Then Cale Makar returns to be hometown hero to start the 2027 season in a new arena.
Right after Landon DuPont announces he'll only play for his hometown Flames, setting up the best mentorship from one generational Calgary-born D-man to the next
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One thing is for certain, at 8th overall there’s no sure-thing home run player. There’s talented players with question marks around how their games will translate. I think that’s true for most of this class outside of Celebrini.
Definitely. I think there’s something to be excited about for every single player in the 5-15 range and, without looking very hard, reason for hesitation.
Some people will have their favourites and no doubt some people are going to find some reason to be upset because they fell in love with a player that was still on the board and wasn’t chosen, but at this point I’m just excited to have a new potential top-end player to cheer for. It feels like it’s been forever (partially because there was so much negativity after Honzek was chosen that it really took away from the excitement).
There really aren't many good centers in this draft, outside of Celebrini, Demidov and Lindstrom. I do not see Catton being a for sure Center in the NHL, he could easily be a winger. So if Lindstrom is gone when Flames pick, it will most likely come down to Iginla vs Catton vs Parekh vs Buium, and I can see an argument for picking Iginla over those guys
If it is between those four I take Parekh and say start the car. That is how good he is offensively from the blue line. Can you imagine having both Parekh and Brzustewicz on your future PP's? Next to Celebrini I think Parekh has the biggest chance to be a franchise type player.
Hmmm. I feel like another team is going to try to bend the flames over and force them to add a lot of assets to trade up. The owners will want all reasons to get fans out during the retool and having Iginla's son playing would go a long way.
A lot of times junior players are listed as centers but don't play center much. Most of these kids are the stars of their youth teams and play center, but they get to junior and there are already older players filling the top center roles so these kids end up on the wing.
I haven't watched Tij much, but if you look at the stats for his team he doesn't take many face offs (like 6th on the team I think) so that's a sign he doesn't play center very much.
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If it is between those four I take Parekh and say start the car. That is how good he is offensively from the blue line. Can you imagine having both Parekh and Brzustewicz on your future PP's? Next to Celebrini I think Parekh has the biggest chance to be a franchise type player.
Ya I would probably go with Parekh there too. The only player outside of Celebrini that has potential to be a true game changer (at least for now).
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1) BPA ALWAYS. Never draft by positional need.
2) If 3 prospects are equal, you rank them by positional value - C over D over W.
These are two rules I feel are important. I do, however, feel the need to quibble here.
During the last 10 seasons, who were the Flames best players? Gaudreau and Tkachuk - both wingers. Jarome was by far the best skater on the team during his era. It wasn't wrong to draft those players. What was wrong was that the Flames didn't draft enough difference makers, period.
Flames didn't screw up by trying to 'build around Jarome'. I don't understand that sentiment. You don't build a successful hockey team by building around anyone. You build around a core. If the Flames draft Tij, they won't be building around him. They will be building around a core that includes him. They will need to draft more difference makers, more core players, more franchise-level players. That's how the Flames will be building a contender.
Who is the best player in Tampa who has continually pulled that organization kicking and screaming to championships? Kucherov. Point and Stamkos are fantastic talents - they won because they build a great team, period, with a good amount of franchise-level players in most positions. They build solid depth around those core players, and the cups came. However, Kucherov was by far the best player on that team, and remains so.
Does this mean I abandon my rules above? Of course not. My point stands - you follow rule #1 first. Then you draft not by positional need, but by positional value. I don't care if Calgary doesn't have enough wingers at some point during this rebuild and are flush at centre - centres can play wing much easier than wingers can play centre (Sharangovich notwithstanding).
The only slight adjustment I make right now where Tij is concerned is:
C over D over W unless Iginla, in which it becomes Iginla over C over D. Why? I think because he is more Tkachuk than Lemieux (Brendan, that is). He has been around the game more than your average prospect. He has been improving in spades, especially in the playoffs. Being a playoff performer tells me that this kid as some of those intangibles.
So if you have Iginla equal to a centre, I would pick Iginla. If you have a centre ranked ahead of Iginla, you pick the centre. That's the slight exception I think the Flames should make.
