Hypothetical: Reinhart or Ekblad?

[AC]

I posted this in the discussion about last year's draft, but out of all 32 defenceman picked in the top 5 since 1993, only 3 have been stars (so far).

2012: Murray, Reinhart, Rielly
2011: Larsson
2010: Gudbranson
2009: Hedman
2008: Doughty, Bogosian, Pietrangelo, Schenn
2007: Hickey, Alzner
2006: E. Johnson
2005: J. Johnson
2004: Barker
2002: Bouwmeester, Pitkanen, Whitney
2000: Klesla
1998: Stuart, Allen, Vishnevski
1997: Brewer
1996: Phillips, Zyuzin, Richard Jackman
1995: Berard, Redden, Berg
1994: Jovanovski, Tverdovsky
1993: Pronger

For whatever reason, top tier defensive prospects tend to disappoint.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by AC

I posted this in the discussion about last year's draft, but out of all 32 defenceman picked in the top 5 since 1993, only 3 have been stars (so far).

2012: Murray, Reinhart, Rielly
2011: Larsson
2010: Gudbranson
2009: Hedman
2008: Doughty, Bogosian, Pietrangelo, Schenn
2007: Hickey, Alzner
2006: E. Johnson
2005: J. Johnson
2004: Barker
2002: Bouwmeester, Pitkanen, Whitney
2000: Klesla
1998: Stuart, Allen, Vishnevski
1997: Brewer
1996: Phillips, Zyuzin, Richard Jackman
1995: Berard, Redden, Berg
1994: Jovanovski, Tverdovsky
1993: Pronger

For whatever reason, top tier defensive prospects tend to disappoint.

Basically, if you're taking a D-man in the top 3, you are more likely to get a Dennis Wideman clone give or take than you are to get a complete bust or a star D-man.

[DOOM]

Id take Reinhart.

[Badgers Nose]

uh yeah, I am going with the 6'5" almost PPG defence man.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by AC

I posted this in the discussion about last year's draft, but out of all 32 defenceman picked in the top 5 since 1993, only 3 have been stars (so far).

And on the flip side, very few Forwards taken 1st overall have been busts in that time frame...Daigle and Stefan, and thats about it. Most of the rest have not only become stars, but a lot of them have become superstars. At the end of the day not only are chances good that you have a fantastic player, you have a pretty huge trading chip as well... so even if you don't like a player, you will have the potential to get a big return on the trade market.

[DOOM]

Whoops, wrong thread.

Id love to have two of the three Reinhart brothers!

[wingmaker]

Originally Posted by Table 5

And on the flip side, very few Forwards taken 1st overall have been busts in that time frame...Daigle and Stefan, and thats about it. Most of the rest have not only become stars, but a lot of them have become superstars. At the end of the day not only are chances good that you have a fantastic player, you have a pretty huge trading chip as well... so even if you don't like a player, you will have the potential to get a big return on the trade market.

What about the three up the road? I know it's early but they certainly don't look like superstars.

[Stay Golden]

Tough decision have a 1, 2 punch at Center or a blue chip D man. I would be ecstatic either way. Ekblad is looking like another Karlsson but much bigger. Does he have a big shot?

[ComixZone]

Great teams are built on centres. Reinhart/Monahan would be the foundation for our organization for a decade +.

Defense can be acquired in free agency and via trades. #1 centres really can't be traded for or signed with any real success (we as Flames fans know this better than most). Even when they do hit free agency, they're rarely worth the price.

Draft the centre and continue to spend 2nd round picks on D-men.

[dammage79]

I choose the Bearded one, Sir Aaron beardy Ekblad. Reason #1: The Beard. Reason #2: BIG D-man who can move well. Reason #3: Right Handed shot! Screw it, That's reason 1,2,3.

My dream rounds 1 and 2 would go Ekblad and Tkatchev. But that's just me.

I won't cry if they take Reinhart though. It'd be cool to have the brother line up with eachother. But they went forward heavy last year in the draft and I get the feeling we will regret doing the Oiler thing and load up on forwards.

Ekblad man, got to be Ekblad.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by wingmaker

What about the three up the road? I know it's early but they certainly don't look like superstars.

I didn't say they all were superstars. Having said that, it's pretty early yet, and all 3 of them have shown some positive signs (as much as we like to make fun, 162 points in 189 games for Hall, and 95 points in 125 games for RNH, are pretty great).

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by wingmaker

What about the three up the road? I know it's early but they certainly don't look like superstars.

In each case, the player they took is kind of poor for a #1 overall pick. The overall draft years in 2011 and 2012 were average, and abysmal respectively. 2010 was okay, but in my opinion they should've taken Seguin (Centers are more important than wingers)

Hall is a very very talented player that plays very recklessly. He should score a lot, but he is very injury prone.
RNH is a skinny smaller player (he's 6 foot tall, but is a toothpick) that is looking like a quality 1st line forward. Not a star, but not bad.
Yakupov is a bit of a head case.

Reinhart or Dal Colle are both 6-2 and don't play recklessly like hall and neither are a head case. Those two players have more in common with Monahan than they do with any of the Oilers group.

The main difference between the Flames and Oilers is that the Oilers do not have any secondary players in their prospect pool. Nobody that's trending towards becoming a good 3rd line Center as an example. We have 3 right now (Knight, Colborne, Backlund). The only thing missing from our collection of forward prospects is star talent. If Monahan is your best player, you aren't going to win anything unless you have 3 or 4 guys that are that good.

[Dorkmaster]

I think either or is fine. Neither sound like they're going to be superstar players, but both sound like they could be important pieces for a cup. Reinhart sounds like he'd be a strong two way player similar to Bergeron and Ekblad could be questionable to how good he could be, but a 6 foot 5 defenseman with skills should always be valuable.

Coin flip. Reinhart for me since he's ranked number 1 by more sources.

[blankall]

Normally, I'm very biased against D-men in the first round....You've definitely got to take a look at Ekblad. That being said, I still go Reinhart.

There's no guarantee that either Reinhart or Monahan become that PPG+ centre you need. Either could top out as a 60 point guy. Plus both together, as others have mentioned, would be a great 1-2 punch.

For those worrying about being the next Oilers, by only taking the forward, the forwards we have are different. Both Monahan and Reinhart are a lot more rugged than the Oilers picks.

[Azhouse]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Great teams are built on centres. Reinhart/Monahan would be the foundation for our organization for a decade +.

Defense can be acquired in free agency and via trades. #1 centres really can't be traded for or signed with any real success (we as Flames fans know this better than most). Even when they do hit free agency, they're rarely worth the price.

Draft the centre and continue to spend 2nd round picks on D-men.

Reinhart for me as well. I saw him live last week and he looked pretty good.

[4oh3]

Ekblad!

[Buck Murdock]

draft forwards trade for defense. Go for Reinhart

[dammage79]

Poll!

[kyuss275]

I would go with Ekblad, but would take any of the top 5 ranked players. The interesting part will be who do they pick up with their 2nd first round pick? (thats if they acquire one in trade)

[irrevocable]

Absolute no brainer. If we have the chance for Ekblad and turn him away.. we will regret it for the next 15 years. This guy is a keeper folks.