The Lists: AHL Style

[Bingo]

We have a great topic going on the Calgary section about the franchise from top to bottom and players that are core, support or expandable.

Would love to see AHL Flames fans rank the current Adirondack roster in some fashion.

My suggestion would be;

NHL Impact Players
NHL Support Players
NHL Fringe Players
AHL Career Players
AHL Fringe Players

but I'm open for discussion.

I think the two lists looked at side by side (NHL and AHL) would be interesting. Players get moved up and down, new players get added, others graduate and get crossed off.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Neat topic.

NHL Impact Players:
- Emile Poirier (Dynamic with a capital D)

NHL Support Players:
- Sven Baertschi (He'll be an excellent support scoring player on some team, whether it's the Flames... we'll see)
- Tyler Wotherspoon (Excellent second pairing shut down, PK specialist)
- Michael Ferland (Second line power forward potential)
- Joni Ortio (Unsure whether he can be a starter at this point. His future looks good in the NHL though)

NHL Fringe Players:
- Bill Arnold (Only his first pro year, but he could be a solid third or fourth line shut down center)
- Ryan Culkin (Progressing nicely. Too early to put him anywhere but in this category. Nice upward projection)
- Corban Knight (Scorer/playmaker/faceoff specialist/shootout specialist in the AHL, not much in the NHL yet)
- Max Reinhart (Jack of all trades who seems to have lost his scoring touch. Good third line shut down guy in the NHL)
- Patrick Sieloff (Needs to prove that his ever-present injury bug is just an anomaly, then he could move up)
- Brett Kulak (Mastering his trade in the ECHL. Could become a second pairing Brodie-lite in time)

AHL Career Players:
- Ben Hanowski (I'd like to see one more cup of coffee with the Flames before we write him off. Big time scorer this season)
- Garnet Hathaway (Hope he gets a contract. Could become a fringe NHL energy guy)
- David Wolf (Just don't see a whole lot of NHL future in him unless he becomes a fourth line power forward)
- Bryce Van Brabant (Starting to get a mean streak, big kid who shows his hands here and there.)
- Kenny Agostino (I'll take a wait and see approach with him. If he wants to make it, I think it'll have to be through an energy role)
- Mark Cundari
- Matthew Tousignant
- John Ramage (Better than last season, but needs to work on his consistency. Makes dumb plays more than occasionally)
- Nolan Yonkman
- Devin Setoguchi
- Sena Acolatse
- Brad Thiessen

AHL Fringe Players:
- Turner Elson
- Taylor Vause
- Dustin Stevenson
- Trevor Gillies

[Savvy27]

I'm a little more optimistic than PMM (or I have a lower standard for 'impact player'). I'm hopeful that both Baertschi and Poirier will turn out to be top 6 forwards in the NHL. Ortio has starter potential and I think that this is the last season he will ever see the AHL. I believe that Wotherspoon will be a shutdown defenseman in the NHL, absolutely love his game.

Arnold seems like a guy who will be a bottom 6 presence for a while. Ferland turning into an impact guy would be exciting, but I just haven't seen enough yet to expect it. Culkin is impressing at a young age and after a few years of seasoning I could see him sticking somewhere.

Lastly, I've moved Wolf up purely on the basis of reviews of him by Huska. Talking about how he adjusted to the north american game relatively quickly and how his attitude and presence mean a lot to the team, I think he'll earn a few looks in the NHL.

NHL Impact Players:
- Emile Poirier
- Sven Baertschi
- Joni Ortio
- Tyler Wotherspoon

NHL Support Players:
- Michael Ferland
- Bill Arnold
- Ryan Culkin

NHL Fringe Players:
- Corban Knight
- Max Reinhart
- Patrick Sieloff
- Brett Kulak
- Devin Setoguchi
- David Wolf

AHL Career Players:
- Ben Hanowski
- Garnet Hathaway
- Bryce Van Brabant
- Kenny Agostino
- Mark Cundari
- Matthew Tousignant
- John Ramage
- Nolan Yonkman
- Sena Acolatse
- Brad Thiessen
- Turner Elson

AHL Fringe Players:
- Taylor Vause
- Dustin Stevenson
- Trevor Gillies

[Da_Chief]

You've seen more from him then me but I disagree on Elson. He drew a lot pf praise from Flames coaching staff. He's gotta be better then fringe AHLer by now. He likely ends up getting called up here and there but a mainstay on the AHL team for years.

