The Legend of Sam Bennett

[rogermexico]

I think it’s ok to draft for bottom six/bottom pairing grit/penalty killing, as long as you’re absolutely convinced that prospect is going to achieve their ceiling. Like, if someone’s ceiling is a checking role, you want to be really sure that they’re going to get there. Swing for the fences on talent but never take a risk on a prospect that only maybe might have bottom six upside. But I’d always prefer the swing for talent if it’s a toss up.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

The fact he was passed over doesn't bother me at all. There have been a lot of good players that have not been drafted in there first year of eligibility. The issue was more the type of player being picked: big and not skilled.

My approach to the draft would be home run swings in every round. Those are the franchise changing picks. So take your swings. I would be asking my scouts to describe if they could see their player playing in the top of our line-up, or being an impact on the roster. In the later rounds the chances of that would be far slimmer but I'll still take a guy who has a 10% chance of being an impact player over a guy that has a 50% chance of being a 4th liner.

Draft for upside. Each pick. Every round.

The thing I didn't like about drafting him was the skating issues. I was like why draft players with skating issues if the league is only getting faster. IIRC scouts said there was some offensive upside with him.

I understand that skating is something that can be improved but there will be limits to how much an individual can improve. I recall the thing with him was the huge improvement he made in his skating and how that allowed him to be more offensive. But to me, I was thinking do they expect the same improvement in subsequent years? That seemed unlikely.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by New Era

Nah, I'll just float blissfully in the pool of your warm salty tears.

Warm and salty? Those aren’t tears!

[Jeff Lebowski]

nm

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by New Era

That list definitely needs to be revamped with the arrival of Sutter and the three year contract. That move has to be death for Phillips, Pettersen, Francis, and Zavgorodniy, then a huge lift for Ruzicka, Pospisil, Kuznetsov, and Solovyov. I'd put Heineman in the #6 slot on the list and then elevate Ruzicka, Kuznetsov, and add Solovyov to the ranks, probably dropping Francis from the top 20.

Good timing... Francis has six points (three goals and three assists) tonight. He's now sixth in the QMJHL in scoring, ahead of all of the following players:

Mavrik Bourque
Jakob Pelletier
Hendrix Lapierre
Samuel Poulin

If the Flames aren't willing to give Francis a shot because Darryl likes size, that's their own fault.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Good timing... Francis has six points (three goals and three assists) tonight...

Holy ####.

What?!

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[dammage79]

I like Carolinas draft strategy draft all the players I wanted if 8 was GM. They literally nailed my own mock draft last year.

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I like Carolinas draft strategy draft all the players I wanted if 8 was GM. They literally nailed my own mock draft last year.

They’ve had real good drafts the last few years.
Top notch scouts for sure.

[Jore]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Good timing... Francis has six points (three goals and three assists) tonight. He's now sixth in the QMJHL in scoring, ahead of all of the following players:

Mavrik Bourque
Jakob Pelletier
Hendrix Lapierre
Samuel Poulin

If the Flames aren't willing to give Francis a shot because Darryl likes size, that's their own fault.

Hopefully they let him try playing centre if they sign him instead of moving him to wing

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

So we're saying Florida's 16th ranked prospect is our 5th best? That's embarrassing and if so, hopefully only because whoever ranked their prospects knew nothing about him.

Florida's prospect pool is significantly stronger than the Flames. It's not a dig, it's due to years of sucking.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Florida's prospect pool is significantly stronger than the Flames. It's not a dig, it's due to years of sucking.

I guess but some similarities. They had their great regular season 5 years ago, Flames was two years ago. Similar results in playoffs and both seasons look like outliers.

I agree Florida has been awful but Flames haven't been killing it either. No way should the prospect base be that different in quality. But then again, highly debatable that this guy is our fifth best prospect.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I guess but some similarities. They had their great regular season 5 years ago, Flames was two years ago. Similar results in playoffs and both seasons look like outliers.



I agree Florida has been awful but Flames haven't been killing it either. No way should the prospect base be that different in quality. But then again, highly debatable that this guy is our fifth best prospect.

Since 2015 Florida has drafted in the top-fifteen five times. The Flames have done so once. It makes a huge difference.

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[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Good timing... Francis has six points (three goals and three assists) tonight. He's now sixth in the QMJHL in scoring, ahead of all of the following players:

Mavrik Bourque
Jakob Pelletier
Hendrix Lapierre
Samuel Poulin

If the Flames aren't willing to give Francis a shot because Darryl likes size, that's their own fault.

