This is a rebuild

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

2nd best drafting team according to a recent analysis
Dallas first

If the Flames hit at the same percentage as they did from 15-19 draft they should find about 7-8 NHLers in the next 3 years. That will help the rebuild.

[Royle9]

boy does Byram look good in Buffalo...

[Hackey]

Other than Fox and Andersson the Flames haven't really found any impact players in the last 10 years outside of their top 10 picks. Their drafting has been decent but definitely nothing special. Hopefully some higher picks and a surplus of picks is going to improve those numbers.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Other than Fox and Andersson the Flames haven't really found any impact players in the last 10 years outside of their top 10 picks. Their drafting has been decent but definitely nothing special. Hopefully some higher picks and a surplus of picks is going to improve those numbers.

I mean top 90 dmen in the league is the standard I suspect finding two of them outside the first round is pretty good.

They also found one forward who had a 45 point season and another forward who is consistently in the top 70-90 forwards in the NHL for even strength scoring and is a consistent 45-55 point guy.

[traptor]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

I mean top 90 dmen in the league is the standard I suspect finding two of them outside the first round is pretty good.

They also found one forward who had a 45 point season and another forward who is consistently in the top 70-90 forwards in the NHL for even strength scoring and is a consistent 45-55 point guy.

Yeah which is good and we will definitely need those support pieces but out of those 8 NHLers we can expect we'll need some top line talent.

Going to be really interesting to see where that emerges from. Gaudreau being our last big hit that wasn't early 1st round.

I dont really see anyone in the system that is that.

Maybe wolf. Bruz has some pretty gaudy numbers, maybe that can continue. Maybe zary has another leap left.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Royle9

boy does Byram look good in Buffalo...

And the Flames were supposed to get him how?

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

2nd best drafting team according to a recent analysis
Dallas first

I just hope the drafting philosophy hasn’t majorly changed

[stemit14]

I have been very happy with the flames drafting recently… aside from maybe the Honzek pick but it’s still too early to tell… development is not always linear and injuries like the one he had can delay a player reaching his potential.

What I really want to see above all things in this rebuild is for it to be built around a top 10 center in the league. That is almost exclusively only found through a top five draft pick and, even then, it is not guaranteed (Bennett for example). It likely won’t happen this year but the flames have a path to make it happen next year. I would love to finally have a center that no one can argue against him being one of the best in the league. I’ve loved what Monahan, Backlund and Lindholm have brought to this team when they were at the top of their game and I’m still a fan of those players (less so for Lindholm lately)… but even at their best, it was debatable if any of them could ever be considered in the top 10 group of centres in the league.

Obviously draft the BPA no matter the position… but swing big with picks. Please don’t use high picks on the vanilla players that come with the description “smart hockey player that is responsible in his own end but has limited offensive upside”. Those types of players can usually be found through trades and free agency later. I’d prefer the high risk-high reward young player.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Other than Fox and Andersson the Flames haven't really found any impact players in the last 10 years outside of their top 10 picks. Their drafting has been decent but definitely nothing special. Hopefully some higher picks and a surplus of picks is going to improve those numbers.

The data doesn't support this position.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Bonded

I just hope the drafting philosophy hasn’t majorly changed

If anything I hope it is better. Conroy seems to rely on the broader team and scouts, and I hope is highly analytically focused too.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

2nd best drafting team according to a recent analysis

Dallas first

Do you have a link to this? Would love to read it!

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Do you have a link to this? Would love to read it!

https://theathletic.com/5084336/2023...ng-best-picks/

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

If anything I hope it is better. Conroy seems to rely on the broader team and scouts, and I hope is highly analytically focused too.

True! I am reading way too much into Conroy's comment about needing more size in the system lol

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Other than Fox and Andersson the Flames haven't really found any impact players in the last 10 years outside of their top 10 picks. Their drafting has been decent but definitely nothing special. Hopefully some higher picks and a surplus of picks is going to improve those numbers.

First of all, if you are looking at only the last 10 years you are cutting off 3-4 years where hardly any teams have players with significant NHL minutes. The 2021 draft has 7 players with more than 80 games. Only 3 were not top 10, and two of those I bet you couldn't name as ".impact players"

2020 - Connor Zary ring a bell? He's 24th in points from that draft (exactly where he was picked but he will pass that very soon I bet). 2019 - Pelletier - we will see. He's an NHLer anyway. 2018 - I'd say Pospisil has made an impact. Wolf may yet as well. 2017 - Valimaki is an NHL player. 2016 - Dube and Fox but what can you do?

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Bonded

True! I am reading way too much into Conroy's comment about needing more size in the system lol

I do think you need size. You can't have a team of small players. I think the Canes are actually an interesting test case that is playing out in real time. They have spent a ton of draft capital on under-sized, skilled players (though somehow overlooked Stankoven) and we'll see how many of them translate into NHL players.

Ultimately my view is that you should always prioritize upside. Focus on drafting players that you think can play up in your line-up. That can be a mix of shapes, sizes and skill basis - but I would focus on guys that at least have a defining quality that makes you think they could get there.

A lot of the NHL is based on how you create time and space and separation from defenders. You can do that with size, skating or hockey sense (to be simplistic about it). But it's also why you see smaller guys that aren't great skaters fall - because it's hard to see how they will create the separation they need to succeed. But then again - there are always exceptions.

[8sPOT]

Drafting hasn't really been the Flames issue. It's been their blatant disregard for having draft picks. Too often they were traded for vets or role players, which is not a great use of assets in my mind.

[Geeoff]

It does seem like a rebuild is going to be a trying process for the team and the fanbase. Hopefully, we can get through it together!

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

The data doesn't support this position.

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

https://theathletic.com/5084336/2023...ng-best-picks/

That’s one data point and a very flawed one. They even admit their methodology is flawed and was designed to marginalize large data sets and amplify smaller ones. I would argue the proof is in the results and the results have not been great for the Flames. If the drafting were so good we wouldn’t have a thread about a failed prospect and identifying and entire round that has been pretty much a failure since the start of the century. If the team were this good at drafting the team on the ice would have been better and not so reliant on leveraging free agent veterans and trades to build the team.

[Jiri Hrdina]

If you want to provide an alternative actual analysis please go ahead.
Otherwise your view is simply an application of your own biases, and based on an even more flawed and limited data set.

I've provided data.

You can counter with actual data.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

https://theathletic.com/5084336/2023...ng-best-picks/

Thank #### they didn't go back to the mid to late 90's