Best flames draft of all time?

[Monahammer]

Thought this may be a fun thread to look back on. The flames have had some brutal draft years, especially almost all of the years I have been a fan. However, today I was looking back at the '84 draft and was stunned- whoever drafted that year should never have been allowed to leave the organization:

Gary Roberts 4th highest scoring player in the draft
Paul Ranheim played 1000+ nhl games
Brett Hull 2nd highest scoring player in the draft
Jiri Hrdina serviceable player
Gary Suter 5th highest scoring player in the draft (probably best dman in the draft)

Pretty good haul! Any other takes for best draft year by the flames?

[looooob]

that was one of the single greatest drafts of all time- period. especially corrected for draft position (ie no first overll or top 4 player etc)
1. First Ballot Hall of Famer. One of greatest goal scorers of all time. Stanley Cup Champ

2. Calder Trophy winner. 1100 games. 2nd team all star. Stanley Cup Champ
3. Masterton Winner. 1200 games. Stanley Cup Champ. 50 goal scorer
4. 1000 games
5. 3 Stanley Cups


Seriously- there were 4 1000 game players, the 5th guy won 3 cups. a 6th guy even played 74 games. totaled over 1500 goals

[looooob]

81 was a notable haul with Vernon and MacInnis. really from 79 (the last Atlanta draft but these were Calgary flames guys mostly so I count it) through 89 or so- this team drafted like crazy. pulled lots of great players, but in terms of multiple impact players 84 is ridiculous followed by 81 I think

[Jacks]

Here are all of them for comparison.
https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/...r00005090.html

[looooob]

in terms of really deep drafts- where teams haul 4-6 good picks, the 84 Flames is a really good example (and has good high end- especially Hull), the most famous example is likely 89 Wings were they nabbed Lidstrom and Fedorov, but another deep crew of guys (Konstantinov, Sillinger, Drake, Boughner etc). 84 Habs also with the high end Roy but also Svoboda, Corson and Richer- their first 4 players each played 1000 games. the 84 drafts really set up the 86/89 finals




79 was the deepest draft ever likely (multiple cohorts thrown into same draft) so lots of teams had great hauls there- would need to give credit to the Oilers (Lowe, Messier, Anderson (followed by Coffey, Kurri, Moog) that is an impressive two year 6 pack...the Bruins with /Bourque, McCrimmon et al


the Habs in the early days of the draft as we now know it had some good ones- such as Lafleur, Robinson in 71- but when I look at these all time hauls I'm more impressed by deep picks than consensus number 1s like Lafleur (there the more impressive feat was getting the first overall, not making the pick)


the Islanders dynasty was built mostly on nailing a great player or so every year, but they had a few double up years (notably Gillies/Trottier and Tonelli/Bossy)


these are some that come to mind...2003 was the modern 79 and of course some teams (Anaheim notably) set themselves up nicely that year

[TheScorpion]

2016 has potential.

Tkachuk, Dube, Parsons, Phillips, and Tuulola all in the system while Fox is doing well in NY.

[calgaryred]

Nm

[1991 Canadian]

Ranking the yearly drafts from best to worst might make for an interesting daily poll.

Some of those 80s Flames drafts would definitely be high on the list. Some of the late 2010s drafts have been decent as well (still early to call some of them). There is definitely a connection between drafting well and building a Stanley Cup winner.

I'm almost more curious what Flames fans think is the worst draft. 1997? 2006? 1990?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by looooob

the Habs in the early days of the draft as we now know it had some good ones- such as Lafleur, Robinson in 71- but when I look at these all time hauls I'm more impressed by deep picks than consensus number 1s like Lafleur (there the more impressive feat was getting the first overall, not making the pick)

The Habs fleeced the expansion teams, due to the uneven and unfair depth they possessed compared to the other Original Six teams.

explained in post #25 https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threa...quebec.725314/

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

2016 has potential.

Tkachuk, Dube, Parsons, Phillips, and Tuulola all in the system while Fox is doing well in NY.

