Scouting is half art and half science. You can either see it, or you can't - and nobody hits on it 100% anyway, even among the best of scouts.
You have to really be a great scout to look at a prospect who isn't putting up a lot of numbers, and still see talent there. You look at a prospect and ask yourself questions like: "Does he have the talent, but hasn't been given the opportunity?", "is that talent translatable?". "Kid has talent, but is raw - does he have the work ethic and discipline to improve?".
I think a lot of kids get passed over who COULD make it, but aren't given the opportunity. Maybe if Stromgren stayed where he was, maybe the opportunity would arrive too late, not allowing him to further develop offensively enough. This is the problem I see with some kids playing in higher leagues right away, or kids playing in lower leagues that they are too good for. Is a kid getting too much opportunity, and without the challenge, is he plateauing? Or is does he have the work ethic and drive to continually improve by trying new things and learning with the opportunity?
For a guy like Stromgren, he wasn't getting enough opportunity, and now he is. I thought Morin and him were the two best prospects at camp last year. Morin really blew me away, but Stromgren to me looked like a guy that was ready for a bottom-six role. I am glad that he didn't actually make it (and I didn't think he would, really) but the opportunity that this kid got on the Wranglers really seemed to propel him.
At any rate, this year's prospect additions - from the trades right through the draft - have been significant to say the least. Listening to Conroy, there is probably another 2 years of this (or more). Things are starting to look very promising suddenly, right?
I think this upcoming season will be the toughest in terms of interest on the Flames. I think Parekh gets sent back, so there won't be a 'shiny new toy' to watch. If the owners can stomach this, then judging by the crowds during the prospects development camp, attendance won't be too bad in subsequent seasons. Just a tough upcoming season I think.
I will be looking forward to guys like Zary, Pospisil, Coronato and Pelletier take a step forward. Then guys like Solovyov and probably Klapka pushing themselves into everyday NHL'ers. Stromgren might be one of those as well. Grushnikov is another that seems ready. Wolf of course also. These will all be fun and interesting to watch IMO, and hopefully the attendance will be there. I think their will be a legitimate buzz next season with Parekh making the squad (I anticipate anyway - can't see him going back to junior for another 2 seasons), plus probably the Flames 1st round pick (guessing a centre!) will probably be NHL ready (most likely - but I have them picking in the top 3 at least).
This is really fun. Seeing these kids competing and developing, and all the story-lines and effort that will open up. Nothing beats having a championship level team to draw interest and excitement. The next best thing is a young team full of high-end prospects to watch. The worst thing is watching a mediocre team you know can't win, but also doesn't have any sustained excitement around it. I am glad that we as fans are no longer watching the last example.
|