Quote:
Originally Posted by Gord Wappel
I don't think Fleury is an idiot. You have to be a bit crazy to make it in NHL at his size.
He could have been mayor of Toronto instead.
he questioned wisdom of overlooking players (like him) who had produced at a well above a point a game pace in very demanding - and tough physically - league like WHL... in order to pick unproven "projected" Euro golden-boy projects... and U.S. high schoolers
e.g. Nikolas Sundblad 1st round 1991 (2 NHL games , 0 points)
Jesper Mattson 1st round 1993 (0 NHL games)
In retrospect the flames would probably have drafted better if they let Fleury make all the picks.
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For every Fleury that made it there are 1000's of players that produced at the WHL level that didn't make it.
If we are using individual examples as reasons to do something taking Zetterberg and Datsyuk (European projects) was a much better choice for Detroit over taking proven CHL PPG guys like Kris Beech and Rico Fata.
As bad as the Flames drafting has been over time if Fleury is making the picks, based on what he has shown during and after his career, the picks are likely much, much worse.