Flames First Round Targets Summary

 

 

With the draft rapidly approaching, I decided to put together a table summarizing the various first round targets we’ve profiled over the last couple of weeks. I have included each players rankings according to NHL CS, ISS and Corey Pronman. If you to check out rankings by other consensus outfits, make sure to drop by this post over at C&B. 

The table is pretty straight forward. Each players rankings, followed by his NHL equivalence ratio (multiply by 82 to get a sense of what output he’d manage in a similar role in the NHL over a full season) as well as his percentage of scoring at even-strength last year as well as the percentage of his team’s total offense. The table is ordered according to NHLE. Click on the name of the player to view his profile.

As you can see, Zibanejad has the lowest equivalency but is the highest ranked by the scouts. This is no doubt due to his limited ice time in the SEL, which is something we discussed in his profile. Ryan Murphy, on the other hand, has both outstanding stats and rankings – Flames fans should expect neither of these players to be available at 13 on Friday, but stranger things have happened.

After that, Sven Bartschi looks to be the best bet, with strong qualitative and quantative marks across the board (aside from his low % of team offense). Then McNeill and Armia with a collection of other guys trailing slightly behind.

There’s definitely a clear top-end here, but there’s also a good chance those guys won’t make it down to the Flames. If Bartschi, Zibanejad Murphy are taken early and the club isn’t convinced the "second tier" (Armia, McNeill) is markedly better than the "third tier" (Phillips, Puempel, Scheifele, etc.) then they may be better served in trading down to add another pick inside the top-60 given how uniform the talent seems to be from about 15-20 through 60.

Tomorrow I’ll post Flamesnation’s "draft list" before we go live with Flamesnation radio at 6pm (woo!).