Prospect Info: #34 Mason McDonald

[Flamesfan62]

I didn’t like this pick at the time seeing McDonald live a lot I wasn’t a huge fan of his game. Never put up great numbers either, struggled to stay above .900

 

[Flamesfan62]

Well, I think the jury's out on this one.
I think the Canucks pulled one over on us again taking Jurmo right after we took Boltman.
It's OK though, we'll just pick them up as FA's.

Bit early to judge this pick, after watching video and reading articles on Boltmann I don’t hate the pick as much. His whole family is extremely athletic playing multi sports.

 

[DFF]

Bit early to judge this pick, after watching video and reading articles on Boltmann I don’t hate the pick as much. His whole family is extremely athletic playing multi sports.

Yeah but do they play hockey?

 

[MakeCgyGreatAgain]

At the time I was disappointed we didn’t take Demko. But I came around after the interviews with Mason and the scouting staff. I guess my initial thought was right. I’ve had many WTF moments with watching the Flames draft. Especially during the Sutter and Feaster years. But with Tre he’s been trusting the scouts lately and our draft blunders like Mason McDonald have been less and less.

 

[JPeeper]

I didn’t like this pick at the time seeing McDonald live a lot I wasn’t a huge fan of his game. Never put up great numbers either, struggled to stay above .900

I didn't watch him pre-draft, but after he was drafted I tried watching him as much as possible and in literally every game/practice scrimmage, etc. he would let in an absolute stinker of a goal.

I have no idea what the scouts ever saw in this guy, he never looked good in any ice-time I ever saw from him.

 

[King In The North]

Ortio, Gillies, MacDonald, Parsons....we need better development.

 

[Flamesfan62]

Ortio, Gillies, MacDonald, Parsons....we need better development.

Way too early to write Parsons off. Kid has gone through a lot.

 

[Fig]

Ortio, Gillies, MacDonald, Parsons....we need better development.

Yeah, I'm thinking while there might be some flubs, guys like Gilles, Parsons, Ortio MacDonald etc. flubbing might be due more to issues developing than drafting. Gilles alone was supposed to be a good one.

I didn't like the MacDonald pick from the get go but that has more to do with me illogically disliking righty catchers.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

I'm definitely willing to say our goalie development needs an overhaul. When your best goalie produced in 20+ years is Ortio, there's something terribly wrong.

That being said, I still think Gilles was derailed by injuries more than anything.

 

[King In The North]

Way too early to write Parsons off. Kid has gone through a lot.

This is very true

 

[Flamesfan62]

This is very true

Although I don’t necessarily agree with this decision, I feel if he doesn’t put it together this season he’s done in this organization

 

[NinjaTurtle]

Way too early to write Parsons off. Kid has gone through a lot.

But with our track record and zero changes, you might as well write him off.

 

[Janks]

I didn't watch him pre-draft, but after he was drafted I tried watching him as much as possible and in literally every game/practice scrimmage, etc. he would let in an absolute stinker of a goal.

I have no idea what the scouts ever saw in this guy, he never looked good in any ice-time I ever saw from him.

I seem to remember hearing an interview from Burke on it. They essentially chose Mason over Demko because Demko had injuries they didn’t like (hips?)

 

[Flamesfan62]

But with our track record and zero changes, you might as well write him off.

Thats your opinion but I dont see it

 

[Bounces R Way]

Somewhere around 93% of drafted goalies never even see NHL action. There's only ~62 goalie roster spots available at any given time. McDonald wasn't a very good pick but his failure isn't really a big indictment on the Flames' G drafting and development.

It's the 20 years of failure of drafting and developing goalies that's the big indictment. Which is why Treliving just shelled out 36 million for a quality starter.

 

[GumbyCan2]

Somewhere around 93% of drafted goalies never even see NHL action. There's only ~62 goalie roster spots available at any given time. McDonald wasn't a very good pick but his failure isn't really a big indictment on the Flames' G drafting and development.

It's the 20 years of failure of drafting and developing goalies that's the big indictment. Which is why Treliving just shelled out 36 million for a quality starter.

In retrospect, sure puzzling how Flames brass deemed he was "best available at that spot/pick"?
Looking at the 2014 draft chart on NHL CapFriendly,
2014 Draft didn't produce too many solid, top 6 or top 2 D or #1 goalies, for sure.
Kind of embarrassment the Calgarh Flames top 3 picks were: Sam Bennett- 1st #4 oa,
Mason MacDonald-2nd#34 oa,
Hunter Smith-2nd#54 oa.
"Could have had William Nylander, or Nikolaj
Ehlers, or David Pastrnak!!! Over Bennett.
...just saying...
Wonder how Flames would have progressed with a top-line of JG-SM- and insert RW: WNylander,
Nikolaj Ehlers, or David Pastrnak?

