Quote:
Originally Posted by burnitdown
I agree - we had a lot of top prospects graduate over the past couple years (which is good), which makes things look a little thinner though.
It does seem a little early to be deciding between goalies (always hard to predict), small forwards with skill that may/may not translate at the NHL level, or defensemen still working on their game. All have a high ceiling but they come with question marks. It felt better the past few years where these guys were being debated in the 5-10 range.
Mangiapane for me - tore up the AHL at a very young age. May never stick at the NHL level...but if he somehow ends up on a skill line at the start of the season and starts hot, he may never see the AHL again, while posting strong offensive numbers for the next few years.
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The
Flames 20-man roster has an average age of 27.2 ranked 16th in the league.
They have 1 player currently slotted in the 20 man roster on the last year of his ELC. Anderssen would be the big hope beating out Kulak and Prout.
A team with a good prospect base does not go out and sign 3 UFAs. 4 if you count Backlund.
The Flames management are not impressed with Mangiapane at the NHL level at all. They went out and got Czarnik to take the #2 small forward spot mainly due to his more aggressive style and same level of skill. Magniapane will have to be spectacularly better at the NHL camp and exhibition game to get a real look at the NHL team.
He did not make a first good impression.