Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
That they have unreal expectations of the value of those players? 
Seriously, if the Flames select a defenseman with their first pick in this draft I'm going to be pissed. With Giordano signed for another seven years, Brodie and Hamilton as your young core, Jokipakka just added, then having Wotherspoon and Kulak knocking on the door, Andersson, Kyllington, Hickey, Culkin and Sieloff all on the horizon, while you still have long shots like Rafikov, and Mattsson in the pipe, adding another seems really stupid, especially when the biggest need on this team is a top 6 forward.
There are some really good forwards available. Take a crack at a good forward. If the guy you want is a little lower down the list, and when I say the list I mean Bob McKenzie's list that most think is the gospel according to what teams are picking from, trade down and try to pick up another pick. Winnipeg (CHI-26), Carolina (LA-23) and Arizona (NYR-22) all have two first round picks. If the guy they like is available lower, trade down for another first. |
I get what you are saying and its true that our depth in defensemen and centres are much, much, greater than our depth at wing. But best player available may come in at some point. If Dubois/Tkachuk went 4th/5th and they Chychrun is the highest guy left on their list (lets say he's top 5 for the Flames) then you can happily pick him. Young defensemen can be traded to solve any current problems on the roster. Having an excess of them will never be a problem.
Biggest thing for me is that Chychrun is a defenseman unlike what we have in the system. While we have a critical mass of young d-men prospects, I think only a few of them have top 3 potential (Kylington and Andersson most likely). And those two guys are puck moving, puck rushing style d-men. Chychrun would give us a big, strong, mobile, physical all around d-man who can shoot, pass, rush the puck, defend and hit. Arguably we don't have that in our top 4 unless Hamilton continues to improve on his physicality. A top 4 long term of Brodie, Hamilton, Gio and Chychrun could be amongst the best in the league. Chychrun could replace Giordano long term.
If Chychrun has Ekblad type upside then he's a fine pick regardless of our depth at that position. If they think he's closer to a Bogosian then I think we would prioritize forward over him. Hard to tell how much the Flames might like Juolevi or Sergachev, for all we know they might be the top d-men.
Basically what this comes down to is where the Flames scouts see the draft tiers, how close the players in the 4-9 range are and how they tiebreak those close players. There could be scenarios where the top guy left on their list is a defensemen so be prepared to be pissed. That said I think there's a good chance a defenseman goes in the 4-5 range and one of the top forwards in the second tier could fall to us at #6. If we're drafting 7th I think there's a decent chance one or two d-men will go in the 4-6th range.