I think Flames did really well in this draft. They saved the "He's big and can learn to play hockey later" for the 6th round where historically most of the players that turn out are those types.
In the early rounds they acquired a lot of scoring talent which is usually the best indication of NHL upside. A lot of the guys are either first or second in scoring on their teams which means they weren't zoomed by anyone.
I think in the last ten years, drafting has been the biggest strength of the Flames organization, and this year doesn't look like an exception.
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I think Flames did really well in this draft. They saved the "He's big and can learn to play hockey later" for the 6th round where historically most of the players that turn out are those types.
In the early rounds they acquired a lot of scoring talent which is usually the best indication of NHL upside. A lot of the guys are either first or second in scoring on their teams which means they weren't zoomed by anyone.
I think in the last ten years, drafting has been the biggest strength of the Flames organization, and this year doesn't look like an exception.
I still can't believe we sort of reached* for Gridin, but still got Basha and Mews after that. Not to mention Battaglia and Misa after that.
The other guys I never heard of before the draft, so I am not writing them off. Zarubin in particular sounds like a diamond in the rough, but the previous mentioned 4 and Parekh were all players that looked appealing going into the draft. It was the first Flames draft for me where I wasn't asking "who" after every non-1st round pick.
* I only say "reached" because a lot of the public rankings had him going in the first half of the 2nd round, which really isn't a massive reach. But if I am being honest, I was biased by some of those public rankings and was a little disappointed at the time that we passed on Mews and Basha. To get them both anyway was amazing. And now that I have learned more about Gridin, it's only gotten better.
I know every draft is a crap shoot and I am not banking on 5 players from the same draft becoming key NHL players, but I am more optimistic than any other time in the past.
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I think Flames did really well in this draft. They saved the "He's big and can learn to play hockey later" for the 6th round where historically most of the players that turn out are those types.
In the early rounds they acquired a lot of scoring talent which is usually the best indication of NHL upside. A lot of the guys are either first or second in scoring on their teams which means they weren't zoomed by anyone.
I think in the last ten years, drafting has been the biggest strength of the Flames organization, and this year doesn't look like an exception.
Funny an oiler fan sums up my thoughts as a flames fan so well. There were so many years everyone else got the shiniest new toy under the tree. Our rivals get an Uncharted 4 PS5 and our clever parents got us a “build your own ps1” mechano set.
Oilstain is exactly right - the Flames have been drafting really well, and I would say it is by far the organizational strength. This is why I was so wanting a rebuild now, and was so apprehensive about one around 2011 since it wasn't an organizational strength back then (though it was becoming one, with the benefit of hindsight, since 2008).
Calgary is not going to attract enough high profile UFAs at this point to turn move the needle even slightly.
Calgary doesn't have enough assets to trade themselves out of this mess either, especially with many top-end players having NTCs.
The only way forward to success is through leveraging by far the greatest strength it has - drafting and development. Calgary keeps finding and churning out players from the 1st through the 7th rounds. I knew Conroy wasn't going to just turn around and start trading picks to try and turn the Flames back into a 'contender' after the sell-off. That would have been incredibly stupid, and triple-so for a GM who spent a lot of time in this organization, knows the market, and knows the scouting.
The best thing Calgary does is drafting, and that's what they are leveraging. For those that watch international soccer and keep up, Calgary is Benfica - arguably the best team in the world at scouting and drafting players, but since they don't have a salary cap between countries within and outside of leagues, they will probably be an exciting rebuilding team that can only hope to win national Championships, while making the occasional run in the Champions League, but never win that outside of a miracle.
Because of the salary cap, Calgary has a chance to be Benfica now, and then eventually become Real Madrid winning championship after championship.
It isn't the best analogy, but it works. Just be the team that has scouts everywhere finding those diamonds everywhere, draft them and develop them, and instead of selling them off, keep them and win championships. Year one is fantastic so far.
Really positive review of Calgary’s draft by Scouching.
