[News] Burke says he is unlikely to trade up... hasn't watched Bennett

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Dal Colle is in the top 4. Take him over the slow Draisaitl every day

Only on a list or two. Draisaitl is the clear number 4. But still in the end, the Flames take the center.

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[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Only on a list or two. Draisaitl is the clear number 4. But still in the end, the Flames take the center.

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Dal Colle has been listed as centre/left wing. Disagree Draisaitl is the clear number 4

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Draisaitl isn't nearly as slow as you guys seem to think.

He has a good burst of speed, but he doesn't play a fast game to begin with. He's a slower, more methodical player ala Kopitar, Thornton, Jagr. He protects the puck well, has great awareness, and is a hell of a passer.

He's also been trending up pretty much the entire draft season. The more scouts see him, the more they like him. If it came down between Dal Colle and Draisaitl, I'd sooner have Draisaitl. He's much more of a playmaking centre than Monahan showed himself to be in his first pro season. They could be a great 1-2 punch together.

Exactly. Some of the greatest players in history were "slow". How rare is it that a player who is great uses his speed more than his ability to slow down a play? Pavel Bure maybe? Countless "slow" players in the Hall of fame or HOF bound. Being slow sometimes is by design. Such an overrated word.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Dal Colle has been listed as centre/left wing. Disagree Draisaitl is the clear number 4

Dal Colle hasn't played center since he went to the OHL. There's probably a very likely reason for that. And I don't think it has to do with his teams center depth. You're entitled to disagree but as I said, its a prediction.

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[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Dal Colle has been listed as centre/left wing. Disagree Draisaitl is the clear number 4

Dal Colle, from everything I've seen, hasn't played Centre in Jr. He was shifted to the wing due to team depth (which wasn't even THAT great - it wasn't like he was playing with McDavid, Monahan, Bennett, Reinhart or Mackinnon or anyone super high profile) right from the start of his Jr. career.

Draft the best player available: Draisaitl by almost all accounts, is that.

Draft the Centre before you draft the winger unless it's under extraordinary circumstances (like Patrick Kane instead of Kyle Turris, where the talent gap is MASSIVE and well defined).

[Rick M.]

If we picked 5th Dal Colle would be our man, at 4th take the center available.

[dissentowner]

I think it is clear many on here have not seen Ritchie play.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

The dislike for Ritchie is insane in this thread.

A guy with that kind of skill, size, speed and tenacity is easily welcomed on my team any day.

Sometimes if a team really like a prospect they have to go for him. Like Emile Poirier last year. Most pundits questioned that pick and we the Flames fans defended our selection because it was he who the scouting staff wanted.

If it's Ritchie the scouts like then go for it.

Agreed. There seems to be a bias among fans that big = less talented and less intelligent. It is ridiculous.

If any one of Ekblad, Reinhart or Bennett fall to 4th, then it is an absolute no-brainer to take them.

If not, if it comes down to Draisaitl, Dal Colle or Ritchie, I will leave it up to the scouts as to which one they like.

These are 18 year old kids. It isn't an exact science. Ritchie has all kinds of NHL potential. If they decide to draft him, they will then have to harness that potential. There are lots of NHL stars that had the 'inconsistent' label in junior.

The way some fans get these absolute ideas in their heads is crazy sometimes. A is absolutely better than B, who is absolutely better than C.

Show me one draft in history - one - where the players turned out to be as good as their draft order suggested.

[theoforever]

Ritchie's highlights look very good.
Don't know how he is the rest of the time.
Rumours of being lazy are a concern.

[AC]

Yup if the big 3 are gone I believe Ritchie is in the mix.

I haven't seen him play, nor have I seen anyone outside of that prospects game earlier. However, I've heard and read it mentioned a few times that he might have the best skill in the draft and could potentially become a dominant NHLer.

As mentioned recently, his current physical state could be an argument for his potential being even higher than considered by most as he is considered a dominant player in spite of not great conditioning. If an NHL team changes that, look out by all accounts.

If our scouting staff are of the same mindset (the same staff that I have complete faith in now considering the majority of our last several drafts), then I have no problem with taking Ritchie over Dal Colle or Draisaitl.

That being said, as of right now I'd accept either of those 2 as well as I haven't seen them play, have read good things as well, and again trust our scouts.

[Wolfman]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Agreed. There seems to be a bias among fans that big = less talented and less intelligent. It is ridiculous.

If any one of Ekblad, Reinhart or Bennett fall to 4th, then it is an absolute no-brainer to take them.

If not, if it comes down to Draisaitl, Dal Colle or Ritchie, I will leave it up to the scouts as to which one they like.

These are 18 year old kids. It isn't an exact science. Ritchie has all kinds of NHL potential. If they decide to draft him, they will then have to harness that potential. There are lots of NHL stars that had the 'inconsistent' label in junior.

