These are not finished products.
The Calgary Hitmen scouting staff has invested countless hours on the road, countless hours at the rink, countless hours of research in prep for Thursday’s WHL Bantam Draft at Deerfoot Inn, but there is still some guesswork involved.
These are, after all, 14- and 15-year-old kids. The skates and shoulder-pads they wear now won’t likely fit forever.
“You can’t necessarily predict that a player like Ryan Getzlaf is going to grow from five-foot-eight or five-foot-nine to six-foot-three,” acknowledged Hitmen general manager Mike Moore, using one the franchise greats as his example.