2011-12 Prospect Stats and Update Thread

[devo22]

I'd be interested in how their ranking differs from the HF ranking (http://www.hockeysfuture.com/nhl_organisation_rankings/). They had us at #26 in November:

Strengths: The Flames have made solid improvements to their overall depth at all of the positions. The biggest improvement has been at the forward position by the adding of high-end offensively skilled talent like Sven Baertschi, Paul Byron, and Roman Horak. The Flames have also seen solid offensive improvement from Max Reinhart, Greg Nemisz, Michael Ferland, Ryan Howse, and Patrick Holland over the past year.
Weaknesses: The Flames don't have a high-end puck moving defenseman and generally lack depth on the blue line. The team's young offensively skilled forwards are still a few years away from replacing the Flames' aging forwards on their starting roster. Leland Irving is a talented goaltending prospect but the pool is thin behind him.
Top 5 prospects: 1. Sven Baertschi, LW, 2. T.J. Brodie, D, 3. Greg Nemisz, RW, 4. Leland Irving, G. 5. Max Reinhart, C.

Disagree with the last sentence of the weakness section though. We already had Ortio and Brossoit at the time, plus we have added Ramo since then.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Does anyone know when HF's more recent organizational rankings come out? Anyone write for them that knows?

I'll guess that the Flames move up only a spot or two, if that. As someone discussed earlier, even if the Flames got better prospect-wise, so too have most other organizations.

There's no doubt in my mind that the Flames forward pool has definitely got more skilled, but have surprisingly remained just as gritty as the previously pool. Prior to Feaster and Sutter's last draft, our drafted forwards were primarily grinders and two-way forwards. Now we have added the likes of Reinhart, Ferland, and Arnold who are equally as gritty, but have finish as well. Plus, we have added skilled forwards who aren't all that gritty, but aren't wusses either (i.e., Baertschi, Gaudreau, and Granlund). I like what Sutter has done for the Flames in his last year of drafting and definitely like Feaster's first draft. Kudos to all the scouts.

As for defensive prospects, other than Brodie, it doesn't seem like the Flames have added any offensive defencemen. It seems they're still of the mindset that our defence should now be puck moving, defensive defencemen (i.e., Ramage, Wotherspoon, Leach [?]). With this upcoming draft, I'd like to add a Cody Ceci, Griffin Reinhart, or Matt Dumba to the fold so we have a strong, mean, two-way defenceman with offensive capabilities. I gotta admit, I'm a little concerned with our defensive depth. We literally have no defensive prospects on the farm right now. I had high hopes for Breen this season, but on the whole/in general, he has taken a step back. It's unfortunate, but he is still very young and can regain/add to his game. I listened to an interview between him and Pinder the other day and Breen just sounded completely deflated. I'm speculating that maybe he was better off under Playfair, but that's pure guessing. Besides Breen there's not a single player we can consider a true prospect. Maybe Connelly and Carson, but Carson hasn't shown he wants to get back to the NHL and Connelly still has to show he can do more defensively and not have to rely on his defensive partner as much. In my opinion, Feaster and company really need to focus on defensive depth in this upcoming draft.

Goalies are always hard to judge, so I'm not going to touch that one. All I will say is Ramo looks unbelievable in Russia. His numbers are just stupid good. Brossoit has the second best GAA in the WHL, but also plays on one of the best teams in the dub. Ortio is questionable. He can't cut it just yet in the AHL, but has been alright in his stint back in Finland. Irving is NHL ready. The kid's quickness, shot recovery, and vision is phenomenal for age. I'm not sure if Feaster should waste a pick on another goalie. I think he should just let the goalies we have pan out and see what happens.

[devo22]

I pretty much agree with that assessment, well done!

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

I like what Sutter has done for the Flames in his last year of drafting and definitely like Feaster's first draft. Kudos to all the scouts.

absolutely. When you look at drafting, there has definitely been a change in direction in the last two drafts. Previously, it seems that the Flames couldn't even spell the word "skill". The last two drafts have changed that. I like it.

