Pulock's defence partner might be worth a look in the third or fourth round. Eric Roy has similar stats, good size and doesn't shy away from the rough going.
Per THN, barely adequate hockey sense. With the current regime, can't see it happening. Maybe the Vannelli kid if we are looking for offensive dman?
I don't think they undersell the guys more they just show contrary opinions from scouts. A guy like Pulock may elicit 10 different opinions from 10 different scouts and they publish one that is maybe overly positive and one that is more cautious. The overall rankings I believe are their own consensus rankings but I agree it is odd how they edited the descriptions of some of the players as the writup for Lindholm doesn't make him look overly impressive yet they have him ranked ahead of Barkov and Nichushkin who bot get more glowing writeups.
I will say though that the one scouts comments that Pulock may struggle to be a top 5/6 defenseman is something that would worry me a bit. Defenseman seem to have much more of a bust factor and I'm still of the opninion that the Flames should use all three first round picks on forwards to address the glaring lack of forward talent in the organization. I mean for all the hype about Erixon he's really not been any better than Horak who was an afterthought in that deal and it seems that you can find pretty good defensemen out of the first round while it's harder to find top 3 forwards outside of the first round.
Too much variance on this kid - from top 4 dman to a Canadian Anton Babchuk. If you pick him, you better have done your homework. Like others have said, this looks like a forward heavy draft so not too disappointed if we don't load up on D. After all, we can pull a NYI in 2014 and use all our picks on D.
Fan is saying that Nichushkin wants out of his KHL deal and wants to play in North America next season. This could change things.
Yep:
Corey Pronman@coreypronman7m
Valeri Nichushkin tells RSport.ru he has decided to transfer to North America. Dynamo in the KHL have no issues terminating his contract.
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Did they say if it was possible? If he has an out clause my guess it's for a lot of money.
Have to think if this is true, he gets picked in the top 5.
Maybe but it would have to be the Hurricanes or Lightning as I can't see the Predators taking him given their luck with Russians. Still possible he falls into the Flames laps. If he gets out of his contract and really wants to play in North America and comes off as genuine when the Flames interview him he would he hard to pass up even if he isn't a center.
Doesn't there seem to be a real lack of US college prospects this year? Or are they never there in great numbers?
Last I think there were 3-4 guys that went to NCAA that were picked in the first round and this I think there are 2-3 guys ranked top 35-ish that will likely go to NCAA so a little bit less. I think Seth Jones being the top American and going to the CHL skews it a bit as if he was a NCAA kid it would probably change the view on it based on his publicity alone.
Maybe but it would have to be the Hurricanes or Lightning as I can't see the Predators taking him given their luck with Russians. Still possible he falls into the Flames laps. If he gets out of his contract and really wants to play in North America and comes off as genuine when the Flames interview him he would he hard to pass up even if he isn't a center.
Yep. If he is available at 6, as much as i want a center, i don't think the flames could pass on him.
How far up the draft do you think the #21 and #29-30 could get the flames? Would have to be pretty close to top 10. Could it get us up to #8?
Now that i think of it, trading up to #8 would be a waste if they are after a center. Lindholm and Monahan would be off the board.
Corey Pronman‏@coreypronman7m
Valeri Nichushkin tells RSport.ru he has decided to transfer to North America. Dynamo in the KHL have no issues terminating his contract.
But he would want guaranteed playing time and have an easy out anytime there's a problem. I'd still pass
Not that surprising. By all accounts, he is a top player. Top players want to play in the top league. I fully expect him to go top 5. I've been suggesting Carolina as a great fit for a while and I still think they are the favorite, I wouldn't be totally shocked to see Tampa take him either.
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Corey Pronman@coreypronman7m
Valeri Nichushkin tells RSport.ru he has decided to transfer to North America. Dynamo in the KHL have no issues terminating his contract.
Flames just have to hope that one of the top 5 goes off the board a little and one of those guys is left for us. Would not be surprised to see it happen, since these drafts don't usually go according to plan.
“I had already decided that leave for the NHL,” said Nichushkin, who added both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators have expressed interest in drafting him. – “[Dynamo] calmly reacted to this. I was told that I could leave if I want. No legal problems there.”
Quote:
According to Nichushkin, his contract with Dynamo “will terminate, and I’m going to be a free agent. I was lucky that I went to the club to make concessions. We agreed that they would let me go, but if across the ocean something goes wrong, I’m right back to them.”
That second quote about 'something going wrong' still scares me. Sounds like he'd bolt back to the KHL if he doesn't get the icetime that he wants (not that I blame the guy for heading back home to play hockey and get more $$).
Hopefully somebody else takes a chance on him and Nurse jumps into the top 5. Love to see Barkov drop (or at least we get our pick between Monahan and Lindholm)
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