Flint Firebirds 2018 Offseason Thread

[Savard18]

13th.....Wow. I kept thinking people who didn't have him in the 1st round were nuts but I wasn't expecting 13. Con-grat-u-lations kid! Hope to get surprised a few more times tomorrow.

 

[MJ5]

Busby the second Firebird picked @ #145 by Arizona. That's a bit of a shocker.

 

[MJ5]

I’ve seen the experts say if he’d been healthy all season he’d have gone in the top 2 rounds

Haven't seen that, but if thats the case I am a little more pumped for this fall then.

Need to nail these import picks.

 

[Savard18]

Haven't seen that, but if thats the case I am a little more pumped for this fall then.

Need to nail these import picks.

I've never seen anything that had him ranked higher than 3rd-4th round but if Arizona is gonna scoop him in the 5th after he played like literally 20 minutes all this year then maybe some teams had him ranked that high. Looking at some late picks and seeing kids go undrafted made me wonder if NHL teams pick European players thinking they've got a solid shot to pick up and sign NA kids as free agents. I mean, a kid from the UK got taken in the 7th. What is the talent like in Britain? I'm sure Holmes and Roberts would look good playing against guys somewhere between men's league and the FHL too. I talked to two scouts (one guy who was at most of the last 10-15 home games but his NHL club didn't draft a Firebird) and asked them if they could say

 

[Savard18]

Twice now I've accidentally hit Post Reply and it wouldn't let me go back and edit. The website has been acting strange the last couple days and I didn't feel like messing with it last night. Anyway, I asked those two scouts "Hey, I know you're not gonna give up sensitive details but can you say whether or not McCourt even on your radar at all?" and they both responded immediately with "Oh yeah" and "Yeah, he's pretty good". I didn't really press the issue any further. Unfortunately neither of those organizations drafted him or any Firebird. It would have benefitted the franchise on many levels to have 4-5 kids drafted this year. MJ5 is right, they really need to hit on their two import picks. We'll know about those soon enough.

 

[MJ5]

Import draft is Thursday, so hopefully we nail these picks.

Good day to have it for me, I've got sales meetings all day, this will keep me entertained for awhile.

 

[TcNorth]

Are we making one import pick or two?

 

[MJ5]

Are we making one import pick or two?

I think we can make 2 picks even with Alexandrov on the roster. Basically picking a 2nd guy who probably won't report, but we would hold his rights if he did like when they drafted Kristian Vesalainen a couple years ago.

I could be wrong about that too tho, if so we got at least 1 pick to make.

 

[hockeylegend11]

I think we can make 2 picks even with Alexandrov on the roster. Basically picking a 2nd guy who probably won't report, but we would hold his rights if he did like when they drafted Kristian Vesalainen a couple years ago.

I could be wrong about that too tho, if so we got at least 1 pick to make.

If you are making 2 picks, Alexandra must be traded, released as he was not 1st round NHL pick.

 

[MJ5]

If you are making 2 picks, Alexandra must be traded, released as he was not 1st round NHL pick.

Thanks, wasn't sure of the exact rules.

 

[Firebrd828]

I think we can make 2 picks even with Alexandrov on the roster. Basically picking a 2nd guy who probably won't report, but we would hold his rights if he did like when they drafted Kristian Vesalainen a couple years ago.

I could be wrong about that too tho, if so we got at least 1 pick to make.

They only got to keep Vesalainen's rights because he did not report from the previous year. If he had reported, they would have had to drop either Alexandrov or Kislinger. I believe they also could have traded the rights to Vesalainen, but not sure on that.

 

[FireBird71]

McCourt going to Coyotes Development Camp and Nilsen to the Islanders

 

[FireBird71]

Draft site has their 2019 Mock up with 2 rounds and has Keppen being picked in the 2nd

 

[Toldyaso]

I saw McCourt on Dallas's development camp roster. http://nhl.bamcontent.com/images/assets/binary/299026196/binary-file/file.pdf

 

[Packman]

What about Roberts? Any word if he's attending any camp?

 

[Toldyaso]

Been looking at different rosters but haven't seen him listed yet. Still a few to look at though.

 

[Radzy]

Dennis Busby & Jalen Smereck-Coyotes
Ty Dellandrea & Riley McCourt-Stars
Hakon Nilsen-Islanders
Fedor Gordeev-Leafs
Curtis Hall-Bruins*
Connor Roberts-Penguins

*means Firebirds prospect

The OHL website hasnt updated all the teams yet still missing from a quick glance Buffalo, Boston, Vancouver & Washington

Teams that i couldnt find rosters for are Montreal, New Jersey, Carolina, Chicago, Anahiem Colorado, Calgary, Minnesota

 

[Radzy]

delete

 

[Radzy]

delete

 

[MJ5]

Looks like Erie released an import guy and Kitchner announced a guy wasn't coming back.

So I'm assuming we will be keeping Alexandrov and making just 1 pick on Thursday.

 

[Savard18]

Looks like Erie released an import guy and Kitchner announced a guy wasn't coming back.

So I'm assuming we will be keeping Alexandrov and making just 1 pick on Thursday.

You could be right but....why would Flint be keeping Alexandrov because Erie and Kitchener don't have an import returning? Alexandrov seems like a nice kid and all, and did make progress last year but unless Mgmt thinks they won't be able to get 2 Import picks to report I see little point in keeping a 19yo 6-7 Import D when roster spots are tight.

 

[Firebrd828]

You could be right but....why would Flint be keeping Alexandrov because Erie and Kitchener don't have an import returning? Alexandrov seems like a nice kid and all, and did make progress last year but unless Mgmt thinks they won't be able to get 2 Import picks to report I see little point in keeping a 19yo 6-7 Import D when roster spots are tight.

I think it will come down to whether or not any NHL teams have approached the Firebirds about taking on any of their draft picks. If they have, Alexandrov will be gone. If they have not, then I would think that they keep him.

 

[MJ5]

You could be right but....why would Flint be keeping Alexandrov because Erie and Kitchener don't have an import returning? Alexandrov seems like a nice kid and all, and did make progress last year but unless Mgmt thinks they won't be able to get 2 Import picks to report I see little point in keeping a 19yo 6-7 Import D when roster spots are tight.

I was stating that teams are making announcements that they have released previous imports, or the import has moved on prior to the draft. Flint hasn't said a word.

 

[FirebirdsFan21]

I was stating that teams are making announcements that they have released previous imports, or the import has moved on prior to the draft. Flint hasn't said a word.

That seems to be the thing. Flint has had a tendency to not announce anything until after it has been found out through other sources. Max not coming back was not announced by Flint. But found that he signed in Germany.