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.

June 1, 1999

The Hockey News June 1, 1999

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01810/7178374-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Miroslav SatanDrafted: 111th by Edmonton, 1993</figcaption></div>A young team on the rise, the future looks as bright as the present for the Buffalo Sabres.Buffalo has consistently been rated among the NHL&rsquo;s best teams when it comes to identifying and grooming prospects. Though there will undoubtedly be some concern regarding the future of Dominik Hasek (he&rsquo;ll be 35 next season), the backbone of their still youngish team, the Sabres have an up-and-comer in goalie Martin Biron, an all-American League performer this season who did not look out of place in his brief time with the parent club this season. The Sabres also have netminder Mika Noronen in their system, a Finnish prospect and their No. 1 pick in the 1997 entry draft.The Sabres appear solid at defense with prospects Cory Sarich, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Henrik Tallinder, Demitri Kalinin and the fast-rising Brian Campbell on the horizon. They&rsquo;re a little thin at forward, but the Sabres like the looks of Russian Maxim Afmogenov, the best forward at this year&rsquo;s World Junior Championship and Norm Milley of the Sudbury Wolves, a scoring star in the Ontario League.The Sabres put a lot of emphasis on the draft and in recent years have added to their Western scouting and European contingent on the idea that identifying good prospects, drafting them and then holding on to them is the best way for a small-market team to find success.Calling The Shots: GM Darcy Regier has input, but the key players on draft day are Don Luce, director of player personnel, and Jim Benning, director of amateur scouting. Luce, a Sabres&rsquo; center during the 1970s, will be taking input from Benning as well as pro scout Terry Martin and assistant GM Larry Carriere. Luce is a conservative who in recent years has leaned towards well-rounded players with a defensive bent as opposed to flat-out scorers.Draft Tendency: It tends to be the best player available, but the Sabres will veer from that slightly if there&rsquo;s a player who is equal in overall ability, but could fill a positional weakness. They have a tendency to draft in cycles, loading up on goaltenders and defensemen in one season, forwards in another. Scouts are charged with finding players who are highly competitive by nature.Immediate Need: If there&rsquo;s a criticism of the Sabres on the ice, it&rsquo;s that they are too much alike. The team could use a few forwards with some size and scoring ability especially up the middle where they have problems generating scoring opportunities and aren&rsquo;t very strong on faceoffs or physical plays. What they really need is a No. 1 scoring center or a dedicated checking center to take some of the load off Michael Peca who right now tends to do both jobs.Long-Term Need: The Sabres have a sturdy young defense and lots of defensive prospects. That needs to be balanced out with some forwards: a topline center plus a few wingers who can I manage 15-30 goals a season and do a little banging in the comers. Buffalo is likely to lose winger Joey Juneau to free I agency. The 2000 expansion draft could also pose a problem if the Sabres opt to protect both Hasek and Biron, thereby I exposing an extra position player.The top line of Peca, Vaclav Varada I and Dixon Ward appears set, but Ward I was on the Sabres&rsquo; list of available I players last season and could be there I again in 2000 or beyond. Winger Geoff Sanderson hasn&rsquo;t shown himself to be a $1.5-million-per-season acquisition and could be gone as well. The Sabres are also going to need some toughness to replace the aging Rob Ray.Ready to Step In: Either defenseman Sarich or Grand-Pierre could be I ready to take a role next season and I it&rsquo;s almost a given that Biron can&rsquo;t I learn anything more in the AHL. The Sabres would really like to have I Afmogenov come to camp and make a I mark with the offense. He has the I skills, but he has to be signed and there I are questions of his maturity level. Some say he is the best offensive forward not in the NHLAtlanta Bound: Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: James Patrick, D, 36; Wayne Primeau, C, 23; Rob Ray, RW, 32; Geoff Sanderson, RW, 29; Darryl Shannon, D, 31.Restricted Free Agents: Stu Barnes, C, 28; Curtis Brown, C, 23; Jay McKee, D, 23; Wayne Primeau, C, 23; Geoff Sanderson, RW, 29; Miroslav Satan, RW, 25; Vaclav Varada, RW, 23; Dixon Ward, RW/LW.31; Rhett Warrener, D, 23; Jason Woolley, D, 29.Unrestricted Free Agents: Joey Juneau, C/RW, 31. &#9632;

