[News] With the 4th overall pick the Flames select C Sam Bennett

[AC]

As for the highlights, I love seeing his ability on the forecheck.

I think that's a really underrated skillset that Bennett and Gaudreau both excel at.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by AC

I think that's a really underrated skillset that Bennett and Gaudreau both excel at.

I thought the same thing when I saw them paired up at camp this summer.

Going to be a deadly PK unit that can score a lot of goals off of turnovers.

[stemit14]

Originally Posted by Tyler

I thought the same thing when I saw them paired up at camp this summer.



Going to be a deadly PK unit that can score a lot of goals off of turnovers.

I know it's a ways away but you can't help but get pumped picturing this team in a few years with all these guys in their prime. Gaudreau, Bennett, Monahan, baertschi, colborne, Brodie, poirier, granlund, klimchuk, Wotherspoon, sieloff, jankowski, knight, Reinhart... This team is going to be able to roll line after line of talent against opponents. And the overall speed of the forward group is going to make a lot of teams dizzy.

[djsFlames]

^ Don't forget McDavid

[Caged Great]

Bennett will not be hurt developmentally by playing in Kingston. The Flames don't really need him this year, and Bennett will have the ability to get bigger and stronger so he doesn't get injured. It did not hurt Jonathan Drouin's development at all. Bennett is very skilled and will likely be in the lineup to start next year.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by stemit14

I know it's a ways away but you can't help but get pumped picturing this team in a few years with all these guys in their prime. Gaudreau, Bennett, Monahan, baertschi, colborne, Brodie, poirier, granlund, klimchuk, Wotherspoon, sieloff, jankowski, knight, Reinhart... This team is going to be able to roll line after line of talent against opponents. And the overall speed of the forward group is going to make a lot of teams dizzy.

Let's not get too excited here. Gushing over a team on paper is exactly what fans in Edmonton have been doing for a decade now.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Let's not get too excited here. Gushing over a team on paper is exactly what fans in Edmonton have been doing for a decade now.

IMO we have a better team on paper than EDM has ever boasted in the past few years. EDM has a few nice top 2 line scoring threats but lacks depth outside of that. CGY has much better prospect depth than EDM has had and in the last two drafts has managed to add some of the top 2 line talent that we've lacked in the past.

I agree that it's nice to temper optimism at times but you can go overboard on that concept as well.

Potential top two line talent
CGY: Monahan, Bennett, Gaudreau, Poirier, Klimchuk, Granlund, Baertschi, Jankowski, Colborne, Ferland (longer shot)
EDM: Hall, Eberle, RNH, Draisaitl, Yakupov, Perron, am I missing someone?

Potential NHL goalie depth:
CGY: Ortio, Gillies, MacDonald
EDM: Brossoit

The only area EDM may have an edge is in defensive prospects but CGY still has some nice options there with Brodie, Russell, Wotherspoon, Sieloff, Culkin, Kulak, Kanzig, Hickey, etc. EDM has nobody that compares to Giordano now. D may be a wash which would leave us way ahead in potential overall due to greater depth at forward and in goal.

And I didn't even touch on role players which CGY seems much deeper in with the like of Knight, Reinhart, Arnold, Smith, Agostino, Hanowski, Bouma, Colborne, Carroll, Harrison, Van Brabant, etc.

Looks to me like CGY's system is overall much, much deeper right now than EDM's has been in the last few years. Media and fans were dazzled by Hall/RNH/Eberle/Yakupov but you don't make a whole team out of one nice powerplay unit. Our depth is good enough now that we can be proud to admit it. We don't have to downplay the amount of young talent in the organization, it's fairly undeniable IMO. I wouldn't trade our team for theirs at all. A couple years in and I think we're already fairly far ahead of their 5 year rebuild. If they had taken Murray over Yakupov and Nichushkin over Nurse like their scouts wanted it might be a bit closer but I think we'd still have an edge.

[TheDebaser]

Too bad our goal isn't to be marginally better than Edmonton

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by TheDebaser

Too bad our goal isn't to be marginally better than Edmonton

Since when does having way more prospect depth up front and in goal while having a defenseman twice as good as anybody on EDM mean you'd only be marginally better?

You don't think CGY is on track to build a contender in a few years? Please explain why then. Drive by comments like this are annoying unless you're actually going to argue something.

