photo by: Steph Regenold/USA TodayWhile the 6th overall pick will obviously be the most important done made by the team at the draft next month, it's important to keep in mind that the club has two other picks inside the top 30 and nine picks overall. Which means the Flames scouts have a lot more work on their hands than simply deciding between Elis Lindholm and Sean Monahan.Trying to anticipate picks in the mid-to-late rounds is a fools errand. The field widens considerably and teams start making picks based on a couple of viewings or a passing familiarity. That said, sometimes a few interesting prospects pop up who fit an organizational need or profile. In the darkhorse series, we'll take a look at some of these kids.First up, the next "Johnny Gaudreau" - Taylor Cammarata.Who?I had never heard of John Gaudreau when the Flames called his name in the 4th round back in 2012, but I got familiar with him pretty quickly. Taylor Cammarata is a player built in almost the exact same mould: tiny (5'6", 150 pounds), a USHL graduate and an offensive whiz kid.Like many elite prospects, Cammarata was groomed as a youngster by Shattuck St. Mary's. In his second season there on the Midget U16 team, he scored 71 goals and 139 points in just 54 games. To put those numbers in perspective, Sidney Crosby scored 72 goals and 162 points in 57 games in the same program at the same age.Cammarata graduated to the USHL Waterloo Blackhawks from there, which is where he has spent the last two seasons. He was an immediate impact player for the club, scoring at a better than point-per-game pace (67 in 60) as a rookie. This past season he was the team's leading scorer with 38 goals and 93 points in just 57 games. Again, for context, Johnny Hockey scored 36 goals and 70 points in 60 games in his draft season.The NHLE (NHL equivalence) translation factor for the USHL is about 0.25, meaning Cammarata's NHLE is about 0.41 points-per-game, or 33 points over an 82 game season. That's the same NHLtranslation as Calgary's first round target Sean Monahan, and better than more than half the guys who will be picked in the top-30 this coming June. It's an astoshingly good number.Scouting ReportsLike Gaudreau, Cammarata's scouting report is dominated by notes of his offensive abilities and concerns about his size. From Justin Schreiber of the Scouting Report:Cammarata is great skater and is very quick and nimble on his feet. He has the ability to find the soft spots in the offensive zone and exploit the defensive breakdowns he causes by getting “lost in the crowd” with his small frame. Cammarata can get from anywhere in the offensive zone to any other point in the zone lightning quick and defensemen often lose track of him. His shot is a big strength. It’s unusual to see a guy with such a small frame with a booming wrist shot, but Cammarata’s got it. Vision in the offensive zone has also been a big strength with him making the right passes at the right times. I’ve had the pleasure of watching Cammarata play five times this season starting at the Fall Classic in September and he’s continuously gotten better in every viewing. ... As for weaknesses in Cammarata’s game, his biggest weakness is obviously his size. 5-foot-6 is definitely not what coaches and scouts look for in a player, but there’s a guy who comes around every now and again where his skill outweighs his size. I firmly believe Cammarata is that guy. Just like Rocco Grimaldi a year ago, people have been doubting Cammarata all his playing career, but he just keeps impressing at every level he plays at. Cammarata still hasn’t really developed a solid defensive game yet either. He is very much focused on his play in the offensive zone, and it’s been paying off, but Cammarata doesn’t seem to back check all that much.Being tiny and one dimensional is obviously an issue, but the Flames took a chance on a very similar player in Gaudreau two drafts ago and he's now firmly considered one of the best prospects in the or

Chris Bordeleau of NHL Central Scouting has tracked the progress of countless players in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League pipeline over the past three decades. Still, he struggles when asked to recall a forward matching the defensive acume...

