FC's 2013 NHL Draft Thread

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by kirant

I'm not sure we can get a #1 D at 18th. The D available at 18th look like excellent #3 on depth charts at their ceiling.

As a fan, I'm not huge on putting ceilings on players. Obviously, we like to gravitate towards doing so even when we don't want to. It's a fan's way of making sense of the future.

With that said, we've got to keep in mind that TJ Brodie was got in the 4th round and he's beginning to look like a top pairing guy. Also, Shea Weber was got in the 2nd round. There are ton of examples where top pairing guys emerge from various rounds.

I'm just saying it's tough to place ceilings on young guys.

[FCAV]

Our April Rankings are now live (if you've visited our direct rankings page you would've noticed they've been up for a few days).

Rank / Pos. / Name / Team / League / Ht / Wt /
1). D Seth Jones, Portland, WHL, 6-4, 205
2). RW/C Nathan MacKinnon, Halifax, QMJHL, 6-0, 180
3). C/LW Jonathan Drouin, Halifax, QMJHL, 5-11, 175
4). C Aleksander Barkov, Tappara, SM-liiga, 6-2, 205
5). D Darnell Nurse, Sault Ste. Marie, OHL, 6-4, 195
6). LW/C Valeri Nichushkin, Traktor Chelyabinsk, KHL, 6-4, 195
7). C Elias Lindholm, Brynas, Elitserien, 6-0, 185
8). C Sean Monahan, Ottawa, OHL, 6-2, 195
9). C/LW Max Domi, London, OHL, 5-10, 195
10). LW Hunter Shinkaruk, Medicine Hat, WHL, 5-11, 175

Full 30 here: http://futureconsiderations.ca/fc-re...013-nhl-draft/

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

I don't know a thing about Darnell Nurse. Is he legit? I mean, he's ranked 5th in a lot of rankings I've seen.

[Mitch]

Really happy to see Domi get some recognition as of late. One of the more skilled players in the draft.

[neo45]

Nurse and Domi have both been consistently rising in the rankings this year, which is a good thing to see. I like what I have seen from both players and wouldn't be upset at either one being taken 7th or 8th overall, even though the board as a collective would probably flip out

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by neo45

Nurse and Domi have both been consistently rising in the rankings this year, which is a good thing to see. I like what I have seen from both players and wouldn't be upset at either one being taken 7th or 8th overall, even though the board as a collective would probably flip out

Nurse I'd be fine with. Looks like he has top pairing upside. Big, mobile, strong, will get stronger, skilled and mean.

A 5'9 centre though? Not with our first pick. We are already struggling to have any size/strength up front. Domi, Baertschi, Gaudreau, Backlund would be way too small of a forward core.

If Domi falls to our 2nd pick he'd be fine there.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by kirant

I'm not sure we can get a #1 D at 18th. The D available at 18th look like excellent #3 on depth charts at their ceiling.

Anything is possible, Weber out of 2nd round wasn't suppose to be a Norris candidate but he is. Do your homework and develop properly.

[kirant]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

As a fan, I'm not huge on putting ceilings on players. Obviously, we like to gravitate towards doing so even when we don't want to. It's a fan's way of making sense of the future.

With that said, we've got to keep in mind that TJ Brodie was got in the 4th round and he's beginning to look like a top pairing guy. Also, Shea Weber was got in the 2nd round. There are ton of examples where top pairing guys emerge from various rounds.

I'm just saying it's tough to place ceilings on young guys.

Of course. As mentioned below, I do think of this as an approximation. The concept of getting a #1 D is unlikely is basically main point I'm getting at. Generally, the trend is that players within the 15-20 range are stable stock for becoming support players. It's tough for me to expect higher, even with a deeper draft as the draft's layout is an excellent top 10, followed by players of 1st round calibre down to the mid-2nd. The quality isn't terribly higher, but the quantity is large.

It's cool that their are exceptions, but I wouldn't place them as the likely scenario. I've been ecstatic at Brodie's progress and I hope the Flames end up with players similar to him more often. But, because the NHL drafts so early, I feel a lot of it comes down to development curves, which are unknown at the time of drafting...expect the rule, hope for the exception I guess you could say.

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

Anything is possible, Weber out of 2nd round wasn't suppose to be a Norris candidate but he is. Do your homework and develop properly.

A lot of luck was made with Weber's pick. When drafted, he was a shutdown man. That offence came after. There are players like that.

