Summer 2014 Prospect Ranking Poll Rd1

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Completely

I think the homer glasses are real. Didn't scouts say that Jones was a step higher than Ekblad?

Yeah, each one of this year's top four would've likely gone at five if he (individually) were in this years draft. There's no contradiction.

(Having said that, I'd also buy the argument that Lindholm was the "correct" pick at five, dropping Bennett to six.)

But Horvat? Horvat projects to have a ceiling around 50 points/season - which is about where Bennett's floor is.

[dying4acup]

Originally Posted by SebC

Yeah, each one of this year's top four would've likely gone at five if he (individually) were in this years draft. There's no contradiction.

(Having said that, I'd also buy the argument that Lindholm was the "correct" pick at five, dropping Bennett to six.)

But Horvat? Horvat projects to have a ceiling around 50 points/season - which is about where Bennett's floor is.

I think u just said what I did one post earlier (in a more complicated way)!

I think I "sureloss"ed you!

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

The 2013 was a great and talented draft by all accounts, it was going to come down to preference (maybe even need in regards to Nurse and Edmonton) once you fall below the 6th pick, in my opinion. I'd say the Oilers still pick Nurse because they want a defenseman and Bennett isn't that clear of an upgrade, it wasn't like MacKinnon had fallen to them...

Except that under these circumstances, it kind of is just like that. Bennett was a couple of months older, but very similar to MacKinnon in size, and with a nearly identical NHLe. No, he is not as good a projected prospect, but had they been in the same draft, Bennett would likely have been viewed as a "MacKinnon lite". I don't think he would have fallen outside the top five, and with him in the same draft, I think that Drouin, Lindholm, or Monahan possibly slips.

[FlameZilla]

Bennett reminded me a bit of Mackinnon in those scrimmages. Low-ish centre of gravity but he's strong against the boards. I thought he had great speed & agility. He could end up being 'Mackinnon lite' or a player more similar to Matt Duchene.

I think Gaudreau is our most NHL ready potential top-6 prospect, but I think Bennett has a higher ceiling. He'll be more of an all-round player than Gaudreau, but with slightly less dynamism on offence.

There's a lot to be excited about on that list, by the way.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by T@T

Maybe try the search function!

Why don't you just post it since you know the timeline already?

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by FlameZilla

Bennett reminded me a bit of Mackinnon in those scrimmages. Low-ish centre of gravity but he's strong against the boards. I thought he had great speed & agility. He could end up being 'Mackinnon lite' or a player more similar to Matt Duchene.

MacKinnon and Duchene for me are the closest current com parables to how Bennett plays. I think he is more skilled than Duchene, but without the ludicrous speed.

[Lanny_McDonald]

I think Bennett is a helluva good prospect. I think we got the best player from this draft. But if these guys were in the same draft as last year's class, I don't see a way they could have got a sniff of the top six, maybe top 10. Vancouver's pick of Horvat was a little off the board, but I don't see either of Reinhart or Bennet supplanting the likes of MacKinnon, Barkov, Drouin, Lindholm, Monahan or Nichushkin. Ekblad isn't going to top Jones and is probably in tough against Nurse and Ristolainen. We should be exceptionally happy that we have two centers like Monahan and Bennett to build around. When you add in Jankowski, Granlund, Reinhart, Knight and Arnold, the center position is crazy deep in the future. Unless we are making a trade, the important thing is to focus on the talent we have in our system, not the talent that was drafted by other teams. Things are looking up because the talent that was drafted has continued to develop and not stall out like it has in years gone by or other teams in our province.

[FlamesAddiction]

Horvat is a great prospect and we would be lucky to have him in our organization. I doubt too many people even outside Calgary would have him pegged as more than a 2/3 line centre and Bennett as a 1/2 line centre as a projected upside though.

I had to go with Bennett in this poll. Gaudreau's size is still too much of a concern for me and will be until he proves otherwise. I can't wait to find out though.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by New Era

...if these guys were in the same draft as last year's class, I don't see a way they could have got a sniff of the top six, maybe top 10. Vancouver's pick of Horvat was a little off the board, but I don't see either of Reinhart or Bennet supplanting the likes of MacKinnon, Barkov, Drouin, Lindholm, Monahan or Nichushkin.

I do. Ekblad almost certainly would go before Nurse, and probably no later than six. Then the three centres, Reinhart, Bennett, and Draisaitl are right there in the same conversation with Monahan, Lindholm, and possibly Drouin. If you added all of the top-four to last year's draft, then I think there is a lot of movement that would affect almost every pick outside of MacKinnon and Barkov.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Sieloff's going to fall this year in the Flames fans minds, I think.

[bubbsy]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

Sieloff's going to fall this year in the Flames fans minds, I think.

do you mean he is currently overrated by the fans, or underrated?

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

do you mean he is currently overrated by the fans, or underrated?

I think his poll ranking last year was about where he should've been, maybe a bit high because of management hyping him up.

This year I think he's going to simply fall because of his seemingly never ending injuries. I don't think Flames fans will overrate or underrate him. I think it'll just be a matter of him falling because of a lack of progression (for obvious reasons).

