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Originally Posted by dammage79
Pretty certain Feaster made such a mandate along with Weisbrod. There are interviews with said quotes. don't ask me to find them though. But he did also say he will put his trust in the scouting department to do their jobs and make the best list possible.
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Which mandate? The one about "hockey smarts", or the "picking from the list regardless of size and position"?
Found a good article on this:
http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/06/23...r-hockey-sense
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“We began to change what we were looking for even before that,” said Button, the club’s amateur scouting director. “I know a lot of people give (former GM) Darryl (Sutter) a lot of grief but not for his hockey sense, for the way he treated people. But he recognized after 2006 the game was changing. From when we took Mikael Backlund, it’s been progressing.”
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Seems Feaster and Weisbrod (in particular) helped to refine it, but it was something the Flames were emphasizing already.
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And now, with the arrival of GM Jay Feaster and assistant GM/manager of player personnel John Weisbrod, things are even more refined.
“When Weis came in, there was already continuity, and he’s hammered it home,” Button said. “We’ve embraced the strategy and how we’re doing things, and there’s a thread around hockey sense and character and skill, moreso than skating and size.”
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Really like this tidbit by Button in this article. Emphasizes to me how important hockey sense is (and makes me believe that Reinhart is indeed rated first on their list as he apparently has by far the most hockey sense in this upcoming draft apparently).
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“Hockey sense allows a guy with less of a skill-set in a different area to still succeed,” Button said, noting the likes of Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, Craig Janney and Andrew Brunette succeeded without being top skaters. “If you’re a smart player and can’t skate, you can compensate. But if you’re a dumb player and are fast, you’ll only be skating circles.
“Hockey sense can limit them.”
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Really recommend this article to everyone who is curious about the evolution of the Flames' drafting philosophy. It seems to be working for them in the past few drafts.
I really wanted Button gone years ago, but the more I hear him talk, the more I really hope Burke keeps him on in the long run. I read somewhere that Burke really likes and/or respects Todd Button - but I couldn't find it.