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

In my opinion, Feaster and company really need to focus on defensive depth in this upcoming draft.

agreed, this is the area I am most concerned about. Ramage and Wotherspoon seem to be defensive d-men and Leach seems like a good two-way-d-men, but that's about it when you look at our D depth. Luckily there are a lot of good defensemen available when we pick. Reinhart, Ceci, Pouliot and others would be good options.

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

I'm not sure if Feaster should waste a pick on another goalie. I think he should just let the goalies we have pan out and see what happens.

well I wouldn't mind wasting a later pick on Cole Cheveldave. Other than that I agree.

[Freeway]

I do not believe I have a defender in my Top Ten. Two goalies and eight forwards.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by Freeway

I do not believe I have a defender in my Top Ten. Two goalies and eight forwards.

I'll have a guess

Forwards: Bärtschi, Gaudreau, Reinhart, Ferland, Nemisz. Not sure about the other three - someone of the group Horak, Howse, Arnold, Granlund, Bouma and Byron, I would suppose.
Goaltenders: Irving, Ramo/Brossoit (not sure as Ramo already turns 26 in July)

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by Freeway

I do not believe I have a defender in my Top Ten. Two goalies and eight forwards.

Exactly. It's pretty worrisome to think about. The one good thing, I suppose, is that we have Bouwmeester who is only 28 (whose contract runs out when he's only 30), Gio is 29 (33 when his contract is done), Butler who only just turned 25, and Brodie who is 21, and Smith is only 27. So we have a relatively young D core, but still really no one to step in for Sarich and Hannan when/if they leave.

[GettinIggyWithIt]

I'll bite - my guess is:

Forwards - Bartschi, Reinhart, Nemisz, Arnold, Gaudreau, Ferland, Horak, and Ma. Granlund
Goalies - Irving and Ortio

I assume Brodie and Backlund would have counted as having graduated. I am not sure about Horak.

[Freeway]

Backlund graduated last year.
I counted Brodie and Bouma as graduating this year.

[Wronskian]

I hope we see Wotherspoon develop and climb up our prospect rankings ala Brodie. As I recall before training camp in 2010 he was never considered as a top prospect, It would strengthen our prospect pool substationally if we had a potential top 4 defenceman.

[devo22]

Anyone know what's the deal with Turner Elson? Hasn't played in the last few games.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by devo22

Anyone know what's the deal with Turner Elson? Hasn't played in the last few games.

I posted these about a week ago. http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showpos...postcount=1012

[Calgary Highlander]

Markus Granlund had a goal and an assist today for HIFK. From all accounts, he is really starting to really come into his own. Faster, stronger, better able to read the play and just all around more dynamic.

Here are the highlights of the game. Nasty play at 2:25: http://www.nelonenpro.fi/jääkiekko/v...a-hifk-1332012

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

The Heat lost tonight 4-1 falling all the way from 4th in the conference to 9th in 3 days. The Western Conference is RIDICULOUS right now. You think the NHL's Western conference is bad... check this out: http://theahl.com/stats/statdisplay....ason=&confId=0

Irving saves 23 of 27, not good. The lone goal scorer for the Heat was PL3 shorthanded from Patterson.

Here's my one concern for the Flames: Keeping in mind that we all know what Irving can do at the NHL level, I've gotta say I don't know if he'd be any better off than playing Kipper back-to-back.

Since he was sent down the last time, he's let in 17 goals in 5 games, getting pulled in one game after letting in 5 goals in 28 minutes. In total, he's got an awful 3.81 GAA and a 0.875 SV% after being sent down this most recent time. Pretty ugly.

With that said, will he get a call-up to play against the Coilers on Friday? Yeah, I'm sure he will, but he hasn't been all that good since being sent down the last time.

[Svartsengi]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

The Heat lost tonight 4-1 falling all the way from 4th in the conference to 9th in 3 days. The Western Conference is RIDICULOUS right now. You think the NHL's Western conference is bad... check this out: http://theahl.com/stats/statdisplay....ason=&confId=0

Irving saves 23 of 27, not good. The lone goal scorer for the Heat was PL3 shorthanded from Patterson.

