Flames 2014 NHL Entry Draft selections: observations & preliminary verdicts?

[dammage79]

You just cannot help but love the guy:


Mark Jankowski ‏@Janko61 3m
Congrats to everyone who got drafted by the best organization in the league over the past two days @NHLFlames #FlamesNation

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by getbak

After watching the Burke post-draft interview on the Flames site, it sounds like they had their sights set on one of the guys who ended up getting chosen in the first three picks of the second. When the guy they wanted ended up not being available, the goalie was Plan B. They wanted to be the first to pick a goalie, if they could, because they knew they'd fall like dominoes once the first one went and they really liked McDonald.

The three guys who went before the Flames' pick were Lemieux, Hawryluk, and Barbashev. My guess is that Lemieux was the guy they wanted.

I dunno. Button said there was 3 guys left available before day 2 and that it was unlikely all 3 would go ahead of their pick. He then said they were "ecstatic" to get McDonald.

Treliving also said that they looked at moving down but some of their priority guys fell to them early so they didn't.

Pretty sure Mason McDonald was one of the 3 guys they wanted badly.

[Clever_Iggy]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

I dunno. Button said there was 3 guys left available before day 2 and that it was unlikely all 3 would go ahead of their pick. He then said they were "ecstatic" to get McDonald.

Treliving also said that they looked at moving down but some of their priority guys fell to them early so they didn't.

Pretty sure Mason McDonald was one of the 3 guys they wanted badly.

Both you and getbak could be right. Perhaps Lemieux and McDonald were in their top 3 (in that order) for the second round and when Lemieux went, McDonald was the next one up.

The fact that the Flames had McDonald's nameplate stitched on the jersey makes me think you're right - that McDonald was one of the 3 guys they wanted badly. But perhaps there was a Lemieux nameplate stitched on too?

[OzSome]

I don't know much of a lot of players in this draft so I will not pretend to second guess the Flames management for who they picked. I have never even seen Bennett play the whole game and all the info I got from him is through the Youtube, scouting report. I was hoping for Sam Reinhart because I've seen this kid dominate vs the Hitmen and also the Prospect Game BUT I am not dissappointed that we ended up with Bennett at all. I remembered Bennett was ranked #1 at one time. So getting him as a 4th pick is pretty good.

Mason MacDonald will add another good goaltender in our system. He won't be playing in the NHL soon anyways so he's got lots of time to improve. I was listening to Fan960 this morning and they interviewed him. I guess he started improving in the second half especially after he got picked in U18 tournament.

Hunter Smith is so intriguing. This guy is huge 6'7" and he is not just a goon who can't play. He is still young and still have lots of room to improve. If he turn out to be a player who can score even less than 20 goals a season and tough to play against, I would be ecstatic.

When I heard they drafted a player from AJHL Spruce Grove, I wasn't sure what to think. I don't know anything about Brandon Hickey so I won't second guess the pick. All I heard from his interview was he is defensive minded defenseman and have his offensive upside. He is due to play for Boston University so it means we won't even see him until probably 3 or more years. Hopefully he'll learn a lot in the NCAA and become a decent D.

Matsson is also a good big D. I guess he was projected to get picked higher. NHL been getting some good D from Sweden lately and I hope he'll be another one.

The others I really can't comment since I don't know them and haven't heard anything about them. As for Bollig trade for 3rd round pick, I've seen him play against LA in the playoff. He can be a pain in a butt which is good. We needed a pest in this team and the guy is huge too and can skate. I wouldn't mind seeing him with Big Ern and Wolf but who will play C. I will definitely start paying attention with this kids play in CHL or wherever they are playing.

All these guys who got drafted except Bennett, we won't even see play for the Flames in 3 or more years or not even at all but seeing at 4 or more these guys suits up for the Flames in the future I will be happy.

[dammage79]

Tod Button in his post draft interview on the Flames site said that there are a couple of D men that didn't get drafted that they had on their list and will try to get one or both to the prospect camp.

[Robbob]

Chiming in a bit late, but the way I see it is with a draft you need minimum one player a year. Picking in the top 5 really helps that cause. I have no problem drafting the goalie in the second round. Everyone knows goalies can take a bit to develop so there is no harm stocking the stables with Ortio, Gillies, and MacDonald. I think they wanted a third goalie after trading Broissot last year. I like the potential of Smith and then everything after that is crap shoot.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the 4th pick in this draft was used to acquire Colburne. So going into the next year we should have Bollig and Colburne paying dividends from the 2014 draft picks. Bennett is a absolute blue chip. MacDonald and Smith have intriguing potential. Anything else the pans out will be gravy. Looking at the draft as a whole, it wasn't as dire as everyone is making it out to be since the 2014 draft has given us Bollig, Colburne, Bennett who are sure fire NHLers. MacDonald and Smith in the next tier as possible NHLers. The rest are wild cards.

I didn't mind the weekend at all.

