The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

September 13, 2010

The Hockey News - Sep-13-10

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03757/9443016-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="286" height="167"><figcaption class="caption-body">(COURTESY OF ZACK HILL/PHILADELPHIA FLYERS)</figcaption></div>DAVID CLARKSON was left breathless three times this summer.The right winger signed a three-year, $8-million contract June 30 and then married Brittany Roberts on July 17.He also expected to literally have his breath taken away by cycling 75 miles in Ontario with Lance Armstrong as part of the &ldquo;Ride With Lance&rdquo; charity event for cancer awareness. Clarky&rsquo;s Kids raises money for children with cancer in the Kitchener area.&ldquo;I called (GM Lou) Lamoriello and asked his permission,&rdquo; Clarkson said. &ldquo;He told me, &lsquo;David, this is something you have to do.&rsquo; To meet Lance Armstrong is one of the highlights of my life.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0035-03

IN EVERY ISSUE

New Jersey

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012379/9442542-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="509" height="728"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANTTI NIEMI (NIEMI: JONATHAN DANIEL/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>THE&nbsp;BLACKHAWKS are breaking new goalie ground. Not since teams started the practice of carrying two goalies &ndash; which wasn&rsquo;t officially mandated until 1965 &ndash; has a Stanley Cup champion not returned either of its puckstoppers the following season. But with Antti Niemi being let go following an arbitration award that didn&rsquo;t fit the Hawks&rsquo; budget and Cristobal Huet destined to take his bloated contract to Europe, the defending champs will have an entirely new tandem to start the season for the first time.TALK&nbsp;OF who the NHLPA&rsquo;s next executive director will be has been a hot topic for almost a year now. But the real question is, can anybody ever leave the position in a graceful manner? Alan Eagleson left amidst whispers of illegal activity, Bob Goodenow was turfed after a controversial work stoppage, Ted Saskin was accused of reading players&rsquo; private emails and Paul Kelly was pushed out with a murky vote held in the middle of the night.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021612/9442535-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="258" height="326"><figcaption class="caption-body">(GOODENOW: TOM PIDGEON/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>IF THE subject of our cover story, Dion Phaneuf, gets his career back on track, he could become the first Leaf ever to win the Norris Trophy. No blue and white blueliner has claimed the award since it was first handed out in 1954. &#9632;

f0006-01

Snapshots

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-05149/9444268-1-eng-US/f0049-052.jpg" title="f0049-05" width="682" height="654"><figcaption class="caption-body">REGINA PATS2010-11 (COURTESY OF REGINA PATS)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-04189/9444275-1-eng-US/f0049-042.jpg" title="f0049-04" width="140" height="140"></div>History lessons are almost always embraced here in Houndland and the Western League&rsquo;s Regina Pats have brought a nice specimen to the table for the upcoming season.This vintage sweater harkens way back to the first Pats team to win the Memorial Cup in 1925. The cream always looks good on vintage jerseys and this Pats version also features some nice Habs-esque striping across the middle of the belly. The current team logo is represented on the shoulder.</div><div style="clear: both;"> &#9632;</div>

f0049-05

IN THIS ISSUE

JERSEY Hound

<div class="byline">PHOTOGRAPH BY PHIL PRITCHARD HOCKEY HALL OF FAME</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-012129/9442352-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div><h2>Bonjour, Stanley</h2>Cristobal Huet was the first Frenchman to take the Stanley Cup home and he visited some landmarks along the way. &#9632;

f0003-01

THEBIGPICTURE

<div class="byline">with Jason Kay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012152/9442397-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="713" height="604"><figcaption class="caption-body">(MARK WILSON)</figcaption></div>THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS operate within a business model that defies logic. They are the NHL&rsquo;s least successful franchise of the past four-and-a-half decades and its most profitable. By far.Whether the team is having a winning or losing season, the Air Canada Centre, (and Maple Leaf Gardens before it), is inevitably filled to capacity. The broadcast rights demand top dollar, sponsorships are highly lucrative and the concessions stands and merchandise shops do a brisk business.Sure, Maple Leafs fans become sour occasionally over the perpetual futility, but they&rsquo;re also surprisingly optimistic and resilient, hopeful that this season, this night, finally, will be different. They tend to live in the moment (some would say one not founded in reality), believing in the future after one win, even if it came on the heels of a seven-game losing streak. They party on downtown streets when their heroes emerge victorious from a playoff game &ndash; not just a series, but a game.In short, they&rsquo;re addicted.That&rsquo;s the environment in which Dion Phaneuf, the brand spanking new captain of hockey&rsquo;s wealthiest team, finds himself. THN&rsquo;s Adam Proteau profiles the hard-rock defenseman and examines his fascinating journey in this issue&rsquo;s cover story, beginning on pg. 28.We aren&rsquo;t saying it will be a pure joy ride in Toronto for Phaneuf with the &lsquo;C&rsquo; on his sweater. For certain, he&rsquo;ll face adversity and intense scrutiny. There will be swarms of reporters looking to him for answers on a daily basis. When the team is slumping, his playing and leadership skills will be questioned in print and on talk radio shows.But Toronto ain&rsquo;t New York or Philadelphia or Montreal or Chicago. Despite the massive attention bound to come his way, Phaneuf will be afforded more patience than he would in any other major market. That&rsquo;s Toronto.That climate represents a dichotomy for self-proclaimed risk-taker, GM Brian Burke. Blessed with the luxury of time to build a winner, he&rsquo;d much prefer to do it on the fly, which might explain why he gambled two first round picks on his other major Leafs acquisition, Phil Kessel.Of course, even if the Kessel swap doesn&rsquo;t pan out in Burke&rsquo;s favor it may not matter, because in Toronto all is always forgiven.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021827/9442390-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="476" height="254"></div><h2>NEXT ISSUE SEPTEMBER 27, 2010</h2>CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO SUBSCRIBE: <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a> CONTACT US: <a href="mailto:editorial@thehockeynews.com">editorial@thehockeynews.com</a><h2>LISTEN UP!</h2>THE HOCKEY NEWS RADIO SHOWFRIDAYS XM 204<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031470/9442383-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="195" height="73"></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

BLEEDING BLUE & WHITE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-012134/9442459-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(MATTHEW MANOR/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>LEAVE THE GAME BE</h2>After the two-day research and development camp in Toronto, all that comes to mind is the following: leave the game alone, please.The only good rule change explored is the no-touch icing or the hybrid version of the icing rule. Other than that they were ridiculous.It makes no sense to change a game that is more than 100 years old. People learn to love a game with tradition, not drastic changes every three years.What they should be focusing on is how to make the game more entertaining to watch without implementing some ridiculous idea, such as new faceoff dots.Take out the instigator rule; it&rsquo;s useless. And find a way to keep the players protected without taking hits out of the game.I would love to keep the NHL and hockey tradition for another hundred years.Jordan Philbert, Sherbrooke, Que.<h2>GLOVE? NO LOVE</h2>I do not think glove passes should be allowed anywhere on the ice.I propose the NHL use the same ruling as for icing.If a team commits a hand pass in the defensive zone, the play is stopped immediately and a faceoff will occur with the defending team not allowed a line change.This will bring more continuity and integrity to the game.Rick Campbell, Parksville, B.C.<h2>OIL LEAK</h2>I am truly shocked you folks predicted the Oilers to finish at the bottom of the Western Conference in your Yearbook.&ldquo;How much difference will Taylor Hall have?&rdquo; Well, it&rsquo;s not only Hall, it&rsquo;s also Jordan Eberle, the world junior hero, and it&rsquo;s Magnus Paajarvi, who has been playing with men and was a point-per-game player at the World Championship this spring.Callum Macnab, Edmonton<h2>CORRECTION NOTICE</h2>The Mark&rsquo;s Work Wearhouse/Cat Footwear ad that ran on the outside back cover of our Sept. 6 issue was run IN ERROR. This ad previously ran in our April 10 issue and the bonus card offer in this ad expired May 1. To ensure customer satisfaction, Mark&rsquo;s will offer $30 off of any purchase of Cat Industrial Footwear greater than $150 (before taxes) until Oct 3, 2010. The mistake in the running of this ad was entirely due to an oversight by The Hockey News and was in no way the fault of Mark&rsquo;s Work Wearhouse or Cat Footwear.Clothes That Work Mark&rsquo;s<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021554/9442452-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="127" height="82"></div> &#9632;</div>

f0005-01

Find a way to keep players protected without taking hits out of the game

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04620/9442504-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="887" height="797"><figcaption class="caption-body">(COURTESY OF EDMONTON CAPITALS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-05395/9442497-1-eng-US/f0005-052.jpg" title="f0005-05" width="222" height="210"></div>Edmonton fans, and all hockey fans, should know the future of the Oilers and the league is in good hands &ndash; Taylor Hall&rsquo;s hands, that is. Not only is the young phenom a tremendous player, but he&rsquo;s also an all-around good kid.How would I know? Well, in July, I won the chance to meet him, along with some other Oilers prospects, at an Edmonton Capitals baseball game. I caught one of the ceremonial first pitches from Toni Rajala and scored some autographs before being chosen to put on street hockey gear to face Hall 1-on-1.Keeping in mind that I&rsquo;m not a hockey player, not even rec hockey, you can bet I was nervous.I had little hope of stopping the three of 10 shots I needed to in order to win a pair of Oilers tickets, but I gritted my teeth and hunkered down to try to cover as much net as possible. I watched as orange ball after orange ball sped past me and thought I did well to stop the one I did with my blocker. Mercifully, Taylor was a gentleman and put two soft shots into my chest protector so that I won the tickets.Afterward, Taylor graciously posed for a picture and gave me an autograph. As we left the field I felt confident the Oilers had made the correct choice with the first overall pick. For me, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and a memory I will cherish forever. After all, how many fans can say the first time they put on goalie equipment they faced Taylor Hall?Jennifer Van der Hoek, Elk Point, Alta.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-031010/9442490-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="246" height="210"></div><h2>FREE SWAG!</h2>Each issue, we&rsquo;ll give a cool THN hat to the top letter. &#9632;

f0005-04

TAYLOR-MADE DAY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03954/9442580-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE RICHARDS (RICHARDS: DAVE SANDFORD/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04611/9442587-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="190" height="184"></div>Adam,What team in the NHL has the best or most productive coach-GM tandem and which teams have the most overrated and underrated tandems?Johnny Lile, VancouverJohnny,If by productive you mean Stanley Cups, it&rsquo;s got to be Detroit&rsquo;s Mike Babcock and Ken Holland. But if you&rsquo;re talking about longevity as a team, I&rsquo;d point to either Buffalo&rsquo;s Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier or Nashville&rsquo;s Barry Trotz and David Poile as the appropriate answer. Neither have a Cup, but both teams have done well with limited budgets.As for underrated and overrated &ndash; I have a great respect for the low-key manner in which Carolina&rsquo;s Jim Rutherford and Paul Maurice do business. And I continue to be unable to solve the Rubik&rsquo;s Cube of logic that keeps a certain Manhattan-area GM employed with a particular Original Six franchise.Adam,The Flyers are heading into this season with five quality centers for four lines. All seem to excel best at center. Blair Betts is the checker. Claude Giroux and Daniel Briere were by far the best Flyer centers in the playoffs. We know Mike Richards is the heart and soul. Jeff Carter is the pure goal-scorer, but seemed out of place on the wing. Wouldn&rsquo;t it have made more sense to trade one of them instead of Simon Gagne?Greg Whelpley, Lethbridge, Alta.Greg,I understand your point, but you can&rsquo;t move the Briere contract and I shouldn&rsquo;t have to elaborate as to why. So, if you included Gagne in that group of forwards (minus Briere) and said &lsquo;OK, only one of these five guys is 30 years old, makes $5.25 million a year and is concussion-prone,&rsquo; are you saying that wouldn&rsquo;t make him the first guy moved?SUBMIT YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS AT <a href="http://THN.COM/ASKADAM">THN.com/askadam</a><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05482/9442573-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="87" height="87"></div>Need more of your questions answered? Read Proteau&rsquo;s &lsquo;Ask Adam&rsquo; column every Friday at <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> &#9632;</div>

f0006-03

ASK Adam?

