Some people obviously - to put it mildly - aren't too happy about our picks, but I'll hold judgement until I see how they develop. It will be interesting to look back at this draft in a few years, it could very well be a defining draft for the franchise. The thing that stands out most for me is that when you look at the scouting reports of these guys, you'll almost certainly read things like "high hockey IQ", "skilled" and "hard working" ... and looking at the interviews they had after the draft, these kids seem to be intelligent and well-spoken guys. The team's scouting staff tries to build a certain culture here and I for my part love how they obviously put more emphasis on the draft. The guys have done their homework and they seemed more than happy with the guys they got this weekend.
Plus looking at all the selections, I can't help but feel that they got a little bit of everything. A potential first-line center in Jankowski. A hard-hitting defensive D in Sieloff. A big goaltender in Gillies. Two solid two-way defensemen in Kulak and Culkin. A scoring winger in Gordon. A good two-way forward with faceoff skills in DeBlouw. After all the years of typical Sutter drafts which brought in a plethora of bottom line forwards and bottom pairing defensemen, I find it refreshing. Think out of the box, go for the raw guy with the high ceiling instead of the safe guy with the low ceiling. Gaunce and McNeill last year would have been typical Sutter choices - I like the Feaster/Weisbrod approach more. It's more risky, but it could turn out to be more exciting. Count me as a pretty happy Flames fan after this weekend. I can't wait to see how this draft plays out down the road.
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