 

[GumbyCan2]

Somewhere around 93% of drafted goalies never even see NHL action. There's only ~62 goalie roster spots available at any given time. McDonald wasn't a very good pick but his failure isn't really a big indictment on the Flames' G drafting and development.

It's the 20 years of failure of drafting and developing goalies that's the big indictment. Which is why Treliving just shelled out 36 million for a quality starter.

You hit the nail on the head, there. Poor goalie prospect development for sure. Hope we don't lose Wolf in a couple years to this " dynamic" historical flaw!

 

[Flamesfan62]

In retrospect, sure puzzling how Flames brass deemed he was "best available at that spot/pick"?
Looking at the 2014 draft chart on NHL CapFriendly,
2014 Draft didn't produce too many solid, top 6 or top 2 D or #1 goalies, for sure.
Kind of embarrassment the Calgarh Flames top 3 picks were: Sam Bennett- 1st #4 oa,
Mason MacDonald-2nd#34 oa,
Hunter Smith-2nd#54 oa.
"Could have had William Nylander, or Nikolaj
Ehlers, or David Pastrnak!!! Over Bennett.
...just saying...
Wonder how Flames would have progressed with a top-line of JG-SM- and insert RW: WNylander,
Nikolaj Ehlers, or David Pastrnak?

This makes no sense, Bennett pre draft was ranked much higher and easily could’ve went in between spots 1-3, he looked like a sure bet star. But when you get to McDonald and especially Smith, you lose me. With local boy Point putting up crazy numbers and falling so low simply because of his height how do we pass on that for an over aged winger who didn’t even show that much to Merritt being drafted inside the top 100.

 

[Kranix]

It makes you sick

 

[Kranix]

This makes no sense, Bennett pre draft was ranked much higher and easily could’ve went in between spots 1-3, he looked like a sure bet star. But when you get to McDonald and especially Smith, you lose me. With local boy Point putting up crazy numbers and falling so low simply because of his height how do we pass on that for an over aged winger who didn’t even show that much to Merritt being drafted inside the top 100.

I hope the scouts still wake up at 3am and feel regret for this. I hope they're self aware.

 

[NinjaTurtle]

This makes no sense, Bennett pre draft was ranked much higher and easily could’ve went in between spots 1-3, he looked like a sure bet star. But when you get to McDonald and especially Smith, you lose me. With local boy Point putting up crazy numbers and falling so low simply because of his height how do we pass on that for an over aged winger who didn’t even show that much to Merritt being drafted inside the top 100.

Man, imagine Brayden Point instead of Hunter Smith. That would be franchise altering.

But good thing we picked up some heavy bodies with truculence. Lol.

 

[NinjaTurtle]

Thats your opinion but I dont see it

I liked Parsons before the draft and still have hope for him and am optimistic about Wolf too, just very pessimistic about this organization’s ability to handle and develop goaltenders. Wish we could pay big money for a goalie guru like Mitch Korn.

 

[Mobiandi]

I think we're picking the "right" goalies now but they all fall at the same hurdle when it comes to transitioning their game to the pros. You'd think we'd have developed even a back-up by now just by pure dumb luck.

Rittich doesn't count because he was already mostly a product of the Czech pro leagues

 

[GumbyCan2]

This makes no sense, Bennett pre draft was ranked much higher and easily could’ve went in between spots 1-3, he looked like a sure bet star. But when you get to McDonald and especially Smith, you lose me. With local boy Point putting up crazy numbers and falling so low simply because of his height how do we pass on that for an over aged winger who didn’t even show that much to Merritt being drafted inside the top 100.

IN RETROSPECT...means looking back on things would have chosen differently "if I had known then what I know now" sort of thing. That was my comment.
Hasn't Ehlers or Pastrnak or Nylander produced more than Benny? Isn't Ehlers and Pastrnak more valuable to their teams? You don't see the possibility of either of those guys having improved Flames top-end more by now than what Benny has done? Sorry for the confusion and misinterpretation.
Yes, on the MacDonald pick front...why??
Brayden Point would have been awesome, even if his potential upside appeared only middle of the road back then.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

I watched the u18 that year.

Mason McDonald was a superhero in that tournament, Canada was getting schooled. We drafted him shortly after and he stunk from that point on.