Summer 2014 Prospect Ranking Poll Rd2

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by Robbob

Kind of shocked that it isn't in the 90% for Bennett. I guess I don't quite understand or agree with the thought process others are having.

Well, you have Yoho who voted for Rafikov in round 1 and then picked Honowski in round 2. At the very least, you'd think he'd still pick the round 1 guy, since he's still on the board.

To a lesser extent, the same thing happened when neo45 picked Sven in round 1 (over Gaudreau and Bennett), and then picks Bennett over Sven in round 2.

Monahan23 picks Bennett in round 1, who gets beat by Gaudreau. You'd think he'd pick him again in round 2, but then goes with Elson.

Some people just like to cause trouble.

[djsFlames]

Rafikov without a doubt.

Gonna be our Russian Ekblad.

[FlameZilla]

Sooooo... ready for round 3?

[djsFlames]

^ Granlund belongs in tier 2. If you consider top 6 "impact", then I think he has as great a chance to become a top 6 forward as Baertschi. Has an NHL shot, bigger than Sven, and plays a grittier and fuller game already. That likely in part because of his time playing against men overseas.

Seems his record breaking rookie year is kind of going under the radar around here. Maybe because we've seen less of him, his potential hasn't quite been realized by fans/posters.

[GGG]

I think round 3 becomes really interesting.



It used to be Baerschi hands down. But now you have Porier pushing, Gilles depending on how you rank goalies. Granlund made big strides last year.

For me Porier is probably next based on how he is trending up whereas baerschi really needs a good year not to fall further.

[djsFlames]

I'd take Granlund ahead of Poirier right now because of how much he's shown at the pro level, whereas Poirier is basically just graduating. He looked good in the few games he had, though. He may easily have the higher ceiling, but numbers in the QMJHL don't convince me as much (considered the weakest CHL league) as a near PPG rookie season in the AHL.

3) Baertschi/Granlund
5) Poirier

Betting on Poirier jumping a spot or two by this time next summer.

[MarkGio]

I still remember Poirer being one of the best players in camp last year. To me he's got the same type of game as Bennett only Poirer is bigger and stronger. He could be just as offensive as Bennett.

I voted for Poirer

[Vulcan]

I think most of you are too forward biased. Wotherspoon deserves to be our 3rd best prospect as you can't dispute results. After one year in the AHL he looks to be the biggest shoe in to make the Flames of any rookie. His progress has been astounding and amazing. His calmness under fire is worthy of a ten year vet and I look to him to play 80 or 90 NHL games this season. Okay calm down Vulcan but I think he's our third best prospect who'll bring size and efficiency to our back end.

[Yrebmi]

Originally Posted by codynw

I don't think Sven was even at the development camp?

IIRC present but not on skates (injury).

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Yrebmi

IIRC present but not on skates (injury).

No. He wasn't there at all.

Anyone who played pro hockey (ECHL/AHL/NHL) full-time last season wasn't brought to camp.

[Jacks]

I found this pretty funny!

[MarkGio]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

I think most of you are too forward biased. Wotherspoon deserves to be our 3rd best prospect as you can't dispute results. After one year in the AHL he looks to be the biggest shoe in to make the Flames of any rookie. His progress has been astounding and amazing. His calmness under fire is worthy of a ten year vet and I look to him to play 80 or 90 NHL games this season. Okay calm down Vulcan but I think he's our third best prospect who'll bring size and efficiency to our back end.

You make a good point. I don't think many people had Brodie ranked at number 1 even though he was probably the most promising player before he established himself.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

I think most of you are too forward biased. Wotherspoon deserves to be our 3rd best prospect as you can't dispute results. After one year in the AHL he looks to be the biggest shoe in to make the Flames of any rookie. His progress has been astounding and amazing. His calmness under fire is worthy of a ten year vet and I look to him to play 80 or 90 NHL games this season. Okay calm down Vulcan but I think he's our third best prospect who'll bring size and efficiency to our back end.

The feeling I've got from the forum is that people think his ceiling is quite low though, a 3rd pairing guy or 2nd pairing at best. (Or am I completely out to lunch with this?)

Generally ceiling is valued very highly in this poll.

He's fine, but seems unlikely to be an "Impact" player.

[FlameZilla]

Wotherspoon could be a #3/#4 defenceman in my opinion. With Gaudreau/Bennett/Baertschi/Poirier we have 4 prospects with top line upside (to varying degrees) and I personally think that trumps Wotherspoon for now.

Wotherspoon is a bit underrated, though. He always put up solid stats in junior, looked OK in the AHL (steady improvement) and then looked like a capable NHL defenceman. He's a top 10 prospect for us, but maybe not top 5.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Itse

The feeling I've got from the forum is that people think his ceiling is quite low though, a 3rd pairing guy or 2nd pairing at best. (Or am I completely out to lunch with this?)

Generally ceiling is valued very highly in this poll.

He's fine, but seems unlikely to be an "Impact" player.

Yeah, that's generally what people think but his results say otherwise. Myself I appreciate a defenceman who isn't always trying to be the flashy star. Do your job, get results and the team prospers.

I wouldn't limit his ceiling as he just gets better with every year he plays. I also thought he was our best defenceman at the World Juniors considering the main job of a defenceman is to play defence.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I think it should be a rule here that everyone who does not select Bennett in this poll is required to include a post that effectively validates their choice.

I voted Ortio, because he showed a tremendous amount at the NHL level last year.

Wotherspoon looked surprisingly good, but Ortio looked like a real pro, despite the cruddy team in front of him.

Ortio looks really good.

I don't know anything about Bennett other than his high draft position and the pull-up.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

I voted Ortio, because he showed a tremendous amount at the NHL level last year.

Wotherspoon looked surprisingly good, but Ortio looked like a real pro, despite the cruddy team in front of him.

Ortio looks really good.

I don't know anything about Bennett other than his high draft position and the pull-up.

Goalies are just too unpredictable but I've got Ortio at 4th behind Wotherspoon.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Goalies are just too unpredictable but I've got Ortio at 4th behind Wotherspoon.

I have them reversed, Ortio, Wotherspoon.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

That makes sense, but I take issue with your criteria. In my opinion, we all benefit from having a base from which to track rankings through each prospect's history with the team, as I explain in the above post.

I understand what you're saying, and agree that this exercise is very useful. I'm simply trying to do my best to be internally consistent in my rank order.

From my perspective, many are placing a very high importance on perceived ceiling. The reason Gaudreau is ranked #1 is not because of his draft position, nor do I suspect he was ranked #1 when this exercise took place on his draft year (corrections welcome). Rather, Gaudreau's trajectory has been excellent, he lights up the dev camps, did well at the WJHC, already has an NHL goal to his name and did well at the World Hockey championship. People are completely overlooking his draft position (a sensible view).

For me to rank Bennett #2 behind that list of accomplishments, I sure would have liked to see him light up dev camp at least. But arguably he didn't. I understand why people perceive Bennett's ceiling to be very high, but conversely, I can't tell you with a straight face that I know where Granlund's ceiling is versus Bennett's (or Poirier's). So for me, tie goes to the player with more data available. No big deal either way as I hope they're all lights out

[djsFlames]

Wotherspoon is 6-7 for me.

He may be the best D prospect we have, though. So steady. If he can up his offensive game a bit, I think we're looking possibly at a solid top 4 guy who can shut down opponents, esp in high pressure situations.