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06345/9442618-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(LEAFS: FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Where will the Toronto Maple Leafs finish in the Eastern Conference this season?1-3 3%4-6 3%7-9 23%10-12 37%13-15 34% &#9632;

f0006-06

POLL RESULTS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JOHN GRIGG</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021729/9442656-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Boucher studies his players before designing a plan for them. (RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012270/9442663-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="108" height="108"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>THE&nbsp;TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING overhauled much of their staff this summer, but the guy who will have the most immediate impact is new coach Guy Boucher.At 39, he&rsquo;s had a meteoric rise. With a combined total of just four seasons of major junior and AHL head coaching experience, he&rsquo;s the youngest bench boss in the NHL. But he&rsquo;s already a Hockey Canada darling; three times an assistant with the under-18 team and, in 2009, an assistant to Pat Quinn at the world juniors. Last season as a rookie pro, he led Montreal&rsquo;s AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs, to a Western Conference-best 115 points. This summer he turned down the coaching job in Columbus to wait for a better fit. Now he&rsquo;s in Tampa, helping fuel early buzz of the Lightning as dark horse in the East.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very bright guy, very bright,&rdquo; said Garry McKay, the Bulldogs beat writer for the Hamilton Spectator since 1996, who remembers a unique first meeting. &ldquo;I realized half-way through the lunch he was interviewing me. He turned the whole thing around, asking me about players.&rdquo;Boucher is known as a master motivator and team builder with a knack for developing players. He&rsquo;s also a heckuva X&rsquo;sand-O&rsquo;s guy; a magician at strategizing power plays.He&rsquo;s a self-described workaholic who admits he&rsquo;s a demanding boss, but also a family man who wouldn&rsquo;t take any job if he had to leave his wife and three kids. He has a fondness for Europe, gets bored quickly, hates golf and has a passion for fishing.Boucher is also an academic. He attended Montreal&rsquo;s McGill University for nine years. His fields of study included sports psychology, biosystems engineering, environmental biology and history, and he uses aspects of them all in his coaching. He takes a philosophical approach to his job; he likes to find out what makes his players tick and tailors his approach to their needs. It&rsquo;s the same one he&rsquo;ll use in the NHL.&ldquo;The one thing I try to do the most is learn about players before I coach them,&rdquo; Boucher said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re people before they&rsquo;re players.&rdquo;Boucher is a different cat.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a cult following around him,&rdquo; McKay said. &ldquo;Everybody buys into what he sells.&rdquo;Added new Lightning assistant GM Julien BriseBois: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a really charismatic guy who is very confident. He&rsquo;s a funny guy, charming.&rdquo;In Hamilton, Boucher was willing to have his players &ndash; pros, remember &ndash; carry their own equipment to the bus and doled out push-ups for missing the net in practice.&ldquo;Whoa, this is pro hockey,&rdquo; McKay remembered saying. &ldquo;This is never going to work.&rdquo;But it did work. Push-ups and other unorthodox tactics became routine &ndash; right through the playoffs. McKay described many practices as controlled, but with a distinct minor hockey feel. Boucher also employed an all-out offensive style reminiscent of minor or junior hockey that included defensemen regularly in front of the net during 5-on-5 play.It wasn&rsquo;t your prototypical M.O. for leading a professional hockey team. But the players took to it. Hook, line and sinker.BriseBois joined Tampa from the Canadiens front office, where his duties included being GM of Boucher&rsquo;s Bulldogs. He believes the coach&rsquo;s success with players is about trust.&ldquo;It all depends on how you&rsquo;re doing it and why you&rsquo;re doing it,&rdquo; BriseBois said. &ldquo;Nobody was doing push-ups as punishment; it was always part of the bigger plan, the bigger message. And if the message is right, there&rsquo;s no reason it won&rsquo;t work.&ldquo;They appreciate that he cares about them.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-012042/9442649-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="666" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body">Will Steven Stamkos and Ryan Malone do push-ups in practice? (SCOTT AUDETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Tampa&rsquo;s roster is chock-full of talent, but lacks in the depth department, meaning much of the pressure to succeed will fall on the freshman coach&rsquo;s shoulders, at least externally. But Boucher relishes it all.&ldquo;I like the challenge,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I like the mind-boggling things that come with the business and the types of people I&rsquo;m going to deal with.&rdquo;As for making NHL millionaires do pushups in practice, Boucher had a quick answer:&ldquo;The boys will do whatever it takes to win.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-02

RENAISSANCE BENCH BOSS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021423/9442694-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">AARON WARD (GREGG FORWERCK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>+ AARON ALL DONE</h2>A youngster on two Wings winners and blueline linchpin on Carolina&rsquo;s 2006 Cup team, gritty Aaron Ward calls it a career.<h2>&ndash; SOCHI&nbsp;SHOWDOWN?</h2>The NHL and IIHF seem miles apart on the issue of what it will take to put NHLers in the 2014 Olympics in Russia.<h2>+ MAJOR&nbsp;EVENT</h2>Mississauga St. Mike&rsquo;s Majors will host the Memorial Cup this year and enter the season as THN&rsquo;s No. 1-ranked CHL team.<h2>&ndash; CAPTAIN&nbsp;CALAMITY</h2>Making goalie Roberto Luongo captain was a clearly a mistake, but at least the Canucks are re-visiting the decision.<h2>+ OPEN&nbsp;LINES</h2>Summer R&D camp and summit didn&rsquo;t produce much tangible change, but at least there&rsquo;s now a culture of idea exchange. &#9632;

f0009-02

Plus/Minus

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JAMIE ROSS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012241/9442739-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Campbell wasn&rsquo;t happy with the Hawks&rsquo; Euro play, but things got better. (MICHAEL STEELE/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>IF HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF, there will be a Stanley Cup champ among the six NHL teams slated to play pre-season matches in Europe this October.The defending Stanley Cup-champion Blackhawks and the 2008-09 Penguins both claimed hockey&rsquo;s ultimate prize after kicking things off overseas the past two seasons.But starting off in Europe is a tough way to transition into the regular season, according Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell.&ldquo;The exhibition games, obviously you&rsquo;re trying to win them, but they&rsquo;re definitely a lot different than what we&rsquo;re used to,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Especially if you&rsquo;re playing on a different sized ice surface. And the way (European) teams play, it&rsquo;s a challenge.&rdquo;After trouncing HC Davos 9-2, Chicago was upset by the 2008 Swiss League champion ZSC Lions 2-1 in the Victoria Cup game, despite icing its opening day roster.&ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t work out too well for us,&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;It was nice to know the pre-season was over and move on to the regular season.&rdquo;The Hawks quickly found their stride, gaining three of a possible four points against Florida in Finland and going 8-4-1 in October en route to a 52-22-8 finish.Looking to make it a trifecta of Euro-traveling Cup champs this season are Boston, Phoenix, Carolina, San Jose, Columbus and Minnesota. Those six are set to make stops in Russia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Czech Republic, Germany and a rather non-traditional hockey market &ndash; Belfast, Northern Ireland.Highlighting this year&rsquo;s pre-season matches are highly anticipated NHL-KHL showdowns. The Coyotes will lock horns with Latvia-based Dinamo Riga and the Hurricanes will battle against powerhouse SKA St. Petersburg.Teams from the two leagues have only faced one another once before, in 2008 when the New York Rangers edged out Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4-3 to win the Victoria Cup.The SKA St. Petersburg roster has a long list of former NHLers, including recent defectors Denis Grebeshkov, Evgeni Nabokov and Maxim Afinogenov. Some other names of note include Alexei Yashin, Sergei Brylin, Andre Zyuzin, and Sergei Zubov.The NHL also will once again reach out to non-league markets around North America. Games will be played in Saskatoon, Sask., London and Dundas, Ont., as well as Las Vegas, Quebec City and Winnipeg &ndash; three cities that always come up when the topic of NHL expansion or relocation is raised. In all, 20 pre-season and regular season games will be contested in non-NHL locales.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021634/9442732-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="208" height="235"></div><h2>OUT-OF-MARKET SCHEDULE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-031042/9442725-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="612" height="2543"></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

EUROPEAN ROADIES

<div class="byline">with Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021715/9442791-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">If the IIHF wants NHL Olympic participation, it will likely have to offer a bigger carrot. (LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012188/9442798-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="187" height="222"></div>IF THE NHL AND THOSE who run hockey in North America ever told the International Ice Hockey Federation where it could stick its World Hockey Summit in the future, they would come off looking like bullies. But the fact is those optics would probably be better than the speedbag they resembled at the proceedings this time around.To say the NHL was ganged-up on by its supposed partners in the world of hockey would be an understatement. That&rsquo;s largely because the NHL and North American hockey are easy targets, low-hanging fruit that is pretty easy to criticize.When speaking about the far-fetched possibility of the NHL establishing a Euro division, IIHF president Rene Fasel had this to say : &ldquo;Try to come. Good luck. This is our territory and I will fight like hell and not allow anybody to come from abroad. I think in Europe, we are strong enough to do something on our own&hellip;As long as I&rsquo;m sitting in this chair, I won&rsquo;t allow it.&rdquo;Just checking, but Fasel is the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, right? Because those statements sure sounded like he was the president of the European Ice Hockey Federation.<blockquote class="pullQuote">THE NHL AND NORTH AMERICAN HOCKEY ARE EASY TARGETS</blockquote>And come on, let&rsquo;s be serious here. First of all, any idea of European expansion is pure folly. Ninety percent of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman&rsquo;s time is spent putting out ownership fires in North America and the last thing the NHL needs is more markets that won&rsquo;t support a business model that requires teams to spend a minimum of $43.5 million on player costs.What the league should, and will, do is increase its presence in Europe with more regular season games, but the possibility the league would establish a division in Europe in either the short- or long-term future is ridiculous.More importantly, though, even if it did, what would Fasel or the IIHF be able to do to stop it? The fact is the IIHF needs the NHL a whole lot more than the NHL needs the IIHF, and the not-so-veiled threats/pleas around Olympic participation were proof of that.It&rsquo;s interesting to see the IIHF try to assert itself as a major player and cozy up to the NHL at the same time.It&rsquo;s also interesting to see the Kontinental League complain about not getting enough money from the NHL and European federations blaming Canadian major junior for the demise of their junior programs and ability to produce elite players.The fact remains that when it comes to transfer fees, the NHL is under absolutely no obligation to pay any domestic or European league a single penny for taking their players who are not under contract. It&rsquo;s called a free-market system and if the KHL can sign players such as Evgeni Nabokov, Denis Grebeshkov and Maxim Afinogenov after they&rsquo;ve become better players in the NHL, why should the NHL feel obliged to pay for its players?The NHL began telling European federations some time ago that it is willing to pay development money for players the same way it provides the CHL with development money.But basically the league has refused to allow the tail to wag the dog.It has said the federations can take what the NHL feels is a reasonable amount or take nothing at all; their choice. It&rsquo;s not an unreasonable stance considering the NHL has no obligation.And when it comes to the Olympics, there are people in international hockey who seem to think it should be a divine right for a player to play in the Games whether he&rsquo;s under contract or not.But the NHL has very serious concerns about participating in the Olympics and has every right to make whatever decision it feels is best for the league.There is no doubt having NHL players in the Olympics has been a huge success from a competition standpoint, but the league will argue that the benefit it gets from shutting down its rinks is almost non-existent.For some, including this corner, the NHL is missing the point here.At some point, your priority should be to reward the people who actually pay to go to the games and watch them on television with a best-on-best tournament on the world&rsquo;s largest stage every four years.But that&rsquo;s for the NHL to decide. It&rsquo;s their product, their assets and their interests they have to consider.And as far as the junior leagues having European players, what a lot of people forget is that prior to the CHL import draft in 1992, most major junior operators were against the notion of European players in the CHL. But the problem was that young teenagers were showing up in North America looking for a place to play and the best ones went to the teams that, no doubt, could afford to pay them the most.The number of European players on a CHL roster is limited and not allowing kids who want to come to North America to play would have people accusing junior hockey operators of being provincial.And somehow, I find it difficult to grasp the notion that European junior programs are being ruined because the best players from some countries are coming to play in the best junior development league in the world.The IIHF will point to low draft numbers and few European NHL players coming out of the junior ranks, but an infinitesimally small number of North American junior players make it, too.A young European&rsquo;s development could very well be better served by him playing at home until he&rsquo;s in his early 20s. But that&rsquo;s for the player to decide. And since when does a young man owe it to his country to improve its hockey program, even if he feels it&rsquo;s to his personal detriment?The CHL is a convenient scapegoat for countries that have allowed their own hockey infrastructures to erode to the point where they cannot compete against countries that adequately fund their programs. If their programs were worth staying home for, you can bet the players would do just that.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011933/9442784-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="1390" height="982"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexander Burmistrov bolted Russia for the OHL in &rsquo;09 then went No. 8 overall in the &rsquo;10 NHL draft. (AARON BELL/OHL IMAGES)</figcaption></div>But it&rsquo;s a lot easier to blame the NHL and North America, which is why both of them should consider making this World Hockey Summit their last.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021352/9442777-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="82" height="90"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Check out the video: <a href="http://thn.com/summit">thn.com/summit</a><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03982/9442770-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="74" height="74"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>For Ken&rsquo;s web-exclusive Campbell&rsquo;s Cuts column, visit <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a> &#9632;

