Quote:
Originally Posted by timbit
I agree with a lot of what you posted prior to this.
However, has Burke not stated that he is not particularly enthralled with the NHL prospect potential in Abbotsford?
Please correct me if he did not say that.
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I don't have the exact quote but I believe it was more along the lines of...
he's not sure how many top prospects we have on the Heat
Which is a fair statement IMO. I'm not sure how many top prospects we have on the Heat. Ortio is looking like he may be a bluechipper in goal. Billins is having a great year but I don't know if he projects as a top 4 NHL defenseman. Ramage/Wotherspoon are good prospects but again, not really top 3 defensemen most likely. Ferland may turn into a legit top three line powerforward. Hanowski may as well. Knight is looking good but maybe more as a depth player than a top two liner. Same goes for Reinhart. Granlund may be our best bet at a top two line forward.
So outside of Baertschi (who only got sent there after the Burke quote) and Ortio do we really have any guys we project being top two line players for sure or top three defensemen? I don't believe so. Probably somebody will surprise out of the Heat group. Granlund and Ferland might be two who do. But that is basically what I take Burke to be saying, we don't know if most of these guys are top end prospects.
I think Burke's point was that many of our best prospects aren't on the Heat. At the time Baertschi wasn't. Sieloff is injured and hasn't played at all this season. Gillies, Poirier, Klimchuk, Jankowski, Gaudreau aren't on the Heat yet. Those are probably 5 of our top 7-8 highest potential prospects. Even guys like Agostino and Arnold aren't there yet.
I wish someone would link the quote because I think the wording gets warped when people have been paraphasing it. But when I heard it it didn't give me cause for concern. It would be nice to hear more of Burke's thoughts on the Heat players as the year goes on. Undoubtedly we'll see which guys the organization thinks have good upside after the trade deadline hits and we're forced to recall some prospects.