[News] With the 144th OA pick, the Flames select LW Ethan Wyttenbach

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Muta

Here’s a question - if you re-draft him today, what round/pick is he going at?

My guess would be a late first.

Would he go before or after Potter in a redraft?

[FanSince'01]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

My guess would be a late first.

Would he go before or after Potter in a redraft?

Considering how he's playing and how some of the players drafted in the late 1st are playing this year, I honestly think he'd go somewhere in the 20s

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

My guess would be a late first.

Would he go before or after Potter in a redraft?

Great question. He’s having a breakout year and Potter suffered a bad injury.

In any case, both have shown a ton of promise and each has alot left to prove for different reasons.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Everything we have heard from him so far would suggest that he will put in the same work that Coronato has shown. I suspect he will be all over the skating coach (if he hasn't already started)

Yeah, that's one of the Coronato interviews I was thinking of, where he's reverential towards Danielle Fujita, saying how much he learned from her.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Yeah, that's one of the Coronato interviews I was thinking of, where he's reverential towards Danielle Fujita, saying how much he learned from her.

And as much as I don't want to bring up the name, I believe Dillon Dube had Coronato under his wing, and that they trained together. Dube got really good results in the fitness testing from what I remember as well. Coronato gets to pass that experience on.


Listening to Wyttenbach, he seems like a super-mature, and very driven young man. I bet he will show up well at camp, but he will most likely return for another season so he can put on a bit more muscle, and hopefully become a bit more explosive. Hopefully he becomes the star I think he will be.

[PeteMoss]

I'm not really sure why we'd expect him to transfer? Quinnipiac has gone to the National Championship tournament 6 years in a row - no other team has done that. In terms of recent success - you'd probably only put Denver, Boston University, Michigan and Minnesota up with them.

They have been more successful in the last 5 years than big schools like Wisconsin, North Dakota, Penn State, etc.

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

I'm not really sure why we'd expect him to transfer? Quinnipiac has gone to the National Championship tournament 6 years in a row - no other team has done that. In terms of recent success - you'd probably only put Denver, Boston University, Michigan and Minnesota up with them.

They have been more successful in the last 5 years than big schools like Wisconsin, North Dakota, Penn State, etc.

I suspect he'd have lots of opportunities to rake in some serious money, so that's personally why I'd expect him to transfer.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

I'm not really sure why we'd expect him to transfer? Quinnipiac has gone to the National Championship tournament 6 years in a row - no other team has done that. In terms of recent success - you'd probably only put Denver, Boston University, Michigan and Minnesota up with them.

They have been more successful in the last 5 years than big schools like Wisconsin, North Dakota, Penn State, etc.

The whole intent here is to develop the kid and play him against the best competition possible. The reason Quinnipiac has been to the tournament for the past six years is because they play against weak competition and they are a powerhouse program. You don't get better beating up on weak competition, you get better playing against the best. It is why these other programs aren't an automatic for the tournament. The best players are in those other programs and it would do him much more for his development to play against them than rack up points against weaker competition.

[442scotty]

How has Quinnipiac fared in the national tournaments?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by 442scotty

How has Quinnipiac fared in the national tournaments?

Won it in 2023, lost the final in 2013 and 2016.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by 442scotty

How has Quinnipiac fared in the national tournaments?

National tournaments are a very bad gauge of anything. They are not indicative of strength of team or players. A hot team riding hot goaltender can take a short tournament like the NCAA setup. I wish they would have a real playoff, but the NCAA is in love with one-and-done eliminations. It's funny because they have basketball teams play a ton of games to qualify for March Madness then pray for as many upsets as possible. Hockey is different as the divisions are wildly imbalanced and they have a poll decide who gets invited to the dance. Not a great way of doing things IMO. Even a Memorial Cup style tournament is better than the national tournament setup, and the Memorial Cup is flawed as hell as well.

[activeStick]

Boy, this kid is exciting. The way he's performing has him looking like one of the top prospects from the entire draft except the Flames got him in the 5th! Which Flames pick was more hyped in their D+1? Johnny? Zayne?