Actually, this draft shows some weird equivalencies to the '87 draft. If it shakes out the same, Fox will end up the best defenseman in the draft, and we'll trade Phillips to gain some cup depth only to have him move on and become one of the greatest goal scorers of all time! Lol.

Having looked at the entire list of flames drafts, I feel confident in saying that '87 is the best we have ever had. Hopefully 2016 ends up being a similar caliber for our franchise.

[Poe969]

This year's draft. The Flames will get a top 10 pick, through trade, and have a mid/low teens pick. They'll get a top line forward and a franchise goalie.

[Circa89]

Well it certainly wasn't the 2006 draft, with a Grand Total of 13 games played and 1 assist, all Leland Irving. The rest never even had a sniff.
Leland Irving G
3 John Armstrong C
3 Aaron Marvin C
4 Hugo Carpentier C
5 Juuso Puustinen R
6 Jordan Fulton L
7 Devin DiDiomete L
7 Per Johnsson

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Actually, this draft shows some weird equivalencies to the '87 draft. If it shakes out the same, Fox will end up the best defenseman in the draft, and we'll trade Phillips to gain some cup depth only to have him move on and become one of the greatest goal scorers of all time! Lol.

Having looked at the entire list of flames drafts, I feel confident in saying that '87 is the best we have ever had. Hopefully 2016 ends up being a similar caliber for our franchise.

do you mean 84? 87 was of course a nice draft with Fleury and Matteau and a few tweeners..but no 84

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by looooob

do you mean 84? 87 was of course a nice draft with Fleury and Matteau and a few tweeners..but no 84

I did mean '84! Just a brain fart this morning. '84 is the tops without a doubt.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Circa89

Well it certainly wasn't the 2006 draft, with a Grand Total of 13 games played and 1 assist, all Leland Irving. The rest never even had a sniff.
Leland Irving G
3 John Armstrong C
3 Aaron Marvin C
4 Hugo Carpentier C
5 Juuso Puustinen R
6 Jordan Fulton L
7 Devin DiDiomete L
7 Per Johnsson

None even fit to play on an AHL squad lol. How unfortunate.

[FireGilbert]

That 84 draft was epic. Also can't discount the impact of getting Vernon and MacInnis in 81. Those drafts plus getting Nieuwendyk and Fleury in other 80s drafts are the major reason Calgary caught up to the Oilers, won a Cup, and continued to compete in the early 90s. Goes to show the importance of drafting on long term success.

So many bad drafts though especially during the young guns era when the Flames really needed to nail their picks. Then there were the Sutter years when the team really needed good young players to keep their window open. Also the drafts from 2012 to 2014 are pretty disappointing in hindsight only getting Jankowski, Monahan, and Bennett despite having 8 picks in the first two rounds. That's a big reason the current team is having trouble taking the next step.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by looooob

the most famous example is likely 89 Wings were they nabbed Lidstrom and Fedorov, but another deep crew of guys (Konstantinov, Sillinger, Drake, Boughner etc). s

Not only was it the best draft class by a single team already, but they actually attempted to draft Bure that year in the fifth round. They just couldn't prove he had played the right amount of games.

Vancouver would nab him in the sixth round when they showed he was draft eligible...

[Oling_Roachinen]

Imagine a draft with your first six picks being :

1st round - Sillinger - 1000+ games, 500+ points.
2nd round - Boughner - 600+ games
3rd round - Lidstrom - 1500+ games, 1100+ points
4th round - Federov - 1200+ games, 1100+ points
5th round - Bure - 700+ games, 700+ points
6th round - Drake - 1000+ games, 400+ points

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Jacks

Here are all of them for comparison.
https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/...r00005090.html

Looking at that list, I can't help but wonder if the Flames have the most 1st round picks that didn't work out relative to the number of 1st rounders used by any team.

[1qqaaz]

Yeah, I think the Flames' 1984 draft is the 3rd best draft of all time for any team.
The impressive thing is that both the Flames in 1984 and Detroit in 1989 had no top 10 picks.

Great top 3 picks aren't impressive. However, Oiler, Penguin, Canadien, Nordique and Senator fans would disagree.