However, my opinion could be very different from yours. I didn't see a problem in building WITH (not around, but WITH) Iginla during that era (Iginla, Kiprusoff and Regehr - that was the extent of the core, though there were very good support players along the way like Conroy, Langkow, Tanguay, etc). Building with Gaudreau and Tanguay wasn't a bad idea - there was just not enough game changers. Gaudreau, Tkahuck, Giordano, Backlund (elite-level defensive specialist - totally not an argument if you don't have him on your list of him being a core member). Monahan looked like he was going to be a franchise-level player, but he didn't really become that as he didn't control play on the ice. Ditto for Lindholm who looked great for about 2 seasons.
That's the issue with the Flames - they didn't draft enough core pieces. They came out of the rebuild too early in the Gaudreau era. In the Button era, he misidentified two important core players in Savard and St. Louis who most likely would have had this team winning a cup or two if they stayed (St. Louis - Savard - Iginla, Regehr and Kiprusoff - try to stop that).
Once again, if there is a centre or a defencemen that is definitely better than Tij, by all means I hope the Flames draft him over Tij. I personally don't really think there is a clear-cut better player around 5 and lower, so I would hope that the Flames draft Tij. If they don't, it is because they believe that there is someone who is better, or will likely become better over the years, and that's fine too.
My real point is that I disagree in the notion that the Flames have to come out with a C or a D to build around. They need to draft the BPA, to be a piece of the future core to build around, regardless of position. You don't get rid of a Mathew Tkachuk and keep Lindholm believing him to be the more valuable player that gives you a better chance to win, right (I mean, not if you have a choice). You don't trade Jarome and keep Langkow, thinking that Langkow is the player that gives you the best shot to win. You keep the best players. If you have too many of one, you make them switch positions if possible (easier if they are centres of course), or you trade your core pieces for other core pieces in a hockey trade.
Mathew Tkachuk returned Weegar who is tied for 2nd in goals, plus another elite level winger (well...), plus a first and a b-class centre prospect (who probably won't pan out). Had the Flames traded Iginla a few seasons earlier, he would have returned a ransom too. So if you do get stuck with too many franchise-level wingers, that's ok. Or you get stuck with too many franchise centres or defencemen - you can always trade franchise level players for a ransom, regardless of position.
That's just how I see things anyway. I know a large contingent of people don't, and that's ok too. I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing to choose a slightly worse C over a winger - by your own equation of value, that centre may provide more value long-term. I do think it is crazy to prioritize position when there is a much better prospect on the board.
That's how you end up drafting Juolevi over Tkachuk.
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BPA only exists in a vacuum where needs and biases are non-existent factors in the decision making. Every team goes into the draft fixating on shoring up organizational weaknesses. That in itself creates a bias which permeates the entire process of scouting and decision making. Was Honzek the best player on the Flames board where he was picked last year? Probably, but that was through their lense where they already decided they needed to add size and shore up the center position in the organization.
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BPA only exists in a vacuum where needs and biases are non-existent factors in the decision making. Every team goes into the draft fixating on shoring up organizational weaknesses. That in itself creates a bias which permeates the entire process of scouting and decision making. Was Honzek the best player on the Flames board where he was picked last year? Probably, but that was through their lense where they already decided they needed to add size and shore up the center position in the organization.
At least this year given where they will be picking, and their positional needs, they should walk away with a Catton/Parekh/Buium....or Iginla. Which would just be really fun (and defensible IMO).
Personally hoping for Parekh or Catton but as long as they're in the top 11/12 or so, and it looks like they will be, they will have a great chance to land a top of the lineup player.
BPA only exists in a vacuum where needs and biases are non-existent factors in the decision making. Every team goes into the draft fixating on shoring up organizational weaknesses. That in itself creates a bias which permeates the entire process of scouting and decision making. Was Honzek the best player on the Flames board where he was picked last year? Probably, but that was through their lense where they already decided they needed to add size and shore up the center position in the organization.
The interview process probably splits some hairs and separates some prospects from others as well. As much as we would like to think that only on-ice ability matters, they also have to consider if they can handle the personalities. Brian Burke talked about that before. If one player is a little better, but comes off as a doosh that really doesn't want you to draft him, he may be the BPA in general, but not the BPA for your team.
How much that plays a roll probably depends on where in the draft you are taking the player, but I think it factors in.
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Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 04-07-2024 at 03:17 PM.
