Hypothetical: Reinhart or Ekblad?

[Volica]

I would personally go with Reinhart.
The Question down the middle for Calgary's still as alive as ever, it's not like we currently have anyone in our lineup that fits the consequential ~PPG top line center. I like Monahan; but personally don't see him as 'that' guy.

Unite the two brothers; this one will be a good-er for a long time. D-men take a tad longer to develop; and as long as Calgary is selling correctly (getting D-prospects + more first round picks) then we should be good on that end of the day.

In addition, Calgary has had a plethora of top-D guys in the past decade... Hell at one point of time we had RR, Dion and Bouw... all of which at the time were top pairing/ #3 guys; and that went no where. Let's build down the center, like every successful team model, and continue to develop and draft properly.

[devo22]

a poll would be really interesting. When I created this, I actually thought that the majority would go for Reinhart because of the "build from the middle" thing, but after scanning the thread so far I guess it's more like 60 to 40 per cent for Ekblad ... but close. Pretty much mirrors my own feelings because I keep going back and forth ... a nice 1-2 punch down the middle or finally a blue-chipper on defense?

I guess I'd take Ekblad and choose a center in 2015 ... even if we don't get McDavid, this draft looks center-heavy early (Eichel, Strome, Barzal, Konecny).

[macrov]

Ekblad. In my world, its not even a conversation.

The flames already have enough centres, and my understanding is that they were getting some centre prospects in the system to switch to wing...like the first Reinhart

Monahan
Jankowski
Backlund
Colborne
Knight

Do we really need another? IMO with the way Jankowski is playing, we might already have too much depth...

Ekblad - Brodie = drool

Thats a top pairing for over a decade. And then you add in guys like Wideman, Giordano, Russel, Cundari, Seiloff and Wortherspoon, and you can argue we have a playoff defense core.

Ekblad is a franchise defenseman who will give us 15+ years of awesome.

[HighLifeMan]

I would select Ekblad if given the choice.

[nik-]

Definitely Reinhart and then we have our 1A/1B

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by macrov

Ekblad. In my world, its not even a conversation.

The flames already have enough centres, and my understanding is that they were getting some centre prospects in the system to switch to wing...like the first Reinhart

Monahan
Jankowski
Backlund
Colborne
Knight

Do we really need another? IMO with the way Jankowski is playing, we might already have too much depth...

Ekblad - Brodie = drool

Thats a top pairing for over a decade. And then you add in guys like Wideman, Giordano, Russel, Cundari, Seiloff and Wortherspoon, and you can argue we have a playoff defense core.

Ekblad is a franchise defenseman who will give us 15+ years of awesome.

...Jankowski is in the middle of an extremely bad stretch of games right now.

Having centers and having good centers (or even elite centers) is a completely different ball game.

We do not have a good group of centers.

[Huntingwhale]

I'd lean to Reinhart. There is no guarantee that Colborne, Knight, Jankowski or even Backlund will work out 100%. I think Monahan is truly the only ''guarantee'' we have at center ice now. If 3/4 of those guys falter, suddenly that leaves us with the Flames weak up the middle...again. The more centers you have, the better. Top tier defenders can be found in later rounds. High end centers are much more rare.

[nik-]

Honestly, I feel if people are using Jankowski as a reason not to draft another high end centre, I think there's going to be a lot of disappointed people.

[Buck Murdock]

Originally Posted by nik-

Honestly, I feel if people are using Jankowski as a reason not to draft another high end centre, I think there's going to be a lot of disappointed people.

I don't think anyone other than Jay Feaster thought Jankowski was a high end centre.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Buck Murdock

I don't think anyone other than Jay Feaster thought Jankowski was a high end centre.

...we could've drafted Tomas Hertl (had we not traded down)

[shogged]

I'm happy with either. Ekblad would be a good choice as he suits our team needs better, but the thought of Reinhart, Monahan and janko competing for the 1-2 spot is pretty exciting. Could always trade the odd man out for a solid defence prospect too.

[calgarybean]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

...we could've drafted Tomas Hertl (had we not traded down)

Damn you hindsight Gods!!!

..and damn you Feaster and your draft gambling problem!

