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A colleague of mine here at Hockeybuzz, Adam French, has been going through each NHL team and ranking their top-10 prospects over the last few weeks.
He recently ranked the Calgary Flames top-10 prospects. After his post, several people, either Devils or Flames fans, requested I do the same for each team.
Rather than do exactly what French did, I decided to change it up a bit to make the article a little more unique. Instead of ranking the Flames top-10 prospects of any position, I'm going to break this up into a couple posts where I rank their top-5 forwards followed by the top-5 defensemen in the system.
I'm not going to do a post on their top goaltending prospects because there aren't enough to choose from, but the Flames do have some quality goaltenders in the system in Jon Gilles and Laurent Brossoit.
Here are my rankings for the top-5 forward prospects in the Flames system.
Note: upside is not my projection for the player, but rather what he could turn into if said player reaches his full potential.
1. C Sean Monahan (6th overall in 2013)
Monahan is a guy I really like and I was adamant about the Flames selecting him with the 6th overall since when I started covering the Flames.
He's a very good two-way forward who can play and excel in any situation. He's a good playmaker, sees the ice well and is lethal if you give him any time or space. Monahan has a highly underrated shot and can score his fair share of goals, as well. The thing I most like about his offensive game is how effective he is on the power play. He likes to sit on the half wall so he can see the ice and the options in front of him. If you give him any time in that situation he'll pick you apart. Monahan is also a leader, at least at the OHL level, and projects to be a player who will one day wear a letter on his jersey.
Upside: Top line center
2. W Sven Baertschi (13th overall in 2011)
Since Baerstchi has only suited up for 25 games at the NHL level over a two year span, I'll consider him a prospect.
Baerstchi is a guy who oozes offensive potential. He's a great skater who fluently gets from Point A to Point B. He has good hockey sense and understands where he needs to be on the ice to make a play. He has good puck skills, can skate with it and is very creative. He possesses good play-making ability's as well as a very good shot and is a dual offensive threat.
Baertschi was considered for the top spot, but typically I elect to go with high end centers over high end wingers.
Upside: Top line winger
3. LW Johnny Gaudreau (104th overall in 2011)
Since being selected by the Flames in 2011, Johnny Gaudreau has burst onto the scene and made quite the name for himself around the hockey world. Between his excellent play at Boston College and for the United States at the World Junior's, there's been a lot of buzz around him; and rightfully so.
Gaudreau is like a little jitter bug on the ice. He's always on the puck and is relentless in pursuit of it. It's all effort all the time for Gaudreau, and when he has the puck on his stick good things usually happen. He's an excellent skater who has high end vision, play-making abilities and a good shot. He's a very smart player, too, and makes up for his lack of size with his skill, hockey sense and hockey IQ.
At 5'7', 150lbs Gaudreau definitely needs to put on some muscle or he'll be pushed around at the NHL level. If he can do that, the future looks bright.
Upside: Top-6 scoring winger
4. C Mark Jankowski (21st overall in 2012)
A lot of fuss was made about the Flames trading down to select Jankowski, but much of it is unwarranted. He's not coming off the greatest year, but it wasn't a bad year by any means and Jankowski is a guy loaded with talent.
He's a high end skater who reaches his top speed in a hurry. He's an excellent playmaker who can distribute the puck in ways not many can. Overall Jankowski has great puck skills and is very creative with it. He plays a good possession game and likes to control it, which is always nice.
He's still quite raw and needs at least another couple of years to develop, but he's definitely a guy to watch out for.
Upside: Top-6 center
5. LW Morgan Klimchuk (28th overall in 2013)
Klimchuk is a guy I really like and I thought the Flames were smart to pick him when they did. He's a good offensive forward who has the ability to break games open. He can score goals, as evident by his total (36) last year, and he's an underrated passer as well. He's a smart player who knows where he has to go on the ice to be most effective and usually puts himself in positions to succeed. Klimchuk's an elite player on the power play, as well, which is pretty evident by his power play point total of 38 last year.
He could use some work on the defensive side of the puck, but he's not a big liability by any means.
Klimchuk could very well turn out to be a steal where he was taken.
Upside: Top-6 scoring winger
Overall outlook: The Flames have a 2-3 borderline elite prospects, depending how you view Gaudreau, and then a pile of very good one's in Jankowski, Klimchuk, Emile Poirier, and Corban Knight, among others. The cupboards are stocked pretty full in terms of forward prospects and there's a good chance at least a couple of these guys turn into very good NHL players. There's certainly reason for Flames fans to be optimistic about the future. They have among the best group of forward prospects in the NHL.
Barring any news, I'll post my top-5 Flames defense prospects tomorrow.
**
Flames need to be careful with Monahan.
Miikka Kiprusoff still hasn't filed his retirement papers.
Why the Flames will be bottom feeders in 2013-14.
A look at the top-20 5 vs. 5 goal scorers over the last two seasons.
Why the Flames will be bottom feeders in 2013-14.
Aaron Ekblad, anyone?
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