[CP Story] Calgarypuck 2014 Prospect Rank Top 10

[the_only_turek_fan]

I am still shocked that Gaudreau was voted ahead of Bennett.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

I am still shocked that Gaudreau was voted ahead of Bennett.

Why? JG might be the most talented prospect in all of hockey that has been drafted.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

I am still shocked that Gaudreau was voted ahead of Bennett.

I think that is a testament to Flames fans and the intelligence they are bringing to the evaluation of our prospects. Its easy to just pick the last guy taken in the first round, and call him the best prospect in the system. I like it that people actually considered growth and development before making the knee jerk selection.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Interesting to note that in the THN year book Broissoit is ranked the #4 prospect in the Oiler organization, while in the Forecaster preview, he is flagged with a "top prospect" ribbon.
Not sure if that's a commentary on the publications or the Oilers' prospects, but I don't think we ever considered Broissoit to be that high up the Flames' list or a top prospect.

That is the beauty of having these CP prospect rankings down for the record.

In the summer of 2013 we had Brossiot ranked as #17 BUT we had Ortio ranked at #30. We thought that Brossiot was miles ahead of Ortio.

Just my opinion; but the Oilers would have taken Brossiot 10 times out of 10 if they were given a choice between him and Ortio in the Smid trade and still likely would.

This year we have high 2nd round pick McDonald in at #19....

The #17 ranking for Brossiot was totally based on his play in Juniors .... We would be very satisfied if Mason McDonald goes 42-13-5 with a .914 Sav % as did Brossiot the year after the Flames drafted him.

Last year McDonald was 8-15-2 with a save % less than .900 and a GA over 3.3


In 2013 we at CP had Gillies as #4 and Jankowski at #5....is that so far off of Brossiot showing up at #4?

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

That is the beauty of having these CP prospect rankings down for the record.

In the summer of 2013 we had Brossiot ranked as #17 BUT we had Ortio ranked at #30. We thought that Brossiot was miles ahead of Ortio.

Just my opinion; but the Oilers would have taken Brossiot 10 times out of 10 if they were given a choice between him and Ortio in the Smid trade and still likely would.

This year we have high 2nd round pick McDonald in at #19....

The #17 ranking for Brossiot was totally based on his play in Juniors .... We would be very satisfied if Mason McDonald goes 42-13-5 with a .914 Sav % as did Brossiot the year after the Flames drafted him.

Last year McDonald was 8-15-2 with a save % less than .900 and a GA over 3.3


In 2013 we at CP had Gillies as #4 and Jankowski at #5....is that so far off of Brossiot showing up at #4?

They have him ranked #4 this year. I'd say he's nowhere near our #4

[Bingo]

The biggest issue with comparing top ten rankings from one team to another is the fact that they don't line up.

Depth just isn't translatable so comparing a #5 on one list to another shows what we've all seen ... it doesn't necessarily make sense. Some teams have a better player at #7 then rivals do at #2.

So when you see a team deal a prospect and have his ranking go from 17 to 4 you likely have an improving player moving to a team with less depth. It makes it tough to compare and contrast because all the pieces are moving.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

They have him ranked #4 this year. I'd say he's nowhere near our #4

After last season, I doubt Brossoit is in the Flames top 25. He didn't do too much to impress and there was an influx of new talent in the organization. I think he would definitely be behind Ortio, Gillies and MacDonald, which would put him way down our list. Seeing him top four in another organization is pretty damning of that organization's depth.

[Bingo]

A great example comes from the past

2006 Calgarypuck Top 10

1. Irving
2. Boyd
3. Nystrom
4. Chucks
5. Pelech
6. Ryder
7. Ramholt
8. Kahn
9. Taratukhin
10. Prust

I sure hope you can't just take this year's top 10 and compare it to 2006 in impact. This list had basically 7 busts, one tweener, and two bottom roster players. Even with that we ranked the best of the bunch 10th.

I remember this process and there didn't seem to be much in the Flames system after the top 6, we were reaching like hell.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by New Era

I think that is a testament to Flames fans and the intelligence they are bringing to the evaluation of our prospects. Its easy to just pick the last guy taken in the first round, and call him the best prospect in the system. I like it that people actually considered growth and development before making the knee jerk selection.

I selected Bennett as the #1 prospect in the Flames' system, and it was NOT a "knee jerk selection." I think Gaudreau is phenomenal and am very optimistic about his development into a high impact top line forward. However, I also think that Bennett boasts an exceptionally intriguing blend of skill, tenacity, leadership and potential that could effectively make him a better and more valuable player in the long run.

· He will almost certainly be developed to be a top line centre, and if he meets that potential, then no matter how good Gaudreau might become, Bennett arguably projects as a more important component of the team.
· Something that should also not be lost in this is the factor of Bennett's potential that is affected by his age: he JUST turned 18-years-old, and was one of the youngest players in the 2014 draft. This is no small matter, and it effectively means that as good as he is already, he has a lot more room than his draft peers to improve. I believe one of the reasons CSS had him ranked #1 heading into the draft was his young age combined with how that projected his development moving forward, and compared to his peers.