1. Here's something I've been thinking aboutIt's kind of hard to believe how close the end of the season is. A little more than a month away at this point. The draft is being held June 30, for god's sake. And while Flames fans' focus has understandably been on who will go No. 6 overall, or indeed if the Flames should move up — and, as discussed by Kent earlier this week, there's a lot of contention as to that point — I've been wondering a lot about what Jay Feaster is going to do about those vague threats to spend money this offseason.What could that possibly mean? After all, we all can generally agree that loading up on high-priced free agents this summer is likely counterproductive to what this team needs to do going forward, but then there is that mandate from management about making the playoffs next year. While that might be hollow, and an attempt to placate a disquieted fanbase, it might also be legitimate.And that's scary.That means that Feaster might approach this summer much as Don Waddel did after he promised the Thrashers would make the playoffs: trying like hell to make it by selling off all kinds of parts. Braydon Coburn for Alex Zhitnik. Keith Tkachuk for Glen Metropolit, a first, second, and third. Bad stuff, and the kind of thing I wouldn't put past Feaster, even if the qualitative difference is that he has a whole summer to deal with it, whereas Waddel had a few months, all of them in-season.He's basically trying to put together a team that will play for his job, if the bloviation from management is to be believed, and as such, it's not outside the realm of possibility that he tries to run this down by spending wildly.2. Let's look at it this wayThe Flames' current situation is something of a mess, insofar as they need help at all positions simultaneously. The Flames have 19 guys signed for next season, including Miikka Kiprusoff, who's not coming back, with a total cap committment of $46.7 million or so. Swap Kiprusoff ($5.83 million) out for Karri Ramo ($2-3 million, you figure?) and that's about $43.5 million, give or take.That's about $20 million to sign roughly five or six guys (given that some of the people Capgeek is counting as signed, like Ben Hanowski, Max Reinhart, and Ben Street probably won't be up with the big club next season.) That's a lot of money to spend on not a whole lot of guys, and you have to imagine the idea of being a cap-ceiling team is one that Flames will try to chase again. They're certainly not hurting.So I don't know about you, but I've been looking at Capgeek and NHLNumbers pretty diligently the last few days and figuring out who Feaster will probably target. And it's making my brain hurt. Please don't mistake my discussion of these guys as me supporting their being signed. Reality is in fact quite the opposite.3. Forward optionsI think we can all agree that the guy the Flames should target is David Clarkson, but the fact of the matter is that this is a thing which is definitely not happening, unless they give him league max or something. And I don't think even Jay Feaster is that bad at his job, or that desperate.So that leaves you with other options. Mike Ribeiro, for example, was a point-a-game player last season (mostly through smoke and mirrors, but I digress) and an option I hadn't considered until the other day when he said he'd take less money for more years because he's 33 at this point. Boy, does that sound like a Feaster guy or what? Decent enough center right now, coming off a successful season, looking for term and not money (probably a no-move clause as well.)If they don't sign him, I'll be legitimately shocked. The same is true of Michael Ryder, who's also 33 and allegedly a power forward who can use his big body, and all that. Will he make the Flames a Harder Team To Play Against? Probably not, but that's something I can see happening as well.The biggest fear, though, is that Feaster will take Tyler Bozak up on that big-money deal he's reportedly seeking. That w

CALGARY, AB -- 2013 draft-eligible Taylor Cammarata of the Waterloo Black Hawks has been named the USHL Forward of the Year and USHL Player of the Year after an incredible 2012-13 campaign. "Beginning last summer in Russia for the Junior Club W...

Sean Monahan is probably guy who will end up as Calgary's first pick this June. In just about every mock draft or consensus draft board he lands right in Calgary's range (6th-8th overall). Monahan also ticks a lot of boxes for the organization: a big, smart center with good offensive and two-way ability.The 6'02"195 pound pivot has an October 12, 1994 birthday and is one of the oldest draft eligible players available this year. It's not like the extra year has inflated his stock however - even if Monhahan was a few weeks older and therefore draft eligible in 2012 he would have been a top-10 pick thanks to a 33-goal, 78-point effort that season.He replicated those numbers this year, garnering 31 goals and 78 points, albeit in a few less games. His team, the Ottawa '67s, was one of the very worst clubs in the OHL this time around, however, managing just 16 wins in a 68 game season and ending up with a goal differential of -115 (!). The next best scorer on the club accumulated just 40 points, a full 38 points (!