Big whoop. Did you see the players he's tied with for the record? A regular who's who of "who the #### is that?" Scoring in the QMJHL is not like scoring in the pro ranks. It rarely translates. The deck is already stacked against Francis because of his size, and now with Sutter behind the bench, the deck was just cut in half. He was a low ranked prospect before Sutter, and with the arrival of the new coach, he takes another hit. Small players are going to see their opportunities limited. You can only have so many small players on your roster and the Flames have just too many small to tiny prospects. Expect a change in drafting and signings to align with Sutter hockey. So far we've seen the addition of Walker Duehr (6'3, 211), Yan Kuznetsov (6'4, 215) and Navrin Mutter (6'4, 200) to the Heat, and now Ruzicka (6'4, 202) got the call up to the big team, over Matthew Phillips who has been "tearing up" the AHL by your reporting. Size matters and will become just that much more important for the next two years under Sutter, regardless of how many six point games in the QMJHL a player has.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by New Era

Big whoop. Did you see the players he's tied with for the record? A regular who's who of "who the #### is that?" Scoring in the QMJHL is not like scoring in the pro ranks. It rarely translates. The deck is already stacked against Francis because of his size, and now with Sutter behind the bench, the deck was just cut in half. He was a low ranked prospect before Sutter, and with the arrival of the new coach, he takes another hit. Small players are going to see their opportunities limited. You can only have so many small players on your roster and the Flames have just too many small to tiny prospects. Expect a change in drafting and signings to align with Sutter hockey. So far we've seen the addition of Walker Duehr (6'3, 211), Yan Kuznetsov (6'4, 215) and Navrin Mutter (6'4, 200) to the Heat, and now Ruzicka (6'4, 202) got the call up to the big team, over Matthew Phillips who has been "tearing up" the AHL by your reporting. Size matters and will become just that much more important for the next two years under Sutter, regardless of how many six point games in the QMJHL a player has.

I agree, and I was the first one to say the exact same thing about the size of the team changing when Sutter took over. I'm also the first guy to argue that size in hockey matters, because it does. Sutter hockey is most effective when deploying a big team, but I still believe there's a bit of room for some smaller players on his team, as long as those players are hard-working, and more importantly, tenacious as hell. Pelletier is like that, and from what I've seen, Francis is too.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by New Era

Big whoop. Did you see the players he's tied with for the record? A regular who's who of "who the #### is that?" Scoring in the QMJHL is not like scoring in the pro ranks. It rarely translates...

Wow. Is it really so difficult for you to just be happy for the kid? He's a fifth-round pick who is crushing his draft+1 season. It almost doesn't even matter if Francis makes it at this point, but by god does he ever deserve some credit for doing what he is doing now.

Lighten up. Smile. This looks like it could be a great pick one day.


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[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

So we're saying Florida's 16th ranked prospect is our 5th best? That's embarrassing and if so, hopefully only because whoever ranked their prospects knew nothing about him.

Out of curiosity I went back and looked at a couple of the preview mags from the start of this season.
THN and Forecaster both had Heineman ranked #7 on the Florida list.
These rankings aren't worth much more than the paper they are written on, but neither is the list from whoever said he was 16th. Though that seems to place him low relative to other rankings.

For what it's worth I would place him 8th on the Flames list based on my very poorly informed view.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Since 2015 Florida has drafted in the top-fifteen five times. The Flames have done so once. It makes a huge difference.

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Sure. Top 15 might be a little arbitrary though, Flames picked 16th one year in that timeframe. And of course Flames also traded down from 19, and traded away picks 12 and 15.

The Panthers sucked and built a strong prospect base. Flames sucked just a little less while trying to win now. Whoops.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Sure. Top 15 might be a little arbitrary though, Flames picked 16th one year in that timeframe. And of course Flames also traded down from 19, and traded away picks 12 and 15.



The Panthers sucked and built a strong prospect base. Flames sucked just a little less while trying to win now. Whoops.

Yes. Hence the reason why Florida's system is stronger than the Flames.

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[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Out of curiosity I went back and looked at a couple of the preview mags from the start of this season.
THN and Forecaster both had Heineman ranked #7 on the Florida list.
These rankings aren't worth much more than the paper they are written on, but neither is the list from whoever said he was 16th. Though that seems to place him low relative to other rankings.

For what it's worth I would place him 8th on the Flames list based on my very poorly informed view.

I am happy to hear a couple of those people had him ranked higher. Your 7th best prospect has NHL potential. Your 16th is Hanowski.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Out of curiosity I went back and looked at a couple of the preview mags from the start of this season.
THN and Forecaster both had Heineman ranked #7 on the Florida list.
These rankings aren't worth much more than the paper they are written on, but neither is the list from whoever said he was 16th. Though that seems to place him low relative to other rankings.

For what it's worth I would place him 8th on the Flames list based on my very poorly informed view.

I agree, I said earlier that I put him between 5-10 on our depth chart. His game seems to suit the NHL, and Sutter will like him.

Size, speed, tenacity, feistiness. Underrated offence.