THN - Future Watch 2014

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by madmike

In my opinion the Flames are a bit short on high ceiling blue chip prospects.

As far as good, solid NHL prospects though I'm not sure there's a deeper org in the league.

Brossoit was 3rd on the Oilers list for example. He wouldn't even crack the Flames top 10.

I agree.

We have a few high-ceiling types (Gaudreau, Baertschi, Gillies and Jankowski), but none are what I would call blue chip. We have a lot of depth though and quite a few that I think will at least be NHL players in some capacity.

I feel that we are probably a little underrated by many, but at the same time, we don't really have any prospects that demand attention from those outside of Calgary (personally, I am pretty high on Poirier, but most teams have prospects of similar quality). To be fair, Monahan kind of skipped that stage and went right from being drafted to being an NHL player.

[Bonded]

I think the Jankowski pick hurt the Flame's ranking for THN. Especially with Teravainen as the 3rd best prospect. Sven's fall from grace probably hurts as well. I thought we would be in the 15 range.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by kehatch

Pick up THN Future Watch. They have Gaudreau ranked as the 29 best prospect with fewer than 50 NHL games played. They have Calgary ranked at 23 for prospects. Monahan is 8 in rookie scoring and 5 players were selected before him less than a year ago. So yes, other teams have their own list of equal or better prospects.

Originally Posted by kehatch

THN doesn't rank the prospects. They query scouts from NHL teams to get a numerical rating. Just because it doesn't say what Calgary fan's want it to say doesn't make it garbage. It is a heck of a lot more credible than a site like HF that has a bunch of non-hockey people arbitrarily assign scoring for their designated teams.

I'm confused...

[DOOM]

lol, just got our copy in the mail..23rd, what a joke.

Oilers a top 10 team with Brossoit as their 3rd best prospect? Hilarious.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by DOOM

lol, just got our copy in the mail..23rd, what a joke.

Oilers a top 10 team with Brossoit as their 3rd best prospect? Hilarious.

Like Jiri said their criteria isn't explained very well but their rankings are all over the map as there are teams in the top 15 that have no stellar looking prospects and maybe only a couple of decent under 23 year old players on the big team and they have teams in the bottom 15 that I would have thought been higher.

I never expected the Flames to be top 10 or anything but I have a hard time believing that their prospect base is only better than seven teams as the Flames have done pretty well over the past three drafts and THN has them moving up five places from the Sutter days when Nemisz, Erixon, and Irving were their best prospects. I wish they detailed how they were placing their grades better so we could find out why teams are where they are but if you just look at the top 10 prospects for each team you can't make heads or tails of they came up with the team rankings. Even Oilers fans at HF think the Flames got jobbed so I don't think it's a case of us all being blind homers.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by DOOM

lol, just got our copy in the mail..23rd, what a joke.

Oilers a top 10 team with Brossoit as their 3rd best prospect? Hilarious.

To make things worse they didn't have Brossoit that high for the Flames last year and I know his stock hasn't risen this year.

[djsFlames]

I don't think anybody explained to THN that Hall, RNH, Eberle and Yakupov don't count as prospects..

Idiotic to have them ranked that high though, really.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

I don't think anybody explained to THN that Hall, RNH, Eberle and Yakupov don't count as prospects..

Idiotic to have them ranked that high though, really.

I prefer going by age instead of X number of games in the NHL. Why should Teravainen be considered a prospect but Monahan not?

Edit: but the article is still garbage

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Yeah the Canes are up there too without a single guy in the top 50.

I've re-read the explanation for the rankings and it still isn't clear but I gather it is less a prospect ranking and more a mathematical scoring of how each team has done relative to its recent draft positions.

But yes it is confusing.

THN continues to put out a terrible product - I only by the year book, draft guide and future watch - and I'm not really sure why I do that anymore even.

THN's explanation is that this appears to be a muddled system of subjective draft analysis, recent first picks and probably a random number generator. Based on our recent top picks, I can understand not grading the Flames terribly high. But how does San Jose go from 30th to 21st, basically because of Hertl, but Calgary only moves from 27 to 23 despite adding Monahan and Porier, plus Gadreau's continually rising stock?

More to the point, how do you rank Edmonton 11th while also writing an article that says Edmonton drafted the wrong players with their three #1s, and have also sucked at picking talent after that?

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

I don't think anybody explained to THN that Hall, RNH, Eberle and Yakupov don't count as prospects..

Idiotic to have them ranked that high though, really.

They're not only grading the prospects. The teams rankings are based on their young players to see how bright the team's future is.

So they have a cut off for age (I think 23) regardless if they're still prospects or full time NHLers.

Since Hall is a legitimate NHLer and meets the age criteria, he helps the Oilers in their team rankings.

Makes sense to me.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Bonded

I think the Jankowski pick hurt the Flame's ranking for THN. Especially with Teravainen as the 3rd best prospect. Sven's fall from grace probably hurts as well. I thought we would be in the 15 range.

Just because I'm curious on "what could have been" what makes TT so great? What's his upside? TT vs Jankowski, I guess TT looks like the better pick now but how far is the spread?

[BigTuna]

Originally Posted by Lanny'sDaMan

Especially considering the Flames were ranked among the top 10 for prospects after the draft by TSN, SN, and various other outlets. THN is the definition of eastern bias. And that's saying something when TSN is in the conversation.

Is that why Toronto is rated 28th?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by albertGQ

They're not only grading the prospects. The teams rankings are based on their young players to see how bright the team's future is.

So they have a cut off for age (I think 23) regardless if they're still prospects or full time NHLers.

Since Hall is a legitimate NHLer and meets the age criteria, he helps the Oilers in their team rankings.

Makes sense to me.

21-and-under NHLers are listed. It seems that Hall is not consciously included in this ranking.

[SanFranFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Just because I'm curious on "what could have been" what makes TT so great? What's his upside? TT vs Jankowski, I guess TT looks like the better pick now but how far is the spread?

I know Corey Pronman, who spends his career evaluating prospects, was raving about him on Twitter.

http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/puck...articleid=1371
http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/puck/unfiltered/?p=395

[Sandman]

THN has been going downhill for the last few years as far as credibility IMO.

[kehatch]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I'm confused...

The staff at THN don't do the ranking. They query external NHL scouts and they just do the math. People keep criticizing THN for the rankings. But they use actual NHL scouts working in the NHL.

[DOOM]

Apparently the rankings are actually based on how THN feels the teams drafted with the position of their picks.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Just because I'm curious on "what could have been" what makes TT so great? What's his upside? TT vs Jankowski, I guess TT looks like the better pick now but how far is the spread?

Chicago is apparently pencilling him in as their No. 2 centre.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...liiga-top-pick

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=709729

Actual spread, who really knows. Perception plays a big role on these rankings in my opinion. First, we passed on TT and then we passed on Maata to take such an off the wall pick.

TT looks like the better prospect and Maata looks like a solid D-man.

If these rankings are based on how other scouts think we did, I am not all that surprised we are ranked so low.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Originally Posted by DOOM

Apparently the rankings are actually based on how THN feels the teams drafted with the position of their picks.

That doesn't explain anything, that makes it WORSE. The Oilers drafting is better than 2/3 of the league, considering their draft position?

How much glue do you have to eat before you start thinking garbage like that?

[DOOM]

Originally Posted by BACKCHECK!!!

That doesn't explain anything, that makes it WORSE. The Oilers drafting is better than 2/3 of the league, considering their draft position?

How much glue do you have to eat before you start thinking garbage like that?

Yea, I really have no idea, lol.