[News] With the 34th overall pick the Flames select G Mason McDonald

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by GGG

Thats the emotional response but really we still would have had only one pick. So if you want to play arm chair GM pick your guy here and stick to it. Its like people comparing the best guys to Jankowski instead of Teravian which was the consensus guy at the time.

I see it more like if there were 5 guys people wanted and 4 of them are doing well then it's like man we could have taken any of them and been doing great. If only one is doing well then it's like ok maybe it was a bit more of a crapshoot and who knows if we would have selected that one guy. With Jankowski you do see quite a few players so looking back your like we could have taken any one of them and been better off. At the end of the day we don't know who they would have selected so to me it's an easier to pill to swallow if only one in that range of players is doing well as opposed to a bunch.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by GGG

One other thing when we go back in 3 to 5 years to evaluate this pick its Mckowen we should compare him to as that seems to be the guy most people would havevrather picked. You dont get to compare him to one of the 5 defensemen still available as we can only pick one.

This line of thinking is patently ridiculous. Professional scouts are clearly not soothsayers; able to peer into the future to see what befalls prospective professional hockey players on their journey to the NHL. They are clearly much better at making projections than everyone else—especially the casual fan—but they are still limited by the information they have at hand. No one can know what will happen in the course of two or three years to affect the development of any one player; Shea Webber was a mid-second round pick in large part because no one foresaw a tremendous growth spurt in his future.

To compare this pick to McKeown makes no sense, since fourteen teams passed on him in the intervening picks, and Buffalo passed on him twice. Clearly, there is something in McKeown's game at present that sufficiently convinced most NHL scouts to hold off on him until the late second round. To put it another way, every team in the NHL who had the opportunity to draft John Gaudreau and didn't should not be faulted for their decision. Good for the Flames to take him, but they got lucky. At the time he was drafted, there was no good reason to be convinced that he would be as good as he is today, and he had everything working against him. Who knows why, but there is a reason McKeown slipped, and it most likely is a very good one.

[calgarybornnraised]

I think with the Flames taking a Goalie and teams following,,Treliving knew what was going on.Not a strong draft.

[CSharp]

That was a waste of a pick. Flames already have too many wannabe goalies in the farm. Should've used the pick for depth on center or defence.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by CSharp

That was a waste of a pick. Flames already have too many wannabe goalies in the farm. Should've used the pick for depth on center or defence.

Flames goalies:

1. Ramo - NHL
2. Ortio - AHL
3. Gillies - NCAA

That's too many wannabe goalies? Ridiculous.

[sureLoss]

Interesting, Flames scout Bobby MacMillan is an owner of the Charlottetown Islanders.

May have given the Flames an edge in knowing McDonald.

[FlameZilla]

Originally Posted by CSharp

That was a waste of a pick. Flames already have too many wannabe goalies in the farm. Should've used the pick for depth on center or defence.

Yeah, those fricken try-hard wannabe goalies! Why can't we have less of them, anyway?

Also, just for your reference, here is our current depth at centre:

Backlund
Monahan
Stajan
Colborne (converts to RW)
Granlund
Reinhart (converts to LW)
Knight
Arnold
Bennett
Jankowski

Goalies?:

Ramo
Ortio
Gilles
Roy (RFA)

Would you build a franchise around those 3 (Roy is ECHL fodder)? Can you guarantee one of them has what it takes to backstop a future contending franchise? No???! Then stop complaining about picking a frickin goalie then.

The McDonald pick addressed our most serious need.

Yes, we still need help on D. However, I would argue we have a large pool of potential #3-6 D (Russell, Wotherspoon, Kulak, Culkin, Kanzig, Sieloff) but what we need are potential #1 & 2 D men. Outside of Ekblad & possibly Fleury there were no clear-cut top-pairing D available. Goalie was a bigger priority, and there was a prospect there who they liked judging by the info that his name was stitched on the jersey.

Wasted pick? Far from it.

[FlameZilla]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Interesting, Flames scout Bobby MacMillan is an owner of the Charlottetown Islanders.

May have given the Flames an edge in knowing McDonald.

There looks to be another Charlottetown prospect going early in the first round next year. I wonder what Bobby thinks of Daniel Sprong (from FC’s guide):

RW Daniel Sprong Charlottetown, QMJHL 5-11, 175
A strong offensive player...he’s quick and extremely involved in every play...an explosive player who can create chances out of nothing...strong skater and very slick hands...a wicked shot and can snipe top shelf...not easily pushed around, but still does need to add strength to truly dominate...he’s adaptable and able to find ways to make an impact in every game...de- fense needs to come along and he isn’t very physical, but his offensive skill set will make him a game breaker at the pro level...at times, he shows some real initiative in his own zone though, blocking shots and breaking up plays...works his butt off both on and off the ice to improve his game.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by CSharp

That was a waste of a pick. Flames already have too many wannabe goalies in the farm. Should've used the pick for depth on center or defence.