[Drury18]

I have to split up "AHL Career Players" into guys who will spend their career bouncing around the AHL and guys who are integral pieces of an AHL team to help the development of players who are prospects in our system. To me, these are two very different positions and one being a very important one because you have to have some of those players on an AHL team for leadership and direction.


NHL Impact Players:

Emile Poirier - His 2015-16 season to do list needs to have "Buy Calder Trophy Polish" on it. And work on some goal celebrations. Unless something SERIOUSLY goes wrong in his development, this kid is going to be something else for the Flames.

Joni Ortio - You can pry the homer glasses from my cold, dead hands. I think Ortio has the right attitude, personality and skills to be an NHL goaltender and a good one to boot. We have watched him bail his team out game after game. Ortio doesn't lose games for his team, he pulls out saves and helps them win when they are over their heads. He seems to love the pressure and earns the trust of his coaches and teammates. All the tools be a great NHL player.



NHL Support Players:

Corban Knight - He could almost be a fringe player but I think his face-off ability is going to be what carries any NHL career he has. He's good at face-offs and he can score clutch goals, so I think he could solidify a spot on an NHL team as a 3rd line centre as well as a PK unit centre. He'll spend most nights doing his thing quietly maybe having a break out and notice me game here and there.

David Wolf - I think this is the face of the new NHL "goon" if you will. Players who have higher skill, but not afraid to get in there and stand up for their teammates. Instead of having guys like McGrattan where they are only known for fighting and have limited other skills in hockey, Wolf has shown he can pass the puck well, an absolute freight train when he gets moving with the puck and can take and hand out clean HEAVY hits. He will be a 4th liner that you put out for that intimidation factor while still being able to rely on him to make plays and be a part of the offense.

Bill Arnold - Much like Knight, any NHL success he gets will probably be based around his face-off abilities. He's shown alot of promise in this area so far this season, as well as being an excellent playmaker to a very quick and shifty winger. He plays well defensively too. He definitely has some tools to be a good NHL support player. However, with Knight and Colborne, I'm not sure if he would have a place on the Flames in that capacity. He might be another player who ends up being moved due to redundancy and playing this role on another team.

Tyler Wotherspoon - Possibly could even be an impact player. Is a steady defenceman who rarely makes mistakes and logs LONG minutes every night. Starting to learn how to use his cannon of a shot. If he can put it all together at the NHL level, he will be an impact player.



NHL Fringe Players:

Michael Ferland - Needs to find some consistency before I'd put him any higher up on the list. Some nights he's all over the ice and well disciplined and some nights he's wanting to thug it up. The biggest factor in his NHL success is much like Baertschi, between the ears. If he can get it all straight, he will be in the NHL. If he struggles, he will probably quit the game instead of plug away in the AHL.

Max Reinhart - I want so much more from him and I hope for so much more from him, but to be realistic, I think he will probably be one of those tweener players who gets thrown into deadline trades and plays a few great games in the NHL with his new team before going back to the minors to help develop other prospects. Best case, he catches on as a Top 9 guy and plays low double digits a night against the other teams 2nd line as he does have strong defensive play and makes good decisions. He just can't seem to figure out how to score consistently.

Sven Baertschi - If he gets his head together and keeps playing like he has the last couple games, he goes up to Support Player. If the Sven of old shows up again, he stays in fringe. It's a really awkward time to rate him because he's JUST starting to break out of the bad attitude and bad habits. We've seen this before and then he returns to his old ways. I would rather give an answer on this in March after you see if this new Sven sticks around for any length of time. I also don't think he sees NHL success with the Flames. I think he needs to be moved to a team out East to have a real chance. He doesn't play Western Conference style hockey, he plays Eastern Conference style.

Ryan Culkin - Well, he's a beast on the PP as he's currently one of the top defenceman in the AHL on the PP. He's also a rookie and with 28 games it's hard to be certain of anything. He could be a PP Quarterback. Let's see how he ends up at the end of the year.



