I have been very happy with the flames drafting recently… aside from maybe the Honzek pick but it’s still too early to tell… development is not always linear and injuries like the one he had can delay a player reaching his potential.
What I really want to see above all things in this rebuild is for it to be built around a top 10 center in the league. That is almost exclusively only found through a top five draft pick and, even then, it is not guaranteed (Bennett for example). It likely won’t happen this year but the flames have a path to make it happen next year. I would love to finally have a center that no one can argue against him being one of the best in the league. I’ve loved what Monahan, Backlund and Lindholm have brought to this team when they were at the top of their game and I’m still a fan of those players (less so for Lindholm lately)… but even at their best, it was debatable if any of them could ever be considered in the top 10 group of centres in the league.
Obviously draft the BPA no matter the position… but swing big with picks. Please don’t use high picks on the vanilla players that come with the description “smart hockey player that is responsible in his own end but has limited offensive upside”. Those types of players can usually be found through trades and free agency later. I’d prefer the high risk-high reward young player.
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