The way some fans get these absolute ideas in their heads is crazy sometimes. A is absolutely better than B, who is absolutely better than C.

Show me one draft in history - one - where the players turned out to be as good as their draft order suggested.

Especially after 98% of the CPers have never seen Ritchie play more than one game. They are basing their opinions on comparisons to other older NHL players. I don't know how you can base your facts on things like this. Ritchie has been compared to Dustin Penner so people think he is lazy and will hurt himself while at a pancake breakfast. Well Dustin Penner has 2 Stanley Cup rings...so there's that I guess.

Come on people, lets let the scouts do their jobs and draft who they feel is BPA. 18 year olds are so hard to judge, so we should leave it to the people who get paid to do for a living. Our scouts have been doing a good job in picking talent the last few years.

Can everyone gaurantee that Dal Colle or any other prospect will be an all-star? No.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Agreed. There seems to be a bias among fans that big = less talented and less intelligent. It is ridiculous.

If any one of Ekblad, Reinhart or Bennett fall to 4th, then it is an absolute no-brainer to take them.

If not, if it comes down to Draisaitl, Dal Colle or Ritchie, I will leave it up to the scouts as to which one they like.

These are 18 year old kids. It isn't an exact science. Ritchie has all kinds of NHL potential. If they decide to draft him, they will then have to harness that potential. There are lots of NHL stars that had the 'inconsistent' label in junior.

The way some fans get these absolute ideas in their heads is crazy sometimes. A is absolutely better than B, who is absolutely better than C.

Show me one draft in history - one - where the players turned out to be as good as their draft order suggested.

The funny thing is most people have not seen most of these prospects play besides their highlight package.

I'm not gonna lie, I saw bunch of Ehlers highlights and had a hockey crush on him. I bet if I watched bunch of other players I'll like them as well, too bad we can't have them all.

[Wolfman]

Originally Posted by theoforever

Ritchie's highlights look very good.
Don't know how he is the rest of the time.
Rumours of being lazy are a concern.

Would these rumours be from this thread? Or, do you have credible sources on these rumours?

[H2SO4(aq)]

Id rather Ritchie or Dal Colle than Draisaitl. If posters are saying "take the centre" then i hope Ritchie is our guy. Draisaitl just has Magnus Paajarvi written all over him. He doesnt strike me as a guy that will translate his game effectively to the NHL.

[theoforever]

Lack of conditioning was something I heard before.
Don't know much about those guys, except for the top 3.

[Da_Chief]

Lets look at Mackenzie rankings from 2010 (which are pretty much compilation of other sources/scouts).

2010
1. Taylor Hall - Stays there, good player
2. Tyler Seguin - Stays there, good player
3. Erik Gudbransson - Stays there, still trying to figure it out
4. Brandon Gormely - Fell to 13th, still trying to figure it out
5. Cam Fowler - Fell but a solid player
6. Ryan Johansen - moved up, great breakout year
7. Nino - moved up, looked good last year
8. Brett Connolly - moved up, not a good move up
9. Jack Campbell - fell couple spots, not looking good
10. Jeff Skinner - moved up, good player

So from Mackenzie ranking in 2010
-3 players fell
-4 moved up, besides Connolly it looks like a smart decision by those teams.

Simple example of scouts making their picks on their viewing not based on what the popular rankings say. So it's ok to deviate from the plan and pick who you think is the best player.

[AC]

But watching several people on CP lose their minds when we don't take the "consensus" top available pick is such a joy.

I think Monahan may have been the first time it didn't really happen .

[djsFlames]

Back around the loop to the Ritchie conversation..

And by the logic listed above shouldn't we just dismiss draft rankings entirely? Because clearly they have no use. Guys who watch these kids as a career get it wrong all the time, right. I mean it's never really ended up being entirely accurate in the past, so why don't we draft Goldobin at 4th overall? Clearly better than Draisaitl, who I have a feeling will not have a hope at translating his game to the NHL, because, well.. I just have a feeling!

Dear lord.

Try sitting down, reading up and watching video on these kids. Having taken the time to do this, I can fully agree with the scouts that Ritchie is the 6th-7th BPA in this draft. But very unlikely the 4th. You may agree/disagree, that's up to you. But don't just base your opinion on the word of people who're obsessed with the idea of the Flames picking him, or are offended by the some made up stereotype in here that bigger=dumber/less skilled. It's not true.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by AC

But watching several people on CP lose their minds when we don't take the "consensus" top available pick is such a joy.

I think Monahan may have been the first time it didn't really happen .

The site spent months debating Lindholm and Monahan. He was the one left, there was no real debate left.

[AC]

Originally Posted by nik-

The site spent months debating Lindholm and Monahan. He was the one left, there was no real debate left.

Pretty much. It would have been interesting to see the reactions had both been available at our pick.

I bet there would have been a few as usual raging out that we passed on Lindholm.