I've been following this team for a loooong time and right now our prospect depth is probably about 4 times deeper than it has ever been in the distant past. We have multiple guys who could be 1st line centres. We have multiple guys who could be starting goalies. We have multiple guys who could be 1st line wingers. We recently developed a 4th rounder into a top pairing defenseman (Brodie) and have had a free agent signee emerge as a #1 defenseman (Giordano). This is a recipe to be significantly better than EDM, not marginally. If you disagree then argue why otherwise your comment is meaningless.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

IMO we have a better team on paper than EDM has ever boasted in the past few years. EDM has a few nice top 2 line scoring threats but lacks depth outside of that. CGY has much better prospect depth than EDM has had and in the last two drafts has managed to add some of the top 2 line talent that we've lacked in the past.

I agree that it's nice to temper optimism at times but you can go overboard on that concept as well.

Potential top two line talent
CGY: Monahan, Bennett, Gaudreau, Poirier, Klimchuk, Granlund, Baertschi, Jankowski, Colborne, Ferland (longer shot)
EDM: Hall, Eberle, RNH, Draisaitl, Yakupov, Perron, am I missing someone?

Potential NHL goalie depth:
CGY: Ortio, Gillies, MacDonald
EDM: Brossoit

The only area EDM may have an edge is in defensive prospects but CGY still has some nice options there with Brodie, Russell, Wotherspoon, Sieloff, Culkin, Kulak, Kanzig, Hickey, etc. EDM has nobody that compares to Giordano now. D may be a wash which would leave us way ahead in potential overall due to greater depth at forward and in goal.

And I didn't even touch on role players which CGY seems much deeper in with the like of Knight, Reinhart, Arnold, Smith, Agostino, Hanowski, Bouma, Colborne, Carroll, Harrison, Van Brabant, etc.

Looks to me like CGY's system is overall much, much deeper right now than EDM's has been in the last few years. Media and fans were dazzled by Hall/RNH/Eberle/Yakupov but you don't make a whole team out of one nice powerplay unit.

You don't make a whole team out of prospects either. History says that out of the Flames current top 20 prospects 2-4 will be players of some impact and another 3-4 will be borderline NHLers.

The rest will likely be washouts as will pretty much anyone outside their top 20.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

You don't make a whole team out of prospects either. History says that out of the Flames current top 20 prospects 2-4 will be players of some impact and another 3-4 will be borderline NHLers.

The rest will likely be washouts as will pretty much anyone outside their top 20.

Yes, only a small percentage of prospects make it on average.

However, what's somewhat different with the Flames right now, and the reason that fans are so upbeat, is that many of these prospects have continued to develop and move up the curve.

We're not talking raw draft picks here, we're talking bona fide prospects that are close to the NHL.

Gaudreau, Baertschi, Poirier and Granlund are all close, if not ready, to be impact NHLers.

Monahan, Backlund and Brodie are there.

Ortio and Gillies continue to develop well.

Bennett and Klimchuk are still young but look great.

Arnold, Knight, Reinhart, Wotherspoon, and others are all one step away.

Will they all make it? Of course not.

But the Flames do not have a 'normal' amount of quality prospects right now - they have an abundance.

And it is therefore reasonable to assume that they will end up with an abundance of NHLers from this group.

You can't build a whole team from a group of prospects. But you sure can develop a really solid core that will serve you well and be something to build around for a long, long time

[TKB]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Yes, only a small percentage of prospects make it on average.

However, what's somewhat different with the Flames right now, and the reason that fans are so upbeat, is that many of these prospects have continued to develop and move up the curve.

We're not talking raw draft picks here, we're talking bona fide prospects that are close to the NHL.

Gaudreau, Baertschi, Poirier and Granlund are all close, if not ready, to be impact NHLers.

Monahan, Backlund and Brodie are there.

Ortio and Gillies continue to develop well.

Bennett and Klimchuk are still young but look great.

Arnold, Knight, Reinhart, Wotherspoon, and others are all one step away.

Will they all make it? Of course not.

But the Flames do not have a 'normal' amount of quality prospects right now - they have an abundance.

And it is therefore reasonable to assume that they will end up with an abundance of NHLers from this group.

You can't build a whole team from a group of prospects. But you sure can develop a really solid core that will serve you well and be something to build around for a long, long time

Overrating of ones prospects, where have I seen this play out before?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by TKB

Overrating of ones prospects, where have I seen this play out before?

