[News] Burke says he is unlikely to trade up... hasn't watched Bennett

[Rick M.]

I think we have to go with a center as I doubt we'll pick this early again in future and good wingers are generally available later in the first rounds of drafts. 1a/1b centers get snapped up early.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Rick M.

I think we have to go with a center as I doubt we'll pick this early again in future and good wingers are generally available later in the first rounds of drafts. 1a/1b centers get snapped up early.

Agreed. Monahan + Draisaitl or Bennett solves an organizational problem that has plagued us for 15 years - a complete lack of high-end depth at the centre ice position. Alongside Backlund's strong defensive play on the 3rd line, we'd have our centres in place for a long time. As we've all seen, the centre position is too important and too hard to address unless you draft them high and develop them yourself.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Agreed. Monahan + Draisaitl or Bennett solves an organizational problem that has plagued us for 15 years - a complete lack of high-end depth at the centre ice position. Alongside Backlund's strong defensive play on the 3rd line, we'd have our centres in place for a long time. As we've all seen, the centre position is too important and too hard to address unless you draft them high and develop them yourself.

When we won the cup our centers were Doug Gilmour, Joe Nieuwendyk, Joel Otto and Theoren Fleury. You can't have too much depth on center.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Agreed. Monahan + Draisaitl or Bennett solves an organizational problem that has plagued us for 15 years - a complete lack of high-end depth at the centre ice position. Alongside Backlund's strong defensive play on the 3rd line, we'd have our centres in place for a long time. As we've all seen, the centre position is too important and too hard to address unless you draft them high and develop them yourself.

It would, and there's still a legit chance we're bad enough next year to pick up an elite center there too. Depending on how this draft and next year's go, we could be in LA territory soon enough when it comes to that position.

[OffsideSpecialist]

I'm going to Oshawa's first game against North Bay tomorrow with my old man. It's pretty rare that I pay too much attention to a single player at a junior game, but I will definitely have my eyes on Dal Colle. We'll see what he can do with Laughton being suspended.

[Savvy27]

I'm holding out some hope that the draft shakes out like this:

1) Panthers - Ekblad They take the consensus pick and happily take what looks to be like a defensive pillar

2) Sabres - Draisaitl Murray had positive things to say about Leon in one of the interviews that was posted here and if he sees a Ryan Getzlaf/Anze Kopitar level he may choose the biggest star center available to be the key cog in their offense.

3) Oilers - Bennett With their two preferred selections off the board, the Oilers decide to draft for character and tenacity instead of picking up another player similar to Hopkins.

4) Flames - Reinhart The Flames are very happy to select arguably the best prospect in the draft. Reinhart projects as a number 1 offensive center that should develop into a key member of the powerplay and provide a right-handed alternative to Monahan for key draws.

I could also see Bennett going to the Sabres and Reinhart going to anyone who thinks he's the BPA (after all, even on McKenzie's list, Ekblad was only first on 7/12 lists).

This is going to be a fun draft because the Flames are firmly set within a 'consensus top 5' (according to Bob).

[greentree]

^ I would love to see it play out like that Savvy. ^

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Savvy27

I'm holding out some hope that the draft shakes out like this:

1) Panthers - Ekblad They take the consensus pick and happily take what looks to be like a defensive pillar

2) Sabres - Draisaitl Murray had positive things to say about Leon in one of the interviews that was posted here and if he sees a Ryan Getzlaf/Anze Kopitar level he may choose the biggest star center available to be the key cog in their offense.

3) Oilers - Bennett With their two preferred selections off the board, the Oilers decide to draft for character and tenacity instead of picking up another player similar to Hopkins.

4) Flames - Reinhart The Flames are very happy to select arguably the best prospect in the draft. Reinhart projects as a number 1 offensive center that should develop into a key member of the powerplay and provide a right-handed alternative to Monahan for key draws.

