Speculation: Armchair GM Thread: I can't believe it's not butter, I can't believe we didn't get Ryan Hartman.

[JPeeper]

Because we think that we have high end D prospects to fill the gaps. I don’t think we have that up front. Dube will be good. And Foo and Mangiapane show some promise. But we could clearly use another scorer imo. A Marner would help a guy like Tkachuk. I think that duo with Backlund at C would be ridiculous.

Look at Nashville. They traded Jones for Johansen. Even though they clearly lost that trade it made them even better because they needed a FWD big time and had the D to fill in.

Also, they are under team control longer.

True, but they still had 3 stud dmen and now have Subban. Flames don't have the depth of they traded Hamilton away . Only way they traded dougie is if rasmus and valimaki both end up as top 4 guys with 1 at least pushing for top line , as well as kylingon in the top 4. Otherwise it's not a good idea to trade our best young d man .

 

[JPeeper]

What if that 3rd was Brayden Point? but you are probably right, Tod Button is a incompetent moron. The pick would have been useless anyway.

Is the one who convinced Feaster to draft Gaudreau.

Was the one who wanted tkachuk the most out of all our scouts.

"Incompetent"

 

[DFF]

Is the one who convinced Feaster to draft Gaudreau.

Was the one who wanted tkachuk the most out of all our scouts.

"Incompetent"

I think most people would have drafted Tkachuk
Gaudreau was a good pick but even a blind mouse found a piece of cheese once in a while.

Look at the Flames record outside of the lottery picks. They suck in the last 20 yrs, scouting has been a big part of it.

 

[Mr Snrub]

I think most people would have drafted Tkachuk
Gaudreau was a good pick but even a blind mouse found a piece of cheese once in a while.

Look at the Flames record outside of the lottery picks. They suck in the last 20 yrs, scouting has been a big part of it.

Gaudreau: 4th round pick
Ferland: 5th round pick
Brodie: 4th round pick
Kulak: 4th round pick

20% of our roster was drafted by this team outside the first round, that's a pretty good track record if you ask me. Include the firsts and that's 40% of our roster. I don't think Button is a genius but he's likely above average.

 

[DFF]

Gaudreau: 4th round pick
Ferland: 5th round pick
Brodie: 4th round pick
Kulak: 4th round pick

20% of our roster was drafted by this team outside the first round, that's a pretty good track record if you ask me. Include the firsts and that's 40% of our roster. I don't think Button is a genius but he's likely above average.

No, he is not. The team is at the bottom of the league and he is above average? Like I said he benefit from the lottery picks otherwise it's pathetic. Gaudreau and Brodie are the only exceptions. You expect to get bottom players like Ferland and Kulak once in a while. Everybody gets them.
Poirrier, Klimchuk, Nemisc, Irving, Pelech, Erixon, no goalie to speak off in his 20 yrs?.....you can name many more high pick busts

Like BT said, when you lose you need to look at everything and Button is no exception. Coaching then scouting and development is a big problem. Well, that or you trade the whole team.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Our drafting got better overall when Feaster took over, but it’s still highly questionable IMO. I think Poirier and Klimchuk picks have been very detrimental to our team to fill holes.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

20% of our roster was drafted by this team outside the first round, that's a pretty good track record if you ask me. Include the firsts and that's 40% of our roster. I don't think Button is a genius but he's likely above average.

That's punching well above his weight class - I had no idea it was that high.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Our drafting got better overall when Feaster took over, but it’s still highly questionable IMO. I think Poirier and Klimchuk picks have been very detrimental to our team to fill holes.

We could have got Theodore, Dano, or Bjorkstrand during that time period.

 

[Bounces R Way]

I agree with the vast, vast majority of your post but I've seen a lot of posters mention how much they want Kovalchuk and I'm not sure he's the solution/how good of a hockey player he still is. He's leading the KHL in points but Nigel Dawes is third and Linden Vey is fifth. Kovy's also 35 in a week. It's entirely possible he comes over and is a bottom-sixer.

I would be interested in Ilya mostly for his shooting. He's a volume shooter who has had a shooting perentage above 10% every year in his NHL career except the last one in Jersey where he only played 37 games. The Flames have 4 players that are over 10% this season, Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk, and Jankowski, and I wouldn't really say any of them are consistent threats to score from the top of the circles. He carries the puck well, protects the puck well, uses his linemates well, and at 6'3 230 would provide some menace for our first line marshmellows Johnny and Monny. He also shoots right. He doesn't need to be all that he was previously, but the areas where his game is strong are everything this team is missing.

Stick him in Johnny's current spot(why god why is he there?!) on the PP and let him fire away. Talent like his doesn't just disappear, and 35 is a whole lot different than 45. Not really sure what he would be looking for in a contract, and the Flames haven't had a Russian on the roster since Oleg freaking Saprykin, so I'm not exactly optimistic they could land him, but I think he'd be a great fit for the top line RW position.

Here's a good article explaining why there's little chance Kovalchuk would be a bottom sixer: Why Ilya Kovalchuk is still a first-line NHL player - Sportsnet.ca