Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
The only thing that has really changed in Flames drafting, and drafting in general, is the hype surrounding it. The amount of information on these players has ballooned and created a cottage hype industry about a process and players that were hardly thought of. Now we have multiple publications repeating much of the same information and building these kids up to be something they will never be. Because we know so much about these kids, and have tracked them from before they were drafted, an attachment develops and they become something more than they are. In the past a player like Matthew Phillips would have been a blip on the radar, now he's hyped to be a great prospect. I don't see anything in the Flames' system that gives me any confidence that anything in their drafting has lead to more success. When the goal is to find enough talent in three to four year cycle that creates critical mass of talent to push the team forward, the Flames have failed miserably and continue to do so. Part of that is on Treliving's propensity to trade picks away, but it is also on mediocre drafting.
|
Mediocre drafting has hurt the team, but not during Treliving’s tenure. His first real draft was 2015. 3 NHL caliber players (if you include Kylington as I do). 2016 - 3 NHL caliber players, plus Parsons, who should have been. Tkachuk and Fox are stars. 2017 - just Val, but that’s mainly because the next pick was round 4. Same problem in 2018 - no picks until round 4. After that, it’s too early to tell.
But the bottom line is that the actual drafting work during Treliving’s tenure is fine for team building, but the work before didn’t provide enough NHL players, especially if you delete no-brainer first round picks like Bennett and Monahan. From 2005-2014 you have just Gaudreau, Ferland and Brodie coming out of rounds 2-9. And you have precious few first rounders making it either - just Backlund, unless you still consider Janko an NHLer. And of course, lack of drafting. The ability of Treliving and his team to get quality after the 1st round makes the lack of first rounders in 2017 and 2018 sting more.