I could also see Bennett going to the Sabres and Reinhart going to anyone who thinks he's the BPA (after all, even on McKenzie's list, Ekblad was only first on 7/12 lists).

This is going to be a fun draft because the Flames are firmly set within a 'consensus top 5' (according to Bob).

That would be awesome. Another scenario I would like happening is Edmonton just getting screwed over.

Buffalo picking Draisaitl totally throws off Edmonton's silver lining (since Ekblad was their #1 option). Perfect draft for Flames' fans:

Florida - Ebkald - helps their defensive depth, and is NHL ready
Buffalo - Draisaitl - not sure what to say on this one, but makes Edmonton think on who to pick.
Edmonton - Ritchie () ... They wanted size, and felt Ritchie is the best prospect to go with!

Edmonton gets screwed over twice, and picks a prospect that barely should be in the top 10.

Only problem for the Flames is the option between picking on what Sam we want... I would prefer this problem than having no Sam at all.

[StrykerSteve]

The Flames will get one of Draisaitl, Reinhart or Bennett. That's all anyone can guarantee right now.

All three are going to be stellar NHL players, so everyone needs to relax and stop worrying about it.

[nik-]

I don't see the Sabres taking Draisaitl

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Savvy27

I'm holding out some hope that the draft shakes out like this:

1) Panthers - Ekblad They take the consensus pick and happily take what looks to be like a defensive pillar

2) Sabres - Draisaitl Murray had positive things to say about Leon in one of the interviews that was posted here and if he sees a Ryan Getzlaf/Anze Kopitar level he may choose the biggest star center available to be the key cog in their offense.

3) Oilers - Bennett With their two preferred selections off the board, the Oilers decide to draft for character and tenacity instead of picking up another player similar to Hopkins.

4) Flames - Reinhart The Flames are very happy to select arguably the best prospect in the draft. Reinhart projects as a number 1 offensive center that should develop into a key member of the powerplay and provide a right-handed alternative to Monahan for key draws.

I could also see Bennett going to the Sabres and Reinhart going to anyone who thinks he's the BPA (after all, even on McKenzie's list, Ekblad was only first on 7/12 lists).

This is going to be a fun draft because the Flames are firmly set within a 'consensus top 5' (according to Bob).

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

That would be awesome. Buffalo picking Draisaitl totally throws off Edmonton's silver lining (since Ekblad was their #1 option). Perfect draft for Flames' fans:

Florida - Ebkald - helps their defensive depth, and is NHL ready
Buffalo - Draisaitl - not sure what to say on this one, but makes Edmonton think on who to pick.
Edmonton - Ritchie () ... They wanted size, and felt Ritchie is the best prospect to go with!

Edmonton gets screwed over twice, and picks a prospect that barely should be in the top 10.

Only problem for the Flames is the option between picking on what Sam we want... I would prefer this problem than having no Sam at all.

Pfft....Thats nothing.

Calgary will trade Chris Butler's rights to Edmonton for their 1st round pick because Butler is like 10 Giordanos and then Calgary picks both Sams. Awww Yiss!

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by nik-

I don't see the Sabres taking Draisaitl

Yeah me neither, very Grigorenko like in terms of skill set and size.

I think the go with the more dynamic offensive center in Reinhart. They already have the gritty center in Girgensons, and Hodgson could probably benefit from a move to the wing.

Reinhart
Grigorenko
Girgensons

Is really good prospect depth at center ice. Drafting a RH center in Reinhart, allows you to move your other RH to RW.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

The Flames will get one of Draisaitl, Reinhart or Bennett. That's all anyone can guarantee right now.

All three are going to be stellar NHL players, so everyone needs to relax and stop worrying about it.

Barring trade, the Flames should have an opportunity to pick one of those, but no guarantee they take that opportunity. They might take Dal Colle if our scouts think he's better than Draisaitl for instance.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

The Flames will get one of Draisaitl, Reinhart or Bennett. That's all anyone can guarantee right now.

