NHL teams have to be a lot more patient.

Most 18 year olds do not find themselves skating on the NHL ice surface.

To be honest, most 19 year olds don't as well.

It's still a push to pencil a 20-year-old into a lineup, as it takes time to develop one's game, and to develop physically in order to compete with men at breakneck speeds.

A prospect's developmental success shouldn't be measured in terms of speed to arrive at the NHL level, but in the prospect's ability to continue to make strides towards that goal, without encountering any major setbacks.

Some players join an organization with immense pressure, born of their high selection point or pre-draft hype. With these players, fans expect a jump to the parent team within a year or two of the draft date. Most disappoint.

Other players come in under the radar, having been selected further down the charts, or having been signed as a free agent.

These players are granted a higher degree of patience and with that a huge decline in pressure, quite often paving the way for relatively successful professional careers.

Players from both of these categories highlight the 2002 Calgarypuck.com draft class.

Unlike the 12 months between the summer of 2000 and the summer of 2001, many Flames' prospects saw a marked improvement in their organizational rankings in the past calendar year.

Rank Improvement
2001 to 2002
Roman Rozakov	6
Levente Szuper	4
Andrei Taratukhin	2
Blair Betts	2
Dimitri Kokorev	2
Micki Dupont	2

The fastest moving player, Roman or Rail Rozakov (what is this guy's name anyway?) has familiarity to thank for his move up the list. Like fellow Russian defenceman Dimitri Kokorev, prior to last year's camp Rozakov was largely unknown to Flames fan. But after making somewhat of a splash last September he became more of a known commodity.

The second largest climb was attributed to Levente Szuper, the only player that made a move upward in the 2000 to 2001 analysis. While the rate of ascent may have slowed to only four spots, Szuper's steady pace is clearly getting noticed.

Four other players had the failure or departure of other prospects to thank for their climb up the charts.

A more important statistic is the change in a player's potential, as can be seen year to year by the average rating received.

Four players had their potential grade improve, including Mr. Rozakov who improved a whopping 35%. In the eyes of Calgary Flame fans Rozakov went from a rating of 1.5 (somewhere between a total bust and a fringe player) to a rating of 2.3 (approaching average, but still a bubble player).

The Flames top two consensus prospects; Jordan Leopold and Chuck Kobasew, both had their potential grades elevated, though by a smaller percentage. Given the fact that both players entered the 2001-02 season high in the hopes of Flame fans, their improvement is likely a lot more important than Rozakov's 35%. Kobasew improved from a 3.9 rating (just below "solid player" by definition) to 4.2 (beyond the "solid player" barrier and slowly making his way to a star category. Leopold's improvement was very similar moving from a 4.1 to a 4.3 rating.

Levente Szuper followed up his 35% gain in potential from last year with another increment of 2% this summer. In three years Szuper has gone from a rating of 2.6 (fringe to average) to a rating of 3.4 (between average and solid contributor).

Clearly when some players move up the organization's prospect rankings, others have to move down to fill the voids; such was the case with the 2002 analysis.

Rank Erosion
2001 to 2002
Andrei Medvedev	-5
Brent Krahn	-5

Only two players had their rankings fall (out of players that received an official ranking last season), and interesting enough they both play the same position - goal.

Brent Krahn's wobbly knees and Andrei Medvedev's wobbly will power has moved both players from the top prospect to highly suspect bin; falling five spots apiece. Krahn fell from the 3rd spot to 8th, and Medvedev from 5th to 10th.

Grade Erosion
2001 to 2002
Andrei Medvedev	-33%
Brent Krahn	-28%
Dimitri Kokorev	-14%
Blair Betts	-7%
Andrei Taratukhin	-3%
Micki Dupont	-3%

In terms of potential, five players had their projections decreased, three by a significant amount.

The two goaltenders led the way in this category as well, with Medvedev dropping 33% (from a 3.6 to a 2.7) and Krahn falling 28% (3.8 to a 3.0). The ratings did suggest, however, that the two stoppers are still on the horizon with their classification still pointing to NHL careers.

Blair Betts, Andrei Taratukhin and Micki Dupont all fell by a percentage of less than 10%, with the greatest numeric drop going to Blair Betts at 0.2 (3.1 to a 2.9).