travel_dude

Shoulda woulda coulda. Bennett had years to prove he was a top C and never came close. As much poor development as misuse by coaches. On rare occasions he looked like a top 6 player, but very rare. He's gone. For me, the failure comes from trades we missed out on and picks wasted for players we targeted. Hamonic, Lazar, Gustafsson, Forbort, Smith, Elliott, etc. Missing out on Stone. Being snubbed by Kadri. Being in on everything, but not being able to land an impact player. We lost one year of Gio, and while it stings, not much you can do about it. Hard to offload his salary at TDL. Do you try to trade him after a Norris season where he is still a big part of the team? Hindsight, yes. Realistic? Not really.

We sign people from the KHL and other leagues almost never give them a shot. I don't know why we bother. It's no wonder why we draft so few Russians.

He was always a little pissy about not getting the big contract here. Seing as we would have lost him or Gio to Seattle, the extra cap space is probably worth more to us than the player was. I even have my doubts they would have claimed him over Gio. That said, good that he has a GM with faith that he learns from his costly playoff mistakes and plays like a $4m player.

Some offer tendering news: The following received qualifying offers: Dube, Kylington, Gawdin, Phillips, Kirkland, CJ Lerby, Mackey, Parsons, Philp, Poolman, Valimaki, Yelesin. The following did not and become UFA: Big Snag Zag, Simon. Yelesin had signed with the KHL, so this only really hangs onto his right. Doubt he comes back over.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hink he was a cheap deal. FLA game up a WJC Gold winner as a prospect. They did hedge their bets by making it a protected 1st (smart). I like Reinhart, but Monahan should have equal or more value than him. Monahan + anything is overpaying. A 1st + Wolf + paying $7m long term? Not worth it to me.

^^^ I find it hard to imagine what BPA was at each pick the Flames made. Should we have grabbed Raty when he dropped to us? Sure, there are players that I would have liked to take, but I don't consider this draft a fail. You got exactly zero of your preferred players, so no doubt you are sour. Even Coronato was a miss in your mind over Wallstedt (more so) and Cossa (less so). In 5 years we can go back and look at all the hits and misses of the draft. It's not like we drafted Mason MacDonald, Kanzig and Hunter Smith which were easy to argue with. Consensus doesn't exist, nor was this year a great one to look at the varying ratings by scouting services. We drafted the 8th best NA goalie according to Central Scouting. What does that even prove? I saw one goalie outside of the 1st round that I would even look twice at.

I was thinking that it's nice for Bennett. In his 19/20 season he scored but 5 points more than Janko. Last year just 12 with us. That's not something you offer $4.4m x 4 for. He may end up being a value contract, but I'm not sure how they roll out the C positions there now with Reinhart being added.

I have more interest in trading for Dunne's rights. An offensive D-man, who could be a top 4 option for us. Young enough. Probably doesn't break the bank.

They wanted Monahan and a 1st from us. Or was it Mangiapane and a 1st? In either case, that worth a mot more to us than an extra goalie and a 1st.

Froese is likely AHL and I expect Ritchie just to be a part time RW. There isn't as much reason to have 2 extra forwards on the squad, so I expect maybe a depth winger to be signed. Perhaps Kahun out of EDM, as he's not being qualified. Another option is Khaira, who will likely get less than the $1.3m he was due to be qualified for (also isn't being qualified). Injury is a concern, but keep him away from fighting and he provides some size and attitude. Obviously lacking is LD and top 6 RW. Even if we trade Tkachuk for Eichel, we still lack a RW, after moving Lindholm to RW. I would stay away from the high-priced D in FA and only look at those available for lesser amounts and possible trades (like Dunne). We have extra 2nd and 3rd rounders. Can sign the inevitable Stone extension for minimum. Perhaps Brossoit is available as a UFA for G.

Bennett signed today with FLA ofr $4.4m x 4 years. Nice.

He's not the most diplomatic player out there. You want a bit of respect from the refs. Lucic would get it, but he can be a hothead.

If FN is any indication of popular opinion, then you would love it there. There's one guy that has crapped on every single pick from last year. Ws Okay with Zary, but that's about it. Hates Backlund.

What was the consensus? If you look at the Elite Prospects rating for each of our players drafted, you might find one out of touch with the ranges. Is Cragg Button good or bad at rankings? If he's bad then he made mistakes on Cossa, Wlalstedt and Sskarov. Seems to me that very teams take central scouting with anything more than a grain of salt. If these guys are safe picks, then we added to our prospects. If they are home run swings, then we stand as much chance of hitting as a lot of teams. By the way, the Flames don't draft (anymore) based on one guy's opinion. They go over the lists, look at the players, argue about them, and come up with a list that they can agree on. The only thing that normally diverges is whether we trade down or up depending on the way the board is filling up.

If you want to be critical, read the attached breakdown by Todd: https://flamesnation.ca/2021/07/24/tod-button-breaks-down-the-flames-2021-draft-class/

Red Savage to the Wings.

Certainly not catchers.

I've got no complaints. As much as I question the guys we passed on, the guys we picked are not from left field.

Holland is happy we passed on Lucas Munzemberger. You will be happy that we drafted according to Cragg Button and didn't go off the board completely. Whether we got BPA or not, we added some size and skill to our somewhat questionable forward prospect pool.

The only better name available was Red Savage

Whynot? That's what we decided. There's the first D taken by us. Out of Halifax

I'm surprised that EDM wouldn't have traded a 2021 1st for Reinhart. Another wing prospect instead of a C/RW?

So, an early 6th? Okay, I guess.