Quote:
Originally Posted by The Original FFIV
Well if prevents him from using 2nds on players like Mason McDonald and Hunter Smith maybe it’s not a bad thing.
We have a legit prospect pool now. Yes, we need to keep the pipeline coming but under sutter our pool was weak while we traded away picks. I’m not overly worried about losing 2nds as we seem to be hitting on our 1sts unlike the sutter regime and we’ve been drafting well in later rounds as well as gaining prospects in NCAA free agent market.
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It's a little early on with some of these drafts to say we're drafting well. Fans were excited about the potential of Sutter's picks at the time, but look how that turned out. The book hasn't been written on the last 3-4 drafts, the Flames could strike out as easily as they can hit a home run(s). Personally, I'm not holding my breath that any of these guys become impact players. The odds are just not in their favor as much as I like Valikmaki, Parsons, Andersson and a few others. We needed more bullets in the chamber, not less. I can't think of a single team that was successful trading away picks like we have (unless they were already contenders).
I think our prospect pool is average at best now that Jankowski has graduated. Look around the league, we don't have anything special compared to other teams. Even our best prospect (IMO) is blocked for the foreseeable future because we needed to have Stone AND Hamonic. Our putrid pick situation leads me to believe that this will only get worse. NCAA free agents are nice, but are probably the equivalent to a 5th-7th round pick for how often they work out.
I really hope this team turns into a contender with the group we have because there will be very little coming over the next few years to augment the core. Better hope some of Valimaki, Parsons, Dube, Andersson and Kylington pan out or we get lucky on late round picks. Personally I think Treliving, for as much as he is the best GM since Fletcher, blew it by paying so much for Hamonic. I think he's a decent #4 but the acquisition cost was a little hefty for my liking.