LW Johnny Gaudreau (2011, 104th overall, Calgary) IV

[Devonator]

It's awesome how flames fans are all like, "why are you guys expecting so much out of him!?" when they were the ones who hyped him up so much during the offseason with comments like, "i wouldn't be surprised if he runs away with the calder and scores 25g25a."

All your fault. I'm expecting more because of you guys.

So true...I live here in Calgary and the hype this little kid was getting was disgusting...even by Flame fan standards.....the plain truth is he is never going to amount to what the Flame fans thought....he simply does not have the strength to do so...he should be able to get you around 30-40 points a year eventually as long as he can stay healthly.....but as for being a Rookie of the year candidate....not going to happen....

 

[madmike77]

We'll see. I see lots of prospects who I'd say deserve more hype than Gaudreau.
It's primarily Flames' fans jumping the gun on him. Now if he ends up getting sent down don't be upset when fans comment on it.

I think the Flames had hoped to send him to the AHL at least to start. He played too well in the preseason though and it would have looked bad for them to ship out a guy who had " earned" a spot.

Now that he's cooled off they can send him down without anyone saying it was the wrong move.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

good to see him healthy scratched and bring Flames fans back to reality. He needs AHL time for his sake!.. send him back and let him develop.. hes such a good skilled player and just needs to get used to playing against grown men!!

 

[fahad203]

good to see him healthy scratched and bring Flames fans back to reality. He needs AHL time for his sake!.. send him back and let him develop.. hes such a good skilled player and just needs to get used to playing against grown men!!

It wouldn't hurt if he beefed up a bit. Especially his lower body

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

It wouldn't hurt if he beefed up a bit. Especially his lower body

oh that's a given.. he needs to get bigger. Sure hes proved everyone wrong at every level he has played at, but the NHL are full grown men that are way bigger and stronger than any opponent hes played against. He is going to have a tough time doing what hes always been able to do but you never know!

 

[Tripod]

Flames fans are lucky that hordes of other teams fans are not coming here to laugh based on all the trash talk from earlier.

FWIW, I see nothing wrong with it. Let him watch for a night or 2 and see if he picks up on things. If he doesn't, a little stint in the AHL is fine.

 

[FlamesFan18]

Flames fans are lucky that hordes of other teams fans are not coming here to laugh based on all the trash talk from earlier.

FWIW, I see nothing wrong with it. Let him watch for a night or 2 and see if he picks up on things. If he doesn't, a little stint in the AHL is fine.

Most Flames fans wanted him to start in the AHL

 

[Brooklanders*]

oh that's a given.. he needs to get bigger. Sure hes proved everyone wrong at every level he has played at, but the NHL are full grown men that are way bigger and stronger than any opponent hes played against. He is going to have a tough time doing what hes always been able to do but you never know!

I like Johnny but I always caution fans about getting overly excited about unproven prospects regardless of their prior accomplishments and even draft status.
Other than Nate McKinnon and Hall even the last few first overall picks have been underwhelming. I'm not saying that all top picks are supposed to succeed and playes picked as late as Gaudreau are destined to fail I'm just trying to get the pulse of fans who believe its ok to fall in love with every high pick and highly regarded prospect their team chooses.

 

[jigsaw99]

i remember when Flames fan gave up on someone early...

 

[Kranix]

i remember when Flames fan gave up on someone early...

The fans exposed him to the expansion draft, but no team picked him, so they tried picketing his apartment and throwing rotten garden vegetables at him but he wouldn't retire. Finally, the fans bought out his contract and shipped that bum out of town.

 

[Brooklanders*]

i remember when Flames fan gave up on someone early...

The fans? Hilarious. No one more than the fans wants to see an undrafted smallish but highly skilled player flourish.
We all thought Calgary would at least give the underdog a chance but they did not. It could have been such a great story for the team. I don't see the similarities other than being undersized and talented.

 

[AssaultPK]

Calgary found a gem in Theo Fleury, didn't give Martin St. Louis a chance, now Johnny Gadreau is redemption

 

[CraigsList]

We don't want to make the same mistake.

 

[Jackw5]

Didn't Stamkos have a slow first half of his rookie season then started to light it up in the second half.

 

[MonaHan Solo]

Didn't Stamkos have a slow first half of his rookie season then started to light it up in the second half.

Johnny Hockey > Stevie Hockey

 

[RickyR]

Curious why no one ever posts anything about Gaudreau...

 

[Kojo]

He will be a superstar in Europe but only average in the NHL.

 

[Bizz]

So far 6 games into the season and he has failed to even score as many points as John Scott.

 

[Pizza the Hutt]

So far 6 games into the season and he has failed to even score as many points as John Scott.

He's played 5 games, same amount as Hertl, and he's two points back of Hertl.

 

[Lunatik]

Every time you see these threads you remember a post arguing that Gaudreau is capable of being dynamic and will be comparable to Hudler?

Some people see names like Crosby and Gretzky and they get worked up and lose the ability to read things with any rationality and miss important words like "style of play". Hox has predicted big things for Gaudreau, no doubt but he has also stated (at least on the Flames board) that his expectations are probably too high.

People also tend to exaggerate the upside of a player in response to those who exaggerate the downside of a player, which makes these discussions look worse than they are.

I am not sure if I have shared my expectations for Gaudreau's rookie season in any of these threads but I will say about Gaudreau what I said about Monahan and Baertschi (and not to toot my own horn but I was pretty much bang on for both). I believe 30 points is a solid offensive rookie season and it gives the player something solid to build off of for their freshman season. Anything more than 35 points is a huge boon for the player and team. I was close on Monahan as he

 

[CherryToke]

is he playing tonight?

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

is he playing tonight?

Looks like he'll be playing with Backlund and Raymond

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Just scored a beauty wraparound

 

[herashak]

Looking better today, not gripping his stick quite as hard I'm guessing.

 

[JurassicTunga]

2 points tonight.