AHL Career Players - Bouncers:

Garnet Hathaway - I don't think he has the skills to make it to the NHL, but he can probably have a decent AHL career. It's hard to tell with him as he's an older player coming out of college and only has 50 or so games in the AHL.

Devin Setoguchi - I really question his injury. I really wonder if the injury is to his ego rather than legit. I have no proof, but it's a gut feeling as there's no information about him at all. He played well for a couple of the games he was with the Flames, but I think his sort of position as his career is winding down.

Taylor Vause - He's a spark plug and he gets his linemates going and playing a little better. I hope that the Flames offer him an AHL contract as I have a feeling if we don't, he will be picked up very quickly by another team much like Brodie Reid was. He can play and play well at the AHL level and shown he deserves to play in this league.

Bryce Van Brabant - Streaky. Streaky, streaky, streaky. But big. And when he's good, he's on fire. Being a college guy, again, need a little more time to see what he can do and what he levels off to because Josh Jooris sort of played the same way he did with similar numbers and streaks and look how that ended up.

Turner Elson - When bad things happen to good guys. If he could cash in some of his personality points for a little more skill, he'd be set. He tries hard, he works hard, he's got a great personality. It just isn't enough to push past some of the guys he's fighting for a spot with. He will probably spend time bouncing from AHL team to AHL team.

Mathieu Tousignant - I like the guy. But his role can and will be easily replaced once the next batch of prospects come in. Wolf is almost making him redundant at this point. He will bounce to his next AHL team when the season ends.



AHL Career Players - Builders:

Kenny Agostino - He's going to be one of those guys who teach our prospects while they are in the AHL and help them out to NHL careers. Again, he's early in his AHL career and a college guy whose hit a wall to boot, but it seems like he's going to be a solid AHL guy.

Ben Hanowski - He's stepped up in his second year of being an AHL player to the point the coach has him wearing an A because of his leadership and his attitude in the rink. Same reasons he wore the C in college. I think after this season, Ben becomes the Captain of the Baby Flames and mentors our young guys into their roles on the team while keeping the AHL team successful. He takes the AHL seriously and he takes the leadership role seriously, it's a great mix. I hope that he sees a reward for all of this with some NHL time and maybe can stay up and play some good minutes for a bit, but I get the feeling he will ultimately spend most of his seasons in the AHL.

Brad Thiessen - Extremely competent backup goalie. Probably not starter material anymore and nearing the end of the career, but he has been a solid backup for the Flames and based on his play this season, could continue in that role for at least another season.

Mark Cundari - I think he knows he's an AHL career player at this point. I don't think we are informing him of anything new here. He might be a call up much like Potter if they need a 7th guy, but I don't think he will ever be called up to play big minutes. He's a great option for a fill in, but not long term.



AHL Fringe Players:

Trevor Gillies - The writing is on the wall. His career is done. Why he even has one with the Flames right now baffles the mind.
Sena Acolaste - He's been replaced on a team before, he will be replaced again.

Dustin Stevenson - He probably should be in the ECHL right now logging more minutes as he's part of the rotating Dmen routine in Adirondack and starting to lose more starts due to others earning spots ahead of him. He hasn't shown anything to deserve the time every night. There is a reason why he's spent most of his career in the ECHL.

John Ramage - Being in the ECHL did wonders for his game last season, but he still has things to work on. He's not quite needing to be in the ECHL, but he has some things to work on to be consistent in the AHL.

Nolan Yonkman - Dollars to doughnuts, he retires after this season. Much like Dean Arsene, we signed him for his final year and gave him the C so he could finish out an AHL career with some respect. We will have no need for him next year with the sheer amount of D-men we have coming in and currently there as well as he will be 35 and probably choose to shut it down anyway.


Guys who lost a year of development and keep getting injured so you can't really tell what they are able to do:

Patrick Sieloff - I honestly have no clue what to say about him or where he will end up. He lost a year of development, he's injured again now. He plays okay, but he gets hurt. He needed a good AHL year to catch up on lost time and so we can tell what he could do. He's currently on the rotating D-man roster so he doesn't even have full time AHL minutes. I think he's still a year or two away from being able to accurately assess what he can do. And bubble wrap him, please someone bubble wrap him.

