Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Are there any Sprong(/Ho Sang) type guys in this draft that you're high on who aren't ranked that high?
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Not really. This year's draft was kind of terrible at the start where there was basically nothing, but anyone who showed anything already filtered up towards the top. That is partially why the draft isn't quite as poorly thought of as it was earlier in the year. Just a bad couple picks at the top, but enough talent has filtered that it isn't half bad. I'd say it's slightly better overall that 2012 (and that's due to the potential for a couple of high end forwards in the middle of the 1st round). Comparing drafts, there are some similar prospects like Teravainen and Yamamoto. Still a bit of a crap shoot overall though.
There's a couple of quality prospects after 25, but nobody worth reaching for. No Janko's this year. I'd be making a couple recommendations for the 2nd and 3rd round picks if we had them, but it's kind of an irrelevant point for us really at this stage when we don't pick until round 4. If the Flames do trade down or get additional picks, then it'll be worth talking about.
I would expect the Flames to continue what they have done the past couple years with picks 4-7. They have had three main features - Size + project-ability (Karnaukhov, Mattsson, Tuulola, Falkovsky) - Skill regardless of size (Fox, Mangiapane, Lindstrom, Phillips) - and overagers (Falkovsky, Eat Bread)
This is a year more than likely that I think the Flames will throw more into the skill department overall regardless of the players other flaws (Size/Skating) just because of the thinness of the forward group's offensive skill as a whole that is coming through the pipeline. Got to figure that in a couple years, the Flames will be needing to deal off guys and get replacements that are cheap ala Chicago. Need to start getting guys in the system that will be ready in 3-4 years. We have enough guys to replace the entire 4th line right now in Stockton, the four 2013 1sts + Hathaway. Once certain guys are moved, those guys will graduate, and then the upper part of the system will be barren.