'Cause it's getting a bit drafty in here.
With the 2011 NHL Entry Draft quickly approaching, the Calgary Flames hockey operations staff is no doubt hard at work looking over venn diagrams, horoscopes, statistics, NHL 10 tips and car fax reports trying to get an edge against the competition come Friday night.
That's exactly the same Sutter mentality I am bringing to the table; no stone left unturned, as I bring the thunder for this weekly article. Todays Wednesday's Hot Coals is scorching hot, because I've got at least 5 links on the NHL draft, and a bunch of other draft related stuff. How you like me now Craig Button?
In some what of a 1 week tradition, I am going to poll all (5) of you. Everyone and their Pierre Mcguire's are putting together mock drafts trying to become hockey's version of Nostradamus. But I want to know the real experts opinion... so in the comments section, compile a list of how you think the first round will shake up. I'll score the results as such (1 point for every correct pick, and 5 points if you guess the right Flames pick) the best mock drafter will forever be known as the "John Titor" of Matchsticks and Gasoline and will be questioned about the future accordingly that and a hand drawn picture will be scanned and email delivered from in house 4 year old hockey expert, Gertie.
Funny anecdote used for segue: In grade 3, I did no homework, and on the day before a book report on "Mystery on Lake Placid" was due ("check it out folks, it's a timeless piece of English lit" [saying lit makes you seem super smart in grade 3]) I copy and pasted a whole review from the internet (LOL) and turned it in. It was considered so well done, it was posted up in the hall for everyone to look at. My point here? If you have no idea about something like say the draft or your own M&G mock draft entry, someone on the internet probably has something you can copy... like these!:
SBN 2011 Mock Draft - Flames draft Mark Mcneill
TSN 2011 Mock Draft - Flames draft Zach Phillips
The Hockey News Mock Draft - Zach Phillips
NHL 4-man Mock Draft - Flames draft...Baertschi x2, Klefbom, Jurco!!!
Maggie the Monkeys Mock Draft - Flames draft....
I really think Maggie plagerized Craig Button's TSN work. (TAKE THAT CRAIG BUTTON). And that's how I came up with the title (a bunch of draft related CRAP) folks.
Sometimes its nice to look back and see the big heaping pile of prospects Darryl Sutter and company has left us with, that's why I strongly encourage everyone to take a trip down memory lane and look at how the Flames fared in their previous drafts with the NHL draft database, 2010 draft analysis, Panthers fans rejoice and have a festival festival, The hype train embarkment, and no draft is complete without Gary Bettman booing videos.
A lot of people are talking about EA sports and how they are geniuses for guessing the cup finals and all that jazz, they've got the game down to a science, but how about the people side of things. Here's a first hand perspective of being drafted by the Oilers first overall... I actually bet that's exactly what it's like. (TAKE THAT EDMONTON)
Random but interesting, just like Jay Feaster's NHL draft track record:
Being outside of the top 10 isn't all that bad according to a 1 year old blog post.
A well written article from earlier this month from the hardest working girl in show business on why this first round pick for the Flames matters.
Todays Non-related Draft tweet of the week comes from
Have a great day!