Behind the Scenes video - Flames Interview room at combine

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by H2SO4(aq)

Virtanen seems like he'd be an excellent pick. sadly he wouldnt be an excellent pick at #4. If we are to end up acquiring the kid (and i hope we do) it would HAVE to be trading up back into the top ten. Perfect draft for Calgary would be taking one of the centres and then Virtanen. addresses two critical prospect depth issues and shifts the focus to building up our back end.

I'd be leery of that simply because developing Dmen takes longer than it does to develop a forward. If we get all these great forward prospects into the pipe without the D to support them, then we run the risk of mirroring the issues up north.

If nothing else, that is one of the main reasons I would want Ekblad this season and get him into the system now and then allow next year to be a focus on those "critical" prospect depth issues on forward.

[4oh3]

Originally Posted by Wolven

I'd be leery of that simply because developing Dmen takes longer than it does to develop a forward. If we get all these great forward prospects into the pipe without the D to support them, then we run the risk of mirroring the issues up north.



If nothing else, that is one of the main reasons I would want Ekblad this season and get him into the system now and then allow next year to be a focus on those "critical" prospect depth issues on forward.

I hope we can grab Honka with our second.

[Huntingwhale]

I would honestly love to see the Oiler's version and the look of fear on the prospects' faces as they interview them.

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I would honestly love to see the Oiler's version and the look of fear on the prospects' faces as they interview them.

Prospects are probably squinting as the collective shininess of all the cup rings, layed out to reinforce that the Oilers are being led by winners, in the room reflects back into their eyes.

[nik-]

Lowe's combover did more pull ups than Sam Bennett

[Vulcan]

It will be interesting to see if Bennett's no pull up will affect his draft status. It is pretty bad for an athlete.

[Monahan23]

Interesting Q's like who were the last 3 cup winners? Wonder if anyone didn't know.

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

It will be interesting to see if Bennett's no pull up will affect his draft status. It is pretty bad for an athlete.

Third interview question: "Bro, do you even lift?"

[Fire]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

It will be interesting to see if Bennett's no pull up will affect his draft status. It is pretty bad for an athlete.

How would you know if it affected his draft position or not?

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Fire

How would you know if it affected his draft position or not?

I'd take a wild guess.

[Francis's Hairpiece]

Originally Posted by nik-

Lowe's combover did more pull ups than Sam Bennett

Hello new quote. Fricken hilarious.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

It will be interesting to see if Bennett's no pull up will affect his draft status. It is pretty bad for an athlete.

I don't think it will cause him to drop very much. I imagine most teams will wonder how much better he will be when he gets stronger.

However, if he also comes across as lazy in the interviews then the combination of factors would be a huge red flag to me.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

It will be interesting to see if Bennett's no pull up will affect his draft status. It is pretty bad for an athlete.

Can't see it having any effect at all. These are kids. They are just starting to train to be professional athletes. Everyone already knew that Bennett was a bit physically underdeveloped. No surprise there at all.

How exactly does a pull up help you in hockey? Bennett is a tremendous skater and will get stronger in the upper body as his career goes on. I think posters here are making more of a deal out of it then any scouts would be.

[Caged Great]

Bennett is strong on his skates with a very good shot. The fact he can't do a pull up is a good thing. He's this awesome while not being very strong, it just means he has room to get stronger.

[FAN]

Originally Posted by saXon

However, if the top 4 consensus presents itself undeniably, as it has for many scouts, sports writers, GM's, etc, then it would be poor judgment for the Flames to skip over them for Virtanen.

Originally Posted by H2SO4(aq)

Virtanen seems like he'd be an excellent pick. sadly he wouldnt be an excellent pick at #4.

Virtanen would be an excellent pick at #4 if that's the guy the Flames management and scouts like and he ends up being the BPA. Thing is Virtanen is a legitimate top 8 pick in this draft so even if you trade down, there's no guarantee he will be available at even #5.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Can't see it having any effect at all. These are kids. They are just starting to train to be professional athletes. Everyone already knew that Bennett was a bit physically underdeveloped. No surprise there at all.

How exactly does a pull up help you in hockey? Bennett is a tremendous skater and will get stronger in the upper body as his career goes on. I think posters here are making more of a deal out of it then any scouts would be.

For the oilers it could be some concern if Bennett will be able to help pick Yakapov off the ice after he slides scoring a goal.

[Saqe]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

Bennett is strong on his skates with a very good shot. The fact he can't do a pull up is a good thing. He's this awesome while not being very strong, it just means he has room to get stronger.

I guess you can turn everything into a positive but to me it's pathetic that a guy who has been an athlete his whole life can't manage one.

Now having said that, it hasn't affected his hockey career at all and probably won't in the future. It does raise some questions though how much he will improve or at least how fast will his physique improve since he obviously isn't a gym rat.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by Saqe

I guess you can turn everything into a positive but to me it's pathetic that a guy who has been an athlete his whole life can't manage one.

Now having said that, it hasn't affected his hockey career at all and probably won't in the future. It does raise some questions though how much he will improve or at least how fast will his physique improve since he obviously isn't a gym rat.

His hero, Doug Gilmour, played at 175 lbs. and often lost around 10 pounds over a grueling season. Bennett has a fairly-narrow-across-the-shoulders look that likely means he'll never be that much bigger than he is now, but you can still be gritty and smaller.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Saqe

I guess you can turn everything into a positive but to me it's pathetic that a guy who has been an athlete his whole life can't manage one.

Now having said that, it hasn't affected his hockey career at all and probably won't in the future. It does raise some questions though how much he will improve or at least how fast will his physique improve since he obviously isn't a gym rat.

My thought is that this may actually end up being a good thing. If he is good enough to be a top pick without having the type of strength and physicality of the others, it means his talent level might be that much higher and his potential could see him out pace those that are already physically mature.

**EDIT* I think it's important to remember that these are all still kids. Some of them (Ekblad) might have mostly matured into men, but some of them are still boys and may be delayed in their physical development.

It is surprising/odd though. You'd think he has to do chin ups during his in-season training with the Junior club, or at least would have been told to be prepared for that test and be able to pump out a few. But if he wasn't doing full/proper chinups in training and then is asked to do one with a certain technique, he may not be able to do it because those muscles for the initial pull arent developed at all. But again, odd as you would think he has been getting proper training in that regard from his Junior team and/or offseason trainers.

[Saqe]

Originally Posted by MattyC

My thought is that this may actually end up being a good thing. If he is good enough to be a top pick without having the type of strength and physicality of the others, it means his talent level might be that much higher and his potential could see him out pace those that are already physically mature.

I'd argue that doing pull-ups doesn't contribute that much to playing hockey, the test just tells more about the overall fitness level of the athlete. If he becomes a monster in pull-ups I doubt that it would suddenly turn him into a unstoppable powerforward.

Originally Posted by MattyC

It is surprising/odd though. You'd think he has to do chin ups during his in-season training with the Junior club.

Or even at school... usually you have some random "tests" that have chin-ups/pull-ups. Either way with his athletic background he wouldn't need more than a week or two of training to at least manage one, just bizarre that he hasn't even tried to improve in that aspect.