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1991 Canadian · 07-20-2017, 01:22 PM

I really like Poirier and admire his honesty about his substance abuse issues, but I think you have to give this one to Rittich.

In the world of prospects, I think you have to go with who is trending in the right direction. Rittich put up very good numbers in his first North American pro hockey season.

Poirier has gone from a .76 pts/game, to .48 pts/game, to .39 pts/game in each of his subsequent AHL seasons.

I still think he can turn things around and be a good NHL player, but he's not a player that is trending up. I honestly think that if Poirier's substance abuse story didn't come out, he'd be a lot lower in the rankings.

If he puts everything together, he'll be a great addition to the Flames. He's probably the player I'm most interested in watching in training camp. But its hard to look at his recent results and get excited.

I just find it weird he's getting put above guys like Klimchuk, Phillips and Rittich. People usual seem to use some degree of "prospect trajectory" when ranking these players, but people seem to be overlooking that for Poirier.

I get the reasoning why, but I still find it odd. Especially with Klimchuk still on the board. There are size concerns with Phillips and goalies are a crapshoot, but Klimchuk is your prototypical hockey player. He had a better year than Poirier yet could get ranked a couple spots below him. I don't get it.

07-20-2017, 01:22 PM	#11
1991 Canadian Scoring Winger Join Date: Jul 2013 Exp:	I really like Poirier and admire his honesty about his substance abuse issues, but I think you have to give this one to Rittich. In the world of prospects, I think you have to go with who is trending in the right direction. Rittich put up very good numbers in his first North American pro hockey season. Poirier has gone from a .76 pts/game, to .48 pts/game, to .39 pts/game in each of his subsequent AHL seasons. I still think he can turn things around and be a good NHL player, but he's not a player that is trending up. I honestly think that if Poirier's substance abuse story didn't come out, he'd be a lot lower in the rankings. If he puts everything together, he'll be a great addition to the Flames. He's probably the player I'm most interested in watching in training camp. But its hard to look at his recent results and get excited. I just find it weird he's getting put above guys like Klimchuk, Phillips and Rittich. People usual seem to use some degree of "prospect trajectory" when ranking these players, but people seem to be overlooking that for Poirier. I get the reasoning why, but I still find it odd. Especially with Klimchuk still on the board. There are size concerns with Phillips and goalies are a crapshoot, but Klimchuk is your prototypical hockey player. He had a better year than Poirier yet could get ranked a couple spots below him. I don't get it.