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FEATURES

Scoring relief next goal

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01444/7178467-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Tony Amonte Drafted: 68th by Rangers, 1988</figcaption></div>It has been a while since the Chicago Blackhawks hit the jackpot at the entry draft, more than 10 years to be exact.That would have been 1988, when they grabbed center Jeremy Roenick out of Thayer Academy with the eighth pick overall.Their first round selections since Roenick have made little impact, although the Hawks still hope 1997 first-rounder, right winger Ty Jones, and 1998 top pick, center Mark Bell, will be good NHL players one day. (Jones played for the Kamloops Blazers of the Western League in 1998-99 and Bell for the Ottawa 67s of the Ontario League.)Among the first round picks in the years following the selection of Roenick, only center Dean McAmmond (1991) finished the season on the Hawks&rsquo; roster and he was re-acquired last March in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers.Defensemen Adam Bennett and forwards Karl Dykhuis, Sergei Krivokrasov, Eric Lecompte, Ethan Moreau, Dmitri Nabokov and Dan Cleary, Hawks&rsquo; first round picks from 1989 through 1997, were either busts or traded.The Hawks have two first round picks in the 1999 draft, their own (fourth overall) and the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; (23rd overall) from the Chris Chelios trade.The Hawks&rsquo; scouting staff led by GM Bob Murray, chief scout Mike Dumas and director of player personnel Dale Tallon, might be more prepared for this draft than any before. Murray made six trips to Europe since the first of the year, most of them accompanied by Tallon.If the Hawks are indeed building a contending team, then this year&rsquo;s draft might be their most important in a long time.Draft Tendency: In the years when the Hawks were making the playoffs regularly and picking later in the first round, their philosophy usually was to take the best player available.But lately, with higher picks, the Hatfks have gone for need, mostly offensive players in the last two drafts.In each of the last two drafts, the Hawks have traded up to get the player they wanted, that being Cleary 13th overall in 1997 and Bell at No. 8 in 1998. They may be looking to do the same thing this season, especially with five first round picks over the next three seasons to use as trade bait.Immediate Need: Murray would love to find a forward in the first round who could step in and play right away, although that&rsquo;s usually asking a lot.The Hawks need scoring help at wing, particularly on Doug Gilmour&rsquo;s line, providing Gilmour isn&rsquo;t shifted to left wing on a line with center Alex Zhamnov and right winger Tony Amonte.A stay-at-home defenseman is another priority, although Murray&rsquo;s best chance of finding one who can play right away figures to be through free agency and not this draft.Long-Term Need: The Hawks think they have a stable full of good prospects at forward, led by Bell, Jones, Kyle Calder. But there isn&rsquo;t much coming on defense past 1996 second round pick Remi Royer and the jury is still out on his chances to play regularly in the NHL. Developing their own goaltender is another project of Murray&rsquo;s, although Jocelyn Thibault, acquired from the Montreal Canadiens last season, is only 24 and figures to be around a long time.Late last season, Murray signed Ohio State University free agent goalie Jeff Maund, whom they plan to bring along slowly.Ready To Step In: Bell was so impressive at training camp last September that the Hawks hated to send him back to the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s of the Ontario League even though it was the right things to do. There appears to be a spot among the Hawks&rsquo; top nine forwards waiting for Bell if he shows he is ready, but Murray, admitting mistakes in the past like with Cleary, insists his prized prospect won&rsquo;t be rushed.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Mark Janssens, C, 30; Dave Manson, D, 32; Bryan Muir, D, 25; Bob Probert, LW, 33; Reid Simpson, LW, 29; Doug Zmolek, D, 28.Restricted Free Agents: Jamie Allison, D, 23; Brad Brown, D, 23; Anders Eriksson, D, 24; Jean-Yves Leroux, LW, 22; Boris Mironov, D, 27; Jocelyn ThibaultT G, 24; Ryan VandenBussche, RW, 25.Unrestricted Free Agents: Mark Fitzpatrick, G, 31; Ed Olczyk, LW, 32. &#9632;

f0042-01

Key year in building plan

<div class="image-hero"><img title="THN0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0011-012/7179180-1-eng-US/thn0011-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