f0012-02

BLAME GAME DOESN’T FLY

<div class="byline">BY ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011392/9442871-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES))</figcaption></div>FOR THE JUST-TRADED NHLer, the plane ride from old team to new is an odd trip.In one sense, the plane represents a hastily arranged emotional finish line: the point where the player can be alone with his thoughts after a handful of frantic hours packing in his lotions, notions and emotions.In another sense, the airport and aircraft are, respectively, the player&rsquo;s baptismal cathedral and protective submersion; the setting of and catapult into the start of a new life.Those amped-up, mixed emotions heighten when the player has just been traded for the first time. And when he also happens to be a pillar of the team and community who couldn&rsquo;t imagine that his ties to the organization could be clipped so abruptly, his head winds up spinning faster than the plane&rsquo;s turbines.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011402/9442864-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="1390" height="1295"><figcaption class="caption-body">As the 18th captain of the Maple Leafs, Dion Phaneuf will be in the spotlight. (FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>That&rsquo;s how it was for Dion Phaneuf early in 2010, when he took the most unexpected flight of his life.Phaneuf and most of the city of Calgary were stunned to hear the star defenseman had been traded from the Flames to Toronto as the centerpiece of a seven-player deal that also sent winger Fredrik Sjostrom and prospect Keith Aulie to the Maple Leafs in exchange for Matt Stajan, Ian White, Niklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers.In an eye&rsquo;s blink, Phaneuf was stripped of the comforts and aura of invincibility that came along with his brow-raising ascent to the top rung of NHL defensemen during the 2005-06 season.There would be no more raucous karaoke receptions for the Edmonton-born blueliner at nightclubs; no chance he would spend his entire career in the same uniform; no opportunity to redeem himself for two straight seasons of receding offensive totals and a team slide in the first half of 2009-10 that forced Flames GM Darryl Sutter to move out arguably his most attractive asset.He still had a bedrock belief in himself and he still had his Hollywood girlfriend (Elisha Cuthbert), but in the late hours of Jan. 31 &ndash; and after being so accustomed to his every body movement being chronicled in Calgary &ndash; it was just Phaneuf, alone with his thoughts on the plane.&ldquo;To be on the plane is a relief because you&rsquo;ve just had to basically pack your stuff up and move out of town in five hours,&rdquo; Phaneuf said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely a whirlwind. You&rsquo;re packing up your home in one place and starting a new home in another place all in the same day. But it was a great experience for me. Right when I landed in Toronto, I loved it.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo; If Dion was making $2.5 or $3 million, you wouldn&rsquo;t have heard complaints.&rdquo;</blockquote>But what confluence of events delivered Phaneuf to that destination? And more intriguingly, how does a guy go from being a made man with the Flames to getting whacked &ndash; and subsequently, being given the Maple Leafs&rsquo; captaincy, becoming Toronto&rsquo;s new Tony Soprano in the process?After his rookie season &ndash; in which he posted 20 goals and 49 points &ndash; Phaneuf was as close to a demigod in Calgary as it gets; a Flames record for most goals by a first-year defenseman, a nomination for the Calder Trophy alongside Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin and an all-rookie team berth.He was a snarling, slam-happy, handful-and-a-half for any opponent who came within a five-foot radius &ndash; and his next two seasons were even better. In 2006-07, he reached the 50-point plateau and played in his first NHL All-Star Game. In &rsquo;07-08, he reached the 60-point mark, played in another All-Star Game, was named to the league&rsquo;s first all-star team and was runner-up for the Norris.The sky, it seemed, wasn&rsquo;t the limit for the then-23-year-old. It was the starting point. And as a much-valued young and elite player in the NHL&rsquo;s new salary cap system, he was handsomely rewarded for it, signing a six-year, $39-million contract extension midway through 2007-08.But Phaneuf&rsquo;s increasingly ferocious style of play &ndash; he had nearly doubled his penalty minute total from 93 as a freshman to 182 in &rsquo;07-08 &ndash; was eroding his body&rsquo;s defenses.He was hampered by a hip injury during 2008-09 and regressed badly with erratic play on the back end &ndash; his minus-11 mark was second-worst on the team. At the same time, he registered a career-low 11 goals and 47 points and the edge in his physical play began to ebb.Of course, it is important to note that virtually the entire Flames team underwhelmed that season. But when you&rsquo;re averaging an annual payday of $6.5 million, when people are expecting your rocket-like trajectory to continue toward and beyond the heavens, you&rsquo;re the one who&rsquo;s going to hear it as loudly as that guy from the classic old Maxell cassette tape commercial.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011284/9442857-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="1032" height="1092"><figcaption class="caption-body">Once acquired, Phaneuf instantly became a favorite of Leafs Nation. (FAN: RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The money is a factor, for sure,&rdquo; said Phaneuf &rsquo;s former Flames teammate Craig Conroy of the criticism. &ldquo;If you said Dion was making $2.5 or $3 million, you wouldn&rsquo;t have heard any complaints.&rdquo;Unfortunately, after a strong start to 2009-10, the entire Flames team stopped doing a lot of good things and began to plummet down the Western Conference standings. As well, there were rumors Phaneuf was at odds with teammates, particularly older ones who bristled at his swagger (remember that word for later).Sutter denied he had any intention of trading him. And by the first week of January, Phaneuf had to publicly answer (and deny) allegations he had asked to be moved.All along, the Flames kept losing. And that Toronto plane ride &ndash; or, at least, the reason for it &ndash; became more of a possibility in Sutter&rsquo;s mind.Although Phaneuf took more than his share of over-the-top, unfair fan abuse, he clearly wasn&rsquo;t a solid soldier on a sinking ship. In fact, it wasn&rsquo;t all that surprising when Phaneuf was left off Team Canada&rsquo;s roster for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.&ldquo;When individuals have off years, teams have off years,&rdquo; said Phaneuf, who had 10 goals and 22 points in 55 games with Calgary before the deal. &ldquo;And when everyone isn&rsquo;t playing well, teams don&rsquo;t play well. I wasn&rsquo;t happy with the numbers I put up last year. But with saying that, last year is in the past &ndash; and there&rsquo;s only one team that&rsquo;s happy at the end of every season and 29 that aren&rsquo;t.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011375/9442850-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="2122" height="1182"><figcaption class="caption-body">The East is full of young stars like John Tavares; Phaneuf must show savvy. (JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>One of the most common comparisons of Phaneuf has been to legendarily rugged Hall of Fame D-man Scott Stevens. Flames bench boss Brent Sutter, who coached Phaneuf with Red Deer of the WHL and at the 2005 world juniors, was one of the first. Mike Keenan, his coach in Calgary from 2007 to 2009, is another.&ldquo;I coached Scott Stevens with Team Canada and it took Scott quite a while to learn both sides of the game,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;But he became a really dominant player. Dion still has that upside as well.&rdquo;And so far, both players&rsquo; pattern of statistical ups and downs lends credence to that link.When Stevens broke into the NHL in 1982 as an 18-year-old straight out of junior, he immediately had a positive impact on the Washington Capitals blueline and was named to the league&rsquo;s all-rookie team. In 1984-85, he scored what turned out to be a career high of 21 goals and played in his first All-Star Game.But Stevens&rsquo; numbers took a 12-point hit the next season. And although his assist totals were spectacular (121 in total from &rsquo;87 to &rsquo;89), he had gone from plus-26 in his sophomore season to plus-1 in both &rsquo;88-89 and &rsquo;89-90.Nevertheless, Caps fans were shocked when Stevens signed a free agent deal with St. Louis in July, 1990. And Stevens was shocked the next off-season when he was transferred to New Jersey as compensation for Brendan Shanahan signing with the Blues.But then an interesting thing happened: one year after the Devils acquired Stevens, they made him captain. And his career came to be defined by what happened after &ndash; three Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe Trophy.The Leafs would love for Phaneuf&rsquo;s career to turn out similarly.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t get the sense Dion has ever been as aggressive in terms of fighting and being the policeman-type the way Scott Stevens was the first seven or eight years of his career,&rdquo; said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;When Dion is really looking for hits &ndash; because he thinks that&rsquo;s going to spark the team &ndash; sometimes he gets out of position. And that was Scott Stevens, too; early on in Washington he was a man on a mission and it might&rsquo;ve hurt his team more than it helped at times.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the maturing process and I fully expect that now that he has that leadership mantle on him, he understands that and does all he can to help the team.&rdquo;Right, that leadership mantle. The captaincy. The captaincy of the Toronto Maple Leafs.The honor came as a result of a two-and-a-half-month first impression that began impressing Leafs players the moment he arrived.&ldquo;The first day he came in the room, he changed a lot of things in that dressing room,&rdquo; said defenseman Francois Beauchemin, Phaneuf&rsquo;s blueline partner for much of his 26 games in blue and white. &ldquo;We needed a guy like him. The way everything was going, it wasn&rsquo;t going in the right direction. Having him there changed everyone&rsquo;s mindset.&rdquo;While Phaneuf was changing the ambiance of the dressing room &ndash; by blasting tunes from Canadian music gods The Tragically Hip and other rock bands &ndash; the difference also was discernible on the ice, as Toronto posted an 11-6-2 record in its final 19 games and was notably more competitive, even against teams battling for a playoff spot.&ldquo;We played some really good hockey down the stretch,&rdquo; Phaneuf said. &ldquo;We set little goals as a team; we wanted to use the games we had left to establish our identity and we wanted to play playoff-paced hockey. We did that &ndash; and now we&rsquo;re focusing on starting this season just as strong.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo; For a year-and-a-half now, Dion has been getting pilloried in the media&rdquo;</blockquote>Nevertheless, there was a fair degree of consternation among some observers when the Leafs named Phaneuf captain in mid-June; in the minds of the cynics, awarding the &lsquo;C&rsquo; to a 25-year-old with just 25 games of post-season experience (and a minus-12 rating in those playoff games) represented a leap of faith that might blow out the organization&rsquo;s metaphorical hamstrings.But Toronto management doesn&rsquo;t regret the decision in the least.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re hearing bad things coming out of Calgary and I don&rsquo;t know why,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;Our experience with him was that he came in as a take-charge person; because we&rsquo;re a younger team, a lot of the guys identified with Dion, his attitude, the music he listens to. We wanted a much more aggressive stance as a team and he seemed to relish that.&ldquo;In practice, he makes you pay a price without going overboard. He doesn&rsquo;t hurt anybody, but he&rsquo;s in your face, he holds himself accountable if he doesn&rsquo;t practise well and demands the same type of drive from his teammates. That goes a long way to taking your team in a different direction.&ldquo;That was a real blessing for us &ndash; and not something I really expected &ndash; but to see him do it for the last two-and-a-half months and do it honestly while having fun with it, well, that was a breath of fresh air for me.&rdquo;One area of minor concern for the Leafs is Phaneuf&rsquo;s penchant for stiffening up in front of microphones and cameras. During his interview with THN, Phaneuf was friendly, but for the most part guarded and stoic.Certainly, as the face of the franchise, he won&rsquo;t be able to employ pat answers, stony stares and a cavalcade of cliches for too long before the Toronto media collective (drawn to gregarious types like Doug Gilmour) takes him to task for it.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-011225/9442843-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="1398" height="1091"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phaneuf will have to pick up his defensive play to succeed as Toronto&rsquo;s captain. (REBECCA TAYLOR/MSG PHOTOS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not naturally distrustful, but I think he has to know people before his personality shines through.&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve talked to him about and our media people are aware of &ndash; that we have to help Dion get a little better with the media. It&rsquo;s only natural that someone as young as Dion, who, for a year-and-a-half now has been getting pilloried somewhat in the media, could become defensive or standoffish.&ldquo;The No. 1 thing I told him is it&rsquo;s one thing to be a normal player&hellip;and say, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t want to talk to the media for a week&rsquo;&hellip;You can&rsquo;t do that anymore. I can&rsquo;t do that.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re the captain in L.A. or San Jose or Anaheim, you might go two weeks before you have to talk to the media. Here, you have to learn to say the right things, focus and relax, because it can eat you up. But I think he&rsquo;s strong enough to handle it.&rdquo;Beyond Phaneuf&rsquo;s leadership and bone-bashing hits, it&rsquo;s the confident manner in which he carries himself that could have the biggest effect on Toronto&rsquo;s young roster.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve noticed since I&rsquo;ve been in Toronto &ndash; there really isn&rsquo;t the swagger,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;And swagger is the best word to use; it&rsquo;s not overconfidence, it&rsquo;s believing in what you&rsquo;re doing.&ldquo;You can always tell a good team that way. Even the way good teams step on the ice for warmup is different &ndash; you look over and say, &lsquo;Oh boy, that team&rsquo;s got a swagger.&rsquo; And Dion has always had that, which fits in with what Brian (Burke) and I would like to see on our team from top to bottom.&rdquo;The pressure on Phaneuf always has been there; from his time as an elite prospect with Red Deer, to his stint in Calgary and now in the capital of Ontario and the hockey world. But those who know him (and the game) caution fans to give him some room to grow as he grapples with the dreams and expectations of long-tortured Leafs fans.&ldquo;Everybody wants him to do it now, but people have to be patient because he&rsquo;s on a young team,&rdquo; Conroy said. &ldquo;Dion wants to do so much and likes putting pressure on himself and I think giving him the captaincy may help him relieve that pressure.&ldquo;Now he&rsquo;ll have to focus on the well-being of the team and not just himself.&rdquo;<h2>ALL-TIME&nbsp;Captains AND CUPS</h2>Bert Corbeau&nbsp;1927Hap Day&nbsp;1927-28 &ndash; 1936-37Charlie Conacher&nbsp;1937-38Red Horner&nbsp;1938-39 &ndash; 1939-40Syl Apps&nbsp;1940-41 &ndash; 1942-43Bob Davidson&nbsp;1943-44 &ndash; 1944-45Syl Apps&nbsp;1945-46 &ndash; 1947-48Ted Kennedy&nbsp;1948-49 &ndash; 1954-55Sid Smith&nbsp;1955-56<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02860/9442836-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="4063" height="283"></div>Jimmy Thomson/Ted Kennedy&nbsp;1956-57George Armstrong&nbsp;1957-58 &ndash; 1968-69Dave Keon&nbsp;1969-70 &ndash; 1974-75Darryl Sittler&nbsp;1975-76 &ndash; 1980-81Rick Vaive&nbsp;1981-82 &ndash; 1985-86Rob Ramage&nbsp;1989-90 &ndash; 1990-91Wendel Clark&nbsp;1991-92 &ndash; 1993-94Doug Gilmour&nbsp;1994-95 &ndash; 1996-97Mats Sundin&nbsp;1997-98 &ndash; 2007-08Dion Phaneuf&nbsp;2010-11<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02923/9442829-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="4469" height="259"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

