Lias Andersson Highlights #23 (for his club team) and #15 (for Sweden) and #26 (for Sweden)
He scores a pretty bad goal on Ortio actually (bad for Ortio)
Watching this video, I think his offense is actually very translatable to the NHL -- he's got a lot in common stylistically with Monahan: go to the high percentage areas and release with no hesitation...
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I predict that if Kostin is available, the Flames will take him as their swing for the fences. It's a good point about McPhee having three bullets in the chamber before that happens. I like everything I have seen about Andersson though so I hope he is still there at our pick.
Treliving has repeatedly said the Flames are looking for a player with a high ceiling. To me, that suggests Kostin or Vesalainen.
Liljegren stand out to me as fitting that comment, huge upside. I mean lots of players have high ceilings. Juuso Valkimaki scored 19 goals and 61 points in the WHL, pretty good for a 6'2 defensemen eh? Sounds like his upside is a top 3 defenseman.
Really, really skeptical they would go with Kostin. Neither Mackenzie or Button has him in their top 17. We haven't drafted a Russian in the top 6 rounds in 15 years. Let me repeat that, 15 years! We did draft a Belarussian in the 5th round recently but he was playing in the WHL. What do we even have for Russian scouts? We have no Russian players to help him acclimatize. I guess we were eyeing up Kucherov that one year so its clear we would consider a Russian if they were exceptional. But even still I'd bet money against Kostin personally.
Liljegren stand out to me as fitting that comment, huge upside. I mean lots of players have high ceilings. Juuso Valkimaki scored 19 goals and 61 points in the WHL, pretty good for a 6'2 defensemen eh? Sounds like his upside is a top 3 defenseman.
Really, really skeptical they would go with Kostin. Neither Mackenzie or Button has him in their top 17. We haven't drafted a Russian in the top 6 rounds in 15 years. Let me repeat that, 15 years! We did draft a Belarussian in the 5th round recently but he was playing in the WHL. What do we even have for Russian scouts? We have no Russian players to help him acclimatize. I guess we were eyeing up Kucherov that one year so its clear we would consider a Russian if they were exceptional. But even still I'd bet money against Kostin personally.
Plus the last Russian we picked is now a defected player.
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The player I am hoping for most of all is Andersson.
The Flames are fairly set with D-men and goaltending for the time being organizationally, I would be fine if they trended towards forwards. I would not be disappointed with any of the D-men in the range of the Flames pick if they went that way however. All the high quality forward prospects have either graduated (or expected to in Janko's case) or are small. The 2013 1sts all look like they're going to be 3rd/4th line guys if they make it. So that leaves us with Dube, Phillips, and Mangiapane as the only forward prospects with skill coming through the pipeline. On defense, the Flames have Fox, Andersson, Kylington, Falkovsky, and Kulak that look like they're NHL calibre prospects and most of them still have developmental time.
As long as we don't get Hague or Rasmussen, I'll be perfectly fine with whatever comes.
If some of the better options are gone at 16, I wouldn't mind dropping to 20 and picking up a 2nd. If none of Kostin, Andersson, Necas, Foote, or Liljegren are up at 16, dropping 4 picks and getting either Yamamoto or Thomas would work.
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Last edited by Caged Great; 06-22-2017 at 11:43 PM.
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The player I am hoping for most of all is Andersson.
The Flames are fairly set with D-men and goaltending for the time being organizationally, I would be fine if they trended towards forwards. I would not be disappointed with any of the D-men in the range of the Flames pick if they went that way however. All the high quality forward prospects have either graduated (or expected to in Janko's case) or are small. The 2013 1sts all look like they're going to be 3rd/4th line guys if they make it. So that leaves us with Dube, Phillips, and Mangiapane as the only forward prospects with skill coming through the pipeline. On defense, the Flames have Fox, Andersson, Kylington, Falkovsky, and Kulak that look like they're NHL calibre prospects and most of them still have developmental time.
As long as we don't get Hague or Rasmussen, I'll be perfectly fine with whatever comes.
If some of the better options are gone at 16, I wouldn't mind dropping to 20 and picking up a 2nd. If none of Kostin, Andersson, Necas, Foote, or Liljegren are up at 16, dropping 4 picks and getting either Yamamoto or Thomas would work.
Suzuki> all the guys you mentioned except maybe Necas. If the flames manage to draft Suzuki I'd be so god damn happy
If Vaseleinen is availible I find it very hard to see the flames passing on him. Fills a postitional need, big, can skate. If I was a betting man I think that's who the Flames will pick. Most likely wrong tho
Suzuki> all the guys you mentioned except maybe Necas. If the flames manage to draft Suzuki I'd be so god damn happy
I have the opposite opinion. I think Suzuki is almost Baertschi like and that he'll struggle to be more than a middling winger. Useful no doubt, but I'd take a Backlund type center over that. Between the two, I'd take Yamamoto over Suzuki as well as he has higher levels of raw skill, speed and overall talent even though he's Johnny sized.
