BOLD Predictions 2018-2019 Official Thread: Bolder Predictions

[Pirate King Luffy]

Ferland gets 50 points, Hamilton wins the lady byng. Fox wins rookie of the year.

 

[Mobiandi]

P: Flames win 30+ games at home
N: Flames are sub .500 on the road

 

[The Gnome]

Bennett crack 40+ points this year...You can say that's not very bold, but with how most people view Bennett...I'll put this in the BOLDER category.

 

[Volica]

Bennett crack 40+ points this year...You can say that's not very bold, but with how most people view Bennett...I'll put this in the BOLDER category.

The boldest really.
Essentially this board thinks this kid's too dumb to get 30 points or that he's going to be a 60 point+ all purpose centre.

Reality is somewhere in between, as it always is.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

Bold guesses eh?

Negative: Smith is going to get hurt and neither young goalie does well in his absence again. Despite that we manage to eke out a wildcard spot.

Positive: Czarnik clicks with Tkachuk and puts up 50 plus points.

Fact: Our fanbase has gotten so used to Gulutzan and static lines, and Bill Peters line blender combos will have people frothing from the mouth by the end of the first month of the season.

 

[Dack]

Bennett doesn't break out (I've predicted otherwise the last 2 offseasons so maybe this will work)

Lazar isn't a regular and is either in the press box or in the AHL

Jankowski doesn't really breakout and gets mainly bottom 6 minutes.

Czarnik proves a useful Versteeg replacement who is slightly better

Gio is still great and Brodie while better isn't the 2015/2016 Brodie some seem to expect.

Neal stays healthy and playing with better players hits 25G 25A

Lindholm hits 50 points as well

Tkachuk gets 60

Backlund is back up around 50

Frolik bounces back but only gets about 35 due to a reduced role

Gaudreau gets 90 like he would've this year without the team shooting like 3% for a month

Monahan breaks 35G

Hamonic improves but still isn't worth the price paid.

Hanafin builds on his great season from last year.


Ferland is only a useful 3rd liner for Carolina

Hamilton puts up 60 with #1 PP time and more 5v5 ice time.

I can't wait until October there's so much new blood and they've lost so much dead weight it'll be like watching a new team.

 

[Lunatik]

Fact: Our fanbase has gotten so used to Gulutzan and static lines, and Bill Peters line blender combos will have people frothing from the mouth by the end of the first month of the season.

It's already a fact, people bitch and cry when lines aren't juggled, then they juggle them and the same folks complain about that too.

 

[Skobel24]

Positive: Jankowski breaks out with 45 points.

Negative: Bennett fails to hit 30.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Hot take: I heard Pronman on the radio this morning, he said Kylington is a better prospect than Andersson AND Valimaki.

I agree with Pronman, although a huge first year pro from Valimaki could change that. I have no doubt Kylington > Andersson though.

 

[super6646]

I agree with Pronman, although a huge first year pro from Valimaki could change that. I have no doubt Kylington > Andersson though.

Isn't Anderson nhl ready right now and have top pairing potential? Yeah, I really don't think so.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Isn't Anderson nhl ready right now and have top pairing potential? Yeah, I really don't think so.

NHL, sure. Top pairing is a possibility but it’s not a given at this point. Pronman said his skating would likely hold him back. Those are not issues for Kylington and Valimaki.

 

[super6646]

NHL, sure. Top pairing is a possibility but it’s not a given at this point. Pronman said his skating would likely hold him back. Those are not issues for Kylington and Valimaki.

His skating his fine, and didn't he lose weight? Haven't watched much of kylington, but has his defensive game improved since we drafted him?

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Isn't Anderson nhl ready right now and have top pairing potential? Yeah, I really don't think so.

Andersson would require a Giordano type perfect progression path to be a top pairing Dman. I like the player, but at this point I'm not sold on him even being able to replace Hamonic in two years as our #4. I do think however that he should be a staple on our bottom pairing next season along with Kulak, and we should allow Stone to move on, while also recouping some salary cap space in the process.

