[News] With the 59th OA pick, the Flames select C Topi Rönni

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by cannon7

2pts in 1gp, what's not to like?

That was in the Mestis, the second highest league in Finland, so it's good!

[shutout]

Was not ready to play at the mens league level, but at the junior level he was almost a point per game player. If your 200' center that plays in all situations can be a ppg against his age peers that is pretty good.
Hard to judge numbers in Europe mens leagues because young guys dont get very much quality playing time.

[littlereddevil]

Originally Posted by shutout

Was not ready to play at the mens league level, but at the junior level he was almost a point per game player. If your 200' center that plays in all situations can be a ppg against his age peers that is pretty good.
Hard to judge numbers in Europe mens leagues because young guys dont get very much quality playing time.

That's true.

Very rarely do you see 17/18 year olds producing really well in these European men's leagues, and if they are, there's usually a reason, and they usually end up being a high 1st round pick like Granlund or Barkov.

[Sandman]

22nd in the J20 for players 18 and under, with 29 pts in 30 games.

11th in the Liiga, the top men's league, for players 18 and under, with 4 pts in 20 games. Tied with Brad Lambert in ppg with .20, and way better than Samu Tuomala (.14).

Kid has upside.

[Jore]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Two things that I feel are true.

1. You want a scouting staff with conviction. If you like someone take him. Don't worry about some fake consensus that doesn't exist, especially in a draft like this.

2. Flames scouts have done very well in the last four or five drafts in finding value. I know nothing about this player, but if they like him their recent success suggests I'm willing to give them the benefit of the result, and not over react to simple internet summaries and rankings.

While it's true that Flames scouts have done well in the last four or five drafts in finding value, they've done so by drafting undersized players with outstanding production or stats (Mangiapane, Fox, Pelletier, Wolf).

In fact, they seem to have made missteps when selecting big toolsy players with underwhelming stats (Nikolayev, Kuznetsov, Stromgren) early, though of course it's too early for the final analysis. This pick seems a lot more like a Stromgren than a Fox.

[Macman]

Good first impressions from me, a center, I like it. Looks like a fit, skilled playmaker.

Welcome Topi Ronni.

[Reggie Dunlop]

I approve of this pick.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Sec214

Young Guns 2.0 is underway! Big boy Center

Flames' best players are all wingers... "you build a team down the middle!"

Flames draft a big fast C.... "Young Guns 2.0!"

[dustygoon]

Remember when our outrage was about which way a guy shot? Good times.

[SuperMatt18]

They will regret not taking Hutson here IMO.

[Jiri Hrdina]

LA picks Angus Booth, who was a former lead singer of ACDC.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Sandman

22nd in the J20 for players 18 and under, with 29 pts in 30 games.

11th in the Liiga, the top men's league, for players 18 and under, with 4 pts in 20 games. Tied with Brad Lambert in ppg with .20, and way better than Samu Tuomala (.14).

Kid has upside.

You made almost an identical post about Stromgren.

Best of luck to Topi Ronni. This player is not worth all of the takes in this thread, positive or negative. He's pretty much nothing at this point. Frankly we should not expect much out of a late second in a bad draft.

[Royle9]

Hutson being there was a huge whiff.
Kid is determined beyond a doubt to make it, and his offensive game being elite helps him a ton.

Passing on a player like that to pick Ronni I think is a huge mistake.
Hope I'm wrong, but doubt it.

[sureLoss]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1545450115120472065

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Sandman

Skating is below average? Guy's out to lunch on this one.

He means compared to average NHLers. A prospect can be the fastest guy on his junior team and still no better than an average NHLer.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

You made almost an identical post about Stromgren.

Best of luck to Topi Ronni. This player is not worth all of the takes in this thread, positive or negative. He's pretty much nothing at this point. Frankly we should not expect much out of a late second in a bad draft.

Well it wasn’t identical, It was different facts about a different player.

[Roof-Daddy]

Maybe the Flames didn't take Hutson because he's a flight risk just like the piece of crap Fox.

Shouldn't be something you even have to consider at the draft table, but it most definitely is which is pathetic. But not enough people care about it enough and dont make enough noise about it so teams like the Flames have to keep in the back of their minds so the don't have to watch a kid they drafted win the Norris at 22 for another team because of geography.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Maybe the Flames didn't take Hutson because he's a flight risk just like the piece of crap Fox.

Shouldn't be something you even have to consider at the draft table, but it most definitely is which is pathetic. But not enough people care about it enough and dont make enough noise about it so teams like the Flames have to keep in the back of their minds so the don't have to watch a kid they drafted win the Norris at 22 for another team because of geography.

I certainly hope this isn't the case. It would amount to terrible asset management (again).

Take the BPA and trade him if he doesn't want to play here. That's how you get best value. We even did exactly this with fox, and have our #1C and a top 4 D to show for it.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

I certainly hope this isn't the case. It would amount to terrible asset management (again).

Take the BPA and trade him if he doesn't want to play here. That's how you get best value. We even did exactly this with fox, and have our #1C and a top 4 D to show for it.

Well, I think the Flames probably think this guy is the BPA — although considering their drafting out of Europe under Button's tenure, I'm not so sure that's a good thing. It's been rough.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Well, I think the Flames probably think this guy is the BPA — although considering their drafting out of Europe under Button's tenure, I'm not so sure that's a good thing. It's been rough.

Yeah, I am not disputing that. Again, I don't think this player is worthy of criticism or massive praise- he's a late 2nd pick in a draft with questionable talent.
I have been critical of our management team, but I hope that they don't agree with the notion of being afraid of a player taking the 4 and out route. If a player is good enough to take that route, they are going to garner trade interest and could become a net positive asset still.