[News] With the 54th overall pick the Flames select RW Hunter Smith

[SHOGUN]

Not really fan of this pick. I highly doubt he'll become an NHLer just because I feel his size/truculence gets too much attention over his deficiencies. He can improve a lot by the time he reaches a chance to play in the NHL, but unless his skating and speed improves significantly, I think he's ceiling is 4th liner - AHLer. I would love him to prove me wrong because I feel the Flames are craving for a player who is big, nasty and can play... but till then I won't expect much out of him.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Those clips give me some hope that he's more than a banger. He had good vision and awareness and some good passing ability. His shot is a little slow to get off, but it seems pretty accurate. He also can be a pure big body presence in front of the net and bang in garbage goals too. He's got a lot of raw tools that can be developed from what I saw. He's probably about 3-4 years away, but it's the kind of player that's hard to find these days, so I'm glad they drafted him.

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by SHOGUN

He can improve a lot by the time he reaches a chance to play in the NHL, but unless his skating and speed improves significantly, I think he's ceiling is 4th liner - AHLer. I would love him to prove me wrong because I feel the Flames are craving for a player who is big, nasty and can play... but till then I won't expect much out of him.

He's a 6'7 18-year old. The coordination will come, and he's already showing improvements in leaps and bounds because of that. Skating can be improved - speed? He's probably going to be like 230-40 lbs, I'm not exactly worried about him moving fast, we have Bennett and Poirier for that.

I believe Hunter will get the Gustav Nyquist route. He'll get sent to Junior next year and tear it up for 2-3 full seasons in the AHL before the NHL full time call-up.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

He's probably going to be like 230-40 lbs, I'm not exactly worried about him moving fast, we have Bennett and Poirier for that.

As Don Cherry said about the '89 Flames, 'The big guys go boom, the little guys go zip.' I'm fine with Smith being a guy who goes boom.

[Bingo]

I think he was a solid pick, especially where they took him. He had a lot of buzz heading into the draft because of the arch he was on. 960 talked him up, but then the NHL guys (TSN people) talked him up on day 2 of the draft as a guy that could go in the first few picks.

The Flames grabbed their goaltender, which to me meant they wouldn't get a shot of one of those other guys.

The fact that he fell to them was a bonus.

A late second rounder is a maybe anyway, this seems like a pretty solid maybe.

[Mass_nerder]

He seems like if he makes it to the flames he's going to turn into a fan favorite. Every interview I've seen of him is great. He appears to have an amazing personality and sense of humor.
Probably would be a good locker room guy too.

[Gaskal]

He dropped the T-word with a big cheesy grin knowing the culture here surrounding that word, big thumbs up for me.

[Malkin]

Awful pick but not surprising. 2nd round pick on a potential 4th liner. Even worse than the Kanzig pick.

[TheDebaser]

Originally Posted by Malkin

Awful pick but not surprising. 2nd round pick on a potential 4th liner. Even worse than the Kanzig pick.

I'm sure you're better at evaluating talent than Central Scouting.

I bet you've never seen the kid play and you're just assuming he's a thug because he's tall.

Smith, a 6-foot-6, 208-pound right-handed shot, made the biggest jump on NHL Central Scouting's final rankings of the top North American skaters eligible for the 2014 draft, moving 101 spots from No. 140 to No. 39 in a span of three months.

Potential fourth liners don't get ranked 39th overall.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Malkin

Awful pick but not surprising. 2nd round pick on a potential 4th liner. Even worse than the Kanzig pick.

It could be worse though. He could be like Brendan Gaunce and have no hope of improvement, or Jordan Schroeder and be a bust at 23. This guy at least has a chance to play in the NHL.

[Sandman]

Watching him today, he looks like he has a solid skill-set. His skating looks a little awkward, but he gets around good (especially for a huge guy) and displays a pretty decent hockey IQ as well. It was fun watching him today.

[Wastedyouth]

I wasn't a huge fan, but after seeing him skate a bit (online), he doesn't look bad. His first step out of the corner on a few goals was quite quick.

[sureLoss]

http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/07/07...tm_source=t.co

The skyscraping right-winger isn’t going to beat 5-foot-something forward Johnny Gaudreau in a fastest skater competition, but it’s not like you need to call timeout so he can catch up with the play.

“He might not look the prettiest, but as we found out during the year, he doesn’t finish last in too many races,” said Flames GM Brad Treliving earlier this week. “The exciting part is he’s still so raw. Physically, you look at him and he’s a big kid. But there’s a lot of filling out to do. There’s a lot of strength to do. And even mechanically, with his stride, there is some work to be done.

“He’s going to take some time,” Treliving continued. “As we improve (his skating), that will make him even a better player. But you’re right — you look at him now, and he gets to places. He arrives on time. Even in a couple of drills, he was beating people.

“It probably doesn’t hurt when you take one stride, and it’s probably equal to about four strides of the normal person.”

When it comes to assessing his skating skills, you could argue he’s maybe beating himself up a bit.

“I think I have be (critical),” Smith said. “I had 21 interviews at the combine, and every team, it was the same story, so obviously something is wrong with it.”

[sun]

“He might not look the prettiest"

Kinda rude thing to say. I mean, he's no Lundqvist, but he's not bad.

[Point Blank]

Originally Posted by sun

“He might not look the prettiest"

Kinda rude thing to say. I mean, he's no Lundqvist, but he's not bad.

He could've meant his skating is not the prettiest? Since he was talking in the context of his skating speed but I dunno

[Fire]

Originally Posted by Point Blank

He could've meant his skating is not the prettiest? Since he was talking in the context of his skating speed but I dunno

Ha Ha... it was obviously a joke by Sun.

[Point Blank]

Originally Posted by Fire

Ha Ha... it was obviously a joke by Sun.

Oh my bad Mr. sun! I have no sense of humor

[sun]

Originally Posted by Point Blank

Oh my bad Mr. sun! I have no sense of humor

That's okay, my jokes aren't very funny.

[Hackey]

The fact he made such a huge jump in ranking is encouraging. Also really liked his interview in terms of understanding what he needs to do to get to the show. Always a bit nervous about poor skaters though. I'm not a believer that you can really change your skating drastically at that age. Exactly the type of player we could use though if he panned out.

[3thirty]

This may have been posted elsewhere, but it looks like the flames have a "skate guru" in Troy Crowder. Not sure if it is limited to adjusting skates, or for strides etc. as well, but an interesting article that should help guys like Smith.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...379/story.html