Quote:
Originally Posted by moon
At worst a 3rd line scorer like Stempniak? Knight a lock to be a quality 2nd/3rd line center?
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Yes, I have watched Knight play more than once (I am a Panthers fan as well, so I am familiar with him as much as any of our guys) and his package of skills are that of a quality 35-40 point guy that plays well enough defensively and will win 55-60% of his faceoffs. If his offense improves towards being a 50 point guy, then he could be a low end 2nd line C. The comparison to Dave Bolland is a fairly decent one from what I've watched of both players. Knight doesn't quite have the same offensive talent as DB right now, but he's not bad. He's a lot better than Horak offensively.
Klimchuk has a very very hard shot that he gets off extremely fast. He has the best shot and release of any individual forward in the organization. Because of his shot alone, he should be an NHLer even if he's just a streaky guy like Stempniak that bounces around the league over his career. The rest of his game is similar to how the Sutters play, competent defensively and a hardworker. The type of guy that you could throw out on the 3rd line without issue. Add in his shot, and he should be a 15-20 goal guy if he doesn't progress much from here, and could be a lot more if he does (upside is a better defensive version of Eberle).
I know you hate all things Flames, but there are about 15 players in our prospect pool that should play in the NHL in some capacity, with another 6 or 7 that could if they take a step or two forward, even if some of those guys play for other teams through trade. I'm not saying any of them are star players, I don't think Monahan will be and he's our best forward, but there are a lot of legit players in the group, even if they are limited like Reinhart, Horak, Hanowski and others.
(Agostino, Arnold, Culkin, Cundari, Hanowski, Harrison, Horak, Kulak, Reinhart in addition to the top 10 prospects are the ones that I think are likely NHLers or close enough)