[GDT] Young Stars: Future Flames vs. Urchin Oilers 8:30 MT (Calgaryflames.com, SN960)

[Tilley]

Always a great day when you get to watch the Oilers lose in person!

Lots of positives to take away from the first two games as I saw improvement from many of the prospects, even from one period to the next.

Regarding Honzek, I don’t think he will ever drive a line, but he can be an elite complementary player, not unlike Rantanen. He was much better with Morton and Stromgren.

Great to see the E=NG sign and the clear CP shout-out. Got to meet doublej_23 briefly and his kiddo with the sign. Good on ya!

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Honzek made some plays yesterday and fit in on his line. That's good but you want that to be the baseline for him rather than the exception.

Hopefully he evolves his game this year.

[gvitaly]

^ Rantanen is absolutely elite, and can drive his own line. He did drive his own line in stretches where MacKinnon was out.

IMO he's the 2nd/3rd best RW in the game right now, only behind Kucherov, and maybe Pasta. If any of our players turn out like Rantanen I would be absolutely ecstatic.

[Yanda]

Is Rantanen an unrealistic ceiling? I havent seen him enough but that doesnt seem like an accurate comparable. Awesome if it is.

[prizefighterinferno]

Originally Posted by Yanda

Is Rantanen an unrealistic ceiling? I havent seen him enough but that doesnt seem like an accurate comparable. Awesome if it is.

I highly doubt we're ever talking about Honzek and Rantanen as legit comparables. Honzek doesn't flash any of the poise or hockey sense that Rantanen has in spades in addition to his great physical tools.

[doublej_23]

Originally Posted by Tilley

Always a great day when you get to watch the Oilers lose in person!

Lots of positives to take away from the first two games as I saw improvement from many of the prospects, even from one period to the next.

Regarding Honzek, I don’t think he will ever drive a line, but he can be an elite complementary player, not unlike Rantanen. He was much better with Morton and Stromgren.

Great to see the E=NG sign and the clear CP shout-out. Got to meet doublej_23 briefly and his kiddo with the sign. Good on ya!

Good to meet you as well, loved the Omaha Knights jersey!

Youngstars is awesome every year to meet flames fans and get under the skin of a few oilers/canucks fans along the way.

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by prizefighterinferno

I highly doubt we're ever talking about Honzek and Rantanen as legit comparables. Honzek doesn't flash any of the poise or hockey sense that Rantanen has in spades in addition to his great physical tools.

If Honzek gets 84 points in the NHL next year, he will be the same as Ratanen.
Rantanen also weighed 215 lbs at the beginning of his D+3 season, so we'll see if Honzek gets there.

[Bonded]

Rantanen and Thompson were the hopeful comparables for Honzek when he was drafted. Thompson took a long time to figure it out.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Rantanen and Thompson were the hopeful comparables for Honzek when he was drafted. Thompson took a long time to figure it out.

Ranntanen spent his first year in The AHL, started his second year in the AHL aswell, and had a decent 38 point season in the NHL.

It wasn't until his third year that he broke out as a point per game player. If you look at the context a lot of that early break out was because he was playing with Landeskog and MacKinnon.

The moral is, it is very rare that players drafted outside of the top 5 picks break out to be instant NHL difference makers.

[GioforPM]

You can make an argument that Rantanen is as good as Draisaitl.

[Royle9]

What times the game today?

[Robbob]

Flames play the Canucks at 2:30 PST so, 1:30 MST if my brain is working this morning.

[bob_the_fish]

Originally Posted by Robbob

Flames play the Canucks at 2:30 PST so, 1:30 MST if my brain is working this morning.

Other way around - 3:30 MST.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by bob_the_fish

Other way around - 3:30 MST.

That is what happens when you try to post before having your morning boost of caffeine.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I still see Honzek as a very good prospect, he lost a bunch of development time last year.

The pick is still too early to rate. I want to see how this season goes with him presumably in the AHL and hopefully playing a whole season.

[Robbob]

One thing I noticed about Hozek in the first game is he seemed off protecting the puck. I remember in his first year that was a real strength of his. Hoping he continues to build.

[Rejean31]

The Oilers should have been shutout in all 3 games. Savoie clearly tripped the Flames defenceman that led to the Oilers only goal against us. If the ref who was looking right at the play makes the obvious call the Oilers would not have scored a single goal in the entire tournament.

[VilleN]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

You can make an argument that Rantanen is as good as Draisaitl.

I actually think this is true. If Rantanen played with McDavid he'd probably be putting up those kinds of numbers... If Draisaitl was playing without McDavid he probably produces more like Rantanen.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Robbob

One thing I noticed about Hozek in the first game is he seemed off protecting the puck. I remember in his first year that was a real strength of his. Hoping he continues to build.

To me he showed some smart little plays and good hockey sense.

But in terms of effort and physicality IMO he was playing like a guy who didn't want to risk getting hurt before main camp.

Which considering he got hurt in training camp last year, and just wants to be healthy for the start of the season this year, is not the most surprising.

He knows this year isn't the year he's going to be pushing to make the main roster out of training camp, so more about just having a healthy camp, getting into game shape and starting the year with the Wranglers as healthy and as strong as possible.

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by Rejean31

The Oilers should have been shutout in all 3 games. Savoie clearly tripped the Flames defenceman that led to the Oilers only goal against us. If the ref who was looking right at the play makes the obvious call the Oilers would not have scored a single goal in the entire tournament.

That was at least a hook