[News] With the #28 pick the Flames select LW Morgan Klimchuk

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Do you ever give your own thoughts on prospects, or just criticize others opinions? Hard to take a guy seriously when he's just giving the wet blanket routine.

Speaking of routines...

Does this mark the return of the CP mall cop?

[GioforPM]

His stats are similar to Jake Virtanen, who also had an injury, and who is about 6th on his team right now. And who everyone thinks will be a fine NHLer.

[FlameZilla]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

No one is writing the guy off. But burying your head in the sand and pretending this big regression in points isn't concerning isn't the right move either.

Originally Posted by DOOM

Have you watched him play or are you just reading stats?

Considering he was recovering from a wrist injury, Klimchuk has done well to put up the points he has thus far this season. For a guy whose main weapon is his wrist shot he was always going to take awhile to heat up offensively.

His totals may not be rocking anyone's world, but I like the look of his game-by-game stats: http://www.whl.ca/roster/gamebygame/...season/current

Also, I believe Team Canada made an error in cutting him from the team.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Well one is already playing and producing at the pro level so that in and of itself makes it fair to have optimism about him.

Klimchuk cannot play professionally, I am sure if he was a 94 he too would be playing professionally in the AHL.

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by robaur

I think this is the best place to put this.

The Flames are going to regret this pick for a long time.

With Petan still on the board, the Flames decided to pick Klimchuk and he's turning into a real plug.

Petan (draft year): 46 goals 74 assists 120 points in 71 games

Klimchuk (draft year): 36 goals 40 assists 76 points in 72 games.

The knock on Petan at the time was his size, but its not like Klimchuk was a giant or much bigger than him.

To be honest Petan has looked like a stud during preseason, and the remainder of his time with the Portland Winterhawks and has looked awesome playing for Canada.

On the other hand, Klimchuk has been a disappointment almost on every level and got cut from Canadian juniors team.

I don't care what the reason....size..linemates...whatever....you dont leave the guy sitting there with a 44 point advantage....which i think were tops or top 3 in the WHL that year....on the table...

Its not even like they played in different leagues....they were in the same bloody league....this decision baffled my mind at that time....how can you not draft petan at #28..

I know that some of you are going to say there were 14 other teams that passed on him before the Jets took him....but those teams didnt draft out of the WHL...so they could have their own reasoning...

Flames were the last team to draft from the WHL...and they passed on him.

This is stupid because in every single draft, every single team would make different picks in hindsight. Comparing Klimchuk to any player left on the board is pointless. You think 29 other teams would have liked to have picked Gaudreau before round 4 in 2011? You think the Oilers would've liked to pick O'Reilly, Silfverberg, Ellis, etc. instead of MPS at #10 in 2009? You think the Flames would've liked to have picked any other goalie besides Irving in 2009? Enroth? Reimer? Mason? Neuvirth? When 81% of draft picks don't even make it to 200 GP comparing coulda, woulda, shoulda's is pointless.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Klimchuk cannot play professionally, I am sure if he was a 94 he too would be playing professionally in the AHL.

I remember in training camp, Hartley asking someone if Klimchuk was eligible for the AHL. The inference for me was that it was too bad he wasn't eligible.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Speaking of routines...

Does this mark the return of the CP mall cop?

Am I wrong?

It's easy to continually chastise others when you rarely give any of your own thoughts

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Am I wrong?

It's easy to continually chastise others when you rarely give any of your own thoughts

Someone gave their opinion, and someone else called it premature like. He then questioned if it was premature. Not sure what your problem here is

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Someone gave their opinion, and someone else called it premature like. He then questioned if it was premature. Not sure what your problem here is

It's fairly typical of that poster, never give his own thoughts, always critical of others. I think it's insanely obvious what my "problem" is, don't be so dense.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

It's fairly typical of that poster, never give his own thoughts, always critical of others. I think it's insanely obvious what my "problem" is, don't be so dense.

Then ignore him or offer your own opinion. But that wouldn't be the prerogative would it? Why talk substance when little insults and trying to show up other posters works much better to build the legend?

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Then ignore him or offer your own opinion. But that wouldn't be the prerogative would it? Why talk substance when little insults and trying to show up other posters works much better to build the legend?

Pot, kettle?

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Then ignore him or offer your own opinion. But that wouldn't be the prerogative would it? Why talk substance when little insults and trying to show up other posters works much better to build the legend?

Edit: Beaten to it!

[Erick Estrada]

It would have been nice for the Flames to use at least one of the three first round picks on a high risk, high reward player like Petan but really how many small skilled wingers is too much? That said I wanted them to take Petan but they didn't so no use complaining. From what I read at the draft Klimchuk was rated as a very high character guy that could be a solid player at both ends of the ice. Verdict is still out although the dip in production is a little concerning. My fear with him is that if he doesn't stand out skill-wise he runs the risk of being lost in the shuffle with like Reinhart, Augostino, and Knight.

[CliffFletcher]

I'm concerned that the Flames haven't picked a d-man with any of the six 1st and 2nd round picks they've taken in the last two season. It's fine to say draft the best player available and trade or sign UFAs to fill needs. But the NHL is increasingly becoming a draft and develop league. Teams are hanging on to quality young d-men. I don't welcome the prospect of sniffing other team's cast-offs and dubious projects looking for #3-4 d-men. Or worse, trading a Monahan, Gaudreau, or Bennet in a desperate bid to fill a gap. D-men take 3-5 years to develop. The clock is running out on drafting d-men who will mature along the our crop of young forwards. I don't want to end up like the Oilers or Flyers.