So, no. This was not just my unsophisticated regurgitation of the results from the most recent draft. Bennett earned the substantial number of top-prospect votes here on his own merits.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I selected Bennett as the #1 prospect in the Flames' system, and it was NOT a "knee jerk selection." I think Gaudreau is phenomenal and am very optimistic about his development into a high impact top line forward. However, I also think that Bennett boasts an exceptionally intriguing bend of skill, tenacity, leadership and potential that could effectively make him a better and more valuable player in the long run.

· He will almost certainly be developed to be a top line centre, and if he meets that potential, then no matter how good Gaudreau might become, Bennett arguably projects as a more important component of the team.
· Something that should also not be lost in this is the factor of Bennett's potential that is affected by his age: he JUST turned 18-years-old, and was one of the youngest pliers in the 2014 draft. This is no small matter, and it effectively means that as good as he is already, he has a lot more room than his draft peers to improve. I believe one of the reasons CSS had him ranked #1 heading into the draft was his young age combined with how that projected his development moving forward, and compared to his peers.

So, no. This was not just my unsophisticated regurgitation of the results from the most recent draft. Bennett earned the substantial number of top-prospect votes here on his own merits.

Similar to my thoughts. I picked Bennett first as well and it came down to one thing. He doesn't have an if or but attached to his name. He has decent size and should get bigger, and the skill set, tenacity and character to be a top NHL player.

Gaudreau has surreal skill but still hasn't proven that his if or but won't hold him back.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by fotze

The world championship did a bunch to get me over that. I can easily see Bennet over Gaudreau, his pedigree, numbers grit and skill just oozes sure bet long time NHLer. But what Gaudreau did in his first pro competition, able to pull that stuff off with and against NHLers, 6 games into his post college career is nuts.

I totally agree, and like I said earlier am also very optimistic about Gaudreau's future. My response was to quell the notion that those who selected Bennett as the top prospect in the organisation did so without much thought.

In the end, I think both players are very close in terms of what they mean to the Calgary Flames and the future of the team. The Flames are extremely fortunate that both Bennett and Gaudreau are part of the organisation, and both are perhaps rightly classified as the Flames best pair of prospects.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by fotze

The world championship did a bunch to get me over that. I can easily see Bennet over Gaudreau, his pedigree, numbers grit and skill just oozes sure bet long time NHLer. But what Gaudreau did in his first pro competition, able to pull that stuff off with and against NHLers, 6 games into his post college career is nuts.

Totally agree ... but I fight off the fan wants something to happen so convinces himself etc whenever I can.

The Worlds is certainly a great opportunity to prove he can play with pro players, but that tourney has never been all that physical, and it's played on bigger international ice ... therefore I'm still somewhat hesitant

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by fotze

The world championship did a bunch to get me over that. I can easily see Bennet over Gaudreau, his pedigree, numbers grit and skill just oozes sure bet long time NHLer. But what Gaudreau did in his first pro competition, able to pull that stuff off with and against NHLers, 6 games into his post college career is nuts.

I'm glad he did well but playing well on the big ice doesn't necessarily translate to the NHL.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by fotze

The world championship did a bunch to get me over that. I can easily see Bennet over Gaudreau, his pedigree, numbers grit and skill just oozes sure bet long time NHLer. But what Gaudreau did in his first pro competition, able to pull that stuff off with and against NHLers, 6 games into his post college career is nuts.

Well said! I think there's no question Gaudreau's skill will translate to the NHL. I do worry, though, about his durability. Time will tell.

[StrykerSteve]

Greatly enjoyed that read, thanks Bingo.

[flame^thrower]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

I'm glad he did well but playing well on the big ice doesn't necessarily translate to the NHL.

The level of competition wasn't all that close to NHL team calibre I think also. I seem to recall a good chunk of his highlight package being against Germany. That said there is no question about his skill and determination so I can still see him being our top prospect or a very close second to Bennett. What a change from the dark days of Dustin Boyd et al ...

I am quite looking forward to seeing these kids grow. Although I felt similar to the kids in the past, there is an overall difference these days. I used to feel somewhat upset when we were told there were no prospects in the cupboards and as time went by that was obviously proven to be correct.
Our kids today have talent, heart, hockey smarts, character.... It's feels so much better during this rebuild than the "young gun" era. I never thought the rebuild would be exciting but here I am .. excited for some pretty talented kids to start trickling into the lineup over the next couple years and start elevating this team to the upper echelon.

It's almost here! Hate to see summer go, but come on hockey season!!

[FBI]

I don't think I would even trade just our #11 (janko) for Smid right now. But that is probably contrary to most. I still think janko has big potential though.
I would definitely trade #17 for Smid.

[stemit14]

Love the outlook of this franchise going forward with a list like that. And that's not even getting into guys like Jankowski or whoever the flames draft in 2015. Can't wait for these guys to start cracking the lineup over the next few years. I'm still hoping both baertschi and gaudreau can make the big club out of camp. Wouldn't it be awesome to reunite baertschi with Monahan while putting gaudreau on one of the top two lines? I know it looks like there isn't room for both of them right now but things can change with injuries, trades, or even poor training camps from other players.

I can envision a great season for both gaudreau and baertschi on the big club... A constant "anything you can do I can do better" between two skilled playmakers. Get the best out of each other.

[Bingo]

If the season goes as expected and things slide off the playoff table, it will be interesting to see if they can turn some of Glencross, Hudler, Ramo and Wideman into additional picks for this June as well.

You never stop adding to prospect depth.