Quote:
Originally Posted by StrykerSteve
You need to realize Drouin has had ONE good season. Take a look back at draft predictions from last summer, Drouin will be nowhere to be found in the top 10.
Mackinnon has been playing at a high level all his life. The Flames can't be so short-sighted in a draft as important as this one.
Drouin and Jones have excelled this season, but Mackinnon is who you choose if he is available, from a Calgary perspective.
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Trajectory counts for a lot. None of these players are guaranteed NHLers and will still need to keep improving over the next few years to become key players in the NHL. My money is on the players that are showing that they have it in them to figure things out and keep improving right now and can manage through difficulty gradients (because junior to NHL is a massive difficulty gradient).
A lot of teams in the past have been suckered by picking players that peaked in junior. Don't get wrong, I am not saying that is the case with Mackinnon, but it is possible. He was at one time compared to Crosby before entering the Quebec league, but now he is pretty much just on par with his peers in the top 5. Is that the sign of a flat lining trajectory? Is Drouin's upward improvement the sign of a rising trajectory? I don't know the answer, but it is something that needs to be considered.