I'm glad they took a goalie. I think they have too many wannabe forwards and wannabe defense on the farm.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by FlameZilla

There looks to be another Charlottetown prospect going early in the first round next year. I wonder what Bobby thinks of Daniel Sprong (from FC’s guide):

Sprong looks pretty good to me so far. I'll be watching him a lot in his draft year (as well as McDonald). He was born in Holland but has spent half his life in Canada (it's rumoured he wants to play for Canada at the international level).

[Geeoff]

Originally Posted by CSharp

That was a waste of a pick. Flames already have too many wannabe goalies in the farm. Should've used the pick for depth on center or defence.

I don't really know anything about McDonald but there's always teams looking for goalies, so even if we have "enough" of them a strong goalie is a good piece to have. Our depth isn't good enough in any area to pass over the player our scouts thought was the BPA.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

In the past two years, no less than 9 goalies have been picked in the second round:

2013:

36 - Fucale - MTL
44 - Jarry - PIT
54 - Desrosiers - DAL
59 - Comrie - WPG

2014:

34 - McDonald - CGY
36 - Demko - VAN
37 - Nedeljkovic - CAR
39 - Vanecek - WAS
59 - Halverson - NYR

Realistically, how many of these guys will actually hit (i.e. become a legit NHL starter). Half?

More than half of ALL second rounders will bust, regardless of whether they are goalies or skaters. Heck some years half or more than half of the first round busted. The draft is inherently risky.

[ricardodw]

Goalies should not drafted as 18 year olds. In terms of goalie development as 18 year old they basically have got to the point that they can put their equipment on correctly without Mom or Dad helping them.

Best young goalie of all time was Steve Mason Drafted 69th overall (3rd round) by Columbus. in 2006.. Nhl rookie of the year in 2008-09 as a 20 year old.

Carey Price Drafted 5th overall in 2005 and made his NHL debut in 2007-08 as a 20 year old.

Marc Andre Fluery drafted 1st overall in 2003 did not play his first NHL game until he was 20, almost 21.

I know that these guys playing in the NHL at age 20 is not too shabby , but these are the very best young goalies, basically of all time.... compare that to the skaters playing the year that they get drafted....

[cannon7]

The Flames needed goaltending depth. While Ortio and Gillies look great, we really have very little in the pipeline after those two. This kid will have plenty of time to develop.

[Fischy13]

McDonald was just in Calgary at a Hockey Canada camp, correct? Is this the WJC camp? I took a look at the prospects invited to the WJC camp this summer, he wasn't listed.... I thought he'd be a shoe in for making that camp, not? Too young still?

[Enoch Root]

without having looked at the list, I would guess they are all 19 year olds

Fucale, Jarry and Desrosiers?

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

More than half of ALL second rounders will bust, regardless of whether they are goalies or skaters. Heck some years half or more than half of the first round busted. The draft is inherently risky.

Of the 2011 draft picks 31-60 in the 2013-14 season, as 20 year olds 17 have already played in at least 1 NHL game. 6 have already played in 20 games.

Out of the 2010 draft 15 players have played in the NHL... 8 more than 20 games

Out of the 2009 draft 20 guys with an NHL game. 14 with 20 or more NHL games 5 with 100 NHL games

Not really watching the draft as closely as your name would indicate

[MrMastodonFarm]

Goalies take longer to play a game in the NHL. Playing a single game is hardly a good barometer of being a bust or not. Plenty of players have played a stretch of games and are still not NHL players.

FDW is still one of the best voices I listen to on Calgarypuck when it comes to the draft. He'll tell you what he thinks, won't sugar coat things but he also won't pretend he's an expert like some users here pretend to do. He'll give his thoughts about players he's familiar with and won't get dramatic about players he isn't.

The wannabe professional scout demographic on CP is getting out of hand. This is a bit off topic, but to anyone who has ever said they've "scouted" a player and hasn't drawn a paycheque from an NHL team, kindly STFU. You've watched players, you haven't scouted them. I've watched lots of potential NHL players over the years but I won't be stupid enough to suggest I've scouted any. And if all you've done is watch them on youtube, mention that. Watching clips on youtube isnt like watching a player live.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Of the 2011 draft picks 31-60 in the 2013-14 season, as 20 year olds 17 have already played in at least 1 NHL game. 6 have already played in 20 games.

Out of the 2010 draft 15 players have played in the NHL... 8 more than 20 games

Out of the 2009 draft 20 guys with an NHL game. 14 with 20 or more NHL games 5 with 100 NHL games

Not really watching the draft as closely as your name would indicate

So, 20 games is an acceptable metric by which to determine the line between a "bust" and a "success"? I don't think your recital of numbers does anything at all to counter FDR's assertion.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

More than half of ALL second rounders will bust, regardless of whether they are goalies or skaters. Heck some years half or more than half of the first round busted. The draft is inherently risky.

To add to this: One of the reason why goalies appear to be inherently more risky as draft picks is because there are so few of them in the first place, vying for only 60 NHL jobs each season. Comparitively speaking, the NHL employs a basic platoon of around 210 defensemen, and 390 forwards. I expect that relatively speaking, the number of goalie successes and busts in the draft is actually fairly comparable to skaters.