9. Calgary Flames
Day 1 rank: No. 14 (overtime winners)
I really liked the William Stromgren pick for the Flames in the middle of the sixth round (he was picked three slots after where I had him ranked). I know there are scouts who saw him as a first-round talent and I’m sure the Flames probably felt about the same way. He’s a big kid but he actually plays more of a finesse game than a power one, which is always of interest to me because it’ll be easier for him to fill into his frame and leverage his size than it is for other 6-foot-3 kids to add his skill elements. I don’t think he’s going to be a big point producer at the next level per se, but he might become a good complementary offensive winger.
After years of drafting smaller forwards, the Flames went back to the size well they tapped into with Stromgren by drafting another 6-foot-3 forward in Cole Huckins (66th on my board, taken 77th) in the third round. I like his versatility offensively. He uses his long stride to forecheck hard, he takes a ton of pucks off of the wall to attack the inside of the ice, he’s got good touch on the puck and around the net, and he’s a proficient passer.
Staff with the Ottawa 67’s pushed hard for Jack Beck, who is by all accounts a great kid who had another level to find on the ice but didn’t get to find it in the OHL this year, so I was happy to see him selected after not having played this season.
Cameron Whynot and Cole Jordan are both B-grade defense prospects, in that order for me. But both top out as third-pairing types at their ceilings if all goes well. Jordan became a bit of a public sphere darling for his size-skating-transition package but I worry about his comfort level with the puck when things cave in on him.
I haven’t seen anything in Lucas Ciona that feels particularly projectable so that one was a mild surprise but hey, it’s the sixth round.
And I don’t have a book on seventh-round goalie Arseni Sergeyev because I don’t do a good enough job fitting the NAHL into my rotation.
Their Day 2 left me feeling “those kids are fine but…”
How did you rank the 2021 draft for the Flames?
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Looks to me like Coronato is a player for sure, it just remains to be seen where he tops out. Stromgren appeals to me but doesn't look like a sure thing.
Jack Beck is kind of a mystery box, isn't he? He could be anything. He could even be a top-six RW! You know how we've wanted one of those! Kidding aside, I think it was very smart taking a chance on a player like that in the 6th.
The others, based on public information, don't make a strong impression on me one way or another. Except, of course, that I really hope Cameron Whynot makes it just because of the name. I'm still sad about D'Artagnan Joly. The NHL needs more players with cool names.
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Matthew Coronato is a great player and is a projected top-six forward for Calgary. After him, I respect William Stromgren’s talent a lot — he was a first-rounder for me at one point, but I see a long development path ahead for him. I liked picking Cameron Whynot in the third round. He has a lot of NHL assets and looks like he can play. Calgary could get two NHL players from this draft, including one really good one.
Matthew Coronato, RW (No. 13): Coronato was one of the best players in the USHL and among the leaders in most offensive categories. Coronato is an undersized forward with a lot of skill who can make plays with pace. He’s a strong skater, not elite for a small guy, but good enough to be an NHL player. He’s able to create controlled entries with his speed and skill, and make tough plays to his teammates on the move. Coronato is also able to play the half-wall on the power play and find seams as well as finish from distance. He killed penalties for Chicago and works hard enough to advance levels and win battles despite his size. In a sentence, Coronato projects as a versatile second-line NHL winger.
Pronman’s thoughts: Coronato had a massive season in the USHL and brings a scoring/dynamic element that Calgary has very little of in its system. He becomes one of the overall quickest, most skilled and most competitive prospects in the Flames’ thin pipeline. You can reasonably see him become a top-six forward in the NHL for the Flames in 3-5 years.
William Stromgren, LW (No. 45): Stromgren took positive steps this season, becoming a good scorer and looking competent versus men. Stromgren’s physical tools are easy to spot when he’s on the ice. He’s 6-foot-3, can skate and has great hands. He has the ability to create clean zone exits and entries with a high frequency due to his reach, speed and skill. His offense is very north/south and direct, as while he can make some plays I wouldn’t call him a great passer. He’s not a physical player or a top PK option, but Stromgren gets to the net and creates around the tough areas of the ice. In a sentence, Stromgren has some clear NHL attributes but with his sense and compete, his NHL role is unclear.