CHANGE

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DAVID SALTER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03657/9442902-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="406" height="420"><figcaption class="caption-body">(POTVIN: BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Denis Potvin, the blueline rock on the Islanders teams that won four straight Stanley Cups, knows Dion Phaneuf will be under tremendous scrutiny as captain of the most popular team in the NHL, but believes the rugged rearguard got off to a good start.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t control what people think and say,&rdquo; Potvin said. &ldquo;You have to prove yourself to the guys who matter most &ndash; your teammates. I think that&rsquo;s why he got into a couple of fights when he first got to Toronto. I think there was a physical element to his game that he wanted to show. He was not proving himself to the media. He was not proving it to the coach. He was proving it to the guys who sit right next to him. That&rsquo;s the most important hurdle you need to overcome and it&rsquo;s a difficult one. I know it was for me.&rdquo;Potvin admits it took a while for his teammates to warm up to him when he joined the Islanders in 1973 after being the first overall pick earlier that year. Fluently bilingual with a taste for art and the theater, Potvin eschewed Long Island for the sophisticated life of Manhattan. He had isolated himself from his peers.&ldquo;It was tough for me in the beginning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had to be cocky to keep my confidence up because I was so overwhelmed. Everybody goes through a maturing process. I was guilty of things and so were many other people, but I was more high profile.&rdquo;Potvin rubbed more than one teammate wrong early on, just as some have suggested Phaneuf did in Calgary.Potvin&rsquo;s teammate Gerry Hart summed up the feelings of many Isles to Sports Illustrated in 1976: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve learned to shake our heads at some things that Denis says. If he gets too pompous, we knock him right down.&rdquo;Although he was the Islanders&rsquo; best player, Potvin&rsquo;s teammates voted Clark Gillies as their new captain in 1977. Everybody, including Potvin, loved Gillies, but the grinding left winger was never comfortable in that role and, after he expressed his feelings to the higher-ups, management gave Potvin the &lsquo;C&rsquo; prior to the 1979-80 season, just ahead of his 26th birthday.&ldquo;For me it helped my game. I became less of an individual player. I became more of a team player,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I never won a Norris after that, but we won a lot as a team. Overall, my team game matured. It was the right time. For me, it worked well.&ldquo;I think it will work out for Dion, too.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0031-03

DENIS’ NOTES FOR DION

<div class="byline">with Adam Proteau</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02960/9442940-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brent Peterson&rsquo;s battle against Parkinson&rsquo;s hasn&rsquo;t kept him from the bench. (JOHN RUSSELL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011391/9442947-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="187" height="222"></div>SOME DISEASES DESCEND on people and confront them with their own mortality in a matter of weeks or months.Parkinson&rsquo;s Disease, however, doles out its horrors more slowly. It lurks at the back of the consciousness, always making sure you know it&rsquo;s there and that time will make it stronger and you weaker.Like actor Michael J. Fox, Nashville Predators assistant coach Brent Peterson has been living with Parkinson&rsquo;s &ndash; an incurable, degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that hampers speech, motor skills and other functions &ndash; for some time.But when I say &lsquo;living,&rsquo; I don&rsquo;t mean it in the passive, inhaling/exhaling sense. I mean living. The 52-year-old Peterson has been sucking the marrow clean out of every day he&rsquo;s been given since a doctor broke the news to him, his wife Tami and their three children some six years ago.Despite the mental stresses and strains of the disease, despite the medications and the ripple effect it can have on a sufferer&rsquo;s family, Peterson has never missed a single game behind the Predators bench. He is immensely respected &ndash; an 11-year NHL playing career and a Memorial Cup championship as coach of the Portland Winter Hawks will do that for you &ndash; by Predators players and management for his energy and dedication. He plays 36 holes of golf in a day as often as not.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;IT&rsquo;S ALWAYS WEARING ON YOU PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY&rsquo;</blockquote>Most importantly, he has taken on the biggest challenge he&rsquo;s ever faced by staring the disease straight in the eye and refusing to bow down in deference.He started his own charity to benefit research, education and support groups, The Peterson Foundation For Parkinson&rsquo;s (<a href="http://petersonforparkinsons.org">petersonforparkinsons.org</a>), that now hosts a celebrity golf tournament and dinner each September (this year&rsquo;s event takes place Sept. 9-10 in Nashville) and works with Fox&rsquo;s Parkinson&rsquo;s foundation.&ldquo;Right from Day 1 when he first learned he had the disease, I didn&rsquo;t see a dip in anything Brent did,&rdquo; said Predators GM David Poile. &ldquo;In fact, he probably took it up a notch by embracing it, by connecting with the Michael J. Fox foundation to learn about it, by setting up his own foundation to take action that helps others.&rdquo;Added Nashville coach Barry Trotz, one of Peterson&rsquo;s closest friends: &ldquo;Brent has seen what can happen to people with Parkinson&rsquo;s, so he lives each day to the absolute fullest. He&rsquo;s got a really positive outlook and he&rsquo;s real determined it&rsquo;s not going to hold him back.&rdquo;Not only has Parkinson&rsquo;s not held back Peterson, but incredibly, he is in better spirits this summer than he&rsquo;s been in a very long time.&ldquo;This is the best I&rsquo;ve felt in six, seven years,&rdquo; Peterson said, weeks after another charity golf fundraiser took place in his honor in Lindsay, Ont. &ldquo;I struggled last year a little bit at times. I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s my medication &ndash; and I&rsquo;ve been better with my diet and workout routine &ndash; but I&rsquo;ve felt great this summer&rdquo;Peterson&rsquo;s symptoms usually manifest in the form of his body &ldquo;locking up&rdquo; on his right side. But the toughest aspect of the disease for him is knowing it is always hovering, always eroding his body&rsquo;s abilities, silently but steadily.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just there all the time,&rdquo; Peterson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nothing serious, it doesn&rsquo;t hurt, but it&rsquo;s little things &ndash; taking an hour to get dressed or taking a coin out of your pocket &ndash; that let you know it&rsquo;s there 24 hours. It&rsquo;s always wearing on you physically and mentally.&rdquo;Nevertheless, he has managed to remain strong for himself, his co-workers, his players and his friends. He remains strong even though he knows people who were diagnosed with Parkinson&rsquo;s after he was and now are wheelchair-bound.And only when you hear him talk about how thankful he is do you understand the ultimate triumph of his life: For whatever Parkinson&rsquo;s has taken away from him physically, he has beaten it back with the knowledge of how many people were there for him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so lucky, from having the friendship and support of Barry Trotz and the coaching staff, and my friends in Nashville who&rsquo;ve helped me with the foundation,&rdquo; Peterson said. &ldquo;My own kids are all gone now, they&rsquo;re off in school, but they all come back for the foundation dinner and golf tournament and help out whenever they can.&rdquo;His voice quivers and breaks as emotion washes over and he attempts to collect himself.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been&hellip;um&hellip;excuse me&hellip; I&rsquo;ve been very blessed for having good friends and good family and the support of the Predators.&ldquo;Usually I can control my emotions, but sometimes I just realize I&rsquo;m a very lucky man.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03764/9442933-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="74" height="74"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>For Adam&rsquo;s web-exclusive Screen Shots column, visit <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a> &#9632;

f0034-02

THE FIGHT OF HIS LIFE

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN DIXON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011296/9442985-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="286" height="165"></div>ANYBODY WHO&rsquo;S watched Ian Laperriere play hockey can tell you he loves a good battle.The scrappy Flyer can regularly be found flinging himself in front of shots or mucking it up in the corners, but Laperriere&rsquo;s appreciation for organized anarchy extends beyond the ice &ndash; and down the family tree.&ldquo;My eight-year-old is a U.S. history fanatic,&rdquo; Laperriere said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always liked war history, for whatever reason. It appealed to me at a young age and to have my oldest one on the same path, it&rsquo;s fun to do stuff together.&rdquo;As such, Laperriere and his son, Tristan, hit Hawaii together. Not for sun and surf, but to explore Pearl Harbor. That soon led to another historical journey.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02915/9442978-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="1047" height="826"><figcaption class="caption-body">From left, Johan Backlund, Ian Laperriere and trainer Jim McCrossin at Gettysburg.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;When I saw how passionate he was about it I said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m taking him to Gettysburg,&rsquo; &rdquo; Laperriere explained.Flyers trainer Jim McCrossin, a big history buff himself, had been talking to Laperriere all year about trekking to the most famous battle field from the U.S. Civil War. With Tristan, McCrossin and goalie Johan Backlund in tow, Laperriere traveled to site where General Robert E. Lee&rsquo;s Confederate forces were defeated by Union soldiers in early July of 1863, marking the turning point of the four-year war.&ldquo;It was really neat,&rdquo; Laperriere said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not even an American, I&rsquo;m Canadian, but just being there where the north met the south and seeing how many people died for a cause they believed in &ndash; and they fought for it right there.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t there 145 years ago, but it looks like it was just frozen in time. There&rsquo;s nothing built around it, it&rsquo;s still that big land there with memorials everywhere.&rdquo;Indulging the desire to visit the oldest of U.S. historical sites is a bit easier for Laperriere now that he&rsquo;s based in the east after many years playing in the west. As for Tristan, who was born in California, Laperriere said his son has the best of both parents in him.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s smart like his mom, but he&rsquo;s got interests like his dad,&rdquo; he laughed. &#9632;

f0035-01

Philadelphia

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PETER BOTTE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04619/9443047-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="280" height="167"></div>KYLE OKPOSO followed all sports as a kid in the Twin Cities and the Minnesota Twins were a favorite.That&rsquo;s why the Isles right winger jumped at the opportunity earlier this summer to take some hacks at the outfield wall of the Twins&rsquo; new openair stadium, Target Field.Okposo played in a charity golf tournament in early August with pitchers Kevin Slowey and Glen Perkins, and was invited &ndash; along with Devils star Zach Parise and other local NHLers &ndash; to take batting practice before one game.&ldquo;I did OK, nothing spectacular,&rdquo; Okposo said. &ldquo;But I did get a couple of balls to the warning track when they hung me a couple of sliders.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0035-04

NY Islanders

<div class="byline">&#x2013; STEVE ZIPAY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05526/9443078-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="268" height="167"></div>THE RANGERS missed the playoffs with a shootout loss to the Flyers on April 11, but just six days later, the summer for MSG&rsquo;s play-by-play man Kenny Albert began with an endurance test.At Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Albert called all 20 innings of a 2-1 Mets victory over the Cardinals &ndash; televised nationally by FOX &ndash; that took six hours and 53 minutes, the longest game in the majors in two seasons. It was the lengthiest broadcast for the versatile Albert, the radio voice of the Rangers since 1995, who also works NBA and NFL games.Albert didn&rsquo;t leave the booth during the marathon &ndash; not even for a quick trip to the bathroom. &#9632;

f0035-05

NY Rangers

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ROB ROSSI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06474/9443109-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="320" height="165"></div>A CUP-WINNING goal was all Max Talbot and Mike Rupp had in common when Rupp joined the club last summer.But, in August, Talbot and Rupp traveled to Haiti.The pair was part of a contingent that spent time with an orphanage run by Brad Henderson, the team&rsquo;s chaplain. The Pens players arrived with everyday supplies, but they also brought along street hockey equipment.Rupp and his wife had long sought an international country to contribute to in a charitable way. Talbot admittedly hadn&rsquo;t given international charity much thought, though he is active in his native Quebec and Western Pennsylvania with his foundation. &#9632;

f0035-06

Pittsburgh

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BOB DUFF</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011291/9443147-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="319" height="167"></div>THINK IT&rsquo;S a challenge concocting a plan for a hockey team&rsquo;s upcoming season?Try doing it with two teams.That&rsquo;s how Bob Boughner spent his summer.When Boughner, an assistant on new Columbus coach Scott Arniel&rsquo;s staff, wasn&rsquo;t getting back up to speed on the NHL, he was ensuring everyone on his OHL team was on the same page moving forward.Until he accepted the job with the Blue Jackets, Boughner was coach of the two-time defending Memorial Cupchampion Windsor Spitfires. He&rsquo;s relinquished that position to Bob Jones, but Boughner remains majority owner of the franchise and intends to continue to be a hands-on owner even though he&rsquo;ll be about a four-hour drive from Windsor.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02864/9443140-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="1042" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Boughner moved benches, but maintains big ties to his old team in Windsor. (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Columbus has been great in letting me know that if there&rsquo;s ever some down time, they have no problem with me coming home,&rdquo; Boughner said. &ldquo;They understand that I have a business back there.&rdquo;In the span of a week in mid-August, Boughner bonded at a coaches retreat with the Columbus staff, then held meetings with his hockey and business operations staff in Windsor, implementing the template for how the franchise will operate with him in the position of absentee owner.&ldquo;Initially, the plan is to stay in touch as much as possible, hopefully get home once a week on a day off, when I can come in and get into the office for a couple of hours,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be in touch by phone conferences, conference calls, emails, things like that.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve devised a plan with (Spitfires business manager) Steve Horne where he&rsquo;s going to give me general reports every Wednesday, 10 or 12 different reports I need to see from the business side.&rdquo;Boughner admitted the Columbus opportunity created the ideal circumstance for him.&ldquo;It would have been really tough staying in touch had it been Vancouver or Edmonton,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was a tough decision regardless, but family-wise and work-wise, this was the perfect situation.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0036-01

Columbus

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN DIXON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03712/9443178-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="320" height="167"></div>HOCKEY&rsquo;S SYMBOL of NHL supremacy had its usual hectic summer.Since being claimed by Chicago in June, the Stanley Cup made its first trip to France with Cristobal Huet, was handed to legendary rocker Alice Cooper on stage by Brian Campbell and made more than one lifetime memory by doing things like visiting the Boys and Girls Club of Thunder Bay, Ont., with Patrick Sharp.It also got stranded 70 feet over Buffalo when Patrick Kane took the chalice high above his home city in the bucket of a fire engine ladder. Stanley and a slightly startled Kane were up there for about 20 minutes before the issue was resolved. &#9632;

f0036-03

Chicago

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ANSAR KHAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04568/9443209-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="319" height="167"></div>PLAYING AN abrasive style that can agitate opponents, Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader will be challenged occasionally, especially on a team that lacks an enforcer and has few players who fight.That&rsquo;s why Abdelkader spent part of his summer in a boxing ring, learning to throw uppercuts and hooks while maintaining proper balance.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good upper-body workout and at the same time you&rsquo;re getting a few pointers,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You learn technique, how to throw proper punches, when to be aggressive, when not to be aggressive.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to go around looking for it, but if it&rsquo;s going to happen, you got to prepare yourself for it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0036-04

