Quote:
Originally Posted by TheScorpion
I think, generally speaking, you're sometimes a bit too guarded about them.
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That's true. Better to be guarded than build them up into something they will never be. Been through it myself, so I understand the pressure to perform as a developing talent and just how hard it is going to the next level. You may be the best player on your team at one level, but when you promote, you're on a team full of players that were the best player on their team at the last level, and you're playing in a league full of players who were in the same situation. It is brutal and not many players make it to the pinnacle. As a result I try not to build these kids into something they aren't, because for the vast majority of them, this is the best they are going to be. If you see a player from the 5th round make it, its a bit of a Christmas miracle. The last 5th rounder the Flames hit on was Ferland. Before that? Travis Moen, and he wasn't with the Flames. Outside of Ferland, the Flames have not drafted and developed a player in the 5th round that played more than half a season for the club. That type of stuff keeps things in perspective.