[News] With the 72nd OA pick the Flames select D Jeremie Poirier

[ricardodw]

His dropping in the draft might have to be with being un-coachable.

At least 4 years of top-level junior coaching and no defense skills developed.

seems that Jeremy just wants o have fun and a lot of media scouts and player evaluations are made from offensive stats line.

Maybe he blew the interviews?


On the positive side not a lot of sure things out of the #72 draft spot. So it seems there could be high reward for a bit of risk.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

His dropping in the draft might have to be with being un-coachable.

could you just not

[Nelson]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

His dropping in the draft might have to be with being un-coachable.

At least 4 years of top-level junior coaching and no defense skills developed.

seems that Jeremy just wants o have fun and a lot of media scouts and player evaluations are made from offensive stats line.

Maybe he blew the interviews?


On the positive side not a lot of sure things out of the #72 draft spot. So it seems there could be high reward for a bit of risk.

The interview he gave yesterday did not make him sound coachable. He sounded VERY coachable. In his first interview, which was broadcast to all the fans of his new NHL team, he admitted the defensive deficiencies in his game without making any excuses. He then went on to say he was committed to fixing the problems. However, he did say he didn't want to lose the strength of his game, which is playmaking and goal-scoring from the blue line. I personally came away from this interview a huge fan of Mr. Jeremie Poirier.

I think he dropped because of the defensive deficiencies in his game. But I am VERY HAPPY he dropped to us because I think the upside is tremendous.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I remember reading an article talking about Hanifin, and Hanifin basically said that through his young days - including his college year at BC - his coaches never sat down with him and tried to get him to play defence. On the contrary, they usually encouraged him to go for it on offence. It wasn't until arriving in the NHL that coaches worked on his defensive game. I did a quick search but haven't found it, so unless I was dreaming about it (don't know why I would be dreaming of Noah Hanifin), that was who he was as a prospect. I look at his game now, and he has come so far in his defensive game. If you watched him play in Carolina, I thought he was fairly awful looking defensively.



This is why I don't want to trade Hanifin - he is making steady progress here.



Poirier looks like a more gifted offensive defencemen than Hanifin was, though definitely not as great of a skater (though by no means do I think is he even below average, at least not in top speed or on his edges), there is tremendous upside there.


If he can prioritize defence like Hanifin has for his development, I think he can be an important player in the NHL. I think he just needs to realize that bottom pairing defencemen who are PP specialists are NOT as valuable as top 4 defencemen who can also generate points. I am sure he realizes this, but now he just has to commit.



I really like Hanifin because he has really committed himself to becoming an overall better defencemen, and you have to be looking only at stat sheets to not see that.


Phaneuf was not committed to becoming a good overall defencemen - at least not in Calgary. Warrener and Regehr approached him and offered to help Phaneuf out on the defensive side of things, but Phaneuf's response was that he makes up for it on offence and with big hits. We all know how Phaneuf ended up. Do I think that Poirier is like that? I don't know his character, but since the Flames prioritize character and compete, I assume he doesn't have that character flaw.


Brodie is another player that was noted for not being strong in his own end. I actually didn't think he was ever going to be an NHL'er, but he committed to it and has been a top-pairing defencemen on this team who lines up against the NHL's best night in and night out.


I don't think you could have taught Regehr to do the things that Phaneuf did, but you could have taught Phaneuf to do the things that Regehr did (well, mostly.. that tunnel of death was an art form). If Poirier wants to really commit to learning defence, he will be in good hands organizationally in the future. If not, he will simply bust, or end up being a polarizing PP specialist.



I like his chances, and I really am looking forward to tracking his progress. He can turn out to be an extremely valuable part of this organization if he works hard.

[3thirty]

With how some teams deployed 7 D-men in the playoffs, could we start seeing a guy like him as a PP specialist and offensive zone start as a 7th D playing extremely sheltered minutes?
As opposed to having a 4th line plug playing 5-6 minutes use a legit offensive stud in the lineup instead?

Hopefully he fixes the d-zone issues and can play a regular shift first and foremost though.

[Robbob]

Button in his post draft interview pretty much said the scouts thought they had to grab him when he was still there. Was the second most skilled Dman in the draft and if he is committed to be an NHL player he will cleanup the defensive parts of the game.

If that happens, it will be a home run pick.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Robbob

Button in his post draft interview pretty much said the scouts thought they had to grab him when he was still there. Was the second most skilled Dman in the draft and if he is committed to be an NHL player he will cleanup the defensive parts of the game.

If that happens, it will be a home run pick.

Exactly. If it happens it's a home run pick. If it doesn't - it doesn't matter.
I like trying to take game changing players in the draft. Johnny was a game changer. Kucherov was a game changer.
Even if you hit on 1/10 of those - it creates so much value for your organization going forward that its worth it.