Empty post. Who did I overrate? Feel free to actually say something useful.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

You don't make a whole team out of prospects either. History says that out of the Flames current top 20 prospects 2-4 will be players of some impact and another 3-4 will be borderline NHLers.

The rest will likely be washouts as will pretty much anyone outside their top 20.

Wanna bet on it? Cause I'll put money on there being more than 2-4 impact players out of our top 20.

History doesn't mean much when we have the deepest collection we've ever had in my time of following the Flames. History doesn't dictate the future especially when you're comparing completely different prospect pools.

[Ashasx]

Sam Bennett ‏@SBennett93 4m
What an week in Colorado training with the best. #87 #ObrienSport http://instagram.com/p/snBU4WLzJM/

[Azure]

Nothing like having the GM light a fire under his ass. Hope he makes it. Can't put a price on determination.

[TheDebaser]

Well for starters, I think Edmonton's set of forewards, while not exactly elite, will be pretty good eventually. That's not a popular thing to say here, but Eberle, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov and Draisaitl make up a pretty good top 5. I think they're far from a dynasty but I really just think that they have some legitimately good young pieces.

The Flames do kick their ass on depth. The problem is that it's not your bottom six squad that gets you through the playoffs. Edmonton does have a better pool of top 6 nhlers than us. (They had better, it's only taken them a decade of sucking to get it.)

On the other hand, one of our "depth prospects" might end up being one of our better players in a few years. Look at Gio for example. The Flames depth definitely puts them in a good position to get lucky with a developing prospect.

The Oilers current blueline is pretty awful, but Fayne was a good pickup, Marincin is actually a good player and Nurse is a very solid prospect. They don't have anyone that compares to Gio but I don't think it's fair to say that our prospects clean the floor with them when our best defensive prospects in Sieloff/Wotherspoon project to be bottom four players.

Brodie is a stud though. He'll be a top pairing defender into his 30s.

Goaltending is bit of a crapshoot, but as it stands the Flames are miles ahead in that department. The thing is that Edmonton only needs one good goalie to get that part of their roster under control and that could be addressed through the UFA market or through a prospect improving rapidly. (Like how the Flames signed Hiller or how Ortio proved his value last season.

Overall I think the Flames do edge out the Oilers by a little bit, but not by orders of magnitude. That's OK though, we don't like to admit it here, but the Oilers do have one of the leagues best pool of young talent. (And so do we.)

My real problem with Calgary's prospect pool though is that I'm not sure how Calgary's talent stands up against real competition. The Ducks, for example, have an arguably better prospect pool than we do, and they have a lot more value in assets on their NHL squad already. The Stars iced one hell of an AHL team last year, and their NHL team is already full of young talent. Buffalo's prospect pool could end up blowing ours out of the water, especially if they tank again this year to grab McDavid or Eichel (And they'll have the Islanders first round pick next year as well.) The Red Wings also have some stellar prospects along with some aging elite talent and some promising young NHLers.

Tampa's group of young players will be pretty hard to beat in their prime too. Our top end players just won't be as good as their top end players and their depth players are already finding success in the league. Their goaltending is Vezina quality already (and Vasilevskiy will join Bishop soon.) Their defense is anchored by Hedman and they just drafted DeAngelo. They will be able to throw their draft pick around to bolster their defense in the coming years too. Yzerman has really turned the Lightning into a stellar organization.

Essentially I just have doubts that our talent at this point will be enough to make us a real contender in this league, even if we do manage to edge out Edmonton by a little bit. I really just don't think our prospect pool is something to parade around quite yet. It's getting there though.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by TheDebaser

Essentially I just have doubts that our talent at this point will be enough to make us a real contender in this league, even if we do manage to edge out Edmonton by a little bit. I really just don't think our prospect pool is something to parade around quite yet. It's getting there though.

We've been rebuilding for one year. How about a little context?

We have several seasons ahead of struggling and growing pains in which we'll amass more assets and higher draft pics. I'd hold off before weighing our prospect pools against teams that have been terrible for years on end.

[StrykerSteve]

This thread is pissing me off. Shows there are new posts, but nothing new when I come in here.

[Scornfire]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

This thread is pissing me off. Shows there are new posts, but nothing new when I come in here.

Inquiries will be made
Answers will be demanded
Asses will be handled