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The Athletic's Corey Pronman updated his team rankings for young players. Here he grades teams on their 22 year old and younger talent base. Post 2020 draft the Flames moved up 2 spots from 12 to 10. He gave them a B for their 2020 grade. Top 12: 1.Tkachuk 2. Zary 3. Dube 4. Valimaki 5. Pettersen 6. Poirier 7. Pelletier 8. Mackey 9. Gawdin 10. Francis 11. Yan Kunetsov 12. Nikolaev He is a big fan of Zary so that explains the bump but not having Wolf in the top 12 is very odd to me. Craig Button also did his top 10 post draft but he only ranks prospects 1. Zary 2. Pelletier 3. Mackey 4. Wolf 5. Kuznetsov 6. Poirier 7.Ruzicka 8. Chechelev 9. Pettersen 10. Nikolaev Things looking much better for the Flames after a solid 2020 draft.

I read this right after I saw this on twitter. Interesting as it would match what you are saying and the reverse retro theme.

I'm shocked, but for some reason Blasty (horsehead) seems to be so popular. Never liked that jersey and while i liked it as a shoulder patch I have no interest in seeing it on a jersey again. But the twitter campaign to bring it back is pretty loud and pretty passionate. I'm really surprised.

There has been some rumors the Flames already have a 3rd jersey designed they are just waiting until later to announce it. Didn’t want to combine it with the retro announcement. I would suspect the horse head, or Blasty, will likely be a part of it. Flames design team confirmed last year they weren’t done with Blasty.

I find this interesting but full disclosure I know this won't be for everyone. Byron Bader runs Hockey Prospecting and he uses models to try and predict prospects success by using historical analysis, scoring rates adjusted by leagues, and try to put a % rate on success. His website if you want to read more: https://hockeyprospecting.com/ I point this out because while most publications and people are not high on the Flames prospects he has them 6th in the NHL and the 2020 draft jumped them from 17 to 5. He was a big fan of their draft and in his model they did well on almost every pick. I'm not necessarily a huge believer in the model, it's got pros and cons but it does identify some huge steals when you go back through past drafts. Just a prospective I found interesting.

Scott Wheeler, prospect writer for the Athletic, published his top 10 goalies and top 50 prospects list. Connor Zary was at 45.

All good. I think Parsons was back in the day too so that's why I was asking. But your right, he was 5th. Behind only Askarov, Sorokin, Knight and Connor Ingram according to Scott Wheeler.

Thing to remember with Hamonic is no one played their best with him if you want to go based on numbers. He dragged basically everyone down mostly because I think Hamonic’s mobility has decreased. Injuries caught up to him as a Flame and he lost that ability to defend. He also doesn’t exit the zone well. Tanev has some downsides but he’s an upgrade in his mobility and his ability to pass the puck out of the zone. Maybe it doesn’t work but there’s enough differences in their games to believe it’s going to be a different fit.

I think you go Gio-Anderson Hanifin-Tanev Valimaki-Kylington As or today I think that’s the best balance. Both of the top 4 pairings can handle tough competition and d zone stars so I’d like to see Ward use that balance and not use one heavily in either direction. I think having Valimaki on your 3rd pair means you won’t have to heavily shelter that pairing. but I’m also wondering if this d core is set.

Valimaki with a nice goal in the finish league. His first edit: better highlight

Do you mean Wolf?

great example of why I mute your posts and will continue to do so. Great post once again to bring absolutely nothing to a conversation but to criticize someone and just find a way to be negative. Happy to see I’m not missing out on anything.

I am a big fan of this pick and would have been a big fan of it at 19. The fact they were able to get 2 3rd rounders plus get this guy is a real work of art on Treliving's part. I think there are draft years were a player like Zary would be a top 10 pick and he compares well to some recent top 10 center picks. It's a big bonus that he is a natural center because that is IMO the weakest position in the Flames prospect pool and in their organization over the long term. Big win getting him. Also a timely article here by Ryan Pike as to why you will likely see him get signed pretty quickly because it gives the Flames a big advantage with his contract. https://flamesnation.ca/2020/10/15/flames-have-an-incentive-to-get-connor-zary-signed-soon/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

I think it makes sense as a way to try and play the season and try and get fans into the stands. I doubt they can pull it off with teams crossing the border so there really isn't another way to play the season without creating that Canadian bubble. Travel isn't too bad as long as you manage the schedule probably. won't make for the most exciting fan experience but having hockey is better than none at all.

While technically yes, these models will normally give different weighting to different chances (ie more weighting on high danger chances) so they don't assume that every shot is the same. So in short, the Canucks were really bad defensively and Markstrom carried them.

Q Season on hold for 2 weeks due to COVID

Kevin Woodley runs InGoal Magazine. He's a big fan of Markstrom and for his model he's lead the league in the amount of goals he prevented over the last 2 years.

For me right now it's hard to draw up lines until the off season is over as I'm not a believer the Flames want to be done. They might end up being done but that remains to be seen. the only thing I'm thinking right now in terms of line is the Flames need to go into camp with Johnny and Mony on separate lines and they need to stick with it for all of camp, pre season and the first games of the season. What that exactly looks like will be determined by the off season but it 100% needs to be the plan.

I don't agree here. Now i'm not suggesting they need to move him but they should absolutely be looking into it. Hanifin still seems to have buzz around the league that there is more to his game and a breakout is possible. If that is the case then the Flames should be trying to capitalize on that hype because one more year of just settling into a good but not great top 4 dman likely means his value is lower next year. Again it doesn't mean you need to move him our should but looking into moving him is not bad asset management at all if you get a team to pay the right price. Waiting another year I think will hurt his value especially if teams see Valimaki passing him. They'll know the Flames are in a bind and when that happens you don't get life preservers thrown your way....

A flooded goalie market and the best you wind up with is to return the same tandem that wasn’t good enough last year? Never change Oilers.... never change.

Continues to be off to a good start by all accounts

Always enjoy reading this stuff and would echo the same that your work is top notch Cryzdrvr. I know you put a ton into these evaluations. Normally I love chatting about them with you but unfortunately my schedule doesn't really allow me to prep for the draft like I use to so I don't get to watch these kids as much so I relied on this even more this year.

I always found myself liking the flags too and thought they made really good shoulder patches. Honestly i'm going to miss their jersey it's actually been on of my favorites in particular the red one. That being said these are still very sharp, especially the away one. Can't be mad at this decision. Edit: Actually the current red home is not going away. Will serve as an alternate jersey for this season. I would imagine that is short-lived though as I've heard rumblings they are working on a new 3rd jersey too.

Official from the team Side note it's really good to see Lanny back doing so much work with the Flames. It's also amazing how they incorporated "Red Hot" into this teaser

3 Primary assists too. Good start with the new team and as captain. He's too good for junior but hopefully a good start gets him in the good books for Team Canada. Would be great to see him play a role there.