Calgary Flames and drafting Calgary Hitmen players

[druetetective]

There are a bunch of guys that have the potential to be mid round picks this year. I bet the Flames take 1 of them.

Viewing a prospect too much often exposes their warts however. That's what happens with a lot of the exceptional status guys.

Tavares, Ekblad and Day in particular.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Some tool was giving steinberg the gears on OT about how the flames don't draft enough hitmen becuase that's "the Calgary thing to do". What a moron

was the tool that robert guy (older guy, very loud voice) who gets on a rant and hardly takes a breath? i am guessing when he calls in, stienberg puts him on the air and then goes for a bathroom break and then gets himself a coffee and a snack.

seems that everytime i listen to overtime i hear that guy.

anyways, i was thinking it would be interesting to see a matrix of all the players drafted from WHL teams over the past 20 years. it would be interesting to see which teams graduated the most players tot eh NHL - and by NHL imean guys who have had some type of impact like Getzlaf vs Galiardi - although I suppose that dimishes the hard work Galiardi put in to play a couple of hundred games

[Madman]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Hi all,

So I was going to start a thread like this a few days ago but never got around to it. I never got a chance to watch the 1st and 2nd periods of the San Jose game and caught the last few seconds of Eric Francis talking about something similar.

The WHL Calgary Hitmen have been one of the most consistent teams in the WHL for years and have been under the leadership of Kelly Kisio while in Calgary, I am wondering why more players from here haven't been drafted by Calgary?

I believe the Flames have only ever drafted 3 or 4 Calgary Hitmen but the WHL franchise has put out some solid NHL caliber players over the years.

I will admit I don't follow Major Jr. hockey a lot but I do know that the Hitmen are a very respectable franchise and sometimes the hidden gems might be under your nose.

Anybody have any insight??

Haha, is this Tom?!

[Fischy13]

I think the stars really need to align here, not? What is there, 2-3 players max from the Hitmen that are legit draft prospects? Chances they are within a couple spots of where the Flames are picking as well? I would think it would be rare for 3 players to line up that close with the ~7 picks per year.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Anybody here watch much Hitmen? How are Karnaukhov and Kanzig doing these days?

[Magnum PEI]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

was the tool that robert guy (older guy, very loud voice) who gets on a rant and hardly takes a breath? i am guessing when he calls in, stienberg puts him on the air and then goes for a bathroom break and then gets himself a coffee and a snack.

seems that everytime i listen to overtime i hear that guy.

anyways, i was thinking it would be interesting to see a matrix of all the players drafted from WHL teams over the past 20 years. it would be interesting to see which teams graduated the most players tot eh NHL - and by NHL imean guys who have had some type of impact like Getzlaf vs Galiardi - although I suppose that dimishes the hard work Galiardi put in to play a couple of hundred games

The caller's name was Tom, and he just berated Steinberg. It was ridiculous, but I did agree that Steinberg will dismiss a premise he disagrees with without giving the caller a chance to lay out his/her argument.

Tom then said he would have drafted Nurse over Monahan. I guess only time will tell, but right now that seems completely stupid.

[burnitdown]

Originally Posted by Hockey Fan #751

The Oilers draft (or trade for) Oil Kings all the time. How's that worked out for them?

Moroz - Bust (early 2nd round)
Musil - Bust (early 2nd round)
Abney - Bust (3rd round!!!)
Ewanyk - Bust
Brossoit - Likely backup
Reinhart - Busting (traded a 1st and a 2nd)
Gernat - Bust
Pelss - Passed away unfortunately after splitting his first pro season between AHL and ECHL

You should do what the Flames do, and that's treat the Hitmen like any other junior team. The one time they didn't it blew up in their face (taking Krahn way too high).

I think it's unquestionably agreed the Oilers take it to the extreme in this area...but even from this list, Musil & Abney were drafted while playing with others teams and Brossoit & Reinhart weren't drafted by the Oilers. So they've only drafted 4 from the Oil Kings. With us drafting 3 from the Hitmen, I definitely don't seen a problem and wouldn't want us to purposely try and increase the number of Hitmen prospects in the system.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Anybody here watch much Hitmen? How are Karnaukhov and Kanzig doing these days?

Kanzig is doing the whole "I'm 20 so my offence exploded" thing that Canucks legend Dane Fox did. Though in Kanzig's case, that means 11 goals in 46 games vs 6 in his previous 266 games. He's still big, and still slow. But he is also taking far fewer roughing penalties lately.

Karnaukhov is a bit of an odd bird. Statistically, he has stalled. He's on pace for pretty much the exact same numbers as last year, which is disappointing. But he's still incredibly feisty, and one of those guys who will battle in front of the net and in the corners.



Also, to add to the list of Hitmen players taken by the Flames, Brent Dodginghorse was signed as an undrafted UFA.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by burnitdown

I think it's unquestionably agreed the Oilers take it to the extreme in this area...but even from this list, Musil & Abney were drafted while playing with others teams and Brossoit & Reinhart weren't drafted by the Oilers. So they've only drafted 4 from the Oil Kings. With us drafting 3 from the Hitmen, I definitely don't seen a problem and wouldn't want us to purposely try and increase the number of Hitmen prospects in the system.

That the Oilers go out of their way to acquire former Oil Kings acts to underscore their poor scouting. They have overvalued guys playing right under their noses. Of those eight players HockeyFan #751 noted, SIX were members of the 2012-13 Oil Kings title team. Pretty good example of narrow vision.

The Flames, meanwhile, have taken fewer players from the Hitmen as prospects, for a team that is twice as old. We have, over the years, added former players who were already established pros for either the NHL (Stuart, Sjostrom) or as AHL filler (Brust).

[Ulrith]

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

The caller's name was Tom, and he just berated Steinberg. It was ridiculous, but I did agree that Steinberg will dismiss a premise he disagrees with without giving the caller a chance to lay out his/her argument.

Tom then said he would have drafted Nurse over Monahan. I guess only time will tell, but right now that seems completely stupid.

Of all the draft picks to criticize, he picks the Monahan draft??? Monny was a home run pick at 6 and at a time when we were desperate for a center.

[csnarpy]

Originally Posted by Madman

Haha, is this Tom?!

Entered thread to find Tom reference

I now leave satisfied.

[Lil Pedro]

This might be the dumbest topic I've read on this site in a long time. You take the BPA available at the time when your pick comes depending on your greatest area of need. Who cares if he plays for Portland, Oshawa, Quebec City, US NTDP or Farejstad. Surprised Steinberg didn't hang up on this loser earlier.

Note: this was not meant to pile on the OP, but rather that caller on Overtime last night.