Quote:
Originally Posted by Matty81
Kid from the Blazers is pretty tough by today's WHL standards but needs to learn to manage the emotions a bit more. That said I like seeing the Flames bring in potential tough guys at low acquisition cost like this instead of spending high picks on them like they did with Kanzig and Hunter Smith, if he continues to improve could be worthwhile.
Rosberg looks like an interesting invite as well, would expect him to be pretty advanced at his age, size and track record
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That's not really why Kanzig and Smith got drafted, however. They were looked at as really big and tough prospects that were smart and had fairly good ceilings. Todd Button in particular raved about how mature Kanzig was, how he was such a great leader and how he was so cerebral. Smith was a guy who's production was spiking and they really liked his potential as a big guy with skill.
It is just unfortunate that they didn't pan out, but a lot of other smaller skilled players didn't either. They weren't drafted as goons, but rather as potential high impact players to help the team down the road play some tough but skilled hockey. Not much difference in having defencemen Kanzig not pan out vs Wotherspoon not pan out, right? I actually found what Button was saying about Kanzig really interesting - he seemed to really like him as a prospect, and so did the rest of the scouts (they all saw him live, as they all took the ferry from their meeting in Vancouver to see him in Victoria).