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Originally Posted by Textcritic
I think you are totally wrong about this. I agree that the Flames had a hole in their system as a result of a shortage of picks, but unlike you, I think they have done a very good job compensating for it. The kids playing in the minors look just fine, and there is a pretty high number of prospects that have outperformed their draft positions from the last several years. The college free agent and prospect-depth acquisitions have also been pretty solid. Mackey and Gawdin have played NHL games, and Johannes Kinvall was one of the best defensemen in the SHL before suffering a long-term ankle injury.
I think the system is fine, especially considering what the Flames have had to work with. They continue to graduate players to the NHL every year; those players continue to impress.
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Feel free to think that way, but there is not an impact player in the minor league system. We have at best support players and even that is a stretch. This "outperforming narrative" is an interesting one because it is based on junior and college performance and not against real competition. You don't know what you have until the kids turn pro. All the circle jerking going on over Parsons was a great example, when the advice was to pump the breaks and see what you have when he plays against men. So far, we don't have a hill of beans. Junior or college means nothing, pro performance is everything and that's when you can tell whether you have a player on your hands. Our minor league teams are short at every position. You can't argue that.
As for players promoting through, who is going to be the Andrew Mangiapane or Dillion Dube from the next draft class? We should no be in the 2017 class and seeing someone other than our first rounder promote through based on what you're suggesting. Again, this is where the gap in the system begins to show. No second or third round picks, so we have to hope for a long shot or a free agent to step in. The long shots aren't holding up, so it will have to be Mackey or Gawdin to earn a full time gig. The jury is still out. How about the 2018 class? Who is going to filter in there. Again, the hole in the system gets a little larger. That is the point of understanding the draft and development cycle. It was the ignorance of that cycle that lead the Flames to mothball their minor league operations when Sutter was GM, they just didn't have qualified bodies to fill out rosters. That hurt the team in the long run as the stream of talent all but dried up. So it is very important to keep an eye on the system and make sure you continue to funnel talent into that pipeline. Tre allowed for that hole to develop over two consecutive drafts, which is a problem.