Poirier is a potential game changer. Which isn't to say he WILL be. But that's the potential here.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I remember reading an article talking about Hanifin, and Hanifin basically said that through his young days - including his college year at BC - his coaches never sat down with him and tried to get him to play defence. On the contrary, they usually encouraged him to go for it on offence. It wasn't until arriving in the NHL that coaches worked on his defensive game. I did a quick search but haven't found it, so unless I was dreaming about it (don't know why I would be dreaming of Noah Hanifin), that was who he was as a prospect. I look at his game now, and he has come so far in his defensive game. If you watched him play in Carolina, I thought he was fairly awful looking defensively.

Because of his sweet, sweet flow.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I respect the fact Poirier is fully aware he is a disaster in his own end. I respect the fact that he says he is going to commit to becoming better defensively.

The offense this guys has is almost rarified air. But its absolutely useless if he can't defend.

I believe most guys on this level can be taught to defend adequately if they just have the attitude, the physical side and decent enough hockey sense. None of these seem to be the problem, in fact his attitude seems to be as good as you could possibly hope for.

The risk I see is more that some guys, especially defensemen, just can't find a way to combine playing offense and defense. If they defend properly their offense goes away, if they go on the offense their defense goes down the drain.

We'll see how it goes with Poirier, but I agree with what seems to be the general attitude, I love a pick like this at this point in the draft.

[CroFlames]

I think you can teach defense if the player has the desire to be better.

I don't think you can teach offensive creativity.

This will be up to him if he wants to be an impact NHLer, or a tweener.

[DomeFoam]

Originally Posted by 3thirty

With how some teams deployed 7 D-men in the playoffs, could we start seeing a guy like him as a PP specialist and offensive zone start as a 7th D playing extremely sheltered minutes?
As opposed to having a 4th line plug playing 5-6 minutes use a legit offensive stud in the lineup instead?

Hopefully he fixes the d-zone issues and can play a regular shift first and foremost though.

He is atleast 4 years away in my opinion. If you can't even play defense in junior you are going to get eaten alive in the NHL.

[Tibnadian_tpd]

Jeremie Poirier definitely has intriguing potential offensively. Some of those moves, and his finishes on breakaways look like those of an offensive forward. Despite his defensive play, this could be a major winner for us down the line, especially at #72 in the draft, I don't think it would be wise to pass on this.

[SilverKast]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

His dropping in the draft might have to be with being un-coachable.

At least 4 years of top-level junior coaching and no defense skills developed.

seems that Jeremy just wants o have fun and a lot of media scouts and player evaluations are made from offensive stats line.

Maybe he blew the interviews?


On the positive side not a lot of sure things out of the #72 draft spot. So it seems there could be high reward for a bit of risk.

The article on him in the Athletic puts him almost the exact opposite of this and indicates he's quite coachable and intends to work on his defensive game. It's actually a pretty good read and gives a bit of insight into the player that I thought was quite good.

[Jason14h]

Even if he never learns to play D theres nothing wrong with a 3rd line entry level contract that plays PP

The Flames actually have this issue. We always have to overpay FA's to fill out the roster.

[AustinL_NHL]

Poirier has a hat-trick not even halfway through tonights game.

3-3 tie with Halifax.

Up to 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points in 13.5 games this season with half a game to go.

[AC]

Originally Posted by austinl_nhl

poirier has a hat-trick not even halfway through tonights game.

3-3 tie with halifax.

Up to 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points in 13.5 games this season with half a game to go.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1327754059923812353

https://twitter.com/user/status/1327764343312756741

https://twitter.com/user/status/1327767286648811521

[GreenLantern2814]

Good lord Play By Play in the Q is bad

[activeStick]

His calls remind me of Loubardias

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by Itse

I believe most guys on this level can be taught to defend adequately if they just have the attitude, the physical side and decent enough hockey sense. None of these seem to be the problem, in fact his attitude seems to be as good as you could possibly hope for.

The risk I see is more that some guys, especially defensemen, just can't find a way to combine playing offense and defense. If they defend properly their offense goes away, if they go on the offense their defense goes down the drain.

We'll see how it goes with Poirier, but I agree with what seems to be the general attitude, I love a pick like this at this point in the draft.

I think you make a very good point re combining offence with defence. I have noticed that Kylington has been working so hard to get the coaches to trust him defensively that we ar seeing very little of the explosive offensive ability he showed earlier.

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I think you can teach defense if the player has the desire to be better.

I don't think you can teach offensive creativity.

This will be up to him if he wants to be an impact NHLer, or a tweener.

You’re right.

You can’t teach offensive creativity.

But it is learnable.

It is about a player feeling, understanding, and responding to internal and external cues. Coaching can assist the process but it isn’t straightforward and is unique for each player. Like any complex topic, some understand it better than others. However everyone can improve their understanding and execution if they are conscious and aware.

I actually think for a player like Poirier if they improve their defensive comprehension it can inform their offensive game even more. They can enhance their ability to identify, utilize, and exploit deception in both ends of the rink.