Quote:
Originally Posted by boogerz
Calling them bad this early seems a bit harsh. Stromgren and Ronni were both consensus second round picks in their respective drafts.
Stromgren is 20 years old, in his first AHL season, and playing mostly on the fourth line on a good AHL team. In hindsight, it probably would have been better for the Flames to have him play this season in the CHL as an overager, but players this young can bounce back.
Lets look at two more players from Stromgren's draft:
Samu Tuomaala is six months older than Stromgren and was being called a bust last year for subpar play in the Finnish Liiga, but his development took a massive jump seemingly overnight and he's having a good year in the AHL this season.
Brad Lambert was being called a bust last year for not being able to hack it in the AHL, but his development has also seemingly taken a big leap overnight.
Stromgren is really skilled. It will be concerning if he doesn't show any progression next season, but he's still got time to put it together.
As for Ronni, he's a fourth liner on one of the best teams in the Finnish Liiga and he's dominating the Finnish U20 league. He's doing fine for a D+2 player that projects as a potential two-way or defensive forward in the NHL. Other than the fact that he might never play in the NHL due to the off-ice issue
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Stromgren was a pretty good gamble for the Flames at that point in the draft. Decent numbers, really young for the draft, and good size, but he has really stalled out ever since getting picked. Hopefully he can get some traction soon here, but it does not look promising right now as far as an NHL future goes.
Ronni was a pretty bad pick off the hop. Flames might have liked some of the raw skills he showed, but he was always a long shot to make it. Really hope that type of drafting (especially in the 1st and 2nd) is done with under Conroy.