[FBI]

How about kulak, drury?

[Drury18]

I don't have enough on Kulak to make a proper assessment on him. I haven't watched any Eagles games nor can I say I follow them much more then when I am doing up the stats or catching the odd story.

Based on the info I do have, I would say he's doing well and playing regular minutes in the ECHL and finding success there so I believe he belongs in the ECHL right now. I think he's probably getting a better shake at things being in the ECHL rather then the AHL and fighting for ice time with the other backlog of D-men we have.

That's about as fair of an assessment as I could make right now.

[savardandjokinen]

Originally Posted by Drury18

I have to split up "AHL Career Players" into guys who will spend their career bouncing around the AHL and guys who are integral pieces of an AHL team to help the development of players who are prospects in our system. To me, these are two very different positions and one being a very important one because you have to have some of those players on an AHL team for leadership and direction.


NHL Impact Players:

Emile Poirier - His 2015-16 season to do list needs to have "Buy Calder Trophy Polish" on it. And work on some goal celebrations. Unless something SERIOUSLY goes wrong in his development, this kid is going to be something else for the Flames.

Joni Ortio - You can pry the homer glasses from my cold, dead hands. I think Ortio has the right attitude, personality and skills to be an NHL goaltender and a good one to boot. We have watched him bail his team out game after game. Ortio doesn't lose games for his team, he pulls out saves and helps them win when they are over their heads. He seems to love the pressure and earns the trust of his coaches and teammates. All the tools be a great NHL player.



NHL Support Players:

Corban Knight - He could almost be a fringe player but I think his face-off ability is going to be what carries any NHL career he has. He's good at face-offs and he can score clutch goals, so I think he could solidify a spot on an NHL team as a 3rd line centre as well as a PK unit centre. He'll spend most nights doing his thing quietly maybe having a break out and notice me game here and there.

David Wolf - I think this is the face of the new NHL "goon" if you will. Players who have higher skill, but not afraid to get in there and stand up for their teammates. Instead of having guys like McGrattan where they are only known for fighting and have limited other skills in hockey, Wolf has shown he can pass the puck well, an absolute freight train when he gets moving with the puck and can take and hand out clean HEAVY hits. He will be a 4th liner that you put out for that intimidation factor while still being able to rely on him to make plays and be a part of the offense.

Bill Arnold - Much like Knight, any NHL success he gets will probably be based around his face-off abilities. He's shown alot of promise in this area so far this season, as well as being an excellent playmaker to a very quick and shifty winger. He plays well defensively too. He definitely has some tools to be a good NHL support player. However, with Knight and Colborne, I'm not sure if he would have a place on the Flames in that capacity. He might be another player who ends up being moved due to redundancy and playing this role on another team.

Tyler Wotherspoon - Possibly could even be an impact player. Is a steady defenceman who rarely makes mistakes and logs LONG minutes every night. Starting to learn how to use his cannon of a shot. If he can put it all together at the NHL level, he will be an impact player.



NHL Fringe Players:

Michael Ferland - Needs to find some consistency before I'd put him any higher up on the list. Some nights he's all over the ice and well disciplined and some nights he's wanting to thug it up. The biggest factor in his NHL success is much like Baertschi, between the ears. If he can get it all straight, he will be in the NHL. If he struggles, he will probably quit the game instead of plug away in the AHL.

Max Reinhart - I want so much more from him and I hope for so much more from him, but to be realistic, I think he will probably be one of those tweener players who gets thrown into deadline trades and plays a few great games in the NHL with his new team before going back to the minors to help develop other prospects. Best case, he catches on as a Top 9 guy and plays low double digits a night against the other teams 2nd line as he does have strong defensive play and makes good decisions. He just can't seem to figure out how to score consistently.

Sven Baertschi - If he gets his head together and keeps playing like he has the last couple games, he goes up to Support Player. If the Sven of old shows up again, he stays in fringe. It's a really awkward time to rate him because he's JUST starting to break out of the bad attitude and bad habits. We've seen this before and then he returns to his old ways. I would rather give an answer on this in March after you see if this new Sven sticks around for any length of time. I also don't think he sees NHL success with the Flames. I think he needs to be moved to a team out East to have a real chance. He doesn't play Western Conference style hockey, he plays Eastern Conference style.

