Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
I think guys get more opportunities than people are willing to recognize or give the Flames credit for.
I can’t think of a prospect that’s really been held back in any way. If you earn it, you get your shot, and if play at an NHL level, you stick. Not much different than any other team that isn’t in full rebuild mode.
I have no doubt Wolf will get a fair shot. The hand wringing about it doesn’t make sense to me.
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The proof will be in the pudding with Wolf. On one hand, I agree that the Flames have a pretty good track record of getting their recent top prospects into the NHL as high end contributors from Monahan, Gaudreau to Tkachuk and Andersson. They also appear to have somewhat fuddled high end prospects like Valimaki, Bennett and appear to be needlessly slow playing Pelletier this season.
The concerns about how they may handle Wolf are certainly warranted given the last few top picks have had varying degrees of success thus far (whether it is on the organization or not).
The argument could be made that anything short of moving Vladar to make room for Wolf next season at this point would be a mistake. This is as much of a blue chip prospect that the franchise has had since Tkachuk and IMO anything short of getting him into the full time backup role next season would be a unforgivable stalling of the momentum this kid has built as a pro.