Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan
He's still terribly undersized for a defenseman at the NHL level. 24 years old is where you have to start showing you belong in the NHL. If he does this on this call up (and there will be opportunity for him with this group of defensemen), then maybe I can see a spot for him going forward. But we already have Kris Russell that fills that role and he's been playing quite well.
And quite frankly, there's nothing saying that Roy, Harrison, and Rafikov couldn't have more impact in the NHL than Billins. Those are recently drafted prospects and Billins is a bit more seasoned and experienced.
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The defensemen drafted after the 4th round by the Flames since 1993 (20 years) that have played in 1 NHL game:
Adam Pardy 2004 6th round 208 games
Mickey Dupont 2000 9th round 23 games
Jonas Frogen 1998 8th round 41 games
Kind of safe to bet that Billins , if he gets more NHL Ice Time than Tim Rambolt, will have a better NHL career than Roy and RaFikov.
I found it hard to understand that Billins being an all-star d-man on the Calder cup winning team didn't count for anything in considering him as a prospect to the CP experts.
I would venture to say that had Billins been a thow-in on the 1st round pick trades.... Hankowski, Agostino, Cundari he would have been ranked as better prospect.