Cole Huckins, C (No. 77): Huckins took positive steps this season and was an important player for Bathurst of the QMJHL. He’s a big forward with a high skill level. He shows confidence and creativity with the puck, often beating opponents with his one-on-one dekes. He won’t be a top playmaker on an NHL team, but he can find his teammates well enough to create chances. Off the puck, he’s decent and shows a physical edge to go with his big frame, but he can also be a bit perimeter. The main drawback with Huckins is his skating, as he will struggle to pull away and create space for himself at the NHL level. In a sentence, Huckins has a chance due to his size, skill and scoring, but his game may have too many flaws for him to play in the NHL.
Cameron Whynot, D (No. 89): Whynot’s physical tools jump out to you when you watch him. He’s a 6-foot-1 defenseman who skates well and can win a lot of battles. His speed is good, not great, but he has great edges. He closes his gaps well and escapes pressure at a high level with his edges. Whynot is a physical player who is solid defensively due to his compete, size and skating. The big question on him is his offense. I see Whynot make good outlet passes and show flashes of creativity, but inside the offensive zone he doesn’t do a ton and his scoring production has never been a selling point. In a sentence, Whynot projects as a third-pair NHL defenseman.
Cole Jordan, D (No. 141): Jordan has intriguing athletic tools as a 6-2 defenseman who skates very well for his size. He has flashes of offensive touch but I wouldn’t call him a natural puck-mover and his defending needs work as well.
Jack Beck, RW (No. 168): Beck has some intriguing puck skills and offensive sense but he’s a 5-11 forward without great quickness and I can’t say the puck game is dynamic enough to make up for it.
Lucas Ciona, LW (No. 173): I like his size, his vision and his work ethic a lot. He’s not a great skater, though, and five goals in 79 WHL games is concerning for a forward.
Arsenii Sergeev, G (No. 205): Sergeev is a 6-3 goaltender with very good quickness who can make tough lateral and second chance saves with consistency. His game can be a bit chaotic due to his average reads and puck-tracking ability.
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Reading through player summaries and looking over highlights of the forwards likely to be available to the Flames, I felt that Coronato was a player that - if you skipped him - was likely to make you look silly for it a few years from now. So I was pleased to see the Flames take him as he has a good chance of filling a big need on the roster.
After that, it was pretty much a bunch of dudes, so I can't gauge anything from the remaining rounds.
If there was a disappointment anywhere for me, it's simply that the draft passed without a significant roster-shaking trade for the Flames. That may yet come, but with the expansion draft and now the regular draft in the past, it seems less and less likely due to fewer moving parts.
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I liked the addition of big, skilled and fast to the stable of attributes from past: high iq, competitive, character.
The comment about big, skilled guys just having to fill out compared to big guys who need to add skill resonates. You want a team that can play any style and by that I mean can play the rush game great but when the games get serious and tight, you have ability to play the power-physical game too.
Going in I wanted powerful, explosive, quick twitch athletic (some dynamic quality ie speed or hands etc.) players. It appears they got that but obviously time will tell.
Best of luck to these guys!
Last edited by Jeff Lebowski; 07-24-2021 at 09:27 PM.
I used to put a lot of stock into what guys like Pronman & Wheeler say (still do, especially when it's good reports on Flames prospects lol), but I've come to realize that what they say isn't all that valuable, as they tend to get really hooked on certain players and, most annoying, act as if they've legitimately seen EVERY prospect play numerous times. I know they also lean on their scout contacts for info, but to watch and have in-depth scouting reports on literally hundreds of prospects a year is impossible.
I much prefer guys like Joel Henderson, who only follow a specific league (in his case, the WHL) in which they can actually get good scouting reports on players, and don't pretend to know jack all about prospects from other leagues.
That's why I've started to lean heavily on prospect models (who tend to really like the Flames choices) from people like Byron Bader and Patrick Bacon, as well as micro-data charts from people like Mitch Brown the last few years, because their numbers are simply, well, number based, and they don't claim to know much about prospects outside of the numbers.
As for NHL teams, they have full scouting teams that allow them to actually watch each prospect numerous times, as well as get inside information about their character and other important behind the scenes info from their coaches/teammates/family/etc. Yes, some scouts still have the same problems of getting too hooked on specific players (sometimes great (Gaudreau/Fox/etc.), sometimes bad (McDonald/Boltmann/etc.)), but most of the time that can be overrun by the rest of the scouting team.
In terms of what I personally value most when it comes to the draft, I would rank it as follows:
1A) NHL scouting teams
1B) Prospect models & micro-data charts
3) Specific league scouts
4) Guys like Pronman & Wheeler
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PGT: 2021 Draft
