With the addition of Kenney Morrisson suddenly our D prospects don't look so bad. I see them stacked up in 2 tiers:
Wotherspoon – top 4 shut-down potential; NHL-ready IMO
Hickey – top-pairing potential; 2–3+ years development needed (NCAA, AHL)
Morrisson – top 4 2-way potential; possibly NHL-ready
Kulak – top 4 2-way potential; 1-2 years more development needed (AHL)
Culkin – ditto
Gilmour – a bit small, but top 4 potential; possibly our most under-rated prospect
Rafikov – top 6 potential; timeframe is a mystery
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Kanzig – #6/7 potential; beast of a man but can he skate? Find out soon...
Sieloff – bottom pairing potential at this point; lost a year of dev so patience is key
Mattson – bottom pairing potential; timeframe is a mystery
Cundari – fringe NHLer; could see spot duty as #6/7 again (prob not with Flames)
Acolaste – ditto
Billins – ditto
Ramage – not showing much NHL potential
I expect Wotherspoon, Morrisson, Culkin, Kulak and Kanzig to be competing hard for roster spots in camp – if the need was desperate I believe any of those 5 could play in the NHL next season.
Hickey, Gilmour and Rafikov are further away from contributing, but they may have the highest ceilings. Hickey in particular looks like he could be the next Brodie.
Our D prospects are a bit like the franchise in general: underrated, under-the-radar but better than people expect. There's enough there that one or 2 could crack the lineup in the not-too-distant future. In my opinion the 2 with the best chance of becoming top-4 D are Hickey and Morrisson.
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