Quote:
Originally Posted by 6FeetDeep
Come on don't put words in my mouth. If you want to make excuses for Sutters poor drafting over the years then fine, But I don't buy the "we were drafting late in the 1st round" argument. Even if you exclude 1st round picks, you see strong teams develop later picks into servicable players. I'm not wanting the Flames to "tank", but I'd like some prospects to be heading in the right direction for the future, because that's how teams are built nowadays, through the draft. But if your happy with Sutters drafting and player development, then really theres no point in debating over it, but personally I think there could be a better job done.
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Flames may not have had any top end prospects since Phaneuf but I'd argue that the team is moving in the right direction for drafting. Constant stream of players from the pipeline (Boyd, Prust, Pardy, Nystrom, Moss, McElhinney, Giordano), some guys pushing for jobs like Pelech and Sutter, finally a few guys that are a little further away but with good shots at being NHLers.
I guess Flames could have had more top end prospects over the past 5 years, but it just comes with their draft philosophy. For the past few years its been more important ensuring that the prospects end up as players.