Quote:
Originally Posted by Super-Rye
You make it sound like he should walk in there and draft everyone good but at the end of the day Sutter does not get the luxury of hindsight that we all seem to like throwing around here lately.
Sutter has stocked the system full of promising young goalies and dmen. Hell we have even started to see the forwards get more skilled. Rebuilding a system from NOTHING takes a long time and Sutter has done a very good job of that and deserves credit for it. We will see some of his young players push some guys off the roster this year which means Sutter has something to dangle without creating a hole on his hockey team. Sound like some other teams? Possibly New Jersey or Detroit or Nashville?
Did Chucko turn out to be a second line player like some of us thought? No, but guess what? It happens. The draft is always a crap shoot unless you're in the top 10 or have a year like 2003. (Which is something Sutter has preached since he's been here) Chucko still may find his way into the NHL as an energy line player but signing him to a 1 year deal is a low risk move that may pay off for this hockey team.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Super-Rye
You are correct, I did miss Krejci taken with a supp pick in the second round.
Sutter did trade down but he picked 2 NHL players with those two picks. Like I stated Calgarys need was for forward depth and getting 2 NHL players out of it was good. I'm not saying Calgary HAS a great system like Nashville or New Jersey or Detroit, what I'm saying is Calgary is on their way to developing such a system. These don't just happen over night. Since Sutter has taken over our system has started developing some promising players. I feel much better about having Pelech, Seabrook, Negrin, Brodie and Erixon as well as young guys like Gio, Bou, White, and Pardy for our defensive depth than I did when we had Brennan Evans filling in for injuries. And I like the 'Dors and everything but at the end of the day neither of them is top 4 either.
Will all of our prospects work out? Probability says no and chances are if a bunch of them do make the NHL, some of them won't be with the Flames. It's the nature of the business. Would it have been nice to get our hands on a Versteeg or a Bolland? Of course it would have been. But when these guys were drafted no one knew how they were going to turn out. Not even the teams that drafted them. Versteeg was traded for Brandon Bouchenski. 29 other teams probably with they drafted Versteeg, or Giroux ect. ect.
I will be the first to admit I have not agreed with all of Sutter's picks but Sutters drafting has not been horrendous. We have all seen horrible drafting before, we all know what it looks like and it's not what Sutter is doing. Drafting Chucko 23rd overall was not bad drafting. He still has a chance at making the NHL and because we traded down we got 2 NHL players for the price of 1. Drafting Rico Fata and all of those guys who haunt us when we were continually in the top ten is bad drafting. Now that Sutter has a decent pool of prospects built up I can see him trying draft the occasional home run pick. He didn't have that luxury when he took over. Calgary's system is clearly heading in the right direction.
|
It's unfathomable to me that people believe everything in drafting is luck. IT IS NOT. Drafting, projecting and developing is a skill, something we've obviously lacked in Calgary for almost 20 years. If it were all luck, Calgary would have been a blind squirrel it would have found at least one nut in Darryl's 7 drafts but we haven't. It's hilarious people tout Brodie, Negrin, Nemisz, Howse and Irving where no one on any site even gives these prospects any considerations. That doesn't mean they will all bust but when your entire prospect pool is dismissed by every prospect list, it should tell you something.
The only legitimate one we have is Backlund. After trading Prust and Boyd, the only legitimate NHL
prospect Calgary has from Darryl's first 3 drafts is Pardy and Pelech. That's it. You hang your head on the aforementioned prospects but I have a feeling that those espousing those names were espousing the names of Chucko, Ryder, Puustinen and Boyd before that.
And what forward depth did we gain trading down to get Chucko? Two guys we dealt away in terrible deals when they're still young? And passing up superior players in the drafting in doing so? That's depth?
I love the decent dman/goalie prospect pool Darryl has drafted argument. Other than Pardy none of them have seen more than whiff of the NHL and even he was benched for -8 (in 18 games) Steve Staios. Once again, hang your hat on those prospects but they could all very well become the Brandon Bochenski's of this prospect pool.
And if Darryl's "system" is headed in the right direction, I sure don't see it but if you do, I have a question. Darryl has been GM for 7 years now and is entering his 8th draft. How long do you actually think a GM has to build a prospect pool - 20 years? After all you said we're "heading in the right direction." Only a handful of GM see more than 8 years on the job nowadays and Darryl's drafting and developing is still in its infancy. Those GMs stick around because they're good at what they do and have success in multiple area, what Darryl is still doing here is anyone's guess.