Ryan Culkin - Well, he's a beast on the PP as he's currently one of the top defenceman in the AHL on the PP. He's also a rookie and with 28 games it's hard to be certain of anything. He could be a PP Quarterback. Let's see how he ends up at the end of the year.



AHL Career Players - Bouncers:

Garnet Hathaway - I don't think he has the skills to make it to the NHL, but he can probably have a decent AHL career. It's hard to tell with him as he's an older player coming out of college and only has 50 or so games in the AHL.

Devin Setoguchi - I really question his injury. I really wonder if the injury is to his ego rather than legit. I have no proof, but it's a gut feeling as there's no information about him at all. He played well for a couple of the games he was with the Flames, but I think his sort of position as his career is winding down.

Taylor Vause - He's a spark plug and he gets his linemates going and playing a little better. I hope that the Flames offer him an AHL contract as I have a feeling if we don't, he will be picked up very quickly by another team much like Brodie Reid was. He can play and play well at the AHL level and shown he deserves to play in this league.

Bryce Van Brabant - Streaky. Streaky, streaky, streaky. But big. And when he's good, he's on fire. Being a college guy, again, need a little more time to see what he can do and what he levels off to because Josh Jooris sort of played the same way he did with similar numbers and streaks and look how that ended up.

Turner Elson - When bad things happen to good guys. If he could cash in some of his personality points for a little more skill, he'd be set. He tries hard, he works hard, he's got a great personality. It just isn't enough to push past some of the guys he's fighting for a spot with. He will probably spend time bouncing from AHL team to AHL team.

Mathieu Tousignant - I like the guy. But his role can and will be easily replaced once the next batch of prospects come in. Wolf is almost making him redundant at this point. He will bounce to his next AHL team when the season ends.



AHL Career Players - Builders:

Kenny Agostino - He's going to be one of those guys who teach our prospects while they are in the AHL and help them out to NHL careers. Again, he's early in his AHL career and a college guy whose hit a wall to boot, but it seems like he's going to be a solid AHL guy.

Ben Hanowski - He's stepped up in his second year of being an AHL player to the point the coach has him wearing an A because of his leadership and his attitude in the rink. Same reasons he wore the C in college. I think after this season, Ben becomes the Captain of the Baby Flames and mentors our young guys into their roles on the team while keeping the AHL team successful. He takes the AHL seriously and he takes the leadership role seriously, it's a great mix. I hope that he sees a reward for all of this with some NHL time and maybe can stay up and play some good minutes for a bit, but I get the feeling he will ultimately spend most of his seasons in the AHL.

Brad Thiessen - Extremely competent backup goalie. Probably not starter material anymore and nearing the end of the career, but he has been a solid backup for the Flames and based on his play this season, could continue in that role for at least another season.

Mark Cundari - I think he knows he's an AHL career player at this point. I don't think we are informing him of anything new here. He might be a call up much like Potter if they need a 7th guy, but I don't think he will ever be called up to play big minutes. He's a great option for a fill in, but not long term.



AHL Fringe Players:

Trevor Gillies - The writing is on the wall. His career is done. Why he even has one with the Flames right now baffles the mind.
Sena Acolaste - He's been replaced on a team before, he will be replaced again.

Dustin Stevenson - He probably should be in the ECHL right now logging more minutes as he's part of the rotating Dmen routine in Adirondack and starting to lose more starts due to others earning spots ahead of him. He hasn't shown anything to deserve the time every night. There is a reason why he's spent most of his career in the ECHL.

John Ramage - Being in the ECHL did wonders for his game last season, but he still has things to work on. He's not quite needing to be in the ECHL, but he has some things to work on to be consistent in the AHL.

Nolan Yonkman - Dollars to doughnuts, he retires after this season. Much like Dean Arsene, we signed him for his final year and gave him the C so he could finish out an AHL career with some respect. We will have no need for him next year with the sheer amount of D-men we have coming in and currently there as well as he will be 35 and probably choose to shut it down anyway.