CALGARY, AB -- The Calgary Flames will have three representatives in the 2013 IIHF World Championships semi-finals as Switzerland, the USA and Finland all advanced on Thursday. Reto Berra backed up Martin Gerber in Switzerland's quarter-final t...

According to Ska's website, Roman Cervenka has signed a deal with the KHL team starting next season. Which means he won't be returning to the Flames or NA ice any time soon (read: ever).When I discussed moving Cervenka at the deadline during the season, this was the primary reason - the high chance he wouldn't stick around after a rough go in the NHL. Cervenka was never a favorite of the coaching staff here in town, due to a lackluster two way game and low level of conditioning touched off by a blood condition at the start of the year.The loss of Cervenka on the ice isn't a major one. He had some obvious offensive skill but his overall game was limited due to medicore skating and underwhelming defensive acumen. He projected more or less as supporting 3rd line scorer who would have to be sheltered to be effective.There's a chance Cervenka may have eventually improved as he acclimated to NA hockey, but it's a better bet we're at his peak as a pro hockey player right now.I maintain the move was a worthwhile expe

A year ago, you could be forgiven for forgetting about Tyler Wotherspoon. The 2011 second round choice of the Calgary Flames was a face in the crowd on a very stacked Portland Winterhawks team at the time. This year, he's become one of their best players and has arguably raised his stock faster and higher than many in the organization had hoped.Acquired with one of the picks acquired in the Tim Erixon trade with the Rangers, Wotherspoon has been to three straight WHL championship series – finally winning this year – and will be appearing at the Memorial Cup next week, to go along with a trip to Ufa, Russia for the World Juniors at Christmas.He's had a very busy, very successful season. table.tableizer-table { border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: ; font-size: 12px; } .tableizer-table td { padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc; } .tableizer-table th { background-color: #8C1010; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold; }   Justin Ryan Kent

The first round ended with a spectacular bang last night (or, if you're a Leafs fan, a resounding thud) when the Bruins stormed back from a 4-1 deficit in the third to beat Toronto 4-3 in OT. The second round gets going right away tonight and here are the match-ups:East:PIT vs OTTBOS vs NYRWest:CHI vs DETLAK vs SJSMy big miss in the first round was picking the Islanders to upset the Penguins. They outshot them in aggregate and had the puck more at ES, but Pittsburgh got the bounces in the last couple of games. The Pens still look much more fragile to me than they have been previously, although the move to Vokoun away from the exceedingly medicore MA Fleury should help.Ottawa upsetting Montreal didn't overly surprise me, although I think they got lucky to get it done so quickly. Anderson continues to put up great numbers and is probably the basis of their success - at least until Karlsson finds his footing again. He wasn't nearly as dominant in round 1 as he had been previously.I'll take PIT in 7 over OTT, but

Whoever drafts Sean Monahan will be getting a very driven, mature and intelligent young man. I spoke with the projected top-ten pick and I came away very impressed. The Flames draft 6th while the Oilers pick 7th and both teams need help down the middle. Monahan could be the perfect fit for either franchise, and I suspect if he isn't taken in the top-five picks he won't make it past both Alberta teams.Monahan and I talked about his drive to be a great two-way player, dominate on faceoffs and how being on a great Ottawa 67's team in 2012, and a brutal one in 2013 has helped his development.Jason Gregor: Your point totals the past two seasons didn’t vary despite playing on vastly different teams. You were on a first place team last year and tallied 78 points, while  this year your team finished last yet you still managed 78 points. How were you able to remain consistent with your point totals despite your team success not being as good?Sean Monahan: I think last year playing with Tyler Tofolli, Shane Prince an