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Scouching is usually very critical, so the fact he gave the flames the best draft in 2024 is awesome. Great job by Craig, Todd and the scouting staff… and a little bit of luck!
Oilstain is exactly right - the Flames have been drafting really well, and I would say it is by far the organizational strength. This is why I was so wanting a rebuild now, and was so apprehensive about one around 2011 since it wasn't an organizational strength back then (though it was becoming one, with the benefit of hindsight, since 2008).
Calgary is not going to attract enough high profile UFAs at this point to turn move the needle even slightly.
Calgary doesn't have enough assets to trade themselves out of this mess either, especially with many top-end players having NTCs.
The only way forward to success is through leveraging by far the greatest strength it has - drafting and development. Calgary keeps finding and churning out players from the 1st through the 7th rounds. I knew Conroy wasn't going to just turn around and start trading picks to try and turn the Flames back into a 'contender' after the sell-off. That would have been incredibly stupid, and triple-so for a GM who spent a lot of time in this organization, knows the market, and knows the scouting.
The best thing Calgary does is drafting, and that's what they are leveraging. For those that watch international soccer and keep up, Calgary is Benfica - arguably the best team in the world at scouting and drafting players, but since they don't have a salary cap between countries within and outside of leagues, they will probably be an exciting rebuilding team that can only hope to win national Championships, while making the occasional run in the Champions League, but never win that outside of a miracle.
Because of the salary cap, Calgary has a chance to be Benfica now, and then eventually become Real Madrid winning championship after championship.
It isn't the best analogy, but it works. Just be the team that has scouts everywhere finding those diamonds everywhere, draft them and develop them, and instead of selling them off, keep them and win championships. Year one is fantastic so far.
Lost me for the soccer analogy’s but, agreed that the Flames should be leveraging what has been a clear organizational strength, drafting.
This past draft was very strong. If the Flames can get even two legitimate everyday players (top 4/top 6), that’s a success. Anything more than that is just gravy and it seems like there’s a good shot at that. (Trying not to be overly optimistic).
Looking ahead at the next two drafts with the picks already stockpiled and the assets on the current roster to add to that stockpile, Conroy is setting this team up as well as one could hope for at this point.
Might be tough to watch hockey next year but in 2-4 years time this could be truly one of the team in a big big upswing.
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Really positive review of Calgary’s draft by Scouching.
Really nice to see someone talk about Trevor Hoskin in a positive light. I still feel we know the least about him compared to the rest of the draft picks.
Anyway, I liked the video and it's an interesting video if you have the time to listen to it. He has a lot of praise for the draft in general and thought the Flames nailed at least 7/10 of the picks and gives it an A to an A+. The only criticisms he had was taking the two overagers. He was surprised they took Gridin late in the first, but after consideration, likes the pick.
I know some people don't like that he relies heavily on his model, but also throws in some eye tests. Personally I like that approach and think he is a really sharp guy.
Stromgren might put some pressure on Pelletiers spot at camp.
I'm starting to think Parekh isn't going to give the Flames a choice and will make the team full time this season.
I still contend Grushnikov snakes a spot at camp too.
Honestly there's a possibility the Flames will have a completely different looking D corps than what's being pencilled in right now with the current 6 vets occupying spots.
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It's certainly possible that Grushnikov or Parekh make the team out of camp. But I don't think there is any chance that they both do (injuries notwithstanding)
And Stromgren. I think he's the dark horse candidate to be brought up during the year and sticks.
Not a criticism on Bader, because I really like his work, but on Stromgren, he had some interesting things to say that he sees him as a guy who periodically makes a sick play, but that the player isn't consistent and disappears for a long time. He said the big periodic goals have raised peoples' expectations about him.
He could be right, or he might just still be annoyed that Calgary passed over Logan Stankoven, but I personally think Stromgren's past streakiness is more because he was bounced around and getting used to various league and coaching expectations.
I'm with you that he's a dark horse player this year that could take a big step and see some regular NHL duty. We'll see.
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