When the Flames offer-sheeted ROR, quite a number of guys on here said something along the lines of "draft picks are always an unknown commodity" and they'd take an established player any day over a draft pick. Some made comments that draft classes were always hyped and the draft itself is overrated. I have a different point of view. Maybe I'm completely out of the ball park, maybe not. I started writing this before the waiver fiasco and had to alter it a bit, but my point stands.
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The Flames are always desperate to make the playoffs - it seems that matters most to the organization, even if they only manage to crawl in on the final day of the regular season. They tend to think that shuffling the cards will do the trick and often look at trades and free agents to make it happen. The draft has obviously never looked that important to the Flames when it comes to building their hockey club. One look at the sixteen organizations that made the playoffs last year shows that this is a huge mistake: most of those teams have been built through the draft.
When it comes to the sixteen playoff teams in 2011-12, the average number of players who were drafted by their respective team and played at least 30 games in the 2011-12 regular season for them is nine. When the Los Angeles Kings hoisted the Stanley Cup in June 2012, ten of their draft picks were dressed for game six, with two more scratched after playing more than 30 regular season games for the Kings. On the other side of the ice, the Devils had seven of their draft picks in the lineup, with four more scratched after playing more than 30 regular season games for the Devils. Some other playoff teams were almost completely built through their draft: the Nashville Predators got 30 or more regular season games from 15 of their draft picks, the Detroit Red Wings had 14, the Washington Capitals and the Ottawa Senators had 12 each.
You do not have to be Einstein to understand the point I want to make. The number of players that were drafted by the Calgary Flames and donned the Flaming C in more than 30 regular season games last year is a sad and underwhelming three. Blueliner T.J. Brodie leads this "pack" with 54 games after being recalled from the AHL early in the season and deservedly sticking with the team for the remainder of the season. Due to injuries, Mikael Backlund only had 41 games to his name, and the third player in this group is forward David Moss - a seventh round pick from 2001 who left the club through free agency in July. In the lockout-shortened 2013 season, this number could be slightly higher for the Flames, thanks to the addition of Steve Begin, a Flames draft pick from 1996. Brodie, Backlund and Sven Baertschi are also on pace for more 30 games on a 82 game basis.
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you can read the whole thing
HERE. As you know, English is not my native language, so any feedback on that is appreciated.