THN0011-01

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Mario Annicchiarico</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0046-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01282/7178591-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Bill GuerinDrafted: fifth by New Jersey, 1989</figcaption></div>The Edmonton Oilers had been ready to pull out the stops-or stoppers-at the 1999 entry draft.But the acquisition of goalie Tommy Salo and his subsequent play has themrethinking their needs.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re pretty comfortable,"said director of player personnel and hockey operations Kevin Prendergast."The priority of a goaltender has I dropped. It&rsquo;s still a priority, it&rsquo;s just notas big as it was.&rdquo;At one time, the thinking was Edmonton would use two of its first three picks Ion goalies. That has now changed.Which way they&rsquo;ll go, however, Iremains to be seen.&ldquo;Our defense has been good,&rdquo; Prendergast said. &ldquo;I think we lack pure goal-scorers, but I think there are probably 20 Iteams in the league in that position. They are obviously hard to find.&rdquo;And once they find them, they have to be able to pay them. The small-market Oilers have to work with one of thesmallest payrolls in the league. That presents an annual challenge for president-GM Glen Sather.Calling The Shots: Barry Fraserremains head scout and-along with Prendergast-sits atop the Oilers&rsquo; draft day decision-making food chain.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there is what you would call a loud voice. We basically go over it thoroughly. We have some screaming matches, though,&rdquo; Prendergast laughed. &ldquo;Barry has mellowed over the last couple of years, he&rsquo;s not as head-strong as he used to be. When we go through all our meetings, we pretty much have a good idea how it&rsquo;s going to work out.&rdquo;Prendergast also has tremendous faith in his staff, a group that includes the experience of Ed Chadwick, Lome Davis, Harry Howell and Gilles Leger, and the youthful exuberance of Brad Davis, Chris McCarthy, Kent Nilsson and Dave Semenko.&ldquo;The best staff in hockey as far as I&rsquo;m concerned,&rdquo; Prendergast said.Draft Tendency: It has never changed. &ldquo;The best player available,&rdquo; Prendergast said.&ldquo;It has always been that way and always will be as long as I&rsquo;m part of the organization.&rdquo;Speed, quickness and skating ability have always been pre-requisites, too.&ldquo;They have to be able to skate to be an Oiler.That&rsquo;s our No. 1 priority,&rdquo; Prendergast said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a complicated thing. You try to get thebest player available who fits the pattern that you&rsquo;re looking for: (somebody) who can skate, play the game, might be big or strong, or is going to get big and strong.&rdquo;Immediate Need: The focus seems to have switched from goaltending to goal-scoring.Right winger Bill Guerin was the only Oiler to reach the 30-goal plateau this past season, while center Rem Murray (21) and right winger Mike Grier (20) were the only others to hit 20.Long-Term Need: This is no different than the immediate need: the Oilers need snipers. Outside of Guerin and I Doug Weight, the natural goal-scoring I ability in the system is slim. The Oilers have been scouring the minor leagues and had some success early last season with Kevin Brown, who was later traded for Vladimir Vorobiev.The team&rsquo;s budget has an obvious effect on finding someone who can score on a regular basis. The goaltending will also be in question if unrestricted free agent Steve Pass more isn&rsquo;t I signed to back up Salo.Ready To Step In: Defensemen I Brad Norton and Chris Hajt are the I most likely prospects ready to play a role in Edmonton next season. Both play a solid, physical, stay-at-home style. The Oilers already have plenty of offensive talent on the back end in Roman Hamrlik, Janne Niinimaa and I Tom Poti, but the Oilers will soon lose I stay-at-homers such as Marty McSorley I and Frank Musil, who are nearing the I ends of their careers.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be I exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: I Bob Essensa, G, 34; Marty McSorley, I D, 36; Alex Selivanov, RW, 28.Restricted Free Agents: Josef I Beranek, C, 29; Jason Bowen, LW, 25; I Sean Brown, D, 22; Pat Falloon, RW, I 26; Chris Ferraro, C, 26; Mike Grier, I RW, 24; Bill Guerin, RW, 28; Roman I Hamrlik, D, 25; Joe Hulbig, C; 25; | Chad Kilger, C, 22; Christian Laflamme, D, 22; Fredrik Lindquist, RW, 25; Craig Millar, D, 22; Rem Murray, C, 26; Tommy Salo, G, 28; Ryan Smyth, LW, 23.Unrestricted Free Agents: Bob Essensa, G, 34; Daniel Lacroix, C/LW, 30; Marty McSorley, D, 36; Steve Passmore, G, 26. &#9632;

f0046-01

No longer desperate in net

<div class="byline">Bob McKenzie</div>Draft day hasn&rsquo;t provided much intrigue with the No. 1 pick in recent years. That has changed this year.The NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau rated Czech-born Patrik Stefan of the International League&rsquo;s Long Beach Ice Dogs the top North American prospect for the draft; THN says the Tampa Bay Lightning, who own the first pick, will opt for junior scoring sensation Pavel Brendl of the Calgary Hitmen.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0138/7175041-1-eng-US/c0002-012.jpg" title="C0002-01" width="315" height="492"></div>And what of the Super Swedes, twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin? They have expressed the desire to play together, as they have all their lives. Two teams, the Atlanta Thrashers and Vancouver Canucks may try to swing trades to make that a reality.Welcome to the 14th annual THN Draft Preview. Included are profiles on THN&rsquo;s top 56-rated players, as compiled and written by draft guru and THN associate editor Bob McKenzie. Also featured are updates on the best three picks each organization has made in each of the past three entry drafts.The entry draft is being held in Boston at FleetCenter June 26 beginning at noon. &#9632;

