Johnny Hockey: Countdown to 20 goals and 60 pts (GREAT SUCCESS! Bonus: 25G/40A/65P)

[polak]

Originally Posted by Obsidian

I distinctly remember his phone interview with the FAN the day he was drafted. They asked him what he knew about the team/city and you could tell he knew very little, but he talked about how Flames mgmt expressed interest in him prior to the draft and that he appreciated it a lot and was happy to be drafted by them. I remember thinking, damn, some 5'6 guy, and he sounds like a punk kid, too.. it would be funny if he became a big player for us some day.

Sure enough..

He seems like he is a grateful kid. I'm so happy the Flames took a flyer on him. We'd still probably be in the dark days without him.

Makes all of the worrying about him signing here pretty funny now looking back.

[Stay Golden]

Johnny is such a great role model for kids. Small like a kid they can relate to him.
He obviously because of his parents and himself has always had a fantastic work ethic.
He was a rink rat constantly skating and practicing in spite of not having the size he beats the odds with his skills.
You watch Johnny play and you can just see it on his face he just loves to play hockey.
Johnny could really be marketed by the NHL and the Flames in a positive way.
Such a treat to watch.

[Gaudfather]

Drafted #104, but #1 in Flames fans hearts.

Darren Haynes @DarrenWHaynes · 1h 1 hour ago
2011 NHL Draft Class – Points-Per-Game:
1. Gaudreau, 0.76
2. Palat, 0.72
3. Nugent-Hopkins, 0.71
4. Landeskog, 0.68
5. Kucherov, 0.62

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Stay Golden

Johnny could really be marketed by the NHL and the Flames in a positive way.
Such a treat to watch.

Did you not see him wearing a hat in a school? The NHL would be better off marketing Voynov.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Originally Posted by Gaudfather

Drafted #104, but #1 in Flames fans hearts.

Darren Haynes @DarrenWHaynes · 1h 1 hour ago
2011 NHL Draft Class – Points-Per-Game:
1. Gaudreau, 0.76
2. Palat, 0.72
3. Nugent-Hopkins, 0.71
4. Landeskog, 0.68
5. Kucherov, 0.62

Off topic a bit but Palat was an awesome pick up for Tampa. I think he was the fourth last pick of the whole draft that year. So some good late rounders from the 2011 class.

[dieHARDflameZ]

Originally Posted by IGGYFORMVP

This video deserves its own thread! Great post thanks man.

I'll be honest, I've never started a thread and don't really know the policies for starting one, so if you'd like to start it, feel free and I will gladly thank you.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Off topic a bit but Palat was an awesome pick up for Tampa. I think he was the fourth last pick of the whole draft that year. So some good late rounders from the 2011 class.

2011 was a fantastic draft for the Lightning.

1/27 - Namestnikov
2/58 - Kucherov
5/148 - Nesterov
7/201 - Peca
7/208 - Palat

[azzarish]

What an absolutely brilliant video.

[Coach]

The main thing I pick up from that video...

Where's that deadly backhand? I can't recall him scoring like that yet.

[Yappin Tappin]

Originally Posted by MattyC

The main thing I pick up from that video...

Where's that deadly backhand? I can't recall him scoring like that yet.

That's exactly what I've been wondering too this year. From all his games and highlights I watched of Johnny before entering the nhl this season his backhand was one of my favourite aspects of his skill.

I especially loved when he would cut across from left to right and throw a backhand top shelf against the grain on the goalie's blocker side.

Now I notice almost always he goes for the backhand five hole which hasn't worked too often for him this year. Although last night he finally got a nice backhand goal off the post on Gibson so I hope that's a sign he will begin to use it more often.

[Gaudfather]

Hartley in the media scrum this afternoon when asked about Johnny:

"This kid loves to play. Just look at his face when he scores or when someone else scores - it's priceless. Johnny's a rink rat - he would play all day, and he's playing at a level that is very very impressive."

"He's a competitor. You look at his defensive game, you look at his overall game - he is willing to learn. He told me over the summer he will do whatever it takes to make this team. For small players at the atom level who have been told you are too small - I think Johnny is quite the example".

"He's a clutch player. I had Chris Drury in Colorado and in many ways Johnny reminds me of Chris - he wants to be on the ice in those critical moments".

I see Johnny's role in this organization growing and growing. He's fast, he's on the job, he's committed and he's quite the competitor".

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Gaudfather

Drafted #104, but #1 in Flames fans hearts.

Darren Haynes @DarrenWHaynes · 1h 1 hour ago
2011 NHL Draft Class – Points-Per-Game:
1. Gaudreau, 0.76
2. Palat, 0.72
3. Nugent-Hopkins, 0.71
4. Landeskog, 0.68
5. Kucherov, 0.62

Flames were high on Kucherov as well but I guess chose to go with Granlund and Wotherspoon instead. Sure would have been nice if we landed him as well. He's having an amazing year.

[AC]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Flames were high on Kucherov as well but I guess chose to go with Granlund and Wotherspoon instead. Sure would have been nice if we landed him as well. He's having an amazing year.

Yeah, they liked both Kucherov and Gaudreau.

Presiding over that draft had been Jay Feaster, whose work-the-list mantra had been well-established. But Button convinced him to leave Gaudreau and Russian winger Nikita Kucherov as wild cards. In other words, don’t include them in the team’s in-house rankings of prospects.

“I said to Jay, ‘I’d like the latitude of not putting them on the list. Then when it’s time to make the call, let me make the call,’ ” recalls Button.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...624/story.html

[Canada 02]

Bruins took Anthony Camera in the third round instead of Johnny; don't know anything about him, but I'm sure glad he is a Bruin

[nemanja2306]

Updated. Looks like 60 pts is a real possibility.

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by nemanja2306

Updated. Looks like 60 pts is a real possibility.

With a game still left to be played against the Oilers odds are good he will be able to get the remaining 1G, 7P in a single night!

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Off topic a bit but Palat was an awesome pick up for Tampa. I think he was the fourth last pick of the whole draft that year. So some good late rounders from the 2011 class.

Palat is also 2.5 years older than Gaudreau.

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by IGGYFORMVP

This video deserves its own thread! Great post thanks man.

I keep forgetting that he is pretty much still a kid. It's funny yet speaks to his character that on the biggest call up of his life he was worried that his mom would miss him.

[thymebalm]

At first I dismissed this thread for being too presumptuous.

Now I'm dismissing it for not being presumptuous enough.

[agulati]

Johnny for 70? 17 points in 14 games is not impossible