Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814
The players that really don't come available are players with elite game changing talent. Logan Brown may be a fine NHL player. But his ceiling's not Keller's.
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I think Brown's ceiling is as high or higher than Keller's personally. I'm not sold he's our pick at #6 but centres with his size, skill and skating are pretty rare. Brown has franchise centre potential if he hits his max upside. I'm far from convinced Keller does. I think at Keller's size his upside is as an elite 2nd line centre or a 1st line winger. I'm not totally convinced Brown is a great bet to hit his max upside but his max upside is incredible. He's a home run type pick.
The Keller highlight video was somewhat impressive but frankly I've been much more impressed with the Dubois video, the Brown video, Tkachuk highlights. There's probably 3 defensemen I'd take ahead of Keller as well. I don't think he's in consideration for our pick at #6 given who the Flames management group is. Keller is a great value pick in the teens. I think he'd be a reach at #6.
In the end this discussion comes down to philosophy. We can ask ourselves a few question to determine this. Besides goaltending (since we're obviously not taking a goaltender at #6 this year)
What is the biggest thing that separates the Flames from the contenders?
OR
What is the biggest thing that the Flames lack?
Some of you clearly believe it must be offensive skill as you are advocating taking the most purely skilled player available (a Keller or Nylander type). But is this really the case? The Flames had a terrible year and finished 11th in goal scoring. And they should reasonably expect a kid like Bennett to improve his offence over his career. Ferland may develop some offence. So is goal scoring really an issue? It doesn't seem like it is much of an issue at all. And Treliving may still be upgrading our forwards through draft/free agency.
We outscored STL, we outscored LA, we outscored TB. 2 of those teams are in the Conference finals. So how can we say that offensive skill or goalscoring is the flames biggest issue?
To me the biggest thing the Flames lack is clearly big, fast, skilled players. When we play the Ducks it literally looks like men (the Ducks) against boys (the Flames). Same thing when we play LA. We have problems retaining possession in the offensive zone because we can't win board battles. We have problems on the powerplay because only Colborne is providing a meaningful net front presence. We have problems on the road because teams can send their biggest, strongest shutdown players out against Gaudreau and we have no one with size, strength and skill to fight through that checking, draw defenders to him and make room for Gaudreau.
The second biggest issue to me after adding size/strength/skill up front is adding another big, strong, physical shutdown dman who can play top 4 minutes and help shut down the cycle of ANA, of LA, of STL. Those types of players are rare these days because to play top 4 you need a certain level of skating and puck moving ability. Maybe a kid like Chychrun could play that role for us while still being super mobile and having good puck moving ability. Maybe Sergachev could. Hard to say.
Basically for me it boils down to us needing more size and strength in key positions. We need more size and strength in our top 6 forwards but it can't come at the cost of skill or speed. We need more size and strength in the top 4 defense but it can't come at the cost of mobility or puck moving ability. Those types of players are hard to find. Everybody is looking for them.
This draft is a fantastic chance to add one of those rare players who has skill, skating, size, strength and character. Goalscoring is already a strength of the Flames. We don't need another skilled tiny forward, we have one of the best ones in the entire league. What need that which we lack, not that which we already have. We have zero top 6 power forwards at the moment. We have no elite shutdown d-man who can play at both ends of the ice. This draft can potentially address one of those needs.
Pure offensive skill just isn't a huge need of ours. We outscored two of the Conference finalists this regular season and we had a bad year. Some of our best prospects are offensive players (Jankowski, Shinkaruk). Our best players up front are all young offensive stars. What do we really lack? Those powerforwards that can win board battles, crash the net, drag defenders with them, screen the goalie and open up room for our budding young stars but still have enough skill to pass and score themselves. They are very hard to find in trade or UFA so maybe its a good year to draft one. Barring that I'd say another elite defenseman is still a better priority pick than grabbing an undersized offensive talent. NSH has shown that developing elite defensive talent make a solid backbone for your team and allows you trade excess defensive talent for whatever you need.