C0002-01

IN THIS ISSUE

DRAFT DAY PROMISES MORE MYSTERY IN ’99

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello Draft Preview Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="C0002-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0239/7175079-1-eng-US/c0002-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Moose Jaw&rsquo;s Jamie Lundmark is THN&rsquo;s No. 5 ranked prospect for the 1999 NHL entry draft.</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s Draft Preview&rsquo;s bread and butter to tell you about top prospects in the June 26 entry draft. We also endeavor, however, not to forget about players we&rsquo;ve trumpeted in past years.One of the most time intensive segments of DP is its progress report-looking back at the past three drafts and identifying each team&rsquo;s three best selections. The results adjoin NHL team stories on pgs. 36 through 66.Assembling the progress report involves a discussion with each team&rsquo;s head scout or director of player personnel, then using a panel of scouts to rate players on a star grid. Five stars indicate projected NHL star, four stars for above-average NHL players, three stars is average, two stars for fringe players and one star for longshot prospects.We started this report in 1995. Our five-star prospects have included Saku Koivu and Bryan Berard. Four-star prospects identified include Mattias Ohlund, Wade Redden and Ryan Smyth.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0330/7175072-1-eng-US/c0002-032.jpg" title="C0002-03" width="410" height="569"></div>New York Islanders&rsquo; prospect Roberto Luongo repeated as the only five-star prospect this year. There are 11 four-star prospects compared to nine last season.It&rsquo;s interesting to watch the prospects trend from year to year. Josh Holden had three stars in 1997, four stars last year and three again in 1999.Washington prospect Alex Volchkov and Boston prospect Johnathan Aitken have gone from three stars to one. Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; 1997 first rounder Michel Riesen dropped from four to two.On the plus side, two prospects rose from longshot potential (one star) to being projected as average NHLers (three stars). They are future Carolina Hurricane Shane Willis and future Calgary Flame Toni Lydman. &#9632;

