Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
I am really high on Ferland myself, but this was all on Ferland. He was not in shape. His off-season 'incident' seemed to have an effect as well. He didn't look great out there in the games he got into (was not physical, did not even look like he thought of fighting, and seemed behind the play quite a bit due to his speed/conditioning).
I still think that Ferland has potential to become a very decent prospect - a possible fan favorite on the Flames one day, and the type that is sorely missing. I don't think the Flames mishandled him at all, however.
He was just a slightly better version of what Howse was last year. I hope he got a better idea of how much harder he has to work to get to the next level with his recent experience, and I am 100% sure the Flames will be all over him next off-season. He will get a better chance to make the Heat roster, and I fully expect him to be in the lineup as a regular.
I don't think the Heat are 'awesome' at developing any prospects, but last season with all the injuries, few of the prospects looked out of shape. I don't think Nemisz is going to be much of a factor really in the NHL (and I hope he develops more), but I think it is more a refection on poor scouting on him rather than poor development. The whole reason the Flames decided to start an AHL franchise was to get better control on the development of their own prospects after all, if I am not mistaken, and I really do think this is happening. Could things be better? I think so.. but there is only so much you can do. Flames have hired a lot of development personnel in order to improve in this area.
Though this is going a bit off-topic, I am actually glad the Flames didn't rebuild in the last few seasons. Their hockey ops have gotten much better in my opinion every season (drafting and development), and if they decide to proceed with a rebuild, I would be that much more confident with it being successful. I would actually think they put even a bit more money into the development side if they were to go that route.
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Yes, much of it Ferland's fault.
But one major problem is how the Flames don't work with their players during the off-season as much as other teams. It's embarrassing how much time a team like the Canadians puts into player development when compared to the Flames.
Montreal has a team of development coaches that spend the entire year traveling around the world, making sure their prospects are staying up to date with their training, staying in shape, and ensuring they are still on the development curve. The closest thing the Flames have is Craig Conroy (and this is only recently).
When you look deeper, yeah drafting has been bad, but better development would have produced even a handful of solid NHLers over the last decade.
Look no further than the lack of resources this organization allocates towards development for why we are where we are right now. I think our AHL system is a problem, but it's an issue that goes far beyond that.