How many teams in NHL history have built a team around wingers? The vast majority build their teams first and foremost around two good to great centers, then usually defence or goaltending and wingers are almost an afterthought. The Flames currently have one legitimate top two center prospect (Monahan), a number of prospects on the wing and limited defensive prospects. It would be odd if BPA and organizational need both converged with either a top end center or dman available and the Flames took a winger.
Lucic is merely a complimentary piece to that team, as was seen this year the three most important non goalies are Chara, Krejci and Bergeron. That is reflective of almost every great team in the league.
Are you trying to make the point that someone (i.e. me) was suggesting that the Flames should build the team around Ritchie?
I want the Flames to draft one of the Sams.
I was merely demonstrating that another poster's attempt to portray Lucic as the upside for Ritchie was a flawed argument.
Are you trying to make the point that someone (i.e. me) was suggesting that the Flames should build the team around Ritchie?
I want the Flames to draft one of the Sams.
I was merely demonstrating that another poster's attempt to portray Lucic as the upside for Ritchie was a flawed argument.
I was merely pointing out that BPA and organizational need will converge for the Flames this year and to take a player that meets neither of those criteria would not make any sense.
I do not take individual posts out of context with drive by smears about other fans hockey knowledge. I leave that terrain to other posters Enoch. I was just pointing out that Ritchie does not make sense for the Flames, particularly at number 4.
What I mean by that is that any of the top 4 can contribute to the Flames, whether it be from a couple of years down the road or if they are NHL ready like Monahan was. We really need to pick one if the last four, it's just going with the safer pick that has a better chance of reaching their potential.
...We really need to pick one if the last four, it's just going with the safer pick that has a better chance of reaching their potential.
Maybe it will, maybe it won't. This is an optics argument, and I am quite convinced that the Flames are not interested in making this pick based on whom the consensus deems to be the "safest" selection. The bottom line is that the Flames have their own list. They have compiled this list from their own EXHAUSTIVE investigations of EVERY player. They employ a small army of professional scouts to give their opinion precisely about who might very well be the best player in the draft, and if that player happens to fall outside of the "top four", then that is who the Flames will pick.
Quite frankly, you have no idea who has the "better chance" of reaching their potential from scouting lists and media generated projections. But I'm betting that the Flames do, and not because of who appeared on the cover of The Hockey News.
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Originally Posted by woob
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I can see why Burke keeps bigging-up Ritchie. He looks like a pure sniper (GREAT shot) who has decent wheels and can impose physically on other players. He's like Rick Nash but with Lucic's aggression and strength on the boards. He also has playmaking ability and in that video he executes some beautiful saucer passes (one assist for Cornel at around 2:45 is a beaut).
Players in this mould seem to come along very rarely these days. In our prospect pool we have Ferland – who isn't as big, fast or skilled – as the only comparable. Maybe Poirier, but he's not as imposing physically.
If we were drafting for organisational need I might say that the Flames would favour Ritchie over Draisaitl at #4, simply because I feel Draisaitl is a similar prospect to Monahan (good vision, instincts, stick-handling but not very fast or aggressive). They will draft BPA though, and with any luck that will be one of Reinhart/Bennett/Ekblad.
I'm not for drafting Richie at 4th but one thing I notice is that he seems to come down the right side of the ice a lot. Maybe he could be converted to a RW with little trouble.
I'm not for drafting Richie at 4th but one thing I notice is that he seems to come down the right side of the ice a lot. Maybe he could be converted to a RW with little trouble.
I've seen him listed as LW/RW, and he definitely operates easily enough on the off-wing in those clips, so I think you're on to something there.
Having not seen any possible draft picks play live, and just going off YouTube scouting reports, I would be 100% for taking Ritchie, Ehlers, or Nylander at 4. I believe those guys will become real players.
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Ritichie has a heckuva shot, and the puck seems to follow him around, but he is not a good skater. I'm not certain he shows enough skating ability to play in the NHL. It's a skill that can be worked on, but there is a lot there to be worked on. His size and shot are impressive, but he's more of a project than he is a player at this point. The Flames would have to trade down to get him and a defenseman to make it worthwhile to take him IMO.
Ritchie gets a lot of space in junior. His opponents don't see to challenge that much. In the NHL, he will have to learn to deal with players his size and bigger physically challenging him. Just based on the few videos I have seen, it does not appear that he has the speed to make up for it.
I am not saying that he can't do it. Obviously a lot of big players successfully go from junior to the NHL, but it is just something that he will have to adapt to.
As for Bennett, it looks like he plays on the wing a lot. would anyone change their opinion of him if he plays wing instead of center in the NHL?
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Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 06-09-2014 at 06:41 AM.
As for Bennett, it looks like he plays on the wing a lot. would anyone change their opinion of him if he plays wing instead of center in the NHL?
Bennett has played center whenever I've watched him. Supposedly he played wing in minor hockey on a line with McDavid at center, but has been playing center the last two years in Kingston.
I can see why Burke keeps bigging-up Ritchie. He looks like a pure sniper (GREAT shot) who has decent wheels and can impose physically on other players. He's like Rick Nash but with Lucic's aggression and strength on the boards. He also has playmaking ability and in that video he executes some beautiful saucer passes (one assist for Cornel at around 2:45 is a beaut).
Players in this mould seem to come along very rarely these days. In our prospect pool we have Ferland – who isn't as big, fast or skilled – as the only comparable. Maybe Poirier, but he's not as imposing physically.
If we were drafting for organisational need I might say that the Flames would favour Ritchie over Draisaitl at #4, simply because I feel Draisaitl is a similar prospect to Monahan (good vision, instincts, stick-handling but not very fast or aggressive). They will draft BPA though, and with any luck that will be one of Reinhart/Bennett/Ekblad.
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Originally Posted by Da_Chief
That is exactly how the Oilers ended up being the crap they are. Taking the consensus top guy.
Some good points brought up here. I can see CP exploding if the Flames pick Ritchie but the more I think about this choice the more sense it makes.
As hard as it may be to accept for the flames fans, this years top 5 is nowhere near 2013 class in terms of raw offensive talent. There's no MacKinnon, no Drouin, no Barkov. The obvoius choice would be Ekblad as a big, physical two way dman with a monstrous shot from the point but there's no way he slips out of the top 3 for us so it's clear we're going to take a forward.
I'm not against 'always take BPA' approach but with the draft class like this one IMHO the most valuable pieces may be found outside the projected top 5. Furthermore, we desperately need more size and grit in our top 6 especially when two most valuable prospects of that sort (Ferland and Poirier) are badly injured. And I'm honestly quite skeptical about the chance of finding the right "beef" in later rounds. Sure, you can find some but hardly a top 6 material.
Well, if we had two top 10 picks this year I'd gladly choose Bennett/Reinhart with the first one and Ritchie/Virtanen/Tuch with the second but we are not so fortunate. So the conclusion is, the BPA in this years draft class is in my opinion very, very relative term. Ritchie may be exactly the anti-Oiler type of pick and from everything I've seen I'd love to see him wearing the Flames jersey.