C0002-02

Progress report charts prospects

<div class="byline">By Todd Kimberley</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011743/7175134-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div>Pavel Brendl is known to his Calgary Hitmen teammates as &rsquo;Big Bear.&rsquo;But astronomers would know the marvel from the Czech Republic as Ursa Major-the constellation bearing his nickname in Latin-because his star just seems to shine more brightly every night.Brendl, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound right winger with the Western League&rsquo;s Hitmen, attracted attention in 1998-99 as the only rookie to win the WHL&rsquo;s scoring derby in the league&rsquo;s 33 year history. And as the Hitmen competed at the Memorial Cup tournament in Ottawa, there was serious discussion whether Brendl might be chosen No. 1 overall at the NHL entry draft in Boston, June 26.After all, Brendl-ranked first among this year&rsquo;s prospects by THN in Draft Preview and second among North American skaters by the Central Scouting Bureau-made himself an even hotter commodity during the WHL playoffs, leading the league with 21 goals and 46 points in 20 games as the Hitmen won their first WHL championship.&ldquo;He has probably been one of the best players around the net in the Western Hockey League in a long time,&rdquo; said Brad Robson, the Calgary-based Western Canadian scout for the Dallas Stars. &ldquo;He has a quick release, an excellent wrist shot and backhand. He&rsquo;s a smart player, very skilled, great hands-probably one of the best offensive players to come around in a long, long time. He just keeps getting better and better.&rdquo;Added Hitmen coach Dean Clark: &ldquo;The way he has played, he has a lot of people talking about him possibly going No. 1 overall. He has come miles in maturity and he&rsquo;s one of the best team-oriented guys we&rsquo;ve got.&rdquo;Brendl&rsquo;s path to junior hockey stardom was paved last July when the Hitmen nabbed the native of Nove Mesto Metuji (a northeastern Czech town), 34th overall in the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s annual import draft.With most major junior teams without reliable contacts in Europe, the import draft is usually considered a gamble, but as Hitmen head scout Paul Charles reasoned, &ldquo;if we were going to get a European, we figured we might as well hit the home run.&rdquo;After a 10-day tryout with the International League&rsquo;s Las Vegas Thunder and a brief September tussle with the Czech Ice Hockey Federation, which temporarily demanded more than the customary $2,000 release fee for Brendl and a few other WHL players, Brendl finally suited up for the Hitmen&rsquo;s fourth regular season game-and proceeded to set the league alight.After forging a near-symbiotic relationship with underrated center Brad Moran, Brendl set Hitmen franchise records for most goals (73), points (134), game-winning goals (12), shorthanded goals (10) and highest plus-minus (plus-68). He also recorded a point in 20 consecutive games from Dec. 2 through Jan. 26, another new club standard.<blockquote class="pullQuote">In two shifts, he demonstrated more skills to me than I&rsquo;ve seen in many, many players in a whole game. 77</blockquote>On March 23, at the WHL&rsquo;s season-ending awards banquet, Brendl was loaded down with hardware, carrying away the Bob Clarke Trophy as the league&rsquo;s top scorer, the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year and the WHL&rsquo;s plus-minus award.&ldquo;Having center man like (Moran) is best thing whatever can happen to me,&rdquo; Brendl said. &ldquo;He knows what I&rsquo;m doing before I do it.&rdquo;Brendl&rsquo;s memorable spring playoff performance-he scored six points in one game, five on two other occasions-silenced any remaining doubters.&ldquo;He demonstrated an ability to battle through whatever he faced,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He proved he can play in traffic and that he can still play and score under pressure. He came up against a really good defensive club in Kamloops (in the WHL final) and was still quite effective.&rdquo;After six months of breaking down the language barrier b taking English classe and poring over his English dictionary, Brendl has demonstratea a keen wit, a goofy sense of humor, a new passion for golf and a congenial personality.&ldquo;The language was a big thing,&rdquo; said John Boessenkool, &rsquo; who along with his wife Ruth billets Brendl at their Calgary home: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a little more fun in his life now, whereas before it was difficult because he didn&rsquo;t know how to express himself.&rdquo;Added Ruth Boessenkool with a chuckle: &ldquo;Pavel is a nice kid. He&rsquo;s into golfing now. He loves his golfing-and he cheats!&rdquo;Brendl Knows ne 11 have to improve his defensive awareness in the future-even though he came a long way during the 1998-99 season-and build up some muscle on his upper body and long drainpipe legs before the next hockey season begins.But he remains recalcitrant on the much-publicized quirk of his bad eating habits, which have him gobbling hot dogs as fast as his billets can cook &rsquo;em up.&ldquo;I think what I like is good for me,&rdquo; said Brendl, who was in temporary heaven back in February when his parents visited for three weeks and his mother, Stanislava, cooked him an endless procession of Czech cuisine like dumplings, duck and garlic soup.&ldquo;I ate what I wanted,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t eal cooked vegetable, Never. I would never eat it. 1 read it in some book, everything about diet is in your mind.&rdquo;Noted Ruth Boessenkool: &ldquo;He smells everything. He says if it smells good, it&rsquo;s supposed to be tasting good.&rdquo;Is a dietary reform on the horizon? &ldquo;My chicken-fried rice has peas and sprouts in it,&rdquo; Boessenkool said. &ldquo;For a while he was taking them out, but he doesn&rsquo;t do that anymore.&rdquo;Brendl has changed a lot of stubborn minds the season, especially in the playoffs, but there are also those who were always sold o. him-like Charles, who finally got a chance to see him practise last July with other European players at a Sherwood Park, Alta., arena, two weeks after he was chosen by the Hitmen.Brendl&rsquo;s ice time was short and sweet-he bruised his shoulder crashing into the end boards after just 10 minutes-but it was enough for Charles.&ldquo;The guys in the stands were bugging me because he wasn&rsquo;t doing anything at first-just kind of hanging around the red line,&rdquo; Charles said. &ldquo;But all of a sudden, the puck came to him and he just exploded.&ldquo;In two shifts, he demonstrated more skills to me than I&rsquo;ve seen in many, many players in a whole game. I said to the guys I was sitting with, &rsquo;I think I&rsquo;ve seen enough. We can go now&rsquo; &ldquo; &#9632;

