[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

At center, I'd prefer no surprises. Bennett, Jankowski, Monahan, Backlund. Those four should play center.

At wing, I would like it to be Emile Poirier. A few reasons:


- I want the Flames to be among the fastest teams in the league, and Poirier is probably our fastest NHL-ready forward prospect
- More importantly than raw speed is that Poirier is an excellent forechecker. I made an observation last November that Poirier looked dangerous at times and the numbers didn't seem to line up with what I was seeing. He's the kind of guy that could get in on a Doughty or a Keith and still come out with the puck. Part of that is his speed but forechecking is also a skill.
- I am just a nervous person about waivers. I know, the chances he gets claimed are slim, but all it takes is one team to like him and keep an eye on him. Beyond that, he's our former first rounder. Waiving him is usually an admittance of a wasted pick. People talk about not wanting to blow the 2nd spent on Lazar by exposing him, but we spent a better pick on Poirier who is from Lazar's draft class.
- Natural LHS allows a Versteeg-Bennett-Poirier to either load up off-wing snipes or a Poirier-Bennett-Versteeg line to play their "strong" wings for tighter defensive play.
- Maybe I wasn't as high on him as others a couple years back, but I definitely saw flashes of top 6 skill that I'd like to see utilized with some of our top 6 caliber players like Gaudreau, Backlund, or Bennett.

It's up to Poirier but I am rooting for him.

At defense, I'm pulling for Josh Healey. To pull a Treliving phrase, to me he "checks all the boxes". First pass. Skating. Blow-you-up hitting.

I'm rooting against Kylington making the NHL - I'm actually a huge Kylington fan and it would be great if he were ready, but I want to see him throw up a dominant offensive season in the minors, like Jankowski did last year. Kylington was good last year offensively, but there's so much potential that needs to be untapped. I truly think he is our most dynamic prospect and concerns about his high-risk play are overblown. But I also think he's only 20 and a truly high-end year in the A would be a perfect stepping stone into the NHL. I don't see why a Duncan Keith type trajectory for his NHL career would be a bad thing, and he still has two more years of minor league to go if we're measuring by age.

Good breakdown.

If he makes the cut, I think it'll be at the expense of Foo. Foo goes down to acclimatize himself with the Pro game and we see him called up later.