[News] With the 77th OA pick the Flames select C Cole Huckins

[Tkachukwagon]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1418990697907068928

[sureLoss]

Tod Button says he sees Huckins as a LW.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

How the hell did you miss the snark there? I even put "/snark" in the post. I figured as soon as people saw Stanstead College they would go to Jankowski and lose their ####. Too subtle for you?

It was hard to tell if you were snarking at the posters or the player.

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

Yes and it would be a success if he makes the NHL

All I am saying is go for the Adam Fox , TJ Brodie, Johnny Gaudreau instead

So if Joel Otto was available this late in the draft you wouldn’t take him?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

I am as much of a high ceiling person myself, but sometimes you don't know a guy's ceiling.

Was Zdeno Chara ever projected to become Zdeno Chara? Was Josh Andersson meant to become dangerous goalscorer Josh Andersson? When you think of guys like Tomas Holmstrom or Patric Hornqvist do you think of guys who were projected to play on the top lines of elite teams? Zach Hyman is another example of a guy who was pretty much a lock to be a bottom six guy... until suddenly he wasn't. How about Milan Lucic, when he was drafted did the Bruins realistically expect 2014 Lucic or 2020 Lucic? I suspect the latter.

Exactly.

And not only that, there is also the fact that you actually need bottom 6 players as well. If we had drafted a Pitlick, we wouldn't have had to trade for him.

You can't just draft Gaudreau's, you need all kinds of players. If the 77th pick becomes a player, it was a great pick.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I think you have to look at teams like Tampa. They too are really good at finding undersized players to propel their team, and people will point at them and say things like: "See, you can win with small players" - except that you don't really.



Tampa didn't win anything until they went out and over-paid for their beef. Luckily they could afford to do that as they are a very strong drafting team which gives them a lot of assets to work with, but they still had to go and overpay for their skilled beef.


Now the Rangers go out and overpay for one of those guys. Flames are looking at acquiring Coleman (who I like too) to try and improve there too, and you know that contract is going to be expensive. Look at Hyman's rumoured contract - I don't want that on the Flames!


Size does matter. No, you don't have to draft a bunch of goons. However, you can't keep drafting only undersized skilled players either. A good mix. Invest some mid-late round picks on some muscle. I really liked how they went after Stormgren in the 2nd round, and how they acquired Heinemen in the Bennett trade (though I hate that they gave up Bennett, but that's another topic).



It will cost you less down the road if you use some picks on these guys each draft. You can still go for the undersized skill - no one is saying not to. It is just probably a good idea to try and balance that out with some size too - size IS an asset just like speed, and just like skill.

[Geeoff]

Welcome to the squad Chuckins

[Sandman]

Calgary4Life, I would thank that post a thousand times if I could.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by Macindoc

So if Joel Otto was available this late in the draft you wouldn’t take him?

Joel Otto led his league in scoring