f0003-01

TOP PROSPECTS

"Big Bear’ Brendl claws way to top of ’99 draft class

Welcome to our 14th annual Draft Preview. Below is all the information you need to best understand the statistics in this special issue.The following legend lists abbreviations for statistics and leagues that are found in player prospect and update sections as well as the Central Scouting Bureau listing.Special notes: European players are identified by team and country or level of hockey. Europeans playing in second division leagues are denoted with a .2. American high school players are identified by USES. Other abbreviations are: bantam (Ban.), midget (Mid.), junior (Jr., Jr. A, Jr. B or Jr. C), independent (ind.) and World Junior Championship (WJC).<h2>Statistics</h2>LEA-league; GP-games played; G-goals; A-assists; P-points; PIM&mdash;penalty minutes; W-L-T-wins-losses-ties; MIN-minutes; GA-goals against; SV%-save percentage; SO-shutouts; GAA-goals-against average.<h2>Minor Pro</h2>American League (AHL): Adirondack, Albany, Cincinnati, Fredericton, Hamilton, Hartford, Hershey, Kentucky, Lowell, New Haven, Philadelphia, Portland, Providence, Rochester, Saint John, St. John&rsquo;s, Springfield, Syracuse, Worcester.International League (IHL): Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Manitoba, Michigan, Milwaukee, Orlando, Utah.<h2>Major Junior</h2>Ontario League (OHL): Barrie, Belleville, Brampton, Erie, Guelph, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Mississauga, North Bay, Oshawa, Ottawa, Owen Sound, Peterborough, Plymouth, St. Michael&rsquo;s, Sarnia, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Windsor.Quebec League (QMJHL): Acadie-Bathurst, Baie-Comeau, Cape Breton, Chicoutimi, Drummondville, Halifax, Hull, Moncton, Quebec, Rimouski, Rouyn-Noranda, Shawinigan, Sherbrooke, Vai d&rsquo;Or, Victoriaville.Western League (WHL): Brandon, Calgary, Kamloops, Kelowna, Kootenay, Leth bridge, Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw, Portland, Prince Albert, Prince George, Red Deer, Regina, Saskatoon, Seattle, Spokane, Swift Current, Tri-City.<h2>Junior</h2>Alberta Junior League (AJHL), British Columbia League (BCHL), Central Junior League (CJHL), United States League (USHL), Eastern Junior League (EJHL), Western Ontario Junior B League (WOJHL).<h2>U.S. College</h2>Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA): Alaska-Fairbanks, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Northern Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Western Michigan.Eastern College Athletic Association (ECAC): Brown, Clarkson, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Renssalaer, St. Lawrence, Union, Vermont, Yale.Hockey East (HE): Boston College, Boston University, Mass.-Amherst, Mass.-Lowell, Maine, Merrimack, New Hampshire, Northeastern, Providence.Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA): Alaska-Anchorage, Colorado College, Denver, Michigan Tech, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota, St. Cloud, Wisconsin.<h2>Europe</h2>Czech Republic (Cze.), Finland (Fin.), Germany (Ger.), Kazakhstan (Kaz.), Norway (Nor.), Russia (Rus.), Slovakia (Slo.), Sweden (Swe.), Switzerland (Swi.), Ukraine (Ukr.). &#9632;

