The_People1

In defense of the rankings though, Simashev appears to be a brutal pick at 6. He was ranked 15-ish. In a redraft, probably 20+. Anyways though, Flames should stick to one of Catton, Silayev, Buium, Dickinson, or Parekh. Take whoever falls to us at 9 from this group.

Looking forward to yet another first round exit for the Leafs

I always cheer against EDM and VAN. That's all that matters at this point.

😂 Makes too much sense

There is a good chance the Flames go off the board, so to speak, and pick Tij. It's not a reach at #9. Last season, I remember no D was ranked in the top 10... But MTL reached for the best RHS RD at 5. And then ARZ reached next for Simashev at 6. Always count on MTL to be flashy and go off the board (at least by a bit). Slafkovsky and Reinbacher is proof. ARZ has questionable scouting. Picks have been hit and miss in recent history. Those are the two teams picking ahead of us who are unpredictable.

I'm glad you said this because an unweighted draft lottery is really a reset of what it means to go through a "life cycle". Teams don't have to intentionally tear it down as deep and lose on purpose as much.

Congrats rocketdoctor!! It's not easy to win but you made it look easy. Basically led the entire season. Well done.

Sounds good. Very good chance he'll be there at 9 because teams ahead of us seem to need D badly.

I still think the top 4 will be, Celebrini Demidov Levshunov Lindstrom The next of the bunch... Dickinson Catton Buium Parekh Silayev The Flames have a chance at one of these prospects and can't go wrong with any of them. I feel it's a mini-cliff to the next bunch, Eiserman Tij Yakemchuk Helenius Connelly Jiricek

Solid smart player. Wish he had a bigger frame though. Is Nick Suzuki a good comparable?

Yes forgot. SLC.

I think ARZ and OTT are also looking at D, especially RHS RD. ARZ rumoured to be interested in Rasmus Andersson. OTT rumoured to be interested in Chychrun for Erik Karlsson. Both teams now have the opportunity to draft Parekh and Yakemchuk. If SEA goes with a D... ya, that's going to leave someone like Catton on the board for us.

You said throw the Oilers, Sabres, Islanders, and maybe Red Wings and Leafs into a bucket of teams that tried to "tank" and failed to turn it around successfully. So you are saying it exists but it isn't always successful.

From what I can tell so far, he's rushing plays. On the bad side, that's very "Sam Bennett" in his first couple of seasons. Bennett looks around with the puck and when nothing is there, then he switches to the low percentage jam play in front of the net and never scores. Coronato looks, and when the passing options aren't there, he then tries a bad angle prayer at the net that never goes in for him. And then possession is lost. I want to see him fake a shot or pass, keep the puck along the side boards for as long as he can to buy time for teammates. For whatever reason, he doesn't want the puck that long.

Coronato isn't looking very good. But I remember Pelletier also looked iffy in his first year but he bulked up hardcore and now looks like a regular. I'm not ready to give up on Coronato just yet. He can be a "RW Mangiapane" in about a year or three. The Flames aren't in a rush so, just be patient. Honzek, same thing. We need to see him in AHL for full healthy year next season. He has top like potential still.

The Hagel trade even got Toews publicly questioning the franchises motive at the time. It was so obvious. Recently, just Chicago. Bedard was the "next one"... McKenna is supposed to be the next one in 2026. We will see some shenanigans again because he's franchise altering talent.

All teams that miss the playoffs, regardless of points and standings, enter a lottery with one ball each in the box. The idea is to encourage every team to win to the very final game and eliminate the concept of tanking to the bottom for a higher pick.

You are trying to say "tanking doesn't work so it's not a problem" I'm saying tanking itself is a problem. We are not the same.

I don't think the NHL will go to unweighted lottery either but I support anything that would discourage a draft advantage to losing games. Maybe the "most points after being officially eliminated" system is worth trying. Another suggestion is the set/rotation system but I think that doesn't work when the NHL is expanding and inserting teams into the draft order before a full cycle has completed. I think you will the find game theory behind an unweighted draft lottery to be far superior to the current system in the long run. Everything from keeping teams honest to fan support near the end of a losing season. It's an overall good look on the league. The Flames would still trade Lindholm and Hanifin because the players refuse to extend long term. Asset management. Getting Kuzmenko and Miromanov to help in the immediate short term wouldn't change. Flames haven't been in tank mode. But other teams have been tanking. Trading anyone with a pulse for picks and prospects that don't help immediately as the team is engineered to slide to the very bottom. This is what being honest like the Calgary Flames is up against.

I said the Flames are not tanking. They tried to win but they were bad. BUT not every team is as honest as the Calgary Flames. Some teams do tank on purpose. Most recently, Chicago emptied out their roster including budding stars like Hagel to make sure there was no obstacles to drafting Bedard. Do the Flames do this? No. But some teams do. If you let me trade Lindholm and Hanifin, for example, then I would show you making sure the Flames don't get immediate help to win the rest of the season. The Flames didn't do that but some teams do. Now change the lottery to unweighted. Suddenly, no need to ensure there are no wins the rest of the season after TDL. In fact, just keep winning as much as possible.

Are you talking Markstrom? Or Andersson? Or both? Of the two, Andersson has the higher trade value. He's 28. Signed for 2 more at a very reasonable deal. And he's a coveted RHS RD who can step into a complementary top pair role. Very difficult to find RHS RD. Sure, BUF can just draft a RD this draft and then wait 3-4 years for the prospect to be NHL ready... But that might be 3-4 more years of missed playoffs and the end of Adam's job. It just feels like BUF is the team to take total advantage of right now by dangling Andersson.

OTT has been linked to Markstrom as well. OTT looks ready to be a playoff team next season if only they can get their G right this summer.

Staying the course is not horrible if you keep everyone, miss the playoffs barely, and then luck into a top 3 pick. The bounce back would be quick and swift because the pick would be one of the best prospects of that year. The main reason teams "tank" is to get to the bottom to draft those guys. With an unweighted lottery, there's no more ugly stuff like that. Teams build to win every moment of the season. An unweighted lottery is not just a simple change. It would be NHL altering and change every team's rebuild strategy because the old tricks to sink to the bottom won't work anymore.

Lol sorry I think I was confused with @travel_dude. I think he won the first year with us.

Trading off all players to get as many picks as possible is exactly losing inorganically. Flames didn't do this exactly. We traded for Kuzmenko and stuff. Trying to still win while replenishing the cupboards with picks and prospects. Other teams haven't been this honest.