I'm going to give the Flames a D. For me this team isn't a threat and making the playoffs and gaining experience is valuable but not enough to make up the difference for missing out on some of these returns.
Going into this season, the Flames were projected to be bad. Bright spots were players like Wolf, Coronato and Zary were going to play, and they have played well and put this team in a position to be better than expected.
Our prospect pool has got a boost as it seems like we had a great draft last year and Parekh is playing like a superstar. With him and Wolf, it feels like we are 1 superstar center away from being set up for a chance to be elite.
Our strength going into this year was the draft pick situation. We had the most 1sts in the next 3 years and could be drafting near the top of the draft. I see comments that we still have a plus draft situation, but how plus is it. Not all 1sts are equal. I made a point system that I thought was fairly reasonable to weight the value of picks. Ranges aren't perfect but I think it's fairly decent.
1st OV - 100
2nd OV - 85
3rd OV - 65
4th OV - 60
5th OV -55
6-10 OV - 25
11-20 OV- -20
21-32 - 14
33-50 - 10
Late 2nd - 6
3rd Round - 5
4th Round - 4
5th Round - 3
6th Round - 2
7th Round - 1
Lots can change with the conditions of picks, movement in standings and draft lottery but I have the Flames outside the top 10 in the 2024 draft.
SJ - 141
Chi - 131
Nash - 125
Philly - 107
Buf - 91
Mon - 89
Sea - 83
Pitt - 82
Ana - 54
Bos - 52
Calgary has 51 points, tied for 11th in points. They could still have a good draft but there are 8 teams that have a much better draft situation than we do and better prospects that we have with better core players on their team.
Good news the Stars are 31st with 14 points and the Oilers are 32nd with 8.
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