Your guide to statistics, teams and leagues

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011679/7175189-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrik Stefan missed a good portion of the 1998-99 season because of two concussions.</figcaption></div>The question in the minds of NHL GMs is not whether Patrik Stefan will be another Eric Lindros, but whether he&rsquo;ll be another Brett Lindros.Brett Lindros, Eric&rsquo;s younger brother, saw his NHL career end prematurely when a series of concussions forced him to retire in 1996, two years after being selected in the first round by the New York Islanders.Stefan, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound center who played the past two seasons with the Long Beach Ice Dogs in the International League, has proven he is skilled enough to play in the NHL; the question is whether he&rsquo;ll be healthy enough.The Prague native has had three significant concussions, two of which caused him to miss more than half the regular season and all of the playoffs. He missed 38 games after being slammed into the boards in a game against the Houston Aeros, suffering a neck injury as well as a concussion. Not long after his return, Stefan&rsquo;s knee collided with Las Vegas Thunder center Kevin Kaminski&rsquo;s head in an accident that delivered another serious concussion. That injury, suffered March 31, ended Stefan&rsquo;s season.Whether it ended his chances of being the No. 1 pick remains to be seen, but it will be the topic of discussion in many NHL war rooms.&ldquo;The kid is a tremendous player and the kind you can win with, but if you don&rsquo;t look at that medical history and think long and hard, well, then someone&rsquo;s either a fool or not doing his job very well,&rdquo; said one NHL scout.Tampa Bay Lightning GM Jacques Demers, whose team has the top pick, said he felt Stefan would have been one of the few first-rounders ready to play in the NHL next season, though he said teams will tread cautiously because of the concussions.Atlanta Thrashers&rsquo; GM Don Waddell admitted Stefan&rsquo;s medical history will have as much to do with his status as his considerable skills.&ldquo;Those concussions certainly put you back on your heels,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told my scouts to forget about that. I want them to rate him on his performance and not take that into consideration. That&rsquo;s going to be my job to worry about the (concussions).&ldquo;With the blessing of his agent, we&rsquo;ll bring him in to Atlanta at some point and do some testing. Then, the decision where we rate him will be made between the doctors and myself. If they tell me it&rsquo;s a 95 per-cent certainty this isn&rsquo;t a major risk to happen again, we&rsquo;ll look at it one way. But if they tell us it&rsquo;s 50/50, we have to look at that a little differently.&rdquo;With no questions about his health, Stefan figures to play in the NHL next season, possibly the only player in the draft ready to make that leap. His coach at Long Beach, John Van Boxmeer, said there is some Jaromir Jagr and some MikeModano in him and said he has can&rsquo;t-miss potential.Stefan has an uncanny sense for the game, brilliant anticipation and is fearless. One GM said there was little danger of Stefan being a flop.&ldquo;From what I&rsquo;ve seen, the worst-case scenario for him if he stays healthy would be that he becomes a solid No. 2 guy who will get you 65, 70 points, play on your power play occasionally and do the job at both ends,&rdquo; the GM said. &ldquo;The other side is that you have a franchise player on your hands.&rdquo;There is a concern among some Stefan is not a good enough skater to make it at the NHL level, but Van Boxmeer laughs that off. He said he hadn&rsquo;t seen Stefan caught from behind when he was going full speed.Waddell said his skating needs work, but is sufficient. &ldquo;His skating could always get a little better,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;His quickness is good, but his outright speed is not great, but I don&rsquo;t worry about that too much because that&rsquo;s something that can be improved.&ldquo;Upper body strength is going to be critical for him because he has to be strong enough to go in and work the comers and hold people off. Those are really the only two things I think you can say negative about him.&rdquo;His agent, Rich Winter, said Stefan will be examined by a team of specialists in Edmonton prior to the draft. However, Winter said he wasn&rsquo;t sure what the process will be for allowing teams to access Stefan&rsquo;s medical history or to test him themselves.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll review the medical reports and talk about what&rsquo;s in Patrik&rsquo;s best interests and then we&rsquo;ll make up our minds what we&rsquo;re going to do,&rdquo; Winter said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t anticipate any long-term problems.&rdquo;Stefan, who finished with 11 goals and 35 points in 33 games this past season, was the fifth underage European to play in the IHL in an effort to enhance his draft status. Each of the other four-Radek Bonk, (Ottawa Senators, third overall in 1994); Petr Sykora (New Jersey Devils, 18th overall in 1995); Sergei Samsonov (Boston Bruins, eighth overall in 1997); and Robert Dome (Pittsburgh Penguins, 17h overall in 1997)-tumed out to be first round picks in the NHL, though each has had varying degrees of success.Where Stefan fits in remains to be seen, but Van Boxmeer, who also coached Dome in the IHL, said teams would be making a mistake to pass on Stefan.&ldquo;This kid is very mature and he came in and played well against men,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a professional in every sense. He knows what he&rsquo;s doing and he knows what needs to be done. He has a chance to be a big-time player and how a team can pass on someone like that, I&rsquo;m not sure.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-01