[The Original FFIV]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I'm concerned that the Flames haven't picked a d-man with any of the six 1st and 2nd round picks they've taken in the last two season. It's fine to say draft the best player available and trade or sign UFAs to fill needs. But the NHL is increasingly becoming a draft and develop league. Teams are hanging on to quality young d-men. I don't welcome the prospect of sniffing other team's cast-offs and dubious projects looking for #3-4 d-men. Or worse, trading a Monahan, Gaudreau, or Bennet in a desperate bid to fill a gap. D-men take 3-5 years to develop. The clock is running out on drafting d-men who will mature along the our crop of young forwards. I don't want to end up like the Oilers or Flyers.

Thing is that forwards are a lot more can't miss than dmen. So hard to project dmen at 18 in general. As you say you are projecting 3-5 years down the line. I'm ok with the current approach as we need picks that play in the NHL. Don't need another matt pelech in our pool. Yeah, would suck if we have to part with a young forward to get a d but at least we would have the asset base in order to acquire a dman, instead of a bust prospect. Let's face it, the past two drafts haven't been good for dmen but let's hope our scouts have found a couple of players in Hickey and Rafikov. Always can supplement with some ncaa free agents too.

[Caged Great]

Klimchuk is on pace to become an NHL player. He's not likely going to be a top six forward unless he steps his game up. However, getting an NHL player out of the 28th overall selection is actually good. Look at most drafts, there's usually very little outside of the top 20 and most of those guys are role players instead of stars.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Klimchuk cannot play professionally, I am sure if he was a 94 he too would be playing professionally in the AHL.

Sure. That's not the point I was making. The point is what Emile is doing as a pro is good reason for optimism

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

Klimchuk is on pace to become an NHL player. He's not likely going to be a top six forward unless he steps his game up. However, getting an NHL player out of the 28th overall selection is actually good. Look at most drafts, there's usually very little outside of the top 20 and most of those guys are role players instead of stars.

My concern with players that are not much better than 1 ppg in junior is that they are destined for bottom 6 if they do in fact make the NHL. Bo Horvat is exhibit A of a mediocre CHL scorer that got hot before the draft. He's struggling in the NHL and looks to have bottom 6 NHL potential at best. Klimchuk scored at about the same clip in junior as Horvat.

[GioforPM]

We could use very good bottom 6 forwards. Late first or early second rounders playing as 3rd liners is fine with me.

[lanny9]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

The fact that the kids will take 3-4 years to be ready is WHY you draft the BPA. You have no idea what your organizational needs will be four years from now. Nobody does.

Suppose your team has four goalies in the pipeline (not counting the NHL roster): is that enough? Too many? Too few? How many of them will make the NHL? What are the chances of one becoming a regular starter? Impossible to say.

Suppose you have 8 defencemen in the minors and a few more on the reserve list. You have Tim Erixon, a first-round pick. Does that mean you can write his name in the lineup in ink, and cross off ‘second-pairing D’ from your list of needs? Or you have some undrafted plug named Gio-something. Does that mean you have to run right out and use your 1st-round pick on a defenceman, because obviously that is the only way to acquire a first-pairing guy?

Then you get into forwards – and forwards play so many roles on a team that it’s ludicrous even to guess what they will mature into. One guy drafted 20th overall turns into a goal scorer: great. Another guy drafted 20th turns into a mean, tenacious defensive centre, perfect for the third line: also great. You’re not going to complain about either one. But you’re going to have a lot to complain about if you relied on your 20th-overall pick to become a scorer, and he became that checking centre instead.

Meanwhile, your roster is losing players all the time: age, injury, free agency. Sometimes you just have to cut a veteran loose because he’s not worth his salary, or because what he brings is not what the team needs – you already have too many of the same kind of player. (See: Cammalleri, Mike.) You can’t simply assume that all the players over 30 will be gone in four years (some will still be there) and all players under 30 will stay (some will be gone).

You don’t know what your organizational needs will be in four years’ time.

Nobody does.

Planning for the draft is more a matter of deciding what kind of team you are building, what your organizational philosophy will be; what factor you use as a tiebreaker. There are two players of equal overall talent in the draft: one is a little bigger, the other a little quicker on his feet. It’s a pretty safe bet that L.A. will prefer the bigger one, Detroit will prefer the quicker one: not because they have holes to fill at some particular position, but because of the kind of team each one is.

That’s sound draft planning. It means you take the BPA according to your standards, and that means you know what qualities you value most, what players need to do to play in your system, and you try not to draft players who will not be able to contribute to that.

If the smaller, faster player is a left wing and the bigger one plays D, and L.A. is short a LW this year, that does not mean that they take the LW and ignore the D who fits better with their philosophy. For them, the D is the BPA, and the LW is the player who fills the organizational need. Only a fool would choose the LW in those circumstances – though fools can sometimes get lucky. He’s not going to play for the team this year; they will have to make a trade or sign a free agent, at which point the positional need has been addressed. What they need to do is go on accumulating assets that they can develop and use. Plugging holes along the way is what free agency and trades are for.

Again have to really disagree, you have a road map and you follow it! If you can't see what your prospects are capable of, nor have the ability to see what you will need in 3-4 years then you have no place in a scouting department nor in management. You need to have a good grasp on what you have in the pipeline and where your team needs will be too improve in the timeframe given. Without a road map like this you are a team that flies by the seat of your pants and are going to be doomed! This is how the good teams seem to stay near the top for so long, they don't draft for instant gratification but for the long term glory, one way equals success the other way equals the oilers!