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Future Watch 2018
THN’s Future Watch 2018 has all the staples of our popular annual prospect-blowout edition: our Top 100 list, Top 10s and team grades for every franchise, Sneak Peeks at the 2018, ’19 and ’20 drafts and much more. Also in the issue: features on Mittlestadt, Pettersson, Strome and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
BEYOND THE BLUELINE
THE COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS spent six picks on defensemen in the 2015 draft, landing two players who are already NHL regulars (Zach Werenski and Markus Nutivaara) and two others who should arrive within the next couple of years (Gabriel Carlsson and Vladislav Gavrikov). Good thing that worked out. The Blue Jackets have drafted only one defenseman in each of the past two drafts, waiting until the seventh round to do so last summer. There’s a reason only two of Columbus’ top 10 prospects are blueliners: it has the youngest defense corps in the NHL. With both top-end talent and depth, it’ll be a position of strength for years to come. 1 GABRIEL CARLSSON D, 21, 6-5, 192 Cleveland (AHL) 26–1–3–4–12 2015 draft, 29th overall OVERALL 79 Carlsson had played only two NHL games when the…
Stealing the Show
MOMENTS FROM A MIRACLE Germany was less than a minute from Olympic gold, settling for silver after Russia tied it late and won in overtime. THE RECORD BOOK WILL show that Russia did not, in fact, win its first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey in 26 years with a heart-stopping overtime victory over Germany. Rather, it was the Olympic Athletes from Russia – OAR for short – that mined gold on a power play goal in overtime by Kirill Kaprizov, who was the youngest OARer to row the boat, in a 4-3 win over Germany. But really, who is the International Olympic Committee fooling? Russia won, as expected, but it was Germany – upstart Germany – who stole the show. Usually, the Germans occupy the also-ran column of any major hockey tournament. They had…
THE K’S ARE SPECIAL
TRADING SO MANY DRAFT picks has caught up to the Wild. While they’re pleased with the quality of their prospects, they don’t have the quantity thanks to dealing 11 draft picks (including two first-rounders, four seconds and two thirds) and prospect Alex Tuch since 2013. Matt Dumba, Joel Eriksson Ek and Gustav Olofsson are the only draft picks since 2012 to have played more than 50 NHL games for the Wild. “We haven’t had a lot of picks, that’s for sure,” said senior vice-president of hockey operations Brent Flahr. “But it’s not like nine years ago when we had 10 different holes. It helps when your team’s deeper. Sometimes you have to pay a price.” 1 KIRILL KAPRIZOV LW, 20, 5-10, 192 CSKA Moscow (KHL) 46–15–25–40–14 2015 draft, 135th overall OVERALL 11 The good news…
IT’S TIME TO MOVE FORWARD
THE ANAHEIM DUCKS RECOGNIZE their zeal to have a system deep in defensemen would come with a cost, and they addressed their deficit by focusing on skilled forwards in the past two NHL drafts. Consequently, it was a natural development that their blueline prospects would break through and graduate first. Brandon Montour is now a regular, while Shea Theodore is situated firmly in Vegas, a trade casualty only because of the need to protect Josh Manson from the expansion draft. Andy Welinski also made his debut, Marcus Pettersson earned his first call-up and Jacob Larsson isn’t far away. Now the next wave of forwards is in the queue. 1 SAM STEEL C, 20, 6-0, 184 Regina (WHL) 47–24–47–71–18 2016 draft, 30th overall OVERALL 17 After his explosive 2016-17, expectations were high for Steel and his…
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