[Flames Draft Watcher]

My early rankings considering Flames style of drafting and needs.

#1 - Auston Matthews (C) - Franchise centre
#2 - Patrick Laine (RW) - Big, fast, strong sniper and playmaker. 40+ goal type shot
#3 - Jesse Puljujarvi (RW) - Gamebreaking speed and offensive ability
#4 - Matthew Tkachuk (LW) - Smart and skilled power forward who owns the space around the net
#5 - Jacob Chychrun (D)
#6 - Olli Juolevi (D)
#7 - Mikhail Sergachev (D)
#8 - Alex Nylander (W)
#9 - Julien Gauthier (RW)
#10 - Michael McCleod (C)

The top 4 guys are all 1st line talents IMO. Different styles of players. We obviously could use a RW (Laine or Puljujarvi). Matthews is too good to turn down and definitely has a higher upside than Monahan. Tkachuk is a 1st line power forward, a super rare commodity as well. We desperately could use the size, skill, strength combo of any of those wingers.

I think Treliving as a former defenseman knows the value of them and wants to build a monster blue line. I think any of Chychrun, Juolevi and Sergachev would compliment our defense and basically give us two pairings of potential top pairing defenders. That would be one of the best in the league. I haven't seen as much of these guys though.

Nylander would be higher up the list for some teams. But average sized, super skilled wingers are lower on my list than big skilled wingers, franchise centres, and potential top pairing d-men. For this reason I have him lower. Any team that emphasizes pure skill over all other attributes might have him higher (EDM comes to mind.)