from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

There wasn’t only a time when a National Hockey League general manager would never have considered drafting a Kailer Yamamoto, Matthew Phillips or Skyler McKenzie, but it was even worse than that. Any scout who suggested the possibility might be looking for work.

“If you brought a kid that size to camp, you’d better have your resume ready,” one scout said Monday. “It would be, ‘Who brought this kid?’ And every scout would say, ‘Not me!’”

Yamamoto is five-foot-eight and 155 pounds. He was drafted 22nd overall by Edmonton last spring....

Ten years ago, “We wouldn’t even have considered it,” said Flames vice president of hockey operations Don Maloney, a former GM of the Year who has run teams in Arizona and New York (Islanders).

“It’s partly the rule change, the speed of the game… and Phillips may be diminutive, but his skill and compete level, his skating, is excellent,” Maloney said prior to the Flames’ final game at the Penticton Young Stars tournament. “He’s an accomplished player in junior. We’ve got to give him a chance at the next level. Yamamoto is 155 pounds soaking wet, but talk about dynamic, quickness and hockey sense. There is room for those players now.”

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