The problem these days with drafting is that there are no secret stashes of players for teams. The Flames used to pick lots of Europeans at a time when they weren't trusted. The Red Wings one upped that by finding unknown European leagues.

Anything is possible, but I don't think we can trust that it'll be likely. Ceiling pretty much means "projected ceiling", right? There's no way we know, with perfect certainty, what the actual ceiling is until after they retire.

If the Flames do better than expected, great. I'd love to see the 2013 draft be remembered as the one which would launch the team into a dynasty. I wouldn't trust it as one where so many holes can be fixed at once though, as would be suggested by drafting a #1 C and a #1 D.

[FlameZilla]

If we take Nurse we could potentially pick up JT Compher with a later pick. Quick centerman, good vision & Kesler-esque.

[Commandant]

Today is a 2 for 1 special, since I didn't have one yesterday.

At 16, Adam Erne of the Quebec Remparts
http://lastwordonsports.com/2013/04/...er-profile-16/

At 17 a guy I have higher than most, JT Compher of the US NTDP U18 squad
http://lastwordonsports.com/2013/04/...er-profile-17/

[Commandant]

Alexander Wennberg, a centre out of Sweden

http://lastwordonsports.com/2013/04/...er-profile-18/

[dammage79]

Wennberg is quickly becoming one of my favorites in this draft.

[Commandant]

#19 on the board is Bo Horvat.

http://lastwordonsports.com/2013/04/...er-profile-19/

[squirtle]

how similar is wennbergs style compared to lindholm? Judging by their highlights, I was surprised how similar they looked but obviously lindholm is projected higher for a reason

[Commandant]

The style is similar, but Lindholm is better. He just does things on a higher level, a half step quicker, threads the pass through a tighter opening, wins more board battles, does it more consistently, etc...

Lindholm is amongst the elite group of 8 or so prospects in this draft who if they develop correctly, can be franchise cornerstones for their teams.

Its the difference between a first line centre and a second liner IMO.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Commandant

The style is similar, but Lindholm is better. He just does things on a higher level, a half step quicker, threads the pass through a tighter opening, wins more board battles, does it more consistently, etc...

Lindholm is amongst the elite group of 8 or so prospects in this draft who if they develop correctly, can be franchise cornerstones for their teams.

Its the difference between a first line centre and a second liner IMO.

Fair to say Wennbergs skating is a bit better though no?

[icarus]

Originally Posted by Commandant

The style is similar, but Lindholm is better. He just does things on a higher level, a half step quicker, threads the pass through a tighter opening, wins more board battles, does it more consistently, etc...

Lindholm is amongst the elite group of 8 or so prospects in this draft who if they develop correctly, can be franchise cornerstones for their teams.

Its the difference between a first line centre and a second liner IMO.

Interesting that you note eight or so elite prospects. I've heard three, or four, before. Obviously if there's eight, that's music to Flames fans' ears since we'll get one presumably.

Where in your list do you draw the line between an elite talent and a good one?

[devo22]

Originally Posted by icarus

Interesting that you note eight or so elite prospects. I've heard three, or four, before. Obviously if there's eight, that's music to Flames fans' ears since we'll get one presumably.

Where in your list do you draw the line between an elite talent and a good one?

well I think the consensus is that there a points where the quality drops a bit. Those points should be after 4 and after 8 ... don't know if there's another drop at 15 or so.

1-4: elite prospects - Jones/MacKinnon/Drouin/Barkov
5-8: very good prospects - Nishushkin/Lindholm/Monahan/Nurse
9-15: good prospects - Ristolainen/Shinkaruk/Pulock/Mantha/Zadorov/...

[Commandant]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Fair to say Wennbergs skating is a bit better though no?

Yes, that is the one area Wennberg has the edge.

[Commandant]

Originally Posted by icarus

Interesting that you note eight or so elite prospects. I've heard three, or four, before. Obviously if there's eight, that's music to Flames fans' ears since we'll get one presumably.

Where in your list do you draw the line between an elite talent and a good one?

Big 4: Drouin, MacKinnon, Jones, Nichuskin (dropped him lower due to KHL contract issues).
Next Group of Elites: Barkov, Lindholm, Monahan, Pulock.
Next Tier, Very good: Ristolainen, Nurse, Domi, etc...

To me there are 4 guys who could go 1st overall, and then the 4 next, and then the rest.