Interesting how the hype machine works:
1. Gaudreau - far exceeded expectations (especially at the Worlds) moved up from 3 to #1 passing only Baertschi. (Monahan graduated). Huge relief that he signed with the flames rather than waiting a year to pick his team. Johnny likes us
2. Bennett - still 2-3 years from the NHL but other than being physically weaker than anticipated hasn't done anything to move up or down since he was drafted 4th overall. last year Monahan #6 had a better impact hype and lived up to it.
3. Baertschi - huge disappointment. Took a big step backward and did not meet AHL expectations. Left over hype from the past 2 years left him only being passed by Gaudreau.
4. Poirier - did what was expected.... Did not exceed expectations. Should have been able to force his way on the Canadian Jr squad. Had no impact on the AHL playoffs... jumped from 9 to 4. Is this a sign of a weaker prospect poll this year or some sort of Poirier hype machine?
5. Granlund - exceeded expectations the most (other than Bouma and Gaudreau) Jumped into North American hockey and was a leader on the Heat. Jumped from 12th to 5th. Based on the last year should be ahead of Baertschi.
6. Klimchuk - same as Poirier. Did what was expected.. How this justified a jump from 10 to 6 I can't explain. Maybe CP has developed very low expectations for late 1st round picks. Klimchuck/Poirier look solid compared to Jankowski?
7. Wotherspoon - exceeded expectations. Improved over the year and may be close to NHL ready. Dropped from 6 to 7???
8. Reinhart - greatly exceeded expectations. If Poirier delivers as good a year as Reinhart did 2012-13 based on his #4 place Finish this year he will be in the mix with Bennett and the 2015 #1 pick for best prospect overall. Reinhart fought against the anti-hype to move up from 14 to 8. Have the Flames ever had a young guy leading the AHL team in scoring with almost a ppg that has not been their #1 prospect?
Now we have Gillies who fully met exceptions and was #4 last year dropping at least 5 places.... go figure. Why were we so excited about him last year? Did we expected he was going to have a .950 sav % (He had .936 same as the year before) His GA ballooned from 2.08 to 2.16. His win % went way up to 19-9-5 from 17-12-6 but he did lose 9 games. Maybe he was a better prospect last year as we did not have a legitimate Goalie prospect outside of him.. Brossoit was #17 in this poll mainly based on hope and his play as a 20 year old on the Oil Kings.