[FBI]

Where is this kid going to be in our prospects pool this year? Top 3 at least?

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

The whole intent here is to develop the kid and play him against the best competition possible. The reason Quinnipiac has been to the tournament for the past six years is because they play against weak competition and they are a powerhouse program. You don't get better beating up on weak competition, you get better playing against the best. It is why these other programs aren't an automatic for the tournament. The best players are in those other programs and it would do him much more for his development to play against them than rack up points against weaker competition.

They've won a game in the tournament 4 of those 6 times in the tournament. They don't go and just get plastered.

You are looking at it from some kind of Flames development perspective.

Players might transfer if they are on a garbage team, but most players aren't going to leave a winning program to go to some team that may or may not make the Frozen Four to get more of a challenge. You are also looking at like 6 games a season where the Big 10 team is playing better teams than the Quinnipiac. And most of those best players are 18/19 (like he is) - so you can argue that playing teams with more older guys is just as beneficial. The whole Boston University team is basically drafted and they are a 500 team while playing in a similar conference as Q.

If the Flames want to control his development, sign him and figure out the best path for it between AHL/ECHL and NHL on your own dime.

[FanSince'01]

Originally Posted by FBI

Where is this kid going to be in our prospects pool this year? Top 3 at least?

I think it's gonna depend a bit on how high we draft this year and whether or not Zayne is still considered a "prospect" for this summer's ranking. He's proving himself to be a top prospect despite his draft position, but I can see people being gun-shy to elevate him that much up the prospect rankings despite everything he's doing.

I'd probably have him top 3, personally. I think it's possible he makes the top 3 and very likely he makes the top 5 in our rankings, depending on who all is in there.

[Jiri Hrdina]

It probably is something like this:

1. This year's pick
2. Zayne (if still eligible)
3. Gridin (if still eligible)
4. Reschney
5. This year's second first rounder/Wyttenbach/Potter

Given his production and Potter's injury I probably give it to Wyttenbach at #5 right now.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by FBI

Where is this kid going to be in our prospects pool this year? Top 3 at least?

I would put him in the same group as Reschny and Potter, probably just behind those two, meaning they probably all fall behind this year's #1, and possibly both #1s, and a couple already picked players. That's a good thing IMO. I think the rankings will probably fall out something like this:

#1 - 2026 Flames' first pick
#2 - Parekh
#3 - 2026 Knights' first pick
#4 - Reschny
#5 - Potter
#6 - Gridin
#7 - Wyttenbach

[GoFlamesGo89]

I don't follow the prospects too closely, but after looking at Wyttenbach's stats in this thread, I'm curious why Reschney, Gridin, and this year's pick would be higher? I don't see any of them being clear 'stars' whereas Wyttenbach seems to be on that trajectory...

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by GoFlamesGo89

I don't follow the prospects too closely, but after looking at Wyttenbach's stats in this thread, I'm curious why Reschney, Gridin, and this year's pick would be higher? I don't see any of them being clear 'stars' whereas Wyttenbach seems to be on that trajectory...

I've only watched his highlights so not going to claim to be an expert at all. But typically guys like him aren't drafted higher for good reasons, including size.

His season erases some of that, but those questions will have to be answered at each level of hockey.

But that's the fun. We all got to watch Johnny obliterate those concerns, every step of the way. Let's do it again.

The first rounder from this year, as an example, will have far less risk attached to them than Wyttenbach.

It would be interesting to see where Johnny ranked on our prospect votes in his D+1, +2 and +3 seasons. But i can't seem to find them. Or at least I'm not searching the right way to go back that far.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Ah found it some of them!

So Johnny was drafted in 2011.

In 2013 he finished 3rd in our prospect voting, behind Monahan and Sven.
https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=130143

In 2014 he finished 1st.
https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=139238

I can't find it for 2012. Perhaps we started doing them in the summer of 2013.