[News] Ryan Francis back into the draft?

[dammage79]

https://twitter.com/CapFriendly/stat...-VC-Nq0zA&s=19


I'm shocked if this is correct. I thought he was one of the budding fws the Flames had? Am I missing something here?

[Fire]

Looking at his stats in his 5th year in the Q, it's not very impressive for someone his age. He should be destroying the league at this point. The Flames must not like what they have been seeing.

[Reggie Dunlop]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1532109749763706880

Meh.

A 20 year-old who really didn't dominate in what is essentially a goal-scorers' league.

A smallish forward has to bring more to the table.

[Reggie Dunlop]

2020 Draft Year was a pretty good haul for the Flames

Zary
Kuznetsov
Poirier
Kerins
Solovlov

All signed.

Chechelev probably gets signed.

Boltmann?? A few more years before a decision has to be made.

[ComixZone]

Ryan Howse'ish?

[agulati]

The top scorers on his team has 100+ points

William Dufour had 116 points in 66 games
Josh Lawrence had 101 points in 68 games

Francis was third with 65 points in 54 games

[agulati]

I wonder if it was the club who didn’t want to sign him, or the player who saw himself go down the depth chart want to try his luck in the draft

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by agulati

I wonder if it was the club who didn’t want to sign him, or the player who saw himself go down the depth chart want to try his luck in the draft

I highly doubt the Flames offered him a contract.

Barely over a point per game as an overage in junior is not worth giving an ELC to.

Maybe if he goes undrafted they will offer him a PTO or an AHL contract.

With his age and experience he should have been pushing 2.00 points per game in the Q to be worth an ELC

Especially at 5'9

[Reggie Dunlop]

For a guy who may top out as a ECHL/AHL tweener, he's not worth an ELC spot? I dunno... just guessing...

[cannon7]

Josh Lawrence, who is undrafted,5'9" and a year younger than Francis has 101pts. Took a shot, didn't pan out. Islanders picked William Dufour (who is 6'3") in the fifth round, too, just like Francis. Was hoping for better offensive numbers from Poirier, too, although his +/- is solid.

[Enoch Root]

I put this in the other thread, I'll put it here too..

Exciting prospects from the last 3 drafts:

Pelletier - Zary - Coronato
Beck - Kerins
(hon mention: Stromgren, Nikolaev, Ciona)

Kuznetsov - Poirier
(hon mention: Whynot - Jordan)

Wolf
Sergeev
(hm: Chechelev)

There's only so much room on the bus

[Flames1217]

Francis had been playing with nobodies for 3/4 of the year and getting all of the hard match ups. The first line put up points sure but they at least had team mates who could help out.

Francis was always a project pick and still has potential, maybe the Flames are just not ready to invest in him.

They also have a very similar player in Emilio Pettersson so yeah who knows what they are thinking on this one. Really surprised they didn't sign him though because he undoubtedly has talent.

[timun]

Originally Posted by agulati

The top scorers on his team has 100+ points

William Dufour had 116 points in 66 games
Josh Lawrence had 101 points in 68 games

Francis was third with 65 points in 54 games

And to put it into perspective, Dufour was an Islanders' 5th round pick (nine spots down the list after Francis) and is signed to an ELC, but Lawrence—also about 5'9" and 20 years old—went undrafted entirely. Ryan Francis is lucky he got drafted in the first place.

[Mindtravellee]

They already put zavorogny on waivers for contract termination. Font need another small nothing forward

[1qqaaz]

I think this is a mistake by the Flames.

[Sandman]

I will probably get flamed for this, but IMO, we have a serious need to get bigger throughout the organization, and I'll bet Sutter has said the same thing to management-just look at our last draft. We have an awful lot of smallish forwards coming up through the pipeline, we could stand to add more beef. That said, I think it's a mistake to let Francis go. He played with nobodies most of the year, and his production picked up after the trade deadline when he got linemates.

[TheScorpion]

But the thing is, the bigger skaters the Flames drafted in 2021 are the ones who look the worst... Stromgren, Huckins, Whynot, Jordan, and Ciona all had really lacklustre D+1s (to say the least), significantly worse than Francis'. Whereas Coronato and Beck both look great.

Wouldn't be surprised if the Flames end up signing only three of their 2021 draft picks: the two small guys, and Sergeev. The others, like Francis, don't look like they're good enough. But the Flames' success rate has been much higher with smaller, skilled players.

I'm not saying Francis is a difference-maker but I think the Flames' past drafting methodology didn't need to change. The Flames were notorious for drafting big, low-upside players from ~2000–2014 and they were one of the league's worst drafting teams.

[blender]

Was at Game 7 of WHL semi last night and tracked Ciona all night as his T-birds advanced at the Blazers expense. I wouldn't say he's a sure-fire big-leaguer, but he's a big kid, and he played a good game. In the mix a lot, making smart plays, definitely not finding the moment too big.

[TheScorpion]

That's honestly really good to hear. He still reminds me a little too much of Austin Carroll, who was a tremendous WHLer with Victoria and looked dominant on pretty much every shift but topped out as a fourth-liner in the A. But no two players are the same.

[McG]

I’m unable to comment on this particular player but it seems to me that each side can decide whether to move forward with a contract; one side has to offer and the other has to accept.

I would hope that there’s an awareness of need for development at all levels, and roles on each team. So if a player is counted on to play a role that negatively affects goals and assists, the flames would be aware enough to acknowledge that.

I would say that the flames have been good at finding hidden gems with strong hockey IQs and with character. All of this helps development.