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Flames Draft Watcher · 05-23-2016, 02:43 PM

Brown's upside is huge but he may be seen as someone with a lower downside or lower probability of hitting max upside. If you think Brown will be anywhere between a 3rd and 1st line centre and you're not sure where he'll top out that may not be as appealing as a guy who your scouts think can be anywhere between a #1 to #3 dman but who your scouts think is a very good bet to be at least a #2.

I think Brown's definitely in the conversation. Benning and Chiarelli have both talked about Brown and neither has mentioned Nylander. Big skilled centre > average sized skilled winger for me every day of the week. But I still think it's very possible the Flames have at least one defenseman ahead of Brown.

I think at #6 we should be looking for a potential big #1 centre (Brown), potential top pairing dman (Chychrun, Juolevi, Sergachev), or 1st line skilled winger who plays a heavy game (Dubois, Tkachuk). Those are the most valuable commodities in the game. Maybe our scouts don't even think Brown has #1 centre upside? If so maybe he's not in the discussion after all. I find it hard to believe our scouts wouldn't project at least 2 of the defensemen this year to have top pairing upside.

Skilled wingers with average size are the easiest to trade for and add as the finishing piece when you're contending. We'll have the assets to pick up a guy similar to Kessel (salary retained), Gaborik, etc later on in this rebuild, heck we have those assets already. You can add that Nylander type of player last at a trade deadline sometime when you're a division leader. The type of player he projects to just isn't as critical as getting a big #1 centre, top pairing dman, or big skilled heavy winger IMO.

We're looking for another foundational player to build around. I love the idea of having so many good centres that we move some to the wing. Good organizations often do that. I love the idea of adding another potential top pairing defenseman and potentially having a few years where the Flames could arguably have 4 top pairing dmen at once in Gio, Brodie, Hamilton (if/when he progresses) and the draft pick this year. I love the idea of adding a big, strong, powerful skilled winger who can dominate on the cycle, screen the goalie, make plays with defenders draped all over him as we don't have anybody like that at all. But another finesse winger when we already have one of the best ones? Meh. Least important position to fill. Good finesse wingers are always available in trade IMO. Big skilled centres and big top pairing dmen, those are the gold of the entry draft. Extremely hard to trade for if you never draft them yourself. If we can get a potential one at #6 we have to go that route regardless of immediate needs at wing because we'd be getting a premium commodity in the NHL.

There's my latest argument against Nylander lol. Wish the draft would come sooner as I'm definitely talking around in circles on this. Hopefully I added something new in the argument, lol.

05-23-2016, 02:43 PM	#4248
Flames Draft Watcher In the Sin Bin Join Date: Oct 2001 Exp:	Brown's upside is huge but he may be seen as someone with a lower downside or lower probability of hitting max upside. If you think Brown will be anywhere between a 3rd and 1st line centre and you're not sure where he'll top out that may not be as appealing as a guy who your scouts think can be anywhere between a #1 to #3 dman but who your scouts think is a very good bet to be at least a #2. I think Brown's definitely in the conversation. Benning and Chiarelli have both talked about Brown and neither has mentioned Nylander. Big skilled centre > average sized skilled winger for me every day of the week. But I still think it's very possible the Flames have at least one defenseman ahead of Brown. I think at #6 we should be looking for a potential big #1 centre (Brown), potential top pairing dman (Chychrun, Juolevi, Sergachev), or 1st line skilled winger who plays a heavy game (Dubois, Tkachuk). Those are the most valuable commodities in the game. Maybe our scouts don't even think Brown has #1 centre upside? If so maybe he's not in the discussion after all. I find it hard to believe our scouts wouldn't project at least 2 of the defensemen this year to have top pairing upside. Skilled wingers with average size are the easiest to trade for and add as the finishing piece when you're contending. We'll have the assets to pick up a guy similar to Kessel (salary retained), Gaborik, etc later on in this rebuild, heck we have those assets already. You can add that Nylander type of player last at a trade deadline sometime when you're a division leader. The type of player he projects to just isn't as critical as getting a big #1 centre, top pairing dman, or big skilled heavy winger IMO. We're looking for another foundational player to build around. I love the idea of having so many good centres that we move some to the wing. Good organizations often do that. I love the idea of adding another potential top pairing defenseman and potentially having a few years where the Flames could arguably have 4 top pairing dmen at once in Gio, Brodie, Hamilton (if/when he progresses) and the draft pick this year. I love the idea of adding a big, strong, powerful skilled winger who can dominate on the cycle, screen the goalie, make plays with defenders draped all over him as we don't have anybody like that at all. But another finesse winger when we already have one of the best ones? Meh. Least important position to fill. Good finesse wingers are always available in trade IMO. Big skilled centres and big top pairing dmen, those are the gold of the entry draft. Extremely hard to trade for if you never draft them yourself. If we can get a potential one at #6 we have to go that route regardless of immediate needs at wing because we'd be getting a premium commodity in the NHL. There's my latest argument against Nylander lol. Wish the draft would come sooner as I'm definitely talking around in circles on this. Hopefully I added something new in the argument, lol.