Detroit

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DAVID BOCLAIR</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05482/9443240-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="316" height="167"></div>MANY PLAYERS and their families hit the lake during the off-season. This time, the water came to them.Historic flooding in Nashville generated a far-reaching relief effort, which included the local pro sports community.Right winger J-P Dumont was among the most active when it came to lending his time and energy. In the days that followed the flooding, he was on the scene at St. Luke&rsquo;s Community House, a facility created to assist low-income families, senior citizens and others that sits near the Cumberland River.Dumont is one of the few Preds who stays in town in the off-season and has been recognized for his charity. &#9632;

f0036-05

Nashville

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JEREMY RUTHERFORD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06425/9443271-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="300" height="167"></div>YEARS BEFORE Davis Payne helmed the Blues, he coached the ECHL&rsquo;s Alaska Aces. He still loves the serenity of the Alaskan outdoors.Payne took his wife and daughters back there this summer, but once the family portion of the trip was over, he went with friends to a lodge in western Alaska, where he then took a plane to fish for rainbow trout and salmon.Payne positioned himself where he could be aware of a charging brown bear, standing in the middle of the group.&ldquo;I left too big of a gap in the line, though, and a bear came out of the bushes and into the river, right in my location,&rdquo; Payne said. &ldquo;I politely moved downstream.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0036-06

St. Louis

<div class="byline">&#x2013; HERB ZURKOWSKY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-011152/9443309-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="315" height="167"></div>HE HAS spent his entire 10-year NHL career with the Canadiens, but only now can Andrei Markov proudly boast of being a true Canadian.The Russian-born defenseman became a Canadian citizen in July at a ceremony in Montreal presided over by citizenship judge Gilles Duguay. Markov was introduced by Duguay at the start of the 45-minute ceremony and the judge couldn&rsquo;t help but pepper his remarks with an abundance of hockey references.The Habs were represented by president Pierre Boivin and GM Pierre Gauthier.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy to be here and I&rsquo;m proud to be a Canadian,&rdquo; said Markov, 31. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been here 10 years. I like this city and I like this country, and it&rsquo;s important for me to be a Canadian.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02801/9443302-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="1043" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andrei Markov became a Canuck in the off-season&hellip;well, sort of, anyway. (GREGORY SHAMUS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>But Markov will still retain his Russian citizenship and will represent that country, not Canada, in future international competitions. According to the rules governing international hockey, Markov is prohibited from representing Canada.&ldquo;I was born over there and that&rsquo;s my first country,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still Russian. I&rsquo;m never going to play for the Canadians. Sorry. But I&rsquo;m still very proud to be a Canadian.&rdquo;One requirement for citizenship was scoring at least 75 percent on a test of knowledge covering Canadian history and institutions. But it seems the officials sliced through the red tape for Markov.&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t ask too many questions,&rdquo; he said, grinning.Markov&rsquo;s immediate goal is to return to health. He&rsquo;s coming off a torn knee ligament sustained in the second round of last season&rsquo;s playoffs that required surgery. Markov probably won&rsquo;t return until November, although Gauthier suggested he could be ready for the Oct. 7 season opener. Markov also missed 35 games at the start of the year with sliced tendons in his leg.He will certainly receive consideration for the Habs&rsquo; vacant captaincy. Markov is eligible to become a UFA next July, but said he hopes to remain with the organization indefinitely. &#9632;

f0037-01

Montreal

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE LOFTUS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03641/9443340-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="289" height="167"></div>MILAN LUCIC missed the 2010 Winter Classic because of a sprained ankle.Now healthy, Boston&rsquo;s big left winger finally got a chance to perform at Fenway Park in August. With David &lsquo;Big Papi&rsquo; Ortiz of the Red Sox providing instruction, Lucic took batting practice to prepare for and promote a charity softball game.Taking BP at Fenway was some consolation, even if Lucic (&ldquo;a pretty good home-run hitter when I was young&rdquo;) didn&rsquo;t hit a ball out.&ldquo;As a left-handed hitter, it&rsquo;s tough to go the opposite way over the Monster,&rdquo; he said of Fenway&rsquo;s famous left-field wall. &ldquo;I hit the warning track once. Maybe next time.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0037-03

Boston

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JOHN VOGL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04547/9443371-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="314" height="167"></div>THOMAS VANEK enjoyed a hero&rsquo;s welcome in Zell am See, the Austrian town where he spent most of his childhood.Cameras flashed as the country&rsquo;s most famous hockey export walked in for a sit-down chat with a group of youth players. After giving advice and signing autographs, it was time for the rest of the town to say hello.Zell am See did so with a gunfire salute and band-filled parade, which reportedly drew 2,000 people in a town of about 10,000. Mayor Hermann Kauffmann presented Vanek with a proclamation declaring him an honored citizen.While in Austria, Vanek announced he and his wife, Ashley, are expecting twins. &#9632;

f0037-04

Buffalo

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BRUCE GARRIOCH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05493/9443402-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="261" height="166"></div>SENS CENTER Mike Fisher spent a lot of time in Nashville this summer, but he wasn&rsquo;t singing a hurtin&rsquo; tune.Fisher was all smiles after marrying country music star Carrie Underwood July 10.Despite his new bride&rsquo;s occupation, Fisher has no plans to ask for a trade to the Preds; the duo is building a home outside Ottawa and plan to have children.&ldquo;She likes it, she knows how much I like it and I want to stay here my whole career if possible,&rdquo; Fisher said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re both comfortable here. Home is where we are, so let&rsquo;s make this home.&rdquo;Another home, that is.&ldquo;Probably the airport will be the main residence,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0037-05

Ottawa

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MICHAEL TRAIKOS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06435/9443433-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="300" height="167"></div>KRIS VERSTEEG spent his summer doing what no Maple Leaf has done since 1967: hang out with the Stanley Cup.The 24-year-old was with the Chicago Blackhawks when the team was crowned NHL champions in June.But when it was finally his time to celebrate, he had already been traded.Still, Versteeg decided to wear a Blackhawks jersey for the festivities, which included a street hockey game and a photo-op at Henderson Ice Centre in Lethbridge, Alta., where he first learned to play.&ldquo;I got to sit with it for an hour and realize what I had accomplished and what my team had accomplished,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was pretty special.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0037-06

Toronto

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ROB TYCHKOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011251/9443471-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="303" height="167"></div>SOME PLAYERS vacation in exotic locales, where they lounge on sunny beaches near five-star hotels, eat gourmet meals and rub shoulders with the beautiful people.Nothing wrong with that.Matt Duchene just decided to go in a different direction.North. Way north.&ldquo;My dad and I went on a father-son fishing trip up in northern Ontario,&rdquo; said the sophomore center, who needed to decompress after playing 100 games last year between the pre-season, regular season, playoffs and the World Championship.He, his dad and 11 buddies headed into the middle of nowhere, roughing it in a place where their iPhones and BlackBerrys were rendered useless.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02855/9443464-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1047" height="841"><figcaption class="caption-body">Matt Duchene played a lot of hockey in &rsquo;09-10 and rested with a rustic fishing trip. (MICHAEL MARTIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Room service or restaurants? Get real. Televisions or radios? Forget about it.They didn&rsquo;t even have any heat, light or electricity whatsoever.Just a bunch of dudes and some fishing rods, turning back the clock to the days when &ldquo;luxury&rdquo; meant a sharp knife, dry matches and a boat that didn&rsquo;t leak.&ldquo;It was one of the most fun things I&rsquo;ve done in a long time,&rdquo; the 19-year-old said. &ldquo;There were 13 of us, just a local group of guys I had grown up with. We went up north to one of my buddy&rsquo;s camps.&rdquo;It was a long way to go to get shut out, which they almost did on opening day, when the fish clearly had the upper fin.Thirteen guys fishing all day long managed to land two fish. Two. That might be tolerable if they were pulling in marlin, but when you&rsquo;re talking about two-pound walleye, well, it&rsquo;s a little humbling.But the idea wasn&rsquo;t to land enough fish to start their own aquarium, it was to get away with some buddies, some hooks, some clean air and some peace and quiet.&ldquo;It was just you and the backwoods,&rdquo; Duchene said.And the next day, the anglers launched a pretty successful comeback.&ldquo;The second day we caught 39. That was amazing.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0038-01

Colorado

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RANDY SPORTAK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03687/9443502-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="301" height="167"></div>LIKE MOST students, Jay Feaster was happy to find a job in the summer.But in so many ways, the assistant GM job he has with the Flames seems like such an unlikely way for Feaster to get back into the league.The former Tampa Bay Lightning GM had no ties to the Flames or GM Darryl Sutter. But Feaster dove into the job, having a hand in the signing of defenseman Ian White, taking a leadership role in the scouting department and bringing in Michel Goulet, who he worked with while part of the Avalanche organization.&ldquo;I missed being part of it,&rdquo; Feaster said. &ldquo;I missed being part of that decision-making process.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0038-03

Calgary

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ROB TYCHKOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04558/9443533-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="303" height="167"></div>STEVE MACINTYRE, former Oiler Louie DeBrusk and another friend got a healthy scare while bow-hunting for bear in northern Alberta.Their friend was in a tree when a momma bear with two cubs charged. Fortunately, he was the only one in the party with a gun. He fired a warning shot, hoping to scare the bear away, but to no avail.&ldquo;By the time he reloaded she was right at the barrel of his gun, he had to shoot her,&rdquo; said MacIntyre, noting it was a life-or-death situation.They weren&rsquo;t hunting females and especially didn&rsquo;t want to shoot one with cubs.&ldquo;He was pretty sad to have to shoot the sow, but we told him it was him or her.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0038-04

Edmonton

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MICHAEL RUSSO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05451/9443564-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="320" height="167"></div>HOCKEY PLAYERS have to stay cool, calm and collected on the ice, but Matt Cullen and some of his former Carolina teammates and their wives couldn&rsquo;t resist being starstruck in July when they met Garth Brooks and Trisha Year-wood backstage in Las Vegas.Following the new Wild center&rsquo;s celebrity weekend to benefit Cully&rsquo;s Kids in Fargo, N.D., (which raised a record $390,000 and is up to $1.6 million to benefit children&rsquo;s healthcare), the Cullens, Staals, Stillmans and Walkers met up with the Whitneys.A fun, relaxing weekend included meeting Brooks.&ldquo;It was unreal,&rdquo; Cullen said, recalling his nerves. &ldquo;Palms sweating and everything.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0038-05

Minnesota

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEVIN WOODLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06384/9443595-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="311" height="167"></div>TANNER GLASS didn&rsquo;t peak as first planned, but his summer was still full of sports highs. While the gritty left-winger scuttled plans to climb 19,000-plus feet up Mount Kilimanjaro, it was largely because his trip to Africa was already full with four 2010 FIFA World Cup playoff games.Glass, 26, became a fan of the beautiful game after meeting fiance Emily Tracy while playing college hockey at Dartmouth, where she was a soccer standout. Glass, a Saskatchewan native, came home with a renewed appreciation of Africa&rsquo;s love for soccer.&ldquo;The passion they have for soccer is a lot like Canada and hockey when you see the smiles on their faces,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0038-06

Vancouver

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JONATHAN DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011149/9443633-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="312" height="167"></div>AFTER A grueling regular season, six playoff games and two weeks of intense hockey that earned him a silver medal at the Olympics, you&rsquo;d think Dustin Brown would just want to take it easy when the season came to a close.But other than taking a few weeks off, the Kings captain doesn&rsquo;t seem to believe in relaxing in the off-season.Brown took time out in late June to participate in a charity poker tournament as part of the NHL Awards party in Las Vegas with a group of players that included teammate Wayne Simmonds and former NHLers Ed Olczyk and Jeremy Roenick.&ldquo;It was a lot of fun, but man it is intimidating when you are going up against the pros, like Joe Cada,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;I was nervous and we weren&rsquo;t playing for real money. There is no way I could play high stakes poker for a living. It is way too stressful.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02753/9443626-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="1048" height="841"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dustin Brown launched his own stick and clothing line during his time off. (JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Not long after that, Brown launched his new hockey stick and apparel line called DLO-23 with Combat Sports. &lsquo;DLO-23&rsquo; was Brown&rsquo;s nickname back in his OHL days with Guelph.&ldquo;I like the fact that they are a small company and they make all their sticks in North America,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Fans should know that the sticks they buy in the store are the same one&rsquo;s I&rsquo;m using on the ice.&rdquo;Finally, Brown tried to regain some American pride when he challenged L.A. Dodgers catcher and Montreal native Russell Martin to a 1-on-1 hockey game in the cozy confines of the Dodgers dugout.The game finished in a tie and the two look forward to a rematch down the road.&ldquo;It was a blast,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;Martin was waving his Canadian flag when I got there. He&rsquo;s a huge hockey fan and I&rsquo;ve gotten to know him over the past few years. He lives near me and a bunch of the Kings in Manhattan Beach.&rdquo;After all of this you&rsquo;d think Brown would need a vacation from his vacation, but for DLO-23 it&rsquo;s back to the weight room and on the ice to resume skating as he gets ready for the rigors of another NHL season. &#9632;

f0039-01

Los Angeles

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ERIC STEPHENS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03591/9443664-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="307" height="167"></div>AFTER THE end of another season, center Todd Marchant and his family made the annual trek back to their summer home in suburban Buffalo where the veteran grew up. But they went about their trip a little differently this time.&ldquo;My family and I recently purchased a motor home,&rdquo; Marchant said in an interview on the team&rsquo;s website. &ldquo;After school got out, we drove from here all the way to Buffalo. We did a bunch of stuff along the way and a lot of sightseeing.&ldquo;We had a blast. We saw a bunch of national parks and monuments. We had a great time.&rdquo;Marchant returned to guide his family-run hockey school for the 12th consecutive year. &#9632;

f0039-03

Anaheim

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE HEIKA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04493/9443695-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="317" height="160"></div>IT WAS actually a slow summer for assistant GM Frank Provenzano &ndash; negotiate a few contracts, scale Mount Shasta.Provenzano has tackled Kilimanjaro and Mount Rainier in the past, as well as bobbed in the ocean in shark cages, so Mount Shasta in Northern California was simply a nice retreat from the 100-degree temperatures of Texas. In August, he hiked up to base camp at about 10,000 feet above sea level for a peaceful night of frigid sleep and then went to the peak at 14,179 feet with ice axes and crampons (claws for feet) in a climb that took about 12 hours the last day.&ldquo;You should get the most out of your life and push things to the edge,&rdquo; Provenzano said. &#9632;

f0039-04

Dallas

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JIM GINTONIO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05413/9443726-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="274" height="167"></div>FOR 36 HOURS, Shane Doan was pursued by a guy on a horse.Doan and his brother, Brooke, were hunted on the series Mantracker this summer, trying to elude capture for about 25 miles.The Doans &ndash; using a map and compass &ndash; began the trek three hours north of Whistler, B.C., in the mountains.&ldquo;It was a workout,&rdquo; Doan said. &ldquo;That climb the first day, we went up this mountain over a ridge, a six-hour straight-up climb. It was tough, but we had a lot of fun doing it.&rdquo;Did they make it?The show will not air until Sept. 2011 and Doan can&rsquo;t reveal the outcome, but he said his pursuer is &ldquo;very good.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0039-05

