2015 Flames Draft Profiles: The Final Rounds

How do you draft in the late rounds? Throw darts at a list? Random selection? European guys who might be good? Most of these guys will never see the NHL, and those that do are always the product of luck rather than extremely skilled drafting, but that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any thought put into the process.

With the Flames thankfully having three less picks now (as of this writing), the team still needs to walk away from this draft with a few serviceable prospects. There is quality being sought after, and quality can be found in the late stages of the draft. We’ll look at some of those prospects.

Since there is less and less scouting available on these smaller guys besides point totals, we're going lightning, lightning round style and only have a few descriptive sentences about the players.

Round 5 (Pick #136)

Dryden Hunt (C, Regina/Medicine Hat): A promising overage WHL centre who had his draft and draft +1 seasons derailed by injury. Scored 87 points in 71 games this year. If he starts showing the promise he did when was younger, it could be a big time steal.

Matthew Bradley (LW, Medicine Hat): Low producer in his first year, but not low enough to remove from the conversation. He could grow to be an effective third-line scorer.

Tate Olson (D, Prince George): Another low scoring player, but appears to be very effective on both ends of the ice.

Andrew Mangiapane (C, Barrie): Overaged player who exploded to triple digit points playing on Barrie. Could be a hidden gem hiding in plain sight.

Lukas Jasek (C, HC Trinec): Czech U20 star, but has struggled in international competitions. Maybe worth the risk, but mostly worth passing on.

Round 6 (Pick #166)

Kade Jensen (D, Lethbridge): Calgary native that looked good on a team that was a tire fire on top of a trash heap. Dark horse candidate for next year's WJC roster.

Mathieu Joseph (RW, Saint John): Never trust a man with two first names, and never trust a low-scoring QMJHL forward. His points totals are concerning, but he has a decent amount of skills to push that number high.

Matteo Gennaro (C, Prince George): Defensive forward who could be a Mikael Backlund without any of the offence. Low risk, medium reward player.

Guillaime McSween (D, Rimouski): Overaged defensive defender. Valued mostly for his size, and not as much for his offence. Perfect Calgary defensive prospect.

Brad Morrison (C, Prince George): He is a sneaky, speedy, deceptive forward (like Johnny Gaudreau) without that much scoring (not like Johnny Gaudreau). Worth a few looks.

Round 7 (Pick #196)

David Henley (D, Charlottetown): Big defensive player who likes hurting other people more than scoring goals. A young Deryk Engelland (read: AVOID).

Steven Ruggiero (D, USNDT): Mainstay in the US roster who is heading to Providence for the NCAA. Hey, what do we know about that place?

Gabriel Slight (RW, Shawnigan): The Austin Carroll of this draft. Doesn't produce a lot of points, but is a team leader who plays with grit. Well liked, but that's pretty much it.

Karch Bachman (C, Culver Military Prep): High risk highschooler who is headed to Miami of Ohio for college. Mark Jankowski without the hype.

And that concludes our NHL draft profile. Hope you all enjoyed it, and we’re all looking forward to tomorrow.

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