[saXon]

For the whiners, negative-nancies, and "piss"imists.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/da...onto-sputters/

Calgary
New GM Brad Treliving did very well for himself in his rooking outing. The Flames got their elite center in Sam Bennett on Day 1, but grabbed the first goalie of 2014 when they tabbed Mason McDonald in the early second round. McDonald has great size and played lights-out for Canada at the world under-18s. From there, Calgary landed a smooth-skating defenseman in Brandon Hickey, not to mention towering winger Hunter Smith, who is quickly rounding into a serious threat in the Ontario League with Oshawa.

Draft Winners:
St.Louis
Calgary
Anaheim

Draft Losers:
Toronto
Pittsburgh
Slovakia (lol)

[djsFlames]

My thoughts after round two were like

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

My thoughts after round two were like

Thanks for the new Avatar!

[devo22]

thanks for making me spill my coffee. Absolutely brilliant!!!

[FlameZilla]

The people who are flipping out over the Bollig trade and about the use of 2nd round picks are in love with some prospects who mayyyybe aren't as good as these posters think they are.

All year it has been widely reported that there were only 3 or 4 prospects who could be classed as potential 1st-line/1st-pairing talent. So, using that logic, the next 15 to 20 players in the 1st round might be potential 2nd-liners or 2nd-pairing D. Most draft guides reflect that, clearly implying that prospects like Tuch & Bleackley probably top out as 3rd liners, even though they have the sheen of being 1st round picks & had all the armchair GMs drooling.

Continuing on that line of logic, move onto the 2nd & 3rd rounds. What you get are players who have potential but are a long way from even being serviceable NHLers. They each have their own serious flaws which the Flames scouts would have been well aware of. The Mckeowns & Doughertys look mouth-watering on paper to us – the internet fanboys – but they have serious flaws which professional scouts will have spotted which led to them not being selected in the 1st round in a weak draft.

That does not apply to goalies, however, who don't seem to be picked in the 1st round anymore. The top goalie prospects have been going in the 2nd round in recent years. We got the top one (IMO), but it is tough to know how goalie picks pan out. That doesn't mean you shouldn't ever draft them (that is an idiotic concept). You find a prospect you like and you pick him before another team gets around to picking him. McDonald was the guy they wanted and they picked him before he was unavailable. Why can't some posters respect that? They would rather get the guy they want than risk waiting to see if he might still be there for the next pick. They also have the intel of what other teams might be thinking. I can almost guarantee that McDonald & Smith would have gone very soon after our picks.

Big picture here: all year long there were only 3 (or arguably 4 if you include Draisaitl) prospects who scouts thought could cut it as top line players. We got 1 of them. We got arguably the top goalie prospect. We got a serviceable NHLer for a 3rd round pick. Took a flyer on a really interesting beast RW in Hunter Smith. That's pretty damned good work in a weak draft.

[Rick M.]

Good post, FlameZilla. We have to keep reminding ourselves that 2014 was not the deep 2013 draft.

[cral12]

I loved DayNight 1 - been wanting Bennett ever since Flames confirmed as 4th overall.

I admit Day 2 was an emotional roller coaster for me. Maybe I follow the draft and prospects too closely. Wasn't thrilled with 2nd rnd selections and the trading of 3rd rnder for Bollig (maybe minor in the big scheme of things, but I think the elite teams turn smaller, incremental moves into longterm success). Liked the selections of Hickey and Ollas Mattson. Carroll was a head scratcher and can't help but feel they wasted the selection since they could've signed him last year.

Anyway, after a night to digest, I'd give them a B-.

A+ for Bennett and C+ to B- for Day 2.
Day 2 was a safe, solid if unspectacular day. The scouts were happy with what they were able to accomplish (according to Treliving).

Have feeling Hickey might turn out to be a pick we really like in 2-3 yrs - one to watch.

[dissentowner]

I loved our draft and I especially loved the Canucks first pick, the return of Raffi Torres!

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Robbob

Chiming in a bit late, but the way I see it is with a draft you need minimum one player a year. Picking in the top 5 really helps that cause. I have no problem drafting the goalie in the second round. Everyone knows goalies can take a bit to develop so there is no harm stocking the stables with Ortio, Gillies, and MacDonald. I think they wanted a third goalie after trading Broissot last year. I like the potential of Smith and then everything after that is crap shoot.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the 4th pick in this draft was used to acquire Colburne. So going into the next year we should have Bollig and Colburne paying dividends from the 2014 draft picks. Bennett is a absolute blue chip. MacDonald and Smith have intriguing potential. Anything else the pans out will be gravy. Looking at the draft as a whole, it wasn't as dire as everyone is making it out to be since the 2014 draft has given us Bollig, Colburne, Bennett who are sure fire NHLers. MacDonald and Smith in the next tier as possible NHLers. The rest are wild cards.

I didn't mind the weekend at all.

