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Originally Posted by Flash Walken

I don't think the Flames have a single defender in the system capable of pushing out one of Calgary's current top 6 in the next year or two.

Without getting into the Butler discussion, the small examples we've seen from Calgary's defensive prospects this year has not been promising. Cundari looked the most NHL ready last season, but so far hasn't appeared to sniff a callup. Is that because he hasn't earned it? is it part of the reason he was cut so early?

I don't see much from this current crop. The Dmen that will be part of the solution for this club going forward haven't been drafted yet, and they won't be guys competing with other guys for top 4 spots, they will be top pairing potential defenders.

Getting one or two veteran defenders per offseason is going to be a large part of the strategy going forward for the next several years, whether they are signed as free agents like Wideman, or traded for like O'Brien. It's going to have to be ice a semblance of an NHL lineup. Hopefully, since Calgary hit a home run with Monahan, they are able to find similar luck as early as this year's first rounder. It would go a long way towards shortening the rebuild time frame to get a couple of top 4 defenders from the first 3 rounds of this draft.

With Poirier, Monahan, Gaudreau looking very promising at forward, the next step should be mining defenders and letting the best ones stick. In 2 years, Chicago drafted Babchuk, Keith, Wisniewski, Byfuglien and Seabrook. 2 guys in the first round, 1 in the second, 2 after the third round. That kind of homerun jumpstarts a contender.

Entirely disagree.

I will be stunned if Seiloff isnt a full time NHL player next season....and at the expense of Butler is my guess.