Quote:
Originally Posted by IgiTang
And with this sort of thinking in mind, BT needs to make some tough decisions.
Fox and Vilimaki have a bit higher ceiling than Kylington and Anderson and certainly not all 4 are going to play for the Calgary Flames, so I hope BT is looking at some options to recoup some picks here or considering targeting a player at the deadline perhaps?
But I would hate to watch one of or three of Felkovsky, Fox, Valimaki, Andersson or Kylington over ripened and eventually degress.
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Falkovsky is playing in LA's organization as of this offseason.
Fox will likely turn pro after his season at Harvard - his path to the big leagues could be similar to Jankowski where he will likely spend at least one full year in the AHL. I estimate Fox to be about two and a half seasons away - he'd be the first call-up on RD that year.
Andersson and Kylington are probably ready next year. We'd be trading Stone away and letting Kulak walk to make room though. It would be a purely asset management perspective. I was keenly disappointed when he didn't supplant Kulak in the preseason, but it seems to be paying off for Brett and the Flames now.
Valimaki is unique in that he might be NHL ready faster than the other two. However, he's likely being viewed as a potential replacement for Gio on the top-pairing (when was the last time we had a D prospect with this high of a ceiling?) and will be given ample AHL time to get his professional legs under him and to handle heavy minutes in all situations, against high levels of competition. He will need to learn to handle all this responsibility and play at a high level day-in and day-out.