Search for your favorite player or team
© The Hockey News. All rights reserved. Any and all material on this website cannot be used, reproduced, or distributed without prior written permission from Roustan Media Ltd. For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Future Watch 2012
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.
STAMP OF APPROVAL
Mikael Granlund remains focused on the here and now, and a little on the NHL. Each morning when he wakes up in Helsinki, Granlund turns on the TV and checks the NHL scores – all scores, not just the ones for the Minnesota Wild, the club that drafted him ninth overall in 2010. Before the 2012 World Junior Championship in Calgary and Edmonton in December, Granlund hadn’t seen the Wild play at all this season, but he did manage to catch a game on TV during the tournament. The Wild, in turn, must have had their eyes on Granlund all year long, as the 20-year-old keeps on building his resume in the Finnish SM-liiga where he’s currently a reigning champion, Helsinki IFK’s first line center and second in league scoring with…
MARVELLOUS MIDDLE MEN
B RANKED 13th Slowly but surely, NHL-ready players are rising through the Rangers system. Three of them who have developed through the NCAA – center Derek Stepan and defenseman Ryan Mc-Donagh (Wisconsin) and left winger Carl Hagelin (Michigan) – are contributing in 2011-12. And the club’s No. 1 pick in 2009, Boston College’s Chris Kreider, is on the brink. Four of the top 10 are centers, which the front office targeted in last summer’s draft. Tim Erixon and Dylan McIlrath are polaropposite D-men style-wise, but will contribute down the road. Although all-world Henrik Lundqvist is just 29, don’t be surprised if the Rangers draft a goaltender in June to groom for the future. 1 TIM ERIXON D, 20, Connecticut (AHL) 6-2, 190, 32-2-23-25-26 The Swedish defenseman and son of former Ranger Jan Erixon is a…
FLAMES HIT RESET BUTTON
C RANKED 29th The Calgary Flames’ draft-day struggles date back 20 years. It’s easy to say the Flames failed time and again to build their system during the Darryl Sutter, era, but the woes go well beyond that time, with more misses than hits – especially among early picks – through the early 1990’s. Daniel Tkaczuk, Rico Fata and Brent Krahn were all top-10 overall picks. Now comes the long process of building the right system. Jay Feaster, who took over GM duties from Sutter just over a year ago, brought John Weisbrod from the Boston Bruins onboard as assistant GM to help build a prospect pool which has been thin far too long. At least the Flames have a few cookies in the jar. 1 SVEN BAERTSCHI LW, 19, Portland (WHL) 5-10, 185, 36-20-50-70-28 Until…
NEXT UP, THE FINE-TUNING
A+ RANKED 1st The Oilers are headed in the right direction with their yields from the past few drafts – Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be cornerstones of the franchise. That part was easy. A chimp could have picked Hall and Nugent-Hopkins first overall. The hard part is surrounding those players with a strong enough supporting cast to win. And while they have some blue-chip defensemen in the system, Edmonton’s second and third round picks at forward are a long way off. The Oilers are headed in the right direction, but as teams like Columbus and the Islanders have shown, there is more to rebuilding a hockey team than a couple of first overall picks. 1 OSCAR KLEFBOM D, 18, Farjestad (Swe.) 6-3, 204, 27-0-0-0-2 Klefbom is a rare blend of size and…
Made possible with the support of
