Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
There seems to be a lot of appetite to not draft one of Ekblad, Reinhart, Bennett or Draisaitl...that just makes no bloody sense to me.
A lot of you seem to falling in love with Nick Ritchie, a power forward at the Jr. level, consistently ranked no higher than 6th to 15th, while poo-pooing Draisaitl, a player consistently ranked 3rd to 5th for the vast majority of this past season.
Some of you are even looking further down the ranks at players like Fleury, who Burke himself said something along the lines of "yeah, he's a top 10 pick now, but not top 5" - so again, are you seriously contending we should draft off the board with our organization's first top 5 pick?
There is a clear consensus top 5, and has been pretty much the entire last year. Aaron Ekblad, Leon Draisaitl, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett and Michael Dal Colle. I just find it funny that there seems to be a group nitpicking certain aspects about those players games in favour of other players, seemingly ignoring the fact that those other players have the same imperfections to their game, and more.
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First off, there is no 'board'. The 'board' is what a specific team ranks all the prospects. They vary by quite a bit from team to team. Now and then, you will see a team's rankings being leaked (usually after the draft).
Second, I have yet to see a post where people are not wanting to pick Ekblad or Reinhart or Bennet. I haven't seen a single one.
Draisaitl has his warts. If you believe Burke, he is seen as a third line player. Whether or not that is true remains to be seen.
Dal Colle also has question marks. I still haven't seen a post where posters are advocating passing him up for anyone except the guys ranked above him if they fall.
The talk about Ritchie - I think it all started because some posters were saying "Do not want - just like Kassian" (which is completely without merit if you compare their respective scouting reports). Like it or not, he is probably fairly high on Burke's wishlist. I still haven't seen anyone preferring him over at least 4 of the 5 guys you speak about being as part of the 'consensus board'. Everyone who is pro-Ritchie seems to also be more pro-guys ahead of him. Flames might end up drafting Ritchie, and all the Ritchie talk is to at least remove the false narratives some posters have of him (can't make plays, no hockey sense, etc - he is a legitimate high-end pick). I think FDW and I seem to be the most 'pro-Ritchie' on this board, and neither one of us 'prefers' him over the other guys - but that doesn't mean that Ritchie won't be an extremely valuable addition to the prospect pool (and maybe even be looked at as one of the very best players chosen with a couple of years' worth of hindsight).
Fleury was brought up by one single poster. I hardly think that constitutes a response, especially when it was followed-up with a few pages of ridicule which is still on-going with the 'meat and potatoes' jokes.
Nobody is overlooking any weaknesses on any player in the draft. The 'consensus' is clear for you - that's great. It may not be clear to the rest of the posters, or to all 30 NHL teams. I have no issues with someone thinking Ritchie, Nylander, Ehlers, Kapanen, etc., are better choices for that pick. It has ZERO effect on what the Flames end up doing anyways. I personally enjoy debating and hearing why they think that, however it may disagree with my own biases.