As for NHL-readiness, both Kylington and Andersson are NHL-ready. Andersson may be slightly more "ready", but he's also almost a year older and comes from a hockey family. He's further along in his development, but that doesn't mean he's more likely to be a successful NHL player.

But it doesn't really matter.

For some reference, Kylington will be 21 next season. Duncan Keith was 23 in his rookie season and had one of the best NHL careers of any defenseman. Different players have different timelines - what matters is what you do when you've established yourself. Kylington is becoming a rather complete defenseman, and I think at the end of the day he will be a better NHLer than any of our D prospects, and my gut tells me he will pass Hanifin, too. Hanifin was solid last year but a lot of the hype with him comes from the fact that he was fast tracked to the NHL.

His skating his fine, and didn't he lose weight? Haven't watched much of kylington, but has his defensive game improved since we drafted him?

Andersson's an okay skater, but his four way mobility I think will limit him especially with the league getting so fast.

Kylington's defensive game was pretty typical of a 20 year old defenseman. He'll get outmuscled here or there, he might make the occasional bad read or pizza, but I think there's no doubt he's improved profoundly from his draft year.

Some of things he does well defensively, he does really well - he might be able to jump into the NHL and have the best gap control on the entire team when defending a two on two or one on one situation. His breakout pass has razor precision, right there with Brodie and Giordano. He's learned not to overhandle the puck the hard way, after basically being responsible for the Heat not advancing to the second round two years ago he played more aware last year. He's put the time in the video room with Huska and co to work on his weaknesses. His penalty killing is a strength. He's not as polished as a veteran defenseman - because he's not one - but all the ability is there to be a complete two way defenseman.

People need to remember he didn't really have great instruction in his development leading up to the draft, something people mistake for hockey IQ. Hanifin is in the same boat - both guys had to learn the game as pros because they just raw-talented their way to the top as amateurs. Andersson is different, his dad was an NHLer, he was getting this kind of great instruction from day one, you see it on the Flames with how Tkachuk just seems way beyond his years, or Gaudreau who's dad was a coach. Now in Tkachuk's case the raw talent is also through the roof but you see with a lot of guys on our team, they do need some instruction and guidance - which isn't to be confused with ability, it's about your background as a player. Kylington didn't come from a hockey family - in fact there was a point where he was thinking of become a soccer player - and he didn't have great individualized coaching leading up to his draft. Where he's at right now is very satisfactory IMO. Even if he does spend much of next year in the AHL it won't affect my perception of his upside.

 

[Lunatik]

Pronman has the intelligence of a sack of cow pucky

 

[Volica]

I don't think there's much doubt about who's Calgary top 3D prospects. I do think there's a big gap between Valimaki/Andersson and Kylington however.

Essentially Andersson has developed in the same pathway as Kylington, just better.

I really like Oliver as a prospect, because I think if everything comes together perfectly, Calgary will get an elite PP QB by the time Oliver's like 23/24 years old.

I think Andersson's already trending towards a top 4D. Really love his game, really like how he impacts the game. Also, most importantly, never hurts you much. Love his pace, earlier Duncan Keith's name came up in conversation; Andersson's game is very very reminiscent of Keith. Controls the play, slows play down or speeds it up; carries the puck with confidence, is good at pushing the play and has a good shot and offensive IQ.

That's likely Kylington's next step in his development, that game pace. Because he still doesn't have great pace to his game. It's pretty much a forward movement, which hurts him. The day he puts it together, is the day that we get something pretty special.

