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Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
I'm not sure Brown is NHL ready. I think those big centres should be long term projects as they fill out, improve agility, learn to use their size to their advantage, etc.
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Brown is not a total project, though. Guys like him normally are, but he specifically is not. Now he may get better in the future but there is a lot to suggest he's 'close' to NHL ready:
2 CHL seasons played
1.25 PPG as a 17 year old including 53 assists in 59 games which is actually pretty significant.
Listed at 218 lbs on Eliteprospects right now
He appears to be physically mature, have about as much game experience at a Junior level as Bennett did (Bennett had 128 CHL GP, Brown has 120), and have figured out how to play at this level.
Normally guys like him are more late bloomers. Ryan Johansen who he's been compared with, for example was at:
1 CHL season played
0.97 PPG as a 17 year old
Listed at 189 lbs on draft day
I'm not saying Brown is ready to jump into a top 6 role right away but they could see him as a guy to develop from 3rd line forward.
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And I think he certainly wouldn't be in consideration to make next year's team at all due to our depth unless we sustained some crazy injuries. Brown is not a guy I'd necessarily expect the Flames to have top 8. I think he's more likely to be top 8 for a team that badly needs top two line centre depth, especially with size. 4 years ago before we had Monahan and Bennett I think he could be a guy the Flames would've had high. I don't think we'll value him as highly as a team that badly desires a big centre. I'm guessing he's not in our top 8 but may be in the top 8 of some other teams.
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Calgary has never based its "ledges" based on positional need. It may base the order within each tier based on that, but if they think a player is a top 8 talent and they have a plethora of center depth, that just means that player will be ranked 8th instead of 4th. Also neither Monahan nor Bennett nor Jankowski play the same style as Brown. Brown plays a Thornton style, heck even moving him to LW/RW could be an option. He may be an instant upgrade on Colborne and allow us to save 2+M in cap space on Colborne and spend that elsewhere, maybe even go big in UFA after Okposo or Yandle depending on how other things shake out.