Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
I think that is a testament to Flames fans and the intelligence they are bringing to the evaluation of our prospects. Its easy to just pick the last guy taken in the first round, and call him the best prospect in the system. I like it that people actually considered growth and development before making the knee jerk selection.
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I selected Bennett as the #1 prospect in the Flames' system, and it was NOT a "knee jerk selection." I think Gaudreau is phenomenal and am very optimistic about his development into a high impact top line forward. However, I also think that Bennett boasts an exceptionally intriguing blend of skill, tenacity, leadership and potential that could effectively make him a better and more valuable player in the long run.
· He will almost certainly be developed to be a top line centre, and if he meets that potential, then no matter how good Gaudreau might become, Bennett arguably projects as a more important component of the team.
· Something that should also not be lost in this is the factor of Bennett's potential that is affected by his age: he JUST turned 18-years-old, and was one of the youngest players in the 2014 draft. This is no small matter, and it effectively means that as good as he is already, he has a lot more room than his draft peers to improve. I believe one of the reasons CSS had him ranked #1 heading into the draft was his young age combined with how that projected his development moving forward, and compared to his peers.
So, no. This was not just my unsophisticated regurgitation of the results from the most recent draft. Bennett earned the substantial number of top-prospect votes here on his own merits.