Quote:
Originally Posted by BACKCHECK!!!
Well, just thinking out loud, but 6th and 15th could be enough to move into the top 4 picks.
So Flames would go from
Max Reinhart
6th overall
Late 1st
Really late 1st
to
Brock Nelson
Top 4 pick
That might be worth looking at.
Despite being a deep draft, I think this might be a good year to give up picks to move up.
Here's my reasoning:
There are about 5 guys this year who are almost sure-fire future stars. That is not normal. Most years, if you want the guys on a trajectory to be NHL superstars, you need to be in the top 1 or 2.
As we saw this season, the Flames did everything they could to tank, and only managed to get down to 6th overall. There are several teams deliberately tanking each year, and it's not easy to out-tank them all.
Moving up to the top 4 this year gives you a strong chance at a franchise player. Most years that's not the case. Next year you might need to pick 1st or 2nd overall to get that calibre of player. And there's a lot of competition at the bottom.
So it might be worth it trying to move up 2 spots this year to get a potential franchise player. Because if the Flames finish 6th overall next season, they likely need to move up 4 or 5 spots to get that, and will have to pay more as a result of a bigger gap and fewer potential trading partners.
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The problem with this logic is that if we (the flames) believe that you can get a franchise player in the top 4, then other teams probably believe the same. If it is true that you can get 4 franchise players this year, and only 2 next year, then it should be equally difficult to trade into the top 4 this year as it will be to trade into the top 2 next year. The value to trade to those franchise players will be the same, regardless if its a 4th pick this year vs the 2nd pick next year.
I'm quite happy to draft 6th, 22nd and 26th (or thereabouts) this season and have a good shot at 3 of the following... A top line forward, a second line forward and a top 4 (maybe 2) defenseman. I think we should keep the picks rather than paying a large price to get the potential franchise guy.