[Parallex]

I'd be happy with either. personally I'd go with Reinhart... Solidify the center position. If we end up with a better center out of the 2015 draft then so much the better as it instantly gives us a Surplus and gigantic trade chip If we later want to reinvest one of them in another part of the line-up. I do think that the flames need more top end D prospects so I'd pretty much spend the rest of the draft picking up d-men in the hopes of getting a later pick gem.

[EYE_Overstand]

If we draft Sam Reinhart (which I doubt we get Buffalo bad)... then in every other round this draft minus 1 goalie, I would probably draft The Best Dman Availble.

Having Mona and Sam R would be crazy good and the bottom 2 Cs can be had via trade, UFA, or draft/drafted.

Besides Porier, and Neimez who are our RH RWs? We need some badly

Edit: I think Porier is a LH LW/RW

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by $ven27

The only thing that makes me wary of Ekblad is how he's so large and physically dominate in the OHL.

Yeah. If only he was smaller and weaker.

What a silly thing to be wary about. Scouts will take all that into account when determining who they like best. Ekblad isn't a top prospect just because he's big and strong.

[Miniac]

Ekblad this year and McDavid next year.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

I'd take the best player available according to our scouts. With an emphasis on centres and defensemen. It'd be handy if the best player available is a large top pairing defenseman because we have zero of those in the system. But it's also fine to stock up on potential #1 centres.

So if it works out to be Ekblad then brilliant. If our scouts like Reinhart better than go with him. We can always convert centres to the wing.

[memphusk]

Originally Posted by $ven27

The only thing that makes me wary of Ekblad is how he's so large and physically dominate in the OHL.

Well if Calgary doesn't take him, he will be crushing our smurfs for years to come.

[FlameZilla]

We'll be lucky to get either. It astounds me how the Flames can be so bad, yet there are teams tanking worse than us.

I like the look of Ekblad right now. He's the type of player I think the team needs most right now, and there are no comparables in the system in terms of skill, size and offence from the blue line. The guy is the full package.

I wouldn't be too upset to land Sam either. I think though, even with the injuries, we'll be drafting around 4 or 5 this year.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Ekblad as this team is in danger of being built a little like the Oilers with most of the top prospects being forwards.

That is assuming the reason for the Oilers' failures to this point is a lack of a #1 defender.

When looking at the Oilers' team, the #1 picks were consecutively on the smaller side. They compounded this issue with a lack of depth in the later rounds. What are they missing right now?

1) Lack of centers. Their #1 and #2 centers are small. Non-physical.
2) Top 6 wingers are smaller. Non-physical. Injury prone.
3) Lack of grit with any skill, lack of skill without grit throughout their lineup.
4) Lack of adequate defencemen drafted (their 'big names' are mostly in the AHL still developing - or Nurse in Juniors).

The Flames would follow the Oilers' model if they end up drafting Nylander first. Another smaller player to add to the top 6 blue-chip prospects containing Baertschi and Gaudreau.

Sam Reinhart would fill largely the biggest need on the Oilers right now:

Size in their top 6
Solid 200ft game
Leadership

Flames drafting Reinhart moves the Flames even further from the Oilers' trajectory, just as much as drafting Ekblad. Adding Reinhart (6'2") to Monahan (6'2"), Colborne (6'5"), Knight (6'2"), Jankowski (6'4") and even Arnold (6'0", but THICK) - would be ensuring that the Flames don't end up with a small top 6 who don't know the first thing about solid 2-way play. Not saying these are all centers that are potential top 6 centers, just all potential roster centers throughout the lineup contributing to a cerebral team-based 2-way puck possession game that would be very difficult to match-up against.

Can anyone imagine the Oilers (even if Nurse and Ekblad are legitimate high-end top pair defencemen) managing to get through two of San Jose, Anaheim, LA or Chicago in a 7 game playoff series? Physically, they would be way over-matched. Calgary is SEEMINGLY building to become one of those teams - drafting Reinhart is another step towards that goal, not away from it. Ekblad would also go a long ways towards that goal too - arguably even more so - but drafting Reinhart would not move the Flames into an Oilers' style rebuild.