Again, I believe the Flames are in a similar situation to the Oiler's after their 08/09 season.
Here are the similarities:
Prospects
Lets look at the prospects
EDMONTON
According to hockey's future here were the Oilers top prospects in the Fall of 2009:
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/article...ects_fall2009/
Quote:
1.(NR) Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson 8.0 C
2.(1) Jordan Eberle 7.5 B
3.(2) Riley Nash 7.5 C
4.(7) Linus Omark 8.0 D
5.(4) Theo Peckham 7.0 B
6.(3) Jeff Petry 7.0 C
7.(12) Alex Plante 7.0 C
8.(11) Teemu Hartikainen 6.5 B
9.(9) Devan Dubnyk 7.0 C
10.(NR) Anton Lander 7.0 C
11.(NR) Toni Rajala 7.5 D
12. (8) Chris Vande Velde 6.5 C
13. (5) Taylor Chorney 6.5 C
14. (6) Rob Schremp 7.0 D
15. (NR) Milan Kytnar 6.0 B
16.(NR) Olivier Roy 6.5 C
17. (15) Philippe Cornet 6.5 C
18. (9) Cody Wild 6.5 D
19. (NR) Troy Hesketh 6.5 D
20. (17) Johan Motin 6.0 C
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They also had Edmonton as the 16-overall team given their prospects. That was before the draft where Edmonton had a top 10 pick and five picks in the top 100 (which likely moved them up the list.)
CALGARY
The Fall prospect lists for the Flames isn't out yet. But a quick scan of hockey's future prospects for the Flames looks very similar to the Oiler's (pre draft).
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/teams/calgary_flames/
They have our top 5 as:
Quote:
1. Sven Baertschi 8.0 B
2. John Gaudreau 8.0 D
3. Max Reinhart 7.5 C
4. Mark Jankowski 7.5 D
5. Tyler Wotherspoon 6.5 C
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Our spring team ranking according to HF was 20 before the draft.
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/team-ra...2012-13/page/2
SUMMARY
I am sure the criticism will be:
1)
Its HF and they don't know what they are talking about. Sure, but it is the best baseline we have to quantify 2009 prospects. It is close enough and makes the point.
2)
Most of those Edmonton prospect suck! That is sorta the point. Most people didn't think those prospects were bad prospects in 2009. Will our prospects turn out any better or will we end up with just one or two guys that end up as decent NHL players?
Veterans
Best veterans for each team.
EDMONTON- Horcoff
- Penner
- Hemsky
- Souray
- Visnovsky
- Gilbert
- Whitney
CALGARY- Cammalleri
- Giordano
- Glencross
- Wideman
- Hudler
- Stempniak
- Stajan
SUMMARY
Again, it is easy to look back and say that some of the players didn't turn out well for Edmonton or were moved. It is easy to look forward with rose colored glasses as our vets and assume they will all be wonderful. But when comparing the two teams at the start of the season they aren't all that different
Young Players
Finally, here is a look at the young players on each roster.
EDMONTON- Gagner
- Cogliano
- Brule
- Nilsson
- Smid
CALGARY- Backlund
- Brodie
- Horak
- Knight
SUMMARY
Edmonton probably has the edge here. But I think we have an edge in the prospect department following the 13 draft so it evens out.
Overall Summary
I think a lot of people are trying to make a case that our situations are dissimilar because they want them to be. But comparing the 09 Oilers with the 13 Flames I think both teams had a similar collection of veterans, prospects, and young roster players.
That doesn't mean we in for the same trip the Oiler's are taking. A number of their high profile prospects didn't turn out and they have been generally poorly managed.
If our prospects turn out and our management isn't epicly bad then hopefully our road will be less painful. Of course the opposite is true as well. We could be just good enough to avoid getting top 5 picks and be in for an even longer road then the Oiler's have taken. Time will tell.