Quote:
Originally Posted by YyjFlames
You're looking at the pick like a fan/pundit, rather than more strategically as I'm sure a team like Calgary does.
Scouting teams plan for the entire draft based on what they prioritize, the various types of players in a draft and where players they like are likely to go and where they'll probably need to take them even if they may not be BPA. Most fans/draft pundits think less wholistically and criticize each pick if we think or hear there might have been a better player available at the time (Cameron Schmidt) or if we don't like a perceived skillset that a player brings for where they're drafted.
They took Phillips in the third because they saw there were a number of big defenders in this draft, and they wanted one of them as part of their draft plan. They probably would have preferred to take Phillips later, and maybe a guy like Wyttenbach earlier, but as Button said after the draft, goalies and big bodied-defenders tend to go in groups, so if they were going to get one of them, they felt they needed to draft him in the third as a number of others had already been taken (7 in the first and 5 more before Calgary picked in the 2nd).
Even draft darling Carolina passed on Cameron Schmidt and took two big-bodied defenders in the third round instead, as this draft clearly prioritized big defenders.
I've become less concerned over the last few years about individual strategic picks like Phillips because the scouting team has shown that they can find value throughout the draft, and if a guy like Phillips turns out, look out, as he'll be a big part of the team.
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Flames have also done a bit of "What don't we have?" drafting in some years when looking for complimentarities to their prospect base. Got a bunch of smaller puck-moving defenders? Kinda makes sense to go for more physical defensive-minded guys to play with them.