Friday Fan Poll: The Young Guns

Week 2 Recap: Last week, you fans voted Micheal Ferland as the top choice to be a winger with Gaudreau and Monahan. He received a whopping 57% of votes, with Sam Bennett coming in a distant second place at 12%. Thanks again for voting everybody!

Week 3: The Young Guns

The Flames rebuild has been going strong, now in its third full season. The team has gotten substantially younger in a short period, however there’s still lots of work to do. The rebuild has brought in new faces such as Sam Bennett, Sean Monahan, and the emergence of previously drafted prospects such as TJ Brodie and Johhny Gaudreau.

In fact, the Flames currently have ten players on their NHL roster who are 25 or under. That's at least trending in the right direction as the team builds towards the future. There's already a lot we've seen the from these young players that leave us wanting more, and more will surely come.

So, for this week's question, I ask "If you could only keep one Flame that's 25 or younger, who would it be?".

Yes, this question is a frightening hypothetical situation that would never happen in real life, but it'll also be interesting to see who you all choose to keep around if necessary.

For the sake of saving time and space, I’ll remove a few less likely names such as Joe Colborne, Josh Jooris, Markus Granlund, Lance Bouma, and Micheal Ferland. Each player has there own upsides, but I feel the other players will garner the majority of the votes. Anyways, here’s a short blurb on each of the remaining players from oldest to youngest.

#7 D TJ Brodie 25yrs old

The best offense starts with a good defense, and as Flames fans over the past few seasons, we've witnessed a rapid progression in Brodie's overall game. He was definitely on the short list to make the all star game, and other teams around the league are continuing to pay more attention to him every game. Whether it's his strong defensive play, his smooth skating, or his offensive playmaking capabilities, Brodie has become an anchor on this defense core for seasons to come. Especially at a bargain price of only $4.65M for the next 5 seasons.

#27 D Dougie Hamilton 22yrs old

After struggling earlier in the season to adapt to the Flames style, Hamilton has excelled the last couple months and has finally found the way to incorporate his strong offensive skills into his defensive game. When the Flames acquired Hamilton, they sacrificed a lot of future potential because they believed so strongly in him. Hamilton received a lot of criticism early on in the season but we have to remember, he's only 22 and most defensemen don't usually hit their prime until close to 30. There's a lot of upside in his game as he continues to grow with the Flames.

#13 F Johnny Gaudreau 22yrs old

What more can be said about Johnny Hockey? He’s heading to the NHL All Star Game for the 2nd straight year and he continues to bedazzle both Flames fans, and the NHL as a whole. On home ice at least. Gaudreau’s struggles away from the Dome have been well documented this season, but he still commands a lot of attention from opposing defensemen no matter the venue(He’s picked it up the last two games on the trip with a goal and two assists). Perhaps playing on a line with John Scott in Nashville will really get him going on the road!

#23 Sean Monahan 21yrs old

Monahan continues to develop well, now in his 3rd season in the NHL. While he has somewhat struggled this season in the scoring department compared to last season, Monahan has often faced other teams top players as they try to counter both him and Gaudreau. In doing so, he has also improved his faceoff %, pushing closer to 50% for the first time in his career. For a Flames team that's struggled with faceoffs for as far back as I can remember, it's nice to see him starting to excel at the dot.

#93 Sam Bennett 19yrs old

Sam Bennett’s brilliance earned him the NHL’s 2nd star of the week after an amazing performance against the Panthers plus goals against the Oilers and Sharks respectively. While it’s not fair to expect that Bennett will torch the NHL like he suddenly has, it’s also not fair to expect long goalless spells from him like we’d seen before. In last season’s playoffs Bennett made a big impact on the series despite being brand new to the NHL. If he can continue to make an impact like he has been, whether that be hitting or scoring, there’s room for him to improve for the future. He’s only 19 after all and his potential is very high.

To refresh, you can only keep one of these players, we want to know which one it would be.

Here's the question again "If you could only keep one Flame that's 25 or younger, who would it be?".

Remember to vote and to comment any questions you'd like to see in future weeks.

Thanks and Go Flames Go!

by Michael MacGillivray