Phoenix

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JOHN GRIGG</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06340/9443757-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="305" height="166"></div>REMEMBER YOUR favorite band in high school? Strumming along to the music with your air guitar, hammering away at your air drums or singing at the top of your lungs in the shower?Dan Boyle sure does. And now he knows what it&rsquo;s like to hang out with that band, too.Boyle met the members of Faith No More just before the 2010 playoffs in San Francisco at a reunion-tour concert. This summer he went to a show in New York City and hung out with the band backstage after.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t get star struck,&rdquo; Boyle said, &ldquo;but they were my band growing up. And it&rsquo;s a pretty awesome feeling getting to know them, not only as artists but as friends, too.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0039-06

San Jose

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RORY BOYLEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01846/9443795-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="310" height="165"></div>NOT EVERY summer vacation is planned and thoroughly thought out. In fact, the best ones are often spur-of-the-moment adventures.Such was the case for Atlanta Thrashers blueline prospect Paul Postma.THN&rsquo;s No. 4-ranked prospect in the Thrashers organization, Postma, 21, set off on a 12-day whirlwind of Europe with friend, former Calgary Hitmen teammate and current Colorado Avalanche forward, T.J. Galiardi.The two always discussed traveling together and with Galiardi already in Germany partaking in the World Championship for Team USA, the stage was set.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02527/9443788-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="1047" height="841"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Postma went to Europe on a whim and gained some great memories. (KEVIN C. COX/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He called me and said &lsquo;I&rsquo;m here and I&rsquo;ll be done in a couple days, why don&rsquo;t you come over?&rsquo; &rdquo; Postma noted.With that, he was off.Meeting in Frankfurt, Germany without an itinerary, the two looked at the departure board at the train station and the first question they asked each other was, well, &ldquo;Where do we want to go?&rdquo;Traveling through Italy, France and Spain (stopping in at Rome, Barcelona and Paris), without staying anywhere for longer than two days, the two found a few gems, including Postma&rsquo;s favorite destination off the beaten trail.&ldquo;Cinque Terre in Italy was a tough city to get to; you had to take a couple trains,&rdquo; Postma said. &ldquo;It was five villages into the side of this mountain and it was on the water.&rdquo;While there, Postma, fresh off a two-round run in the Calder Cup playoffs with the Chicago Wolves, took care of a little excess hair he had grown for the post-season.&ldquo;I had this monster mullet when I went down there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I looked like Patty Kane a little. So we went to this small barber shop and the barber could barely speak English, but we negotiated a hair cut and he chopped it.&rdquo;While Postma eyes a spot on Atlanta&rsquo;s blueline this season, he and Galiardi have already discussed next summer.&ldquo;We might go to Thailand,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve heard some good things about there.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0040-01

Atlanta

<div class="byline">&#x2013; LUKE DECOCK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03406/9443826-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="318" height="167"></div>ROD BRIND&rsquo;AMOUR expected his summer vacation to be eventful. He didn&rsquo;t expect it to last forever.An off-season that began with a banner year for his charity golf tournament &ndash; more money was raised than even in 2006, when the Stanley Cup made a guest appearance &ndash; took a fateful turn when Brind&rsquo;Amour retired in June.Since then, he&rsquo;s gotten remarried, turned 40 and started his new role working with Carolina&rsquo;s young players.&ldquo;Right now it doesn&rsquo;t feel any different,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still training with the guys. I think once camp comes and I&rsquo;m not actually going out there and just watching them, that&rsquo;s going to be tough.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0040-03

Carolina

<div class="byline">&#x2013; GEORGE RICHARDS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04329/9443857-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="329" height="168"></div>DAVID BOOTH has been in love with hunting from the first day his dad took him out in Michigan at age seven.That love took Booth to some exotic locations this summer. In May, he and a friend flew from Detroit to New Zealand.There, after flying more than 16 hours, Booth sat in the freezing rain waiting out a Red Stag. Booth bagged the 14-point Stag from 42 yards out with a bow.Booth also went antelope hunting with his brother in Montana. That wasn&rsquo;t as successful. Upon his return to South Florida, he plans to put his alligator hunting permit to use on a friend&rsquo;s airboat.&ldquo;I need some new boots,&rdquo; Booth joked. &#9632;

f0040-04

Florida

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05282/9443888-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="291" height="168"></div>LAST SUMMER, Steven Stamkos trained with ex-NHLer Gary Roberts and ended up with 51 goals and half the Rocket Richard Trophy. This summer, he was back for more.Stamkos, who worked alongside teammate Steve Downie and Rangers blueliner Michael Del Zotto, pulled a 120-pound sled for 30 yards before sprinting back weight-free, while Roberts had organic food delivered straight to the gym for his charges. Burgers and fries it was not: try nuts and plain entrees.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have the luxury of tossing some mayo on or tossing ranch dressing on your salad,&rdquo; Stamkos said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good stuff, but it took my body a couple weeks to adjust.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0040-05

Tampa Bay

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PETER KERZEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-06246/9443919-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="320" height="167"></div>CAPITALS RADIO voice Steve Kolbe calls ice action all winter, then heads for shimmering waters each summer. Kolbe is an avid bass fisherman, competing in tournaments along the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t do anything for fun,&rdquo; said Kolbe, who will do his 1,000th Capitals game this fall. &ldquo;I figured if I was going to fish, I might as well be challenged by the best.&rdquo;Kolbe fished three tournaments on the Potomac this summer, but didn&rsquo;t cash out. But in a Canada Day celebrity classic on Lake Scugog in Ontario, he hooked five bass totaling 11 pounds, finishing second to Nik Antropov in a fundraiser for cancer research. &#9632;

f0040-06

Washington

<div class="byline">BY NEIL HODGE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01771/9443985-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sean Couturier&rsquo;s style of play has been compared to that of Joe Thornton. (DAVID CONNELL)</figcaption></div>HE&rsquo;S THE BEST Quebec League prospect since Sidney Crosby and the best French-Canadian blue-chipper who doesn&rsquo;t wear goalie pads to come out of the &lsquo;Q&rsquo; since Vincent Lecavalier.Meet Drummondville Voltigeurs center Sean Couturier, a superb combination of size and skill. At 6-foot-4 and 191 pounds, many believe he will be the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NHL draft.The QMJHL has produced just three first overall picks in the past 17 NHL drafts &ndash; Crosby in 2005, Marc-Andre Fleury in 2003 and Lecavalier in 1998. What would it mean to Couturier to join this group, snapping a drought for both the league and French-Canadians?&ldquo;It would be a great honor, but I haven&rsquo;t really thought about it in that way to be honest,&rsquo;&rsquo; he said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s lots of great hockey players around the world, so we&rsquo;ll see what happens.&rsquo;&rsquo;Bird-dogs love the entire package that Couturier brings to the table.&ldquo;I would say he&rsquo;s a better junior player than Lecavalier was,&rsquo;&rsquo; said an NHL scout. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s ahead of Lecavalier at the same age. He has great vision, he&rsquo;s strong on the puck and he&rsquo;s both a goal-scorer and playmaker. He has great puck skills and thinks the game very well.&ldquo;He plays well in traffic. He&rsquo;s not soft by any means and he&rsquo;s also smart defensively. I think he&rsquo;ll be in the NHL next season.&rsquo;&rsquo;Couturier won the QMJHL scoring title as a 17-year-old last season, amassing 41 goals and 96 points in 68 games. He also led the league with a plus-62 rating; nobody else reached plus-50.He&rsquo;s a smooth skater, a terrific stickhandler, has great vision and hockey sense and an outstanding shot. He had five goals and nine points in five games for Team Atlantic at the 2009 world under-17 championship and helped Canada strike gold at the 2009 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, an international under-18 event.Couturier was born in Phoenix, then spent time in Milwaukee, Germany and Quebec. He has dual citizenship, but has never considered playing for the United States. He&rsquo;s been living in New Brunswick since he was 10 years old.His father, Sylvain Couturier, is GM of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Sylvain, a fourth round pick of Los Angeles in 1986, once scored 70 goals and 137 points for the Laval Titan. He played 33 NHL games and spent the rest of his career in the minor pros and Europe.Couturier helped the Notre Dame Hounds, a prestigious private school hockey program, win the Saskatchewan midget AAA title in 2007-08. His Drummondville squad captured the QMJHL championship in 2008-09 and lost in the semi-final last season.He attended Hockey Canada&rsquo;s summer development camp and is expected to play for his country at the 2011 World Junior Championship. Asked if there are NHL centers who he tries to pattern his game after, the third-year QMJHL veteran mentioned Jordan and Eric Staal.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re great players to look at,&rsquo;&rsquo; he said. &ldquo;I try to take the best of their game and put it in mine. You try to learn from those guys, but you don&rsquo;t want to change all the aspects of your game to be exactly like them.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to keep being what I am. That&rsquo;s what brought me this far. I&rsquo;ll keep working on my strengths and try to improve my weaknesses. I&rsquo;m trying to work on my speed. I&rsquo;ll do whatever it takes to get better.&rsquo;&rsquo;Couturier is the first 17-year-old to win the QMJHL scoring title since Crosby in 2004-05. He&rsquo;s also been compared to Joe Thornton.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got tremendous skill, tremendous vision and I think he&rsquo;s still improving steadily,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Moncton Wildcats coach Danny Flynn. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very rare for a 17-year-old to win a scoring title in major junior. He did it in Drummondville where the team was supposed to be rebuilding, but they ended up being a contender.&ldquo;He has great hockey sense, he&rsquo;s unselfish and big 6-foot-4 centers are hard to find. There&rsquo;s no doubt he&rsquo;s going to have a chance to be a real good pro.&rsquo;&rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01758/9443978-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="2196" height="1415"><figcaption class="caption-body">Couturier was the first 17-year-old to win the &lsquo;Q&rsquo; scoring title since Sid the Kid. (GHYSLAIN BERGERON)</figcaption></div>Couturier is the face of the QMJHL this season and not just because he&rsquo;s a potential first overall NHL draft pick. He&rsquo;s gunning for a second consecutive league scoring title and if, as expected, Drummondville is middle of the pack, he could be prime trade bait.The QMJHL lags behind the Ontario and Western Leagues when it comes to producing high NHL picks.Quebec produced just one first-rounder in 2010 with Phoenix claiming Moncton defenseman Brandon Gormley 13th overall. The league had four first-rounders in 2009, none in 2008, four in 2007 and five in 2006.Since Crosby in 2005, the QMJHL has had just three players picked in the first 10 picks of the draft. None have come in the top five.League commissioner Gilles Courteau points out that most NHL GMs and head scouts have an OHL or WHL background. He believes that sometimes has an impact on first round selections.&ldquo;To have the first overall NHL draft pick coming from our league, it&rsquo;s something special,&rsquo;&rsquo; he said. &ldquo;It has to be a really outstanding player for this to happen.&rsquo;&rsquo;What would it mean for Couturier to be the first QMJHL product since Crosby to go first overall? And the first French-Canadian skater since Lecavalier?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always special whenever someone from our league is drafted first overall,&rsquo;&rsquo; Courteau said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter if he&rsquo;s French-Canadian, a player from the Maritimes, a European or an American.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s exciting to have a top prospect like Sean Couturier. It brings extra profile to our league when there&rsquo;s somebody being talked about all year as the potential first overall pick.&rsquo;&rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02522/9443971-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="324" height="140"></div><h2>TOP 10 RANKINGS</h2>Neil Hodge of the Moncton Times & Transcript, Jim Cressman of the London Free Press, Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post and THN staffers make up our major junior panel in determining the Top 10 CHL teams.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03437/9443964-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="183" height="233"><figcaption class="caption-body">Neil Hodge</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04337/9443957-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="183" height="228"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Cressman</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05292/9443950-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="183" height="225"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rob Vanstone</figcaption></div>1. MISS. ST. MIKES MAJORSLast Year:&nbsp;42-20-6, lost Round 32. SASKATOON BLADESLast Year:&nbsp;46-19-7, lost Round 23. SAINT JOHN SEA DOGSLast Year:&nbsp;53-12-3, lost Round 44. PORTLAND WINTERHAWKSLast Year:&nbsp;44-25-3, lost Round 25. WINDSOR SPITFIRESLast Year:&nbsp;50-12-6, won Memorial Cup6. MONTREAL JUNIORSLast Year:&nbsp;31-30-7, lost Round 17. LONDON KNIGHTSLast Year:&nbsp;49-16-3, lost Round 28. SWIFT CURRENT BRONCOSLast Year:&nbsp;37-30-5, lost Round 19. ACADIE-BATHURST TITANLast Year:&nbsp;25-37-6, lost Round 110. OSHAWA GENERALSLast Year:&nbsp;24-39-5, missed playoffs &#9632;

