Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
In reality would it surprise anyone if any (or all) of Kylington, Fox, Andersson, and Valimaki came to training camp and pushed to be NHLers next season. They are all that high of quality of prospects whom have impressed at all levels.
Andersson looks ready right now.
If you look at Fox (in the NCAA, WJC, and USNDTP) his numbers and pedigree are very comparable to Zach Werenski, Charlie McAvoy, Noah Hanifin, Trouba, and other young American d-men who had an impact in the NHL after only a year or two at the NCAA.
Valimaki already looked really good at training camp last year, is strong defensively and a PPG in the WHL. Could easily see him forcing his way onto the team at training camp.
Kylington is already in his 3rd AHL season, gets good reviews from the coaches and seems to really be impressing and some people who watch the prospects actually prefer him to Andersson.
And personally I would be all for it. After watching them closely the last two weeks look at how the Bruins 3 rookie d-men (Carlo - 21, McAvoy - 19, and Grzelcyk - 23) came into the lineup this year and completely rejuvenated that team. Specifically Carlo and McAvoy who have played a combined 7 AHL games.
IMO the Flames prospects are just as good as that group, and in some cases out performed their counterparts at the same age in the same leagues. We should try to make sure we can give at least 2 of them the same opportunity to make an impact on our roster next year.
McAvoy = Fox
Carlo < Valimaki
Grzelcyk =< Andersson & Kylington
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...a bit ranty ahead:
I agree, I just don't think the Flames as an organization, Gully as a coach, would ever roll with that many young players. This team has historically chosen veterans ahead of youngsters no matter what. Jankowski didn't make the team out of camp for cripes sake. Brouwer was on the 1st PP unit ahead of Dougie freaking Hamilton until Brouwer got injured. I think it's a cultural issue that the Flames have towards young players. You could make the counter argument that we historically haven't had good enough young players - but in the spots we have, we've done nothing but make mistakes - and have actively made them this season to the detriment of the team.
If we saw:
Giordano - Hamilton
Kylington - Hamonic
Valimaki - Fox
Kulak
next season, I'd be blown away and crazy excited. Brodie and Stone have both been failures in their roles this year, and moving on from one or both wouldn't bug me in the slightest. I think it's longshot that we even have TWO spots open next year for Fox/Valmaki/Kylington/Andersson, let alone 3 or 4.
It's why I think we'll make a trade at this deadline to address an issue up front, and I just hope it's a smart move, because I'm tired of this organization's legacy of failure. 4 playoff round victories since 1989...I was 3 in 1989, I've seen nothing but failure from this organization and I just want to see it making the right moves that lead to this team being a success on the ice.