Guys who lost a year of development and keep getting injured so you can't really tell what they are able to do:

Patrick Sieloff - I honestly have no clue what to say about him or where he will end up. He lost a year of development, he's injured again now. He plays okay, but he gets hurt. He needed a good AHL year to catch up on lost time and so we can tell what he could do. He's currently on the rotating D-man roster so he doesn't even have full time AHL minutes. I think he's still a year or two away from being able to accurately assess what he can do. And bubble wrap him, please someone bubble wrap him.

If Granlund counted, as he is expected to go down, where would you rank him?

[Drury18]

Granlund is somewhere between Impact and Support player for me. I think he will be support for a few years before making that jump to an Impact player, but I do expect him to reach that at some point because he is such a skilled and smart player. He just has a few pieces left to put together at the NHL level but he's also only 21 and playing in his 2nd North American season. He should be a Top 6 guy and good for 20+ goal seasons consistently, but he's just not at that level yet.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

I like how different Drury's list is from mine. Just goes to show how fans who watch the team closely assess players differently.

Drury, in particular, I found it interesting that you put Ferland and Sven as Fringe players and Wolf as a support player. That took me a little by surprise. Maybe I'm guilty of looking at Sven's draft position and just pegging him as a support player. Maybe he should be a fringe player...

[Calgary4LIfe]

Agreed with all of Drury's thoughts to a T, with the exception of Ferland. I think inconsistency will always be a part of his game. I do think those types of players (guys who can score, and guys who can really fight and intimidate) are often inconsistent even at the NHL level. The best example right now is Lucic. Some Boston fans love him and think he is one of the most important cogs on that team, others feel the team should cut bait since he makes way too much money being an inconsistent player. We will see, however.

I am perhaps just slightly higher on Hanowski than Drury - I think he has a better chance to crack the NHL as a good depth player due to his character and all-round game. Just think he is just one of those guys that will just take a few years toiling in the NHL before catching a real break and making the most of it. I just think he is just too driven to stay out of the NHL, and has good enough size, scoring and 'jam' to his game to eventually put it together. I wasn't very high on him before, but it is one prospect that has really grown on me.

On another note, I am sort of down on Ramage. I remember the biggest knock on him was his skating, but the biggest strength was his IQ. Skating seems competent I think, but he just doesn't seem to get it together. I thought for sure this season would see him as one of the risers on the team, but it doesn't appear that is going well. I thought he was simply a "can't miss prospect" since I thought he was so good defensively - thought he would eventually become a bottom pairing shut-down D. He really needs to take a step forward.

On a sidenote, I am blown away by the Reinharts - all 3 brothers. Paul Reinhart I thought was a very good skater, and that allowed him to be utilized as a winger and as a defencemen, and he was good at both. How did his 3 kids all have below average skating? I do think Max is getting better - I think his skating now is competent, and has taken a big step forward from his days in junior, but I thought Paul Reinhart's kids would for sure be these silky smooth skaters. Kind of funny that none of them are.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

Drury, in particular, I found it interesting that you put Ferland and Sven as Fringe players and Wolf as a support player. That took me a little by surprise. Maybe I'm guilty of looking at Sven's draft position and just pegging him as a support player. Maybe he should be a fringe player...

Honestly, enough years of watching major junior hockey and watching those players transition into the NHL, draft position means zilch to me. Obviously there is a stronger probability of 1st round players being those impact and support guys, but you only need to look on the Flames roster and the draft positions of the impact players now to see it doesn't mean everything. Gio is undrafted, Hudler is late 2nd round, Gaudreau is 4th round, Hiller is undrafted. Or look at Edmonton and all their 1st round/1st overall picks...

For me, the reason I have Ferland and Sven on fringe is because their hurdle to the NHL is themselves. Both have some issues with mental toughness (Ferland even admitting to wanting to quit hockey) and both seem to require the mental maturity to play in the NHL. I think that's harder to develop and learn then say a skill or something on ice. For example, Hanowski's knock has been his skating. You can address that with getting him to trim down and getting him into skating classes and working with him on that. For someone with self-esteem or confidence issues, which it appears is the nature of both Ferland and Sven's hurdles, it's not an easy fix, nor is is always successful. They have the skills to play the game, but they have the bigger hurdle to overcome in order to play it. If they can't, they won't stick in the NHL because of that.