Been meaning to mention this. Also, a 5th for Russell. That means that the draft has already produced:

1st: Bennett (yes, I am counting him already)
3rd: Bollig
4th: Colborne
5th: Russell

already a great haul. Still sitting on McDonald, Smith, Hickey, Mattsson and Carroll. If any of the them make it (especially Smith), it will be gravy and a home run of a draft.

[Commandant]

I've got full draft grades for 30 teams
http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/06/...-draft-grades/

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Commandant

I've got full draft grades for 30 teams
http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/06/...-draft-grades/

Quick question Commandant...

You give the Oilers some credit for the Scrivens and Perron trades using up picks, but no mention of the Flames acquiring Bollig, Colborne and Russell with 3rd, 4th and 5ths respectively... thoughts?

[Monahan23]

SAM BENNETT: Bennett will be a huge part of the Flames. Hopefully 3 things happen. 1. It becomes a Toews like situation where he slips and becomes our franchise leader. 2. He becomes a huge part of our core like Doug Gilmour where he is a leader and plays such a complete game. 3. He goes back to junior and builds up a lot of hype like Jonathan Drouin. I would've given this the same mark for any of the centres. A

MASON McDONALD: If the scouts and Treliving and Burke though they needed a goaile and though he was the best available and here was the one place they could get him goon on them. We have no junior aged goalies and he adds to our high end goalie talent. I like the pick but would've liked a few other guys like Cornel, McKeown or Dougherty. B

HUNTER SMITH: It does fill a positional need, two actually. Size and RW depth. I've never been a huge fan of Smith. I don't really like this pick. I thought there were better options especially on defense when that's our biggest need. I feel his size jumps out too much and we could get a bottom 6 winger through trade or free agency. See Bolig. Although Smith does have some good skill and great hands. C-

BRANDON HICKEY: We need D but I thought Ben Thomas and Jack Glover were far better options. Plus right handed. I feel we already have a few Hickey's in our prospect pool like Kulak and Culkin and Gilmour. He's a good skater and physical enough. Has some good passes outside the zone. One of my least favourite picks. D

BRANDON BOLIG TRADE: I liked this trade. We wanted to get bigger and chippier and that's what this did. Pretty unlikely the 83rd overall will make a NHL impact so trading for a 3rd younger established NHLer is great. In this tough west you need a big team and now with Wolf, Bouma, McGrattan, Westgarth. B+

JOE COLBORNE TRADE: Great trade witch has been established. A

KRIS RUSSELL TRADE: He was a great addition and a big surprise. A

ADAM OLLAS MATTSSON: Someone i was definatly looking at before the draft. We needed defensemen and he could be a late round steal. Big swede that can skate and is good in his own end. He could easily be a good bottom pair dman. A

AUSTIN CARROLL: I know **** about him. Big RWer. Got passed on the last couple drafts. I would've preferd Ondrej Kase more. And a few others. D

[d_phaneuf]

From ESPN Insider

A-

Top Pick: Samuel Bennett is a fantastic all-around forward, a really fast and energetic skater who sees the ice well and can dominate the puck in terms of possession by combining all his physical talents with a high hockey intellect. Bennett battles well for pucks with what one NHL exec coins "superb natural balance" in terms of his center of gravity in board confrontations. He also embraces the physical game, can lay some quality hits and is a fine defensive forward.

Day 2 picks: McDonald is a really toolsy goaltender, with notable upside. His lateral quickness is fantastic, and while he hasn't filled out his frame yet (he's 186 pounds), he knows how to get his body in front of pucks. On second efforts, McDonald is solid battling for pucks and he fights through screens well. At times, he can get a little too energetic with his movements. ... Hunter Smith is a huge, strong forward who uses his body very well and embraces the physical game. He hits, fights and pressures. He has a little offensive skill, but there's not a lot in that area, and he certainly needs to improve his skating. Hickey is a plus skater with explosive movements in all four directions. He's a smart two-way player who can outlet the puck at a high level. Hickey has some creativity to his game, though scouts think he has more to show in that area. Scouts are also divided on his physicality. Olas Mattson is huge -- 6-foot-4, 209 pounds -- and has fine mobility for a player his size. He's a solid defender who uses his body very well to separate players off pucks and win battles. His positioning is mostly fine, but he can suffer from the odd brain cramp in the defensive zone. His main weakness is with the puck, as he's pretty limited from puck skills standpoint.

Summary: Calgary now has two pillars down the middle to build around in Bennett and Sean Monahan. Mason McDonald was the top goalie at the U18s. Their next three picks features a combo of low-upside/low-risk players and Hickey, who hasn't put up points but could very well. The pick of Smith at 54 is one I know a decent number of scouts endorse, but that I'm not crazy about. -- Pronman

Organizational assessment: The Flames are just starting out on their total organizational makeover, and their biggest acquisition this draft weekend was getting center Sam Bennett with the fourth overall pick. The real work for the Flames will be in forging a new culture and identity that will return them to respectability, and that process began in earnest this weekend.

[Enoch Root]

I think it began in earnest 15 months ago