Valimaki is like Andersson on steroids. The guy's going to be a top pairing D in the NHL, in a few years. For those that follow the WHL, when healthy, Juuso was a top 2 defenseman in that league, as a 19 year old. Really damn impressive. He's going to get a really long look at camp, and don't be shocked if he's one of the last cuts, or he makes Kulak expendable. HF is a dumb place that will never spot this kid, but there's going to be those 'how'd he drop that low' in short order. There'll also be 'Liljegren is still better than him, even though he's playing 12 minutes of sheltered minutes a night!' similar to how we see Oliver.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

All I know is all 3 of these kids have a lot of upside and I think they will all play. They are also fairly different. I honestly don’t see much separation between any of them, while most here have Kylington at the bottom, his deficiencies can be corrected by coaching, they are not physical limitations and will improve with maturity.

 

[Lunatik]

All I know is all 3 of these kids have a lot of upside and I think they will all play. They are also fairly different. I honestly don’t see much separation between any of them, while most here have Kylington at the bottom, his deficiencies can be corrected by coaching, they are not physical limitations and will improve with maturity.

Like how Marc-Andre Bergeron became a defensive stalwart?

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Like how Marc-Andre Bergeron became a defensive stalwart?

It’s funny, I really don’t get what MAB has to do with Kylington. On the opposite end of that, someone could say Kylington is going to turn out just like how Karlsson did, because well Karlsson did so that must mean Kylington is going to. The reality is likely in the middle.

Kylington’s development is independent to him. He has taken steps forward every season and I’d say he’s exactly where the organization could have hoped he would be when they drafted him, much like how Janks was brought along to a very precise schedule. Kylington has already developed his defensive game a lot, right now I feel comfortable in saying he looks like he’s trending towards becoming a top 4 dman. I’m not saying that’s his floor, but if I was a betting man that’s what I’d put my money on. Hopefully he does better that and of course there’s the chance that he doesn’t ever play, but in today’s NHL I don’t think that’s going to happen.

 

[Lunatik]

It’s funny, I really don’t get what MAB has to do with Kylington. On the opposite end of that, someone could say Kylington is going to turn out just like how Karlsson did, because well Karlsson did so that must mean Kylington is going to. The reality is likely in the middle.

Kylington’s development is independent to him. He has taken steps forward every season and I’d say he’s exactly where the organization could have hoped he would be when they drafted him, much like how Janks was brought along to a very precise schedule. Kylington has already developed his defensive game a lot, right now I feel comfortable in saying he looks like he’s trending towards becoming a top 4 dman. I’m not saying that’s his floor, but if I was a betting man that’s what I’d put my money on. Hopefully he does better that and of course there’s the chance that he doesn’t ever play, but in today’s NHL I don’t think that’s going to happen.

If you don't see the MAB comparable, I have my doubts you've ever watched Kylington play

 

[Anglesmith]

For what it's worth, Bergeron had a 10-year NHL career and was part of some good teams, so it's not like it's a comparison that bashes any prospect, really.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

If you don't see the MAB comparable, I have my doubts you've ever watched Kylington play

If you don’t see the Karlsson comparable, I have my doubts you’ve ever watched Kylington play.

 

[Lunatik]

If you don’t see the Karlsson comparable, I have my doubts you’ve ever watched Kylington play.

The only comparables are being great skaters and Swedish

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

The only comparables are being great skaters and Swedish

You must not remember Karlsson’s biggest hole coming into the league was his defensive game. Actually even when he made the NHL, he was below average in that department in first 3 seasons, some still knock him for his play in his own end.

The point is Karlsson had the same knocks as Oliver. It’s unfair to Kylington to say he’s going to be MAB or Karlsson when he could be anything in between as well.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

You must not remember Karlsson’s biggest hole coming into the league was his defensive game. Actually even when he made the NHL, he was below average in that department in first 3 seasons, some still knock him for his play in his own end.

The point is Karlsson had the same knocks as Oliver. It’s unfair to Kylington to say he’s going to be MAB or Karlsson when he could be anything in between as well.

A LHS John Klingberg.

 

[Lunatik]

Same knocks sure, but Eriksson had a minor leak in the boat, Kylington is missing the entire f***ing bottom.

Kylington will be lucky to be MAB. I doubt he'll ever be an NHL regular.