In Wolf, the kid knows who he is, knows his role, knows his game. You don't see Wolf out there lost what he should do or where he should be. He almost has no hesitation and he does what the coaches want. I think if you released McGrattan and Bollig and put Wolf in their place right now, it wouldn't be a downgrade to the NHL Flames. I think Wolf could step into that role now where he's playing 6 minutes, maybe contributing more to plays and protecting the guys like Gaudreau and Monahan. Like I said, I think he's the new "NHL Goon".

[Bingo]

Great work guys.

I think most of us have a good handle on prospects, and where they are, but nothing beats the guys that have seen them live playing pro hockey over and over again.

Completely different perspective.

[FBI]

and even then, our resident prospect masters will still miss out on a hidden gem like Jooris! You just never know..

Originally Posted by Bingo

Great work guys.

I think most of us have a good handle on prospects, and where they are, but nothing beats the guys that have seen them live playing pro hockey over and over again.

Completely different perspective.

[Drury18]

You needed a crystal ball to accurately call that one!

If we did this last year, I would have put him as a career AHL guy and laughed at any thought of him doing a quarter of what he has with the Flames.

Glad to be wrong on that one though. He's an easy guy to like and cheer for. It just didn't look like he would do much based on last season. That's the wonderment of development. While some guys can have a sudden regression, others can overnight have everything click and run with it.

[FBI]

So who's next years jooris for ya?

I'll say wolf. Comes in and dominates physically and chips in a bit offensively despite his skating.

[Bingo]

Here's the prospect update from the poll, my thoughts anyway.

1. Gaudreau - 61.41% graduated
2. Bennett - - 87.44% new top prospect
3. Baertschi - 58.47% on the mend?
4. Poirier - 61.61% Huge rookie pro season
5. Granlund - 56.39% big steps

Top 5 all in good shape, and Baertschi starting to earn his top 5 ranking

6. Klimchuk - 43.53% solid season
7. Wotherspoon - 49.15% solid season
8. Reinhart - 28.86% Stock falling
9. Ortio - Runoff over Gillies solid season
10. Gillies - Loser of Runoff solid season

Rest of top 10 having solid seasons with exception of Reinhart?

11. Jankowski - 51.49%
12. Sieloff - 38.55% Stock falling
13. Arnold - 46.44% Stock rising?
14. Knight (tie) Would have said falling until last two weeks
15. Ferland (tie) Stock rising?
16. Kulak - 47.67% Stock falling?
17. Agostino - 43.13% Stock falling?
18. Smith - Run off Over McDonald
19. McDonald - 50.77%
20. Kanzig - 34.05% Stock falling?

21. Culkin - 37.57% Stock rising
22. Wolf - 33.66%
23. Hickey - 42.86% Stock rising
24. Ollas Mattson - 35.27%
25. Ben Hanowski - 33.55% Stock rising
26. Rushan Rafikov - 53.57% Stock rising
27. Bryce Van Brabant - 23.93% Stock rising?
28. Eric Roy - 28.05%
29. Mark Cundari - 29.94%
30. John Gilmour - 41.82%

31. John Ramage - 45.83% Stock falling?
32. Tim Harrison - 41.03%
33. Austin Carroll - 32.43% Stock rising
34. Chad Billins - 41.84%
35. Josh Jooris - 43.24% Huge move up!

[Enoch Root]

Josh Jooris came in behind a guy that had already announced he was going to the KHL... unbelievable.

And then made the team!

[FBI]

This poll was super fun last summer by the way..
Really looking forward to the next one.
It'd be nice if the Flames made the playoffs so we'd have less down time also.

[Enoch Root]

We ranked Knight 14th (which was about right IMO), just curious where people think Shore would go.

His AHL numbers (and apparent talent level) are similar to Granlund's but he is a couple years older. So I think he has to come in behind Granlund.

IMO, he probably slots in somewhere in the 6-10 range, maybe between Wotherspoon and Reinhart?