All three are going to be stellar NHL players, so everyone needs to relax and stop worrying about it.

Don't worry, team X will get one of Pavel Brendl, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin or Patrick Stefan. No worries, all of them will turn out great.

[Stupid]

Originally Posted by nik-

I don't see the Sabres taking Draisaitl

I'm afraid nobody will be picking Draisaitl and he will be available to us at fourth pick.

At this moment my preference would be something like
Tier 1
Reinhart
Ekblad
small difference to
Tier 2
Bennett
Tier 3
slightly larger difference to
Dal Colle
Draisaitl
then a bigger drop to the rest

So unless somebody picks up either DC or Draisaitl, the two tiers of players are not likely availalable to us. I see a lot of people homering and pencelling them in for either FLA, BUF or EDM but it's hoping for someone to incompetent so that we get a shinier toy. Not completely out of the realm of possibility. However I think there's a substantial chance we'll have to entertain the idea of having to choose between drafting either Dal Colle or Draisaitl. Not that that is a bad thing. It's not my prefered scenario but I think realistically there's a high chance of it falling into place like this.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Don't worry, team X will get one of Pavel Brendl, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin or Patrick Stefan. No worries, all of them will turn out great.

I don't like this train of thought. I just don't think it applies to the modern era of the NHL, where there are a lot more resources directed towards proper scouting.

If you look at the modern NHL (post '04/'05 lockout):

2006:
1. Erik Johnson
2. Jordan Staal
3. Jonathan Toews
4. Nicklas Backstrom
5. Phil Kessell

2007:
1. Patrick Kane
2. James Van Riemsdyk
3. Kyle Turris
4. Thomas Hickey
5. Karl Alzner

2008:
1. Steven Stamkos
2. Drew Doughty
3. Zach Bogosian
4. Alex Pietrangelo
5. Luke Schenn

2009:
1. John Tavares
2. Victor Hedman
3. Matt Duchene
4. Evander Kane
5. Brayden Schenn

2010:
1. Taylor Hall
2. Tyler Seguin
3. Erik Gudbranson
4. Ryan Johansen
5. Nino Niederreiter

2011:
1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
2. Gabriel Landeskog
3. Jonathan Huberdeau
4. Adam Larsson
5. Ryan Strome

2012:
1. Nail Yakupov
2. Ryan Murray
3. Alex Galchenyuk
4. Griffin Reinhart
5. Morgan Rielly

2013:
1. Nathan Mackinnon
2. Aleksander Barkov
3. Jonathan Drouin
4. Seth Jones
5. Elias Lindholm

Complete "busts" just don't happen like they used to, at least not in the top 6. The top 5 is pretty much a lock to be an every day, good hockey player. The closest thing to a bust is Yakupov, who has had his development all "Edmontoned". Out of the 40 picks I listed above, Yakupov and Hickey are the closest things to "busts".

And as a small bit of optimistic news regarding the 1999 draft you mentioned - Burke has been quoted saying the Sedins were the only two players from that year (I assume at the top of the draft) that he believed had a chance to be impact players. He definitely got that right.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Nevermind

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

The Flames will get one of Draisaitl, Reinhart or Bennett. That's all anyone can guarantee right now.

All three are going to be stellar NHL players, so everyone needs to relax and stop worrying about it.

Why won't they take Dal Colle especially if he keeps ripping it up in the playoffs. Take him over the German any day

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Why won't they take Dal Colle especially if he keeps ripping it up in the playoffs. Take him over the German any day

If we're going on scouting reports, Draisaitl seems to be the #4 (if not higher) pick. Also, in my opinion I'd always tend to lean towards the Centre rather than the Winger, unless the winger is significantly better (which by most accounts, in this case he is not)

[The Fonz]

Drafting has come a long way from the mid 90s and early 00s. If you go back and look at the 1st rounds during this period, the majority are just ugly.