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

Well I think he's right in that conversation as well but put him below. I could see a gambler GM taking Bennett over Monahan because of the higher offensive ceiling but I do think other GM's would prefer the safe bigger center in Monahan. I'm glad the Flames didn't have to pick.

As for the Canucks and Horvat, if Horvat is that Patrice Bergeron type player they liked to compare him to and Gillis really thought that there's no way you can not pick him with the 9th overall. Maybe 29 of the other 30 GM's would have gone with someone else, but if Gillis thought he would be passing up on Bergeron with that 9th overall picking someone else he wouldn't do it regardless of who was left. And that's maybe one of the reasons he's looking for a job now.

It is not even close to how much higher Monahan was/is ranked than Bennett.

Picking Bennett with Monahan on the board would have been huge gamble.... Even more than Horvat with Nichkushkin and Domi still there.

redline report before each of them was drafted

Bennett's report card has the following:
Size/Strength: B-
Skating: A-
Shot/Scoring Ability: B+
Puck handling: A
Hockey sense: A
Competitiveness: A
Physical play: A-
Composure/poise: A-
Defence: B



Monahan Report Card
Size/Strength A
Skating B+
Shot/Scoring ability B+
Puckhandling A
Hockey Sense A+
Competitiveness A
Physical play B
Composure/Poise A
Defence B

so Monahan is 4 grades higher on size/strength
1 grade lower on skating
1 grade higher on Hockey sense
2 grades lower on physical play
and 1 grade higher on composure and poise.

--------

Then Monahan went out and worked out none stop before training camp and was in much better condition and shape than the Flames were counting on.

With Monahan and Gaudreau developing and working much harder with better results than 90% of the drafted players I think we are projecting the best case scenario onto Bennett. He is small and plays a hard game.... There is no indication at all of how his game translates to Men's hockey.

From the various starting lineup projection there has been no one at CP that projects him to be a Flame this season. There is a 100% consensus that he is too small and weak to compete at the NHL level and would be way overmatched and possibly ruined.

He needs to go back to junior and put on 10-20 lbs and not lose his speed. Possible or even probably but not at all guaranteed.... If it was Sven B. would have had 80 games last year and 20-30 goals.

It took a very talented Backlund 6 years to man up to the NHL level. Sutter had him too good to play junior as a 19 year old and he truly was outstanding with the Rockets - on a par with Benn and Myers)

Bennett will have to work extremely hard to slot in as the #2 centre on this team. I don't see him taking over the #1 C role from Monahan.

But sure don't mind him having the potential to push Monahan and take advantage of playing in the more sheltered #2 spot.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

I think his poll ranking last year was about where he should've been, maybe a bit high because of management hyping him up.

This year I think he's going to simply fall because of his seemingly never ending injuries. I don't think Flames fans will overrate or underrate him. I think it'll just be a matter of him falling because of a lack of progression (for obvious reasons).

Sieloff is in the same boat as Bouma was last year. Because Bouma lost the previous year to injury we at CP had him as the 21st best NHL prospect and he played 78 NHL games. Maybe not as much as Sieloff but there is an opening for him or Wootherspoon and he was ahead of Wootherspoon last year.

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

Sieloff's going to fall this year in the Flames fans minds, I think.

He has to drop unfortunately. A year of lost development at his age can be a huge deal. I think I voted Sieloff last year around 6th or 7th, but likely will drop him to 10th-12th this year, with the leaps forward some other guys took in 2013/14 as well as new pickups.

Hopefully he responds the same way as Bouma did last year.

[mile]

Originally Posted by dying4acup

Out of curiosity, how did Horvat and Bennett compare statistically in 2013-14?

Horvat 2013-14 (Post-Draft Year): 54GP, 30G, 44A, 74P, 1.37PPG

Bennett 2013-14 (Draft Year): 57GP, 36G, 55A, 91P, 1.59PPG

Offensively Bennett clearly has the edge, even with less experience.

I agree with everything else you said.

[BloodFetish]

I voted for Gaudreau.

Many posters downgrade Gaudreau over fears NHL defensemen will negate his skill.

I think he'll learn early on what he can and can not do, and adjust his game accordingly. Instead of taking the puck to the net as often perhaps we'll see more of those sudden shifts of direction inside the blue line to buy time and space from the defense, and look to create scoring chances with a team mate.

And then when NHL defence adjust and step up on him I think he'll start skating around them again.

/wetdream

[StrykerSteve]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

Sieloff's going to fall this year in the Flames fans minds, I think.

I'd bet Sieloff is in the opening night lineup this year.

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

I'd bet Sieloff is in the opening night lineup this year.

That would be moronic. Not the bet, but having him on the roster in the NHL this season.

[MarkGio]

Obviously I voted for JG, but in terms of Bennett versus Poirer, both are feisty goal scorers who play a big game, only Bennett is more of a play maker but Poirer is a bigger skater and is closer to being in the NHL. I think at this point both have similar ceilings.

I give the edge to Poirer because he's a right wing