f0042-01

PROSPECTS UNLIMITED

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01661/9444023-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has speed to burn and a mind just as quick. (DAVE BRUNNER PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div>PARDON THE PUN, but you&rsquo;re going to want the skinny on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.The six-foot Red Deer Rebels center has already proven himself to be a very dangerous player in the &lsquo;Dub&rsquo; &ndash; and that&rsquo;s before having an electric summer.That&rsquo;s right, while most of North America&rsquo;s teens were getting up late and trolling Facebook, Nugent-Hopkins was throwing down the gauntlet to fellow No. 1 draft hopefuls Sean Couturier and Adam Larsson.Nugent-Hopkins kicked things off by leading Canada to gold at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Highlights included tallying a hat trick against Switzerland in the round robin, then scoring the only goal in the gold medal game as Canada slipped by the U.S. 1-0.The next week, Nugent-Hopkins had an impressive showing at the NHL&rsquo;s research and development camp, showing the GM-saturated bleachers that he can essentially score at will when given the opportunity.&ldquo;No matter how small a hole you give him, he&rsquo;s going to hit it,&rdquo; said Ross MacLean, head scout for International Scouting Services. &ldquo;Which is amazing.&rdquo;MacLean sees some parallels between Nugent-Hopkins and 2010 top pick Taylor Hall, but the prospects diverge in other areas.&ldquo;Hall will just get right in there, Nugent-Hopkins is much more cerebral,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;His understanding of the game is on another level. He&rsquo;s very calculated.&rdquo;Frame also separates the two, as Nugent-Hopkins will have to add some meat to his bones if he wants to jump to the NHL sooner than later.&ldquo;At the end of the season I was 157 pounds,&rdquo; Nugent-Hopkins said. &ldquo;Through the summer I got up to 169 and I&rsquo;d like to be 165 when the season starts.&rdquo;MacLean, for one, isn&rsquo;t worried. He sees a kid with a frame that just needs time to fill out. As for whether Nugent-Hopkins can withstand more attention this year in the historically physical Dub, the scout is confident.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll throw some hits,&rdquo; MacLean said, &ldquo;and he&rsquo;s really good at escaping hits.&rdquo;The top pick in the 2008 WHL bantam draft, Nugent-Hopkins has been highly touted for years and his rookie campaign in major junior did not disappoint. On a so-so Red Deer squad, the nifty pivot put up 65 points in 67 games, good for second on the team. In a brief tryout the year prior, &lsquo;The Nuge&rsquo; had six points in five games.But the Rebels were swept in the first round of the playoffs last season and for Nugent-Hopkins to really strut his stuff, they team will need to improve on that.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a great supporting cast,&rdquo; Nugent-Hopkins said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to help my team get as far as possible in the playoffs.&rdquo;If they do, you can be sure it will be thanks to the skinny kid with the unbelievable vision.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02415/9444016-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="254" height="140"></div><h2>PREDICTED STANDINGS</h2>THN correspondent Rob Vanstone loves the depth in Saskatoon and sees big things in the Blades&rsquo; near future.1. Saskatoon Blades2. Portland Winterhawks3. Swift Current Broncos4. Kootenay Ice5. Kamloops Blazers6. Moose Jaw Warriors7. Kelowna Rockets8. Tri-City Americans9. Brandon Wheat Kings10. Medicine Hat Tigers11. Everett Silvertips12. Vancouver Giants13. Calgary Hitmen14. Spokane Chiefs15. Chilliwack Bruins16. Red Deer Rebels17. Edmonton Oil Kings18. Lethbridge Hurricanes19. Seattle Thunderbirds20. Prince Albert Raiders21. Regina Pats22. Prince George Cougars<h2>2011 DRAFT PROSPECTS</h2>1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, C, Red DeerDynamic offensive player with skill and speed.2. David Musil, D, VancouverSmart, lanky rearguard shuts down snipers.3. Shane McColgan, RW, KelownaCalifornia kid has grit and offensive skill.4. Duncan Siemens, D, SaskatoonTotal package, can be used in all situations.5. Michael St-Croix, C, EdmontonSuperb puck skills and excellent vision.6. Jesse Forsberg, D, Prince GeorgeFine offensive player doesn&rsquo;t shy away.7. Ty Rattie, RW, PortlandNatural goal-scorer can also make plays.8. Reece Scarlett, D, Swift CurrentDefense-first blueliner has great first pass.9. Adam Lowry, LW, Swift CurrentRangy winger is son of ex-NHLer Dave Lowry.10. Colin Jacobs, C, SeattlePower forward hails from Texas. &#9632;

f0044-01

WEIGHT WATCHER

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0045-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01564/9444061-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ryan Murphy just may become hockey&rsquo;s next great offensive defenseman. (AARON BELL/OHL IMAGES)</figcaption></div>WHEN MIKE GREEN was excluded from Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team for the Vancouver Games, many hockey fans were shocked. Ryan Murphy knows exactly how they felt.Despite his tantalizing skill set, the offensive defenseman for the Kitchener Rangers was cut from Canada&rsquo;s under-18 team that went on to win gold at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of offensive defensemen out there,&rdquo; Murphy noted. &ldquo;But they were looking for offense and defense.&rdquo;Still, despite his humbleness, it was pretty surprising not to see Murphy get the nod.&ldquo;At the under-18 camp, I thought he was the most talented one there,&rdquo; said Ross MacLean, head scout for International Scouting Services. &ldquo;The kid had a hat trick in the second period of the final Red and White (intrasquad) game and he didn&rsquo;t make the team.&rdquo;For Murphy, he knows what he must do. Listed generously at 5-foot-11, 160 pounds, the Kitchener blueliner has a game that is Ryan Ellis 2.0 and, so far, the Rangers have reaped the rewards of such a find.After a solid rookie regular season that saw him post six goals and 39 points in 62 games, Murphy caught fire in the playoffs, registering five goals and 17 points in 20 games as the Rangers took eventual champs Windsor to the brink.Of course, Kitchener was up 3-0 in that series, which Ellis and Windsor won in seven games, so there was a lot of soul-searching in the dressing room after the final loss.&ldquo;We were mad,&rdquo; Murphy recalled. &ldquo;We said, &lsquo;Why couldn&rsquo;t we win that game?&rsquo; But Windsor didn&rsquo;t lose another game after that.&rdquo;So there&rsquo;s some solace there. But with Murphy entering his second year alongside a stellar cast of prospects (including fellow 2011 hopefuls Gabriel Landeskog and Mike Morrison), the mission is clear.&ldquo;The bar is set pretty high,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;We had a good playoffs and we didn&rsquo;t lose many players.&rdquo;On an individual level, this will be a big year for the slight defenseman. Murphy&rsquo;s polarizing skill set will make him one of the most intriguing prospects in the draft &ndash; a player some teams will ignore, but others will salivate over.&ldquo;He is an unbelievably talented offensive defenseman,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;Those hybrid NHL coaches, they like to have that fourth forward in the Ryan Ellis/Mike Green mold.&rdquo;So for Murphy now, it&rsquo;s all about rounding out his game and he&rsquo;s certainly willing to put in the work necessary to become an NHLer. Along with improving his defensive zone play, the youngster knows he must make people forget about his size and will do so with brains as much as brawn.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot of stickwork,&rdquo; Murphy said, bringing to mind the Ryan Ellis comparison once again. &ldquo;I want to be a physical player. I don&rsquo;t want to make excuses.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02366/9444054-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="172" height="59"></div><h2>PREDICTED STANDINGS</h2>THN correspondent Jim Cressman likes the Memorial Cup-host Majors&rsquo; depth, coaching and ability to load up for a run.1. Mississauga St. Michael&rsquo;s Majors2. Windsor Spitfires3. London Knights4. Oshawa Generals5. Kitchener Rangers6. Erie Otters7. Ottawa 67&rsquo;s8. Niagara IceDogs9. Sarnia Sting10. Peterborough Petes11. Plymouth Whalers12. Belleville Bulls13. Owen Sound Attack14. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds15. Brampton Battalion16. Kingston Frontenacs17. Guelph Storm18. Saginaw Spirit19. Sudbury Wolves20. Barrie Colts<h2>2011 DRAFT PROSPECTS</h2>1. Boone Jenner, C, OshawaAn early pick to battle for the scoring title.2. Brandon Saad, LW, Saginaw2008 first-rounder will prove worth the wait.3. Nicklas Jensen, LW, OshawaWill challenge for highest-drafted Dane.4. Ryan Murphy, D, KitchenerThough not big, offensive defenseman is slick.5. Gabriel Landeskog, RW, KitchenerAlready an accomplished two-way player.6. Matt Puempel, LW, PeterboroughSet team record for goals by a 16-year-old.7. Vladislav Namestnikov, C, LondonWill change Knights&rsquo; lack of import success.8. Alexander Khokhlachev, C, WindsorWill play a big offensive role.9. Lucas Lessio, C, OshawaLeft a scholarship from Michigan on the table.10. Scott Harrington, D, LondonFuture captain; played big role last year. &#9632;

f0045-01

RANGER DANGER

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0046-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01564/9444099-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nathan Beaulieu has the size and two-way skill set that makes NHL scouts take note. (DAVID CONNELL)</figcaption></div>AS&nbsp;A ROOKIE in 2008-09, Nathan Beaulieu was not the most lauded defenseman on the Saint John Sea Dogs roster. In fact, he wasn&rsquo;t even the best-known Beaulieu on the Sea Dogs.But things are different now. Beaulieu&rsquo;s defense partner last year, Yann Sauve, will be moving on through the Vancouver Canucks organization. And Jacques Beaulieu, former coach of the Sea Dogs, will begin his second year in his second stint as an assistant with the OHL&rsquo;s London Knights. Now it&rsquo;s Nathan&rsquo;s time to shine.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a really appealing guy,&rdquo; said Ross MacLean, head scout of International Scouting Services. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got that package you want at the NHL level. He can be molded into whatever kind of player you want.&rdquo;Standing 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, Beaulieu showed off his offensive chops last year by popping in 12 goals and 45 points in 66 games for Saint John before going on a playoff tear, netting four goals and 16 points in 21 games. The Sea Dogs ultimately fell to Moncton in the league final. That post-season total was better than partner Sauve&rsquo;s and Beaulieu also put up a much better plus-minus: plus-8 to Sauve&rsquo;s minus-2.&ldquo;We were very motivated,&rdquo; Beaulieu said of the playoff march. &ldquo;We had a couple tight years and it was important to make a good run.&rdquo;Beaulieu, whose regular season mark of plus-43 was a team record for defensemen, models his game after Los Angeles Kings star Drew Doughty &ndash; another blueliner with the total package.&ldquo;He takes care of his own zone first,&rdquo; Beaulieu said. &ldquo;But he can also rush the puck.&rdquo;MacLean believes Beaulieu can move the puck up ice just as well as he can rush it, but the fact the youngster has that defensive conscience will serve him well come draft day.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s going to jump a lot,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;The teams that don&rsquo;t like (OHL defenseman) Ryan Murphy will go for Nathan Beaulieu.&rdquo;In looking at Beaulieu&rsquo;s ascent, it&rsquo;s worth noting he was the coach&rsquo;s son as a &lsquo;Q&rsquo; freshman back in &rsquo;08-09. And while the specter of entitlement was something the youngster had to deal with, the experience was still positive.&ldquo;I enjoyed it,&rdquo; Beaulieu said. &ldquo;He was an unbelievable coach and he still is.&rdquo;As for the haters who thought his last name got him the roster spot?&ldquo;I think I proved them wrong,&rdquo; he said.Beaulieu said he talked to his dad after every game last season, even if Jacques&rsquo; move to London meant a new long-distance relationship. The possibility of London and Saint John meeting in the Memorial Cup is also present this year, which the younger Beaulieu acknowledges would be somewhat awkward: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know who my mom would cheer for,&rdquo; he laughed.With Sauve gone, the folks in Saint John are cheering for Beaulieu, who said he was a sponge taking advice from the Canucks second-rounder.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m ready,&rdquo; Beaulieu said of the pressure he&rsquo;ll face this year. &ldquo;I think I can step up.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02356/9444092-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="238" height="192"></div><h2>PREDICTED STANDINGS</h2>THN correspondent Neil Hodge sees the Sea Dogs once again vying for glory at the top of the Quebec League.1. Saint John Sea Dogs2. Montreal Juniors3. Acadie-Bathurst Titan4. Quebec Remparts5. Rimouski Oceanic6. PEI Rocket7. Gatineau Olympiques8. Chicoutimi Sagueneens9. Moncton Wildcats10. Lewiston Maineiacs11. Shawinigan Cataractes12. Drummondville Voltigeurs13. Val d&rsquo;Or Foreurs14. Halifax Mooseheads15. Baie-Comeau Drakkar16. Victoriaville Tigres17. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles18. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies<h2>2011 DRAFT PROSPECTS</h2>1. Sean Couturier, C, DrummondvilleBig, skilled pivot won scoring title last year.2. Tomas Jurco, RW, Saint JohnSkilled forward always a threat to do damage.3. Jonathan Huberdeau, C, Saint JohnTalented center excels at playmaking.4. Xavier Ouellet, D, MontrealBlueliner has good puck skills and quick feet.5. Logan Shaw, RW, Cape BretonPower forward with lots of upside.6. Brent Andrews, LW, HalifaxPower forward has size and offensive skill7. Nathan Beaulieu, D, Saint JohnTwo-way defenseman also has gritty side.8. Zack Phillips, C, Saint JohnDangler is a natural goal-scorer.9. Dillon Donnelly, D, ShawiniganPhysical, stay-at-home blueliner.10. Phillip Danault, LW, VictoriavilleTwo-way forward contributes in many ways. &#9632;

