2016 NHL Draft

[MarkGio]

The Flames prospect pool would really benefit from one of Laine or Puljujarvi

[Poe969]

One of the Finns in the first, Tuft in the second and Day in the third!

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Button's latest rankings:

http://www.tsn.ca/craig-s-list-can-t...laine-1.421415

Believe this is the first time I have seen Chychrun not be the top defenceman.

So if we miss out on the top ranked C and Ws then we have a bunch of top 4 defensemen to pick from as well? Man is this draft looking juicy. Such a good consolation prize if we drop out of the playoff race.

[druetetective]

I know Flames need a Fwd bad but how would you guys feel about Flames taking BPA if it's a dman?

Sergachev has looked godly the last month for Windsor. I watched a lot of Provorov last year and think this kid is just as good. Potential #1 guy. Floor I think is a decent 3 or great #4.

[Monahan For Mayor]

Originally Posted by druetetective

I know Flames need a Fwd bad but how would you guys feel about Flames taking BPA if it's a dman?

Sergachev has looked godly the last month for Windsor. I watched a lot of Provorov last year and think this kid is just as good. Potential #1 guy. Floor I think is a decent 3 or great #4.

All for it. If nothing else he is a trade assets, or pushing someone else to being a trade asset.

[hockey.modern]

Originally Posted by druetetective

I know Flames need a Fwd bad but how would you guys feel about Flames taking BPA if it's a dman?

Sergachev has looked godly the last month for Windsor. I watched a lot of Provorov last year and think this kid is just as good. Potential #1 guy. Floor I think is a decent 3 or great #4.

Nope, when guys like Pulijaarvi and Laine are still available you draft them because they fit a much needed role that the team desperately needs. We are already deep in defense and have players in the organization that can step up and to be top potential players.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by hockey.modern

Nope, when guys like Pulijaarvi and Laine are still available you draft them because they fit a much needed role that the team desperately needs. We are already deep in defense and have players in the organization that can step up and to be top potential players.

That's not what he/she asked. IF a defenseman was the best player available do you take them? And of course you do. You always take BPA regardless of position.

If Laine and Puljujarvi are still available then they are probably the best players available unless you're drafting #1 so his question isn't pertinent. It's if we're drafting more in the 6-15 range, would you force a forward or d-man or just take best player available? Best player available for sure.

I know Treliving loves his defensemen and we do have room for one more stud back there, especially if they are big, strong and physical. So if the defensemen in the best player available then I think Treliving will be happy to let Button take him.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by druetetective

I know Flames need a Fwd bad but how would you guys feel about Flames taking BPA if it's a dman?

Sergachev has looked godly the last month for Windsor. I watched a lot of Provorov last year and think this kid is just as good. Potential #1 guy. Floor I think is a decent 3 or great #4.

If we have a top 3 pick, we take a forward because Matthews and The Finns are each gamebreaking talent that fills a need. Position is just the tie-breaker.

If we have a 4th overall pick, we take BPA.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by druetetective

I know Flames need a Fwd bad but how would you guys feel about Flames taking BPA if it's a dman?

I'd feel great about it. Especially if the defenseman was big, strong, mean, skilled and could skate. That's a big organizational need for us.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

If we have a top 3 pick, we take a forward because Matthews and The Finns are each gamebreaking talent that fills a need. Position is just the tie-breaker.

If we have a 4th overall pick, we take BPA.

If you're drafting top 3 you are taking BPA too. It just so happens that Matthews and the Finns look like the best players available at the top of this draft at this time. We wouldn't be taking them because they are forwards, we'd be taking them because they are elite talents rated at the very top of the draft.

[Enoch Root]

BPA is a vastly over-used argument.

It simply isn't that cut and dried. When you're drafting between 5th and 10th for example, your probably looking at 4 or 5 essentially equal prospects. One might be a better skater and another have a better shot or higher hockey IQ. It's a question of preferences.

Ask 5 scouts which one is the BPA and you probably get 5 different answers. So just take the one you like (and that is often influenced by position or team need).

When it becomes an issue is when a team reaches. If the next tier of players doesn't include a LW, for example, but a team really wants an LW so they reach down into the next tier. That's when they get themselves in trouble.

And I am confident Treliving would never do that.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

So if we miss out on the top ranked C and Ws then we have a bunch of top 4 defensemen to pick from as well? Man is this draft looking juicy. Such a good consolation prize if we drop out of the playoff race.

That's why I'm kind of ambivalent whether the Flames finish in the playoffs or in the bottom five. Being intellectually honest, Calgary lacks about 4-5 decent secondary pieces that will be exposed eventually as the playoffs progress and if they face Anaheim in the first round, I doubt that we would see much change from the series a year ago. If they don't make the playoffs they are likely going to get either a huge RW or another high end D-man. In the coming seasons, we could see our defense corp of Giordano-Brodie, Kylington-Hamilton, 2016 1st round pick-Andersson/Hickey. That would easily rival Nashville for the best D-corp top to bottom.

The Flames are heading in the right direction overall whether they make the playoffs or not. Getting another high end piece would do nothing but help.

I think if the Flames are picking say 9th/10th that they'd take Gauthier instead of one of the group of LW/C ahead of him. It will be interesting to see whether they can add another late 1st if they trade Hudler at the end of next month.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

BPA is a vastly over-used argument.

