Quote:
Originally Posted by 1991 Canadian
You'd have to wonder if he regrets signing with the Flames. When he signed, the Flames RW depth was not very good. If he was realistic, he'd hopefully recognize his odds of cracking an NHL roster in his first year was not great anywhere, but the Flames seemed like a good longterm fit. At the time of signing, they didn't have many natural RW forwards or prospects. Heck, he was the 7th ranked prospect and the highest RW prospect in the 2018 ranking. There are not many teams in the NHL were he would walk in as the best RW prospect.
Where I feel a bit bad for him is this past season. He looked decent in his end of season callup in the 2017-2018 season. The Flames ended up trading Ferland, but adding Czarnik, Neal and Lindholm. He really never stood a chance at cracking the lineup this year, especially since he doesn't have the flexibility of playing centre.
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Lindholm definitely had a lock on the top-line RW spot, but Neal was a bust, Frolik flipped between 2nd and 4th line RW and Czarnik was often a healthy scratch.
Any of those RW positions could have been open for him to take if he had made a stronger showing in Stockton and make him worthy of a call-up.
I wanted him to do well within the Flames organization, but we certainly didn't have a "wealth" of talented RWs keeping him on the farm.