to come as quick as it did. He was likely trying to keep momentum and his job for that matter by sticking with his proven players. It's a tricky position to be in that early on in a rebuild. I agree with u on the fact that once we were out of the playoff race it wouldn't have hurt to bring up more prospects for some better looks. I think the whole Nakladal delay was just making sure he was properly acclimated to North American hockey but I too think we could have used him earlier. I'm hoping we resign him , he's a good depth piece and had a nice shot on him too! -
Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
rickross replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
Yeah the new coach won't have much input on this year's draft but moving forward it will be interesting to see what type of philosophy the coach implements regarding drafting and development. I thought Hartley did a fairly good job with most of the young prospects in our system. I'm still fine if it is Nylander we end up drafting. He could turn into a real gem for us , he's still had fairly limited exposure to North Anerican hockey so there's a lot of undiscovered potential there. Don't really see the Flames going off the board with their 1st pick. That 2nd Rd is where we could really do some damage if we manage to keep all 3 picks. -
Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
rickross replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
Great post! It's interesting to see how the Flames drafting has evolved. They've been much more consistent with finding quality prospects. They could go a lot of different ways with this year's #6 pick. It will be interesting to see how the new coach goes about drafting and development. I'll give credit to BT as he could have shielded himself behind Hartley for 1 more year but he's really looking to out his stamp on this team. The more I think about it the more I'm beginning to think the Flames might be ones drafting the 1st D man off the board -
It's a long laundry list for BT this off season. Besides locking up a top goalie and coaching staff it would be huge if he could off load Raymond, Wideman and Smids contracts somehow. With all the key RFA signings this off season and need to fill starting roles it's a tall order to fill. I don't think we make the playoffs next season but atleast we have a strong and growing core to work with now
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I think it's be safe to assume with BT at the Worlds he's paying close attention to some of the goalies on the national teams. If he can't trade for a starting netminder at the draft or pick one up during free agency then we could see them look for outside the NHL for help again.
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BT has been great thus far minus a few missteps here and there. The biggest one being the obvious lack of goaltending and coaching right now. It's a pivotal time in BT's tenure, the choice in coaching is going to be closely watched and all the analytics comparisons will be put under a microscope. I'll be a better judge after the draft and Free agency periods pass, then we'll all have a better idea of his vision for this team.
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Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
rickross replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
I get what the point your trying to get across but how else are u supposed to properly assess a draft(s) if you don't look back and provide an objection analysis?? Time is really the best measure in this case. Of course no one picks with 100% certainty but some teams do have more consistent draft results then others. There scouts/draft teams must be seeing something others keep missing. There's always a bit of luck involved but the final call is based off an educated judgement. -
Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
rickross replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
Flames drafting has done a complete 180 degree. I'm sure we all recall a time when the draft was pretty irrelevant to this organization. Great post 420...it's interesting especially considering no Canadian team is in the playoffs this year. I actually trust the Flames scouting and drafting now..after all these years. With all the focus placed on the 1st rd, it really is those later rounds that unearth the gems. This Saturdays draft lottery will be key for Canadian teams, it would be sweet if the Flames finally crack that top 4 even tho it's a long shot. -
Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
rickross replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
Good to see the Flames sign Mangiapane, another high ceiling prospect in the the pool. Shinkaruk has been playing well for us down in Stockton...i'm hoping he can turn the Granlund trade into a fleecing on our part! Still waiting to see how the Flames develop Gillies and MacDonald..we just haven't had much luck with developing goalies in house. -
Calgary Flames Drafting and Development: Your Analysis
rickross replied to rickross's topic in Flames Talk
Agostino-Grant-Poirier Elson-Arnold-Hamilton Mangiane -Jankowski-Shinkuruk Van Brybant-Shore-Klimchuk Potential fwd lineup next year barring some potential graduations.Mangiapane is tearing it up right now...he'll probably have some JH expectations on him because of his stature and scoring prowess. There's usually a surprise gem in the mix , Nakladal, Hathaway have been very good so far...wonder which prospect will make a big jump that we might not expect next year -
I think they'll be a benefit to being so goaltender hungry right now. I've said it before but I still think the lack of elite goaltending will only strengthen the play of our defensive, by default. It's also going to force the Flames to be innovative in their search, perhaps it leads us to that "diamond in the rough" or a cheaper and higher ceiling then say J. Reimer for example
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Not a bad idea, it does stretch our elite D out. As long as it doesn't start to hinder Gio or Brodie's play then why not give it a shot. Pretty special when our 1st D pairing have 40pts a piece so you'd want to be careful not to derail that chemistry. Once the D has confidence in the goaltending I think we'll see our D take that next step...a lot of new looks we could have with our D prospects moving forward
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Beauty is in the bloodied eye of the beholder lol
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I just don't see Pavelac as their goalie of the future, for the reasons you already stated...inconsistency, plus a history of injuries. We might have a better chance getting Pavelac from them as opposed to some of their young prospects. It looks like the Jets are really setting themselves up for a youth movement, although 28 yrs old isn't considered old for a goalie, Hutchinson and Hellebuyck are pushing for more starting time
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The Jets are loaded at the goalie position for sure. They have a really strong group of prospects overall. Hellebuyck would be the most NHL ready, but would the Jets be willing to part with a young netminder knowing they have an aging Pavelac on their hands? It would be a nice move if the Flames could swing a deal for one of the Jets prospects, it will definitely cost us a high draft pick and prospect/roster player.
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Wondering where the Flames plan to get this #1 goalie from? I can't see many teams willing to part with a young #1 net minder even if we include some of our 2nd round picks. I'll have to take a look but can't think of too many teams carrying 2 potential #1 net minders at the moment.
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I think we've seen flashes of what Ortio brings or lacks, its just been tough to assess him because he hasn't really been allowed to get into a groove. I think people just want to see him get a string of consecutive starts to better assess his consistency..or lack thereof. I don't see him as a #1. The organization picked him over Brossoit so they must have seen a potential future net minder in him. I think the Flames might be better off with a competition in net, if we can't find a true #1 I'd rather run to goalies fighting for that starting position as opposed to just naming someone as "the guy", sometimes that breeds complacency if they get to comfortable. It worked for us last year alternating between Ramo and Hiller, it was enough to get us a playoff berth.
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Smid is going to get squeezed out, Nakladal and Pakka have played well. I admire Smids toughness but he's not playing with the same grit he used to. He was the original Kris Russell in terms of shot blocking many moons ago. If it is in fact another neck injury i just don't see him risking his life just to fulfill his contract. The good news is we will have some great competition next training camp amongst the D core.
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Hiller isn't a terrible goalie, he's just...bad lol. I see why some are up in arms with BH going with Hiller, we still don't know exactly what we have in Ortio. We know who Hiller is. I imagine we see another Ortio start then Backstrom will get some love. Either by next season we need a serious goalie if we want to win any games
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Not calling the guy a savior or anything but we'd atleast have another internal option. Much cheaper then trading assets or picks for a starting goalie. It is only 2 games but he played solid in front of a horrid Oiler D at that
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We might actually be in decent shape if we'd kept Laurent Brossoit around
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I think some good foresight the Flames have used by investing early in puck moving d men , we have a handful of good quality prospects right now. Not all will pan out but they carry such high value on the market it's a great currency to have as trade chips when your filtering out these prospects in the future.