Here's my one concern for the Flames: Keeping in mind that we all know what Irving can do at the NHL level, I've gotta say I don't know if he'd be any better off than playing Kipper back-to-back.

Since he was sent down the last time, he's let in 17 goals in 5 games, getting pulled in one game after letting in 5 goals in 28 minutes. In total, he's got an awful 3.81 GAA and a 0.875 SV% after being sent down this most recent time. Pretty ugly.

With that said, will he get a call-up to play against the Coilers on Friday? Yeah, I'm sure he will, but he hasn't been all that good since being sent down the last time.

Sucks to hear that Irving is struggling. I don't pretend to know what is going on in his head but perhaps he is thinking he has earned the backup job ahead of Karlsson and just killing time in Abby. Not very mature or professional but a possible answer. You get to see him live in Abbotsford and I do not. What do you think?.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by Svartsengi

Sucks to hear that Irving is struggling. I don't pretend to know what is going on in his head but perhaps he is thinking he has earned the backup job ahead of Karlsson and just killing time in Abby. Not very mature or professional but a possible answer. You get to see him live in Abbotsford and I do not. What do you think?.

I'm not sure it would be that. I would imagine that there is, however, a sense of disappointment that he doesn't get to be full time backup right now. Even then, he had to have been told by Feaster that he'll get called up when they need him and not to worry about getting playing time in the NHL.

His stats are weird, but it would be naive for me to think that it's 100% his fault. The back end is downright awful. Connelly and Wilson are very much one-way offensive players. Tuzzelino (sp?) is an ECHL call up; not a bad ECHL call up, but an ECHL call up nonetheless. Testwuide is a two-way d-man, and is probably our best d-man at the moment. Breen is a good shutdown guy, but is still pretty inconsistent. Carson isn't all that much more spectacular than Breen. In fact, he's more or less the same type of player most nights.

And the offensive, or lack thereof, is nothing to write home about.

Right now, the Heat are a bad team. Irving, for all we know, is just a victim of the team's struggles.

[Wronskian]

Can anyone comment on how Howse has been playing? Does this guy have NHL potential, and it is his lack of conditioning holding him back? I had high hopes for him after his great junior numbers..

[sworkhard]

I understand he's made some massive strides towards being a professional league player this year and might be ready for call up duty next year sometime if he keeps progressing.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

So far tonight:

Ferland had 1 assist and was +2 in a 3-2 SO loss.
Leach had 1 goal and Reinhart had 1 assist in a 5-4 OT loss.
Brossoit did not play tonight.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by kehatch

Backlund has graduated. It is possible Brodie has as well. Erixon is gone. Howse has dropped. Nemisz may have as well. Negrin and Chucko Pelech Wahl are showibg bust. Almost all of our top prospects are in College or junior.

But their rankings are supposed to include young NHLers so Brodie graduating should have helped the Flames rankings not hurt them.

Regardless I don't have a problem with the Flames being ranked in the late 20s. But there is NO WAY that I take the Canucks pipeline over the Flames right now...I have no clue how Vancouver managed to get ranked above Calgary.

[Drake]

Wakefield, Mass. - The Hockey East Association announced the nine-member 2012 Pro Ambitions All-Rookie Team on Wednesday afternoon./

Northeastern University forward Ludwig Karlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), Boston College forward Johnny Gaudreau (Carneys Point, N.J.) and UMass-Lowell forward Scott Wilson (Oakville, Ont.) were the three unanimous selections to the squad, as chosen by the 10 league head coaches. UMass-Lowell and New Hampshire were the only two schools with multiple selections, which included goaltender Casey DeSmith (Rochester, N.H.) and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.) from the Wildcats and the River Hawks defenseman Zack Kamrass (Atlanta, Ga.), along with Wilson. Boston University's Alexx Privitera (Old Tappan, N.J.) also represented the blueliners on the team. Providence College's Ross

http://www.hockeyeastonline.com/men/...03/mar14ar.php