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Suzuki> all the guys you mentioned except maybe Necas. If the flames manage to draft Suzuki I'd be so god damn happy
He's got some skills and I like his compete. Not sure he'll be the best asset available at #16. I think if the Flames think there is a top 4 defenseman available I'd personally take that over a probable 2nd line winger with below average size just because top 4 defensemen are so valuable in trades and wingers are so easy to trade for. If we did grab a winger I'd think 6'3, 207 power forward in Vesalainen might be under consideration as well. Tippett could fall to us too although it seems like scouts are divided whether he or Suzuki is the better prospect.
Liljegren, Foote, Valimaki all look like potential top 4 D around our range. I think all 3 are possibilities. Craig Button seems to really like P-O Joseph as well so maybe he's a bit of a dark horse dman that his brother may like as well.
All that said I do like Suzuki, his highlights are impressive. Same goes for Lias Andersson. Both attractive players that I wouldn't be disappointed with. I think I'd prefer the dmen over them though.
This draft is impossible to predict so its hard to know who will be there.
Last edited by Flames Draft Watcher; 06-23-2017 at 12:18 AM.
I have the opposite opinion. I think Suzuki is almost Baertschi like and that he'll struggle to be more than a middling winger. Useful no doubt, but I'd take a Backlund type center over that. Between the two, I'd take Yamamoto over Suzuki as well as he has higher levels of raw skill, speed and overall talent even though he's Johnny sized.
Are there any Sprong(/Ho Sang) type guys in this draft that you're high on who aren't ranked that high?
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Are there any Sprong(/Ho Sang) type guys in this draft that you're high on who aren't ranked that high?
Not really. This year's draft was kind of terrible at the start where there was basically nothing, but anyone who showed anything already filtered up towards the top. That is partially why the draft isn't quite as poorly thought of as it was earlier in the year. Just a bad couple picks at the top, but enough talent has filtered that it isn't half bad. I'd say it's slightly better overall that 2012 (and that's due to the potential for a couple of high end forwards in the middle of the 1st round). Comparing drafts, there are some similar prospects like Teravainen and Yamamoto. Still a bit of a crap shoot overall though.
There's a couple of quality prospects after 25, but nobody worth reaching for. No Janko's this year. I'd be making a couple recommendations for the 2nd and 3rd round picks if we had them, but it's kind of an irrelevant point for us really at this stage when we don't pick until round 4. If the Flames do trade down or get additional picks, then it'll be worth talking about.
I would expect the Flames to continue what they have done the past couple years with picks 4-7. They have had three main features - Size + project-ability (Karnaukhov, Mattsson, Tuulola, Falkovsky) - Skill regardless of size (Fox, Mangiapane, Lindstrom, Phillips) - and overagers (Falkovsky, Eat Bread)
This is a year more than likely that I think the Flames will throw more into the skill department overall regardless of the players other flaws (Size/Skating) just because of the thinness of the forward group's offensive skill as a whole that is coming through the pipeline. Got to figure that in a couple years, the Flames will be needing to deal off guys and get replacements that are cheap ala Chicago. Need to start getting guys in the system that will be ready in 3-4 years. We have enough guys to replace the entire 4th line right now in Stockton, the four 2013 1sts + Hathaway. Once certain guys are moved, those guys will graduate, and then the upper part of the system will be barren.
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Last edited by Caged Great; 06-23-2017 at 03:33 AM.
The player I am hoping for most of all is Andersson.
The Flames are fairly set with D-men and goaltending for the time being organizationally, I would be fine if they trended towards forwards. I would not be disappointed with any of the D-men in the range of the Flames pick if they went that way however. All the high quality forward prospects have either graduated (or expected to in Janko's case) or are small. The 2013 1sts all look like they're going to be 3rd/4th line guys if they make it. So that leaves us with Dube, Phillips, and Mangiapane as the only forward prospects with skill coming through the pipeline. On defense, the Flames have Fox, Andersson, Kylington, Falkovsky, and Kulak that look like they're NHL calibre prospects and most of them still have developmental time.
As long as we don't get Hague or Rasmussen, I'll be perfectly fine with whatever comes.
If some of the better options are gone at 16, I wouldn't mind dropping to 20 and picking up a 2nd. If none of Kostin, Andersson, Necas, Foote, or Liljegren are up at 16, dropping 4 picks and getting either Yamamoto or Thomas would work.
Suzuki is probably the absolute best-case scenario, but any of Vesalainen, Tolvanen, Vesalainen, Brannstrom or Liljegren would serve them well.
I think Robert Thomas would be a great pick. He's a center. He plays a two way game, he can pass, he's a hard worker.
He's a London Knight and we know they have an eye for talent and are highly successful at development. He's going to get a ton of ice time next year. His stock could shoot up big time.
Plus someone here already mentioned that he's so smooth.
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