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

[CFO]

What happens if the Habs offered a trade of Hage for him? Would the flames do it?

[Groot]

Wyttenbach went pointless last night, but put up 1G 2A tonight to bring his total to 54 points, with 2 games to go in the regular season.

[Fan69]

Originally Posted by CFO

What happens if the Habs offered a trade of Hage for him? Would the flames do it?

For a Center probably would have to be the only sensible response. My guess would be that it would probably never be an option unless hage said to them i want to move or i want to go to Calgary.

They have the same issue everyone else has? A lack of young top six centers.

[Snuffleupagus]

Best part about Wyttenbach is his progression as the competition gets harder, in AAA Long Island they moved him along as soon as he was old enough and he just got better. another player with similar progression was Brayden Point yet because of size and speed he went under the radar until he was filling the net in the NHL making scouts and Brian Burke look dumb as hell.

Fortunately and lucky for the Flames Ethan got hurt last year because he probably would have been fighting with Ryker Lee(1st rounder) for the lead in points for draft eligible players and possibly top 5 in the the whole USHL, now he's backing it up in the NCAA.

[Sandman]

Wyttenbach is on top of the NCAA scoring race by 9 points!

[CFO]

Originally Posted by Sandman

Wyttenbach is on top of the NCAA scoring race by 9 points!

Unless there is massive points games left by trailing players - he should finish top of league regardless

[Canada 02]

Originally Posted by CFO

Unless there is massive points games left by trailing players - he should finish top of league regardless

McKenna is 11 points back, but maybe the biggest threat.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by CFO

Unless there is massive points games left by trailing players - he should finish top of league regardless

Cruz Lucius had a 7 point weekend and is now in second place. McKenna had 10 points on the weekend to jump up to a tie for fifth, only 2 points behind Lucius and 11 back of Wyttenbach.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

McKenna is 11 points back, but maybe the biggest threat.

Weird. I thought McKenna was hot garbage?

Guess the stat-watchers were wrong.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Weird. I thought McKenna was hot garbage?

Guess the stat-watchers were wrong.

Which is unfunny because this is almost certainly a stat watcher comment.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Which is unfunny because this is almost certainly a stat watcher comment.

Oh it is, is it? If you think he's playing like trash, then you haven't watched him play.

This place has its head so far up its own ass sometimes, it's crazy.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Oh it is, is it? If you think he's playing like trash, then you haven't watched him play.

This place has its head so far up its own ass sometimes, it's crazy.

He's playing unreal now. He wasn't before. And it wasn't just stats.

[Flamesfan05]

It’s puzzling why everyone passed on him

It’s not like he can’t skate or a midget like Phillips.

He is definitely a serious prospect now

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

He's playing unreal now. He wasn't before. And it wasn't just stats.

I know, but I explained at the time why he wasn't. People still said he was a bust. It's gonna happen again in his first NHL year. Just like it did in his first CHL year.

He's small and needs confidence. It's always taken time for him to adjust, and it always will. He's too good to not figure things out though. It's crazy that everyone was falling over themselves over how easy hockey looks for a 6'4" defenceman compared to a guy like McKenna. All anyone had to do was watch McKenna play at the start of this season to see what I was talking about. If you've seen him play when he has it figured out, you could still see the same things this year. Same decisions, but making them slower. Same skill, but nervous. Shying away from contact instead of making people miss him.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

I know, but I explained at the time why he wasn't. People still said he was a bust. It's gonna happen again in his first NHL year. Just like it did in his first CHL year.

He's small and needs confidence. It's always taken time for him to adjust, and it always will. He's too good to not figure things out though. It's crazy that everyone was falling over themselves over how easy hockey looks for a 6'4" defenceman compared to a guy like McKenna. All anyone had to do was watch McKenna play at the start of this season to see what I was talking about. If you've seen him play when he has it figured out, you could still see the same things this year. Same decisions, but making them slower. Same skill, but nervous. Shying away from contact instead of making people miss him.

Who said he was a bust?
I can't find anyone that said that. What people expressed were valid concerns about his all around game, and how he creates offense. We should be able to have those types of conversations about a prospect. And why are you assuming that people that had those concerns haven't watched him play?

I am happy to stand corrected if you can point me to a number of people who called a bust. I can't find any.

We should be able to have these debates without making it seem like the opposing views are way more extreme than they actually are.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Oh it is, is it? If you think he's playing like trash, then you haven't watched him play.

This place has its head so far up its own ass sometimes, it's crazy.

Making up arguments just so you can pat yourself on the back for countering those arguments is incredibly sad to me.

I don’t actually think you’ve watched him play lol.

[Bourque's Twin]

I don’t follow NCAA hockey or the Hobey Baker. The case seems very strong for Wyttenbach to win it as the leading scorer by a wide margin on a team that looks to have minimal support around him all while they have a good record. Are there other intricacies that could prevent him from winning such as being a freshman, playing in a weaker conference, etc.?

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Bourque's Twin

I don’t follow NCAA hockey or the Hobey Baker. The case seems very strong for Wyttenbach to win it as the leading scorer by a wide margin on a team that looks to have minimal support around him all while they have a good record. Are there other intricacies that could prevent him from winning such as being a freshman, playing in a weaker conference, etc.?

the conference is a valid one, also I think his icetime is a little low- which of course in some ways means even more- wow! scoring despite lack of icetime, but I wonder (I have no clue really) what situations he's used in

[FlamesAddiction]

I think popularity plays a part, so Wyttenbach being a freshman and not a name that has been on people's radar for a long time, may be a factor.

[united]

Originally Posted by Bourque's Twin

I don’t follow NCAA hockey or the Hobey Baker. The case seems very strong for Wyttenbach to win it as the leading scorer by a wide margin on a team that looks to have minimal support around him all while they have a good record. Are there other intricacies that could prevent him from winning such as being a freshman, playing in a weaker conference, etc.?

Conference is the largest one. From an NHLe perspective, over a large sample, the gap between the ECAC and Big10 is nearly as large as the gap between the AJHL and WHL. So, think of it as: how good would an AJHL player have to be for you to consider them the best player in "junior" relative to the best WHL player? (Again, not quite as the gap between ECAC-Big 10 isn't quite as large as AJHL-WHL but closest layman's comparable.)

There are some nuances, one being AJHL teams don't play games versus WHL teams whereas in the NCAA there are inter-conference games. However, as other posters have noted, this can be hard to quantify in very small samples given the gulf in quality of competition even intra-conference. Also, the recent changes in eligibility and dynamics impacting all leagues.

A problem in messaging is models like Byron Bader's just use an equivalency for the NCAA as a whole rather than granular conference-level equivalencies. I believe Bader is aware and plans to roll out a revised version at some point, but for now a reader has to be diligent in keeping the above in mind for players in the Big 10 (underrated) and ECAC (overrated) if digesting his model's outputs at face value. Are the differences huge? No. But they are material and real.

Probably sounds negative but not the intent at all! I'm pumped about the pick and his future. Accuracy and expectation is the intent. Both can be true:

- Lots of good players come out of the ECAC and the AJHL! All-Stars even. What is important is scoring at a young age, which he is. Very young, at that. Great sign and high probability NHLer at this stage and regardless of how his career goes, incredible value for a 5th-rounder. (As an aside, this is why anyone with experience with NHLe models saw nearly zero chance of Spencer Foo becoming an NHL player despite the hype. Waiting until 22 to hit point-per-game in a weak conference = minor leaguer.)
- NHLe models that don't use conference-specific equivalencies overrate ECAC production to a degree, so expectation should be tempered a little. Again if relying on those outputs exclusively.