It simply isn't that cut and dried. When you're drafting between 5th and 10th for example, your probably looking at 4 or 5 essentially equal prospects. One might be a better skater and another have a better shot or higher hockey IQ. It's a question of preferences.

Ask 5 scouts which one is the BPA and you probably get 5 different answers. So just take the one you like (and that is often influenced by position or team need).

When it becomes an issue is when a team reaches. If the next tier of players doesn't include a LW, for example, but a team really wants an LW so they reach down into the next tier. That's when they get themselves in trouble.

And I am confident Treliving would never do that.

IIRC, the Flames (and other teams) assign weights to specific areas like "IQ", "Size", "Skill", "Character", etc. Then they assign a numerical value to each one. That is how they determine BPA when it is their call.

I would imagine most teams kind of do this. You get a difference of opinion because different organizations place a different weight on these values (or instance, Flames are placing a larger emphasis on IQ and character), as well as the subjective numerical value assigned to these players by the scouts. Ask 10 scouts from 10 different organizations to assign a numerical value onto any one value, and you may get widely different numbers.

Also, scouts are not all the same. They each have their own personal biases as to what makes a player a good one. Some organizations have larger scouting staffs and can view certain players much more often - so they may see a bunch of bad games and then see the good games as well, and have a much more balanced opinion of said player. Some scouts are very experienced and can pick out young players who have the best chance of becoming NHL players - others seemingly are about as good as I am (and I freely admit to sucking completely).

I still think that most organizations pick BPA. It may get a bit tricky at the top of the draft since the top 5 (sometimes more) kids are essentially kids with very high ceilings who are already NHL-ready - so you can pick for need.

Do organizations pick for organizational need at times? I bet they do. I do think that organizations - especially in the 2nd half of the draft - look at the number of prospects in each position, and balance it out a bit. You can't have 15 LW'ers in the system and no defencemen - tough to get NHL players out of that situation I guess. I am assuming they do try to balance it out.

An organization can suddenly find itself going from extremely strong in one area, and then extremely weak in a matter of a couple of seasons. Flames were incredibly strong on RW with Iginla, Bourque (and he was great for a while and young), Bertuzzi, Moss, etc. Suddenly it became a wasteland. Defence too, with arguably the best defensive group in the NHL with Regehr, Phaneuf, Bouwmeester, Sarich, Giordano to what we saw in the last couple of years. If it wasn't for the Wideman signing, Russel trade, and now the Hamilton trade this year, Flames would not have a very solid defence at all. A bit of a straw-man on that one, but you kind of get the point.

If you routinely draft for need, some players might not be available to fill that need (even at the top end of the draft) for a couple of seasons, and by that time the landscape can be drastically different.

[The Fonz]

We desperately need one of those big, strong, fast, skilled RW'ers in Laine or Puljujarvi. In my limited viewings, I actually liked Laine's game moreso than Puljujarvi's.

Oh my god would I ever get the giggles if we drafted one of them.

[FCAV]

Fresh off a new site release comes a new rankings release. We've changed up the way we've presented our monthly rankings to go a little bit more in-depth on not only the reasoning, but those rising and falling along the way as well. Top 5 goes as follows:

1. Auston Matthews
2. Jesse Puljujarvi
3. Patrik Laine
4. Jakob Chychrun
5. Matthew Tkachuk

Feel free to dig in:

Coming into the event, American center Auston Matthews was on a pedestal as our undisputed No. 1 prospect available, but only death and taxes are absolutes and views have changed since early December.

A handful of guys have elevated their play and in turn their draft stock at the WJC, one of whom is now engaged in a battle for the top selection.

Matthews has some competition in big Finnish winger Jesse Puljujarvi for that top spot.

http://futureconsiderations.ca/fc-re...016-nhl-draft/

[Fischy13]

I think last nights loss was the nail in the coffin for the Flames. Arizona is rolling with a backup goalie. SJ isn't falling out like I thought they would and Anahiem has their shyt figured out and could be adding Drouin. 5 points out, not impossible but the Flames are trending the wrong way, no consistency. Top 5 pick for them this year.

[Henry Fool]

I think Futureconsiderations are overstating Puljujärvi's impact in the Finnish league in the first half of the season. Feels like many people have been more impressed with Laine throughout the season.

To me Laine has star level upside and I don't see why a team would prefer Puljujärvi.

[Erick Estrada]

I feel pretty good about this draft knowing the Flames will very likely be drafting in the top 5. This team needs another Monahan/Bennet type building block forward.

[Caged Great]

Any of Matthews, Puljujarvi, Laine, Chychrun, Nylander, Gauthier, Juolevi and Sergachyov would be great additions. The best part is that there's one C, 4 RW and 3 D on that list, all of which are very useful players. As long as the Flames are picking in the top 8, one of them would be ours.

[FCAV]

Originally Posted by Henry Fool

I think Futureconsiderations are overstating Puljujärvi's impact in the Finnish league in the first half of the season. Feels like many people have been more impressed with Laine throughout the season.

To me Laine has star level upside and I don't see why a team would prefer Puljujärvi.

This article actually touches on it in an indirect way:

“For me, and likely everyone else who witnessed these guy dominate in Helsinki,” started Future Considerations scouting director Dan Stewart, “Jesse Puljujarvi and Patrik Laine were both my guys who really made me think Matthews better not let up or go through a funk the second half of this season or he might risk being overtaken.”

http://futureconsiderations.ca/pulju...atthews-a-run/