f0046-01

DOGGONE GOOD DOG

<div class="byline">BY TIM CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01520/9444144-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BEN HALL/LAKE ERIE MONSTERS)</figcaption></div>A SURE SIGN of leadership qualities is admitting an oversight.It certainly wasn&rsquo;t serious enough to qualify as an outright mistake, but Colorado Avalanche 2007 first-rounder (14th overall) Kevin Shattenkirk really didn&rsquo;t believe he&rsquo;d get a lot out of a week with the Lake Erie Monsters once he decided to turn pro last spring.&ldquo;Coming into it, I just didn&rsquo;t think three games may be enough, so I just went and figured I&rsquo;d see what it was like,&rdquo; the 21-year-old defenseman from Boston University said. &ldquo;It turned out to give me a lot more in return than I thought it would.&ldquo;It was a great experience for me to just learn the speed of the pro game. I was able to get a feel for the players in terms of the actual style of play. It&rsquo;s pretty different than the college game.&rdquo;Shattenkirk, BU&rsquo;s first junior captain in more than 30 years, contributed two assists in those three games and admitted there was a learning curve.&ldquo;The biggest challenge for me was adjusting to the speed,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I found the guys are a lot faster and the game is lot more technical in terms of being in the right position at the right time and being accountable for yourself.&rdquo;The short experience in Cleveland also gave him a summer workout focus as he prepared for his first trip to Avalanche training camp. There, he&rsquo;ll either excel and crack the Colorado lineup or be assigned to start the season in Lake Erie for some valuable seasoning.&ldquo;The physical aspect of the game is something I&rsquo;ve been working on a lot this summer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a huge jump in that respect and come September, since that&rsquo;s where I&rsquo;ve focused my training, I&rsquo;m already excited to see how that plays out.&rdquo;Shattenkirk, whose nine points tied him for the lead among defenseman at the 2009 world juniors in Ottawa, is coming off a solid seven goals and 29 points in 38 games at BU.His decision to leave after three seasons was both difficult and easy, he said.&ldquo;It was tough because BU has become a home for me for the last three years,&rdquo; said the native of Greenwich, Conn. &ldquo;Making that decision isn&rsquo;t an easy one when you&rsquo;re comfortable.&ldquo;At the same time, I knew it was time to go. I talked to coach (Jack) Parker and he felt the same way. I really enjoyed my time there and I&rsquo;m happy that I decided to stay as long as I did.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02340/9444137-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="208" height="208"></div><h2>Kevin Shattenkirk</h2>Lake Erie MonstersHt. 5-11Wt. 195Pos. DAge 21<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03273/9444130-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="190" height="106"></div><h2>AND COUNTING</h2>78Points in 121 games with Boston University (18-60-78). &#9632;

f0047-01

MAKING A MONSTER

<div class="byline">&#x2013; TIM CAMPBELL</div>Canadian viewers will get an extra level of prospects coverage this season as the AHL and CBC have cut a one-year agreement to televise 10 live Sunday afternoon contests.The games will feature the six AHL clubs affiliated with Canadian NHL teams: Binghamton (Ottawa), Toronto (Toronto), Hamilton (Montreal), Manitoba (Vancouver), Oklahoma City (Edmonton) and Abbotsford (Calgary).The broadcasts begin Oct. 17 and wrap up April 3.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking forward to featuring the stars of hockey&rsquo;s future with the AHL on CBC,&rdquo; said Scott Moore, executive director of CBC Sports.FUTURAMA When THN featured Hamilton Bulldogs goalie Cedrick Desjardins in a story last playoffs, Dogs coach Guy Boucher, then an employee of the Montreal Canadiens, declined a request to comment on whether Desjardins&rsquo; excellent play would earn him future opportunities with the Habs.It&rsquo;s reasonable now to wonder what Boucher knew and when he knew it. The coach left the organization in June to take the coaching job with the NHL&rsquo;s Tampa Bay Lightning and, in mid-August, the Lightning traded goalie Karri Ramo to the Habs for none other than Desjardins.The 24-year-old is coming off his best pro season, earning an All-Star Game appearance and leading the league in goals-against average (2.00).HEADING EAST Hamilton is once again taking training camp and pre-season games to Newfoundland. The Bulldogs will play the Binghamton Senators three times in the province: Corner Brook on Sept. 30, Grand Falls-Windsor Oct. 2 and St. John&rsquo;s Oct. 3. &#9632;

2010-11 ALL ABOUT EXPOSURE

&ldquo;SO, HOW&rsquo;S OLLI JOKINEN doing? He&rsquo;s my favorite player you know.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s Gil, a 17-year old, 6-foot-5 defenseman from Ramat Gan, Israel, whose parents took him to see the Florida Panthers in Sunrise years ago. Gil likes Jokinen, the Alex Kovalev skills DVD, hard checks, the Crosby 360 move and carries around a tub of protein powder. Like any Canadian youngster, he has dreams of playing in the NHL.Many kids like Gil could be found at a hockey camp in Metula, the northern-most city in Israel. With a population less than 2,000 and just a wrist shot away from the border of Lebanon, it&rsquo;s hardly a hockey hotbed.The product of a joint venture between Toronto businessman Sidney Greenberg and Levav Weinberg, a fruit farmer by day and hockey player by night, the camp brings together kids of different backgrounds and skill levels from all over Israel.Each year the camp is run with Greenberg donating the equipment and finances necessary to ensure everyone has the right gear and is properly trained. It&rsquo;s about sharing Canada&rsquo;s game with Israel and making sure any child who wants to play hockey can.It was an amazing sight to see kids in Metula wearing Goulding Park peewee AA sweaters from the Greater Toronto League.Many NHLers have made the trip to teach in Metula: Jeff Beukeboom and Steve Thomas were there in 2009; Jean Beliveau, Darryl Sittler and Paul Henderson have come in the past; and Roger Neilson established an annual summer camp before he passed away in 2003.Israel has been a member of the IIHF since 1991 and has 500 players. The men&rsquo;s national team is ranked 38th in the world, but there&rsquo;s only one rink of any kind in the country: The Canada Centre, a multi-sport complex funded by Jewish Canadians.At the camp, the kids hit the ice and hate taking breaks between drills. The ice time is precious, not to be squandered.Through my eyes, when you&rsquo;re 5,700 miles from home, being around kids who love the game the way you do, you hardly feel as if you left your front door. &#9632;

HOCKEY DAY IN ISRAEL

<div class="byline">By Larry Humber</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-02268/9444230-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg" title="f0049-02" width="914" height="914"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01363/9444237-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="140" height="139"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>ACROSS</h2>1 ___ Byfuglien is now a Thrasher4 Lake ___ was the site of the 1980 Olympics9 One who looks after players&rsquo; minor injuries10 Mike ___ is now a Sabre11 ___ Kindrachuk won a Cup with the Flyers12 Where Miikka tends net13 Syl ___ was a legendary Leaf captain15 Lose a game you should have won: ___ it18 Non-professional, like the first Cup winners21 Nebraska-___ is in the CCHA23 Netminder Antti ___24 Used by officials to halt play before they had whistles25 Hockey players carry their gear in ___ bags26 Ken Campbell, for one<h2>DOWN</h2>1 Red ___ was NHL president from 1943-462 Phoenix&rsquo;s ___ Doan, pictured3 Sparks5 Within the rules6 Where Lord Stanley&rsquo;s Cup now resides7 One of the Sutters8 ___ Brewer is with the Blues14 Dion ___ is now captain in Toronto15 Troy ___ is another Blackhawk16 Missed when attempting a shot17 ___ Hall went first overall19 &lsquo;Cat&rsquo; Francis&rsquo; real first name20 Don Cherry&rsquo;s ___ &rsquo;em, Sock &rsquo;em Hockey22 One who represents a player at contract timeANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT <a href="http://THN.com/XWORD">THN.com/xword</a>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION&nbsp;ACROSS 1. DAN BYLSMA, 8. LUCIC, 9. CHARRON, 10. REGINA, 11. SMYTHE, 12. TIE UP, 14. NOLAN, 17. FLYERS, 19. ICEMEN, 20. OAKLAND, 21. EXTOL, 22. EIGHTY-TWO DOWN 2. ASHAM, 3. BURSTS, 4. LOOSE, 5. ALBERT, 6. SCRIBES, 7. SCRAPPERS, 11. SCHNEIDER, 13. ALBERTA, 15. NEEDLE, 16. BY-PLAY, 17. FLASH, 18. RENEW<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-03207/9444223-1-eng-US/f0049-032.jpg" title="f0049-03" width="1527" height="771"></div> &#9632;

f0049-02

CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">with Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0050-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02247/9444306-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Evgeni Malkin developed in Russia before becoming a star in the NHL. (ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01345/9444313-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="187" height="222"></div>IN THE AFTERMATH of an event such as the World Hockey Summit, held in Toronto during the last days of another extraordinarily short summer, you always ask yourself: &ldquo;Did I learn something that I didn&rsquo;t already know?&rdquo; That, in theory, is the primary value of bringing together a who&rsquo;s who of the hockey world &ndash; to educate, first and foremost; sharing information about the state of the game around the globe to figure out where the next good idea might come from.It turns out the Russians have quietly done just that. They took a good hard look at their development system and decided that, as good as it can be in the formative stages, the absence of any kind of junior league stunted the growth of many a young player once he turned 17 or so.It was always a curious anomaly that even as Russia sent a series of great players to the NHL in recent years (Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk to name just a few), they never quite got a handle on how to bring along players who were not quite as precocious.<blockquote class="pullQuote">MEDVEDEV AND FETISOV PUT A HUMAN FACE ON RUSSIAN HOCKEY</blockquote>At a certain point, their development system just ground to a halt, so that players either moved up to the big club or floundered in limbo. Accordingly, last year, the Russians introduced a junior league that borrows broadly from the North American model and, according to Kontinental League president Alexander Med-vedev, it will be expanded to include 25 teams this season.The KHL&rsquo;s interest in this enterprise is obvious. As it tries to gain a foothold on the hockey stage, the need for talent is great. Thus far, the KHL strategy has been to try and coax players home, if at all possible, and some do go &ndash; Evgeni Nabokov, Maxim Afinogenov, Denis Grebeshkov to name three this summer. But as any good NHL team knows, it is easier to develop players than to go out and pay a free agent premium to acquire them.Russia&rsquo;s middle tier of players has lagged far behind what Canada and, to some degree, what the United States has been able to produce these past few seasons. There weren&rsquo;t a lot of hard choices to be made on Russia&rsquo;s 2010 men&rsquo;s Olympic team, for example, because pretty much every player at the top level qualified for the squad. By contrast, Canada could have iced three capable entries and Team USA II would also have been able to hold its own.By introducing a de facto junior league (and changing the second senior division into a minor league, affiliated with the KHL in the same way that the AHL is a developmental league for the NHL), Russia hopes to remedy that black hole in its development system.&ldquo;The young players didn&rsquo;t have much of a chance because they were not mature enough to play at the top level and their youth competition was very miserable,&rdquo; Medvedev explained. &ldquo;Now, they have first-class competition and in the playoffs, they had full houses from quarterfinals to the finals. This is the second year, but it will grow up. It is part of the program to generate more players.&rdquo;Medvedev and former Soviet great Slava Fetisov were front and center throughout the summit and, if nothing else, put a human face on a league and hockey culture that still tends to mystify.A few North Americans have ventured over there in recent years. Dave King and Barry Smith coached Metallurg Magnitogorsk and SKA St. Petersburg, respectively. Others, mainly goalies such as John Grahame, Ray Emery and Robert Esche went over to play &ndash; and their experiences varied. Some didn&rsquo;t get their money. Others were fearful about the medical response times, in the aftermath of Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov&rsquo;s death in 2008 (and years earlier, Sergei Zholtok&rsquo;s death in the Superleague, predecessor of the KHL). In most of Russia, with a few exceptions, the infrastructure lags behind its NHL equivalent.Still, both Medvedev and Fetisov were compelling spokesmen for their league, freely acknowledging the growing pains they&rsquo;d endured, but insisting that lessons have been well learned and there is nowhere to go but up.Medvedev even imagined a day when the traditional route for high-end player transfer could be reversed.&ldquo;Young people are international by character,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They would like to experience different-style life, different geography. I&rsquo;m rather sure that we will see more and more, not only stars, but young players (coming), because we are drafting not only Europeans and Russians, but North Americans.&ldquo;It means every club has the sports rights for particular players. If the player were to decide &lsquo;I would like to try Europe,&rsquo; he knows where to go.&rdquo; &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

September 13, 2010

New Jersey

Snapshots

JERSEY Hound

THEBIGPICTURE