Health concern for talented Stefan

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011869/7175220-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">THN ranks Kris Beech of the Calgary Hitmen sixth overall. (photo by Dan Hamilton)</figcaption></div>The 1999 NHL entry draft is shaping up to be one of the most interesting in years.Not only is there finally, for the first time in years, a little uncertainty as to who&rsquo;ll be chosen No. 1 overall, there is the associated intrigue with the Swedish Sedin twins.And, in fact, the two story lines that will play themselves out June 26 at Boston&rsquo;s Fleet Center are not unrelated.Elite prospects Daniel and Henrik Sedin both opted in for the 1999 draft, which would suggest they will, for the first time since birth, be separated. But the twins, through their agent Mike Barnett, have made it clear their preference is to end up in the same organization.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not saying they won&rsquo;t play on separate teams in the NHL,&rdquo; Barnett said. &ldquo;But time is on their side because neither of them is playing in the NHL next season anyway. We think there&rsquo;s an obvious advantage for a team with one of the twins to try to get the other one and some teams have expressed an interest in doing that. We&rsquo;ll do everything we can to help make that happen.&rdquo;At least two clubs, the expansion Atlanta Thrashers (with the No. 2 overall pick) and the Vancouver Canucks (with the No. 3 pick) are attempting to make moves to be in a position to claim both Sedins.But first things first.Who&rsquo;ll be No. 1?The Tampa Bay Lightning hold the pick and while they&rsquo;re listening to offers, coach-GM Jacques Demers said it&rsquo;s more than likely they&rsquo;ll use the selection themselves.Demers said three prospects are being considered-Long Beach Ice Dog center Patrik Stefan, Calgary Hitmen winger Pavel Brendl and MoDo winger Daniel Sedin. The matter is complicated because of the uncertain health status of Stefan, who suffered two concussions this season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough decision,&rdquo; Demers told THN. &ldquo;If there are no health concerns on Stefan, he would probably be No. 1 but it&rsquo;s very, very close. Brendl and Sedin are very good.&rdquo;It would, however, be a surprise if the Lightning took a chance on Stefan. As good as he is, some teams believe Brendl and, to a lesser degree, Daniel Sedin, are as good if not better.The safer pick for Tampa is between Brendl, a gifted goal-scorer who would look good on Vincent Lecavalier&rsquo;s wing, and Sedin, who is also a sniper.Tampa chief scout Don Murdoch is said to marginally favor Sedin, but the Lightning staff effectively split down the middle. The best bet is if Demers makes the final call, he&rsquo;ll go for Brendl, who scored six goals and 10 points in the two Hitmen games Demers scouted.Besides, if the Lightning took Daniel Sedin, they wouldn&rsquo;t be in a good position, in terms of depth, to make a side deal to get Henrik. And that would allow Daniel Sedin to exercise his ample leverage to not go to the team that can&rsquo;t or won&rsquo;t get his brother.Which is to suggest the Sedins can play hard to get. They could be well paid and comfortable playing in Sweden for a few years. There&rsquo;s no rush to get to the NHL. And if they really wanted to turn up the heat on any organizations that draft them, they need only come to North America next season to play junior hockey. Two years later, if unsigned, they would become unrestricted free agents because of when their birthdates (September, 1980) fall.The expansion Thrashers pick behind the Lightning and Atlanta GM Don Waddell isn&rsquo;t shy about coveting the Sedin twins.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to have them both,&rdquo; said Waddell, who&rsquo;s already begun discussions with other clubs picking at the top end of the draft. &ldquo;One would be terrific. Two would be fantastic, although I&rsquo;m confident they&rsquo;ll be excellent players whether they&rsquo;re together or apart in the NHL.&rdquo;Sources said Waddell is using his first round pick next year and some of the better talent he&rsquo;ll acquire in the expansion draft as bait.But it&rsquo;s not as simple as all that. As much as Waddell likes the idea of getting both Sedins, the Thrashers also believe Stefan is the best player available. If Tampa passes on Stefan and the Thrashers are convinced his health status is okay, they may simply take the big Czech center.That would drop Daniel Sedin into the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; No. 3 slot. Like Atlanta, Vancouver is interested in exploring a move to get both Sedins, but the Canucks aren&rsquo;t necessarily optimistic they&rsquo;ll be able to cut a deal with one of Tampa, the Chicago Blackhawks, the New York Islanders or Nashville for a top-end pick to get the other Sedin.Vancouver GM Brian Burke categorically denied a report he had offered defenseman Bryan McCabe, as well as Alexander Mogilny and a first round pick next year, for Tampa&rsquo;s No. 1 pick. Burke also said he believes Stefan and Brendl are the &ldquo;two players most ready to step in and play in the NHL next season.&rdquo; The Canucks&rsquo; preference would be to get one of the Czechs, but wouldn&rsquo;t balk at a pair of Swedes, if they could pull it off.Any-way you slice it, it looks as though European-born and-trained players will go 1-2-3 for the first time ever. Clearly, the class of &rsquo;99 is the Year of the European.Of THN&rsquo;s top-10 rated prospects, six are Europeans, including the first four. Never has there been such a varied cross-section of nationalities-two Czechs, two Swedes, two Russians, three Canadians and one American at the top end.The Year of the Euro is not, however, the Year of the Defenseman. THN rated no blueliners in the top 10, although two-Russian Kiril Safronov ancf American Jeff Jillson-have a shot at breaking into that group. Only seven defenseman are rated in THN&rsquo;s first round, though the second round has 13.Most of them are enormous players-some scouts have taken to calling them &ldquo;space-eaters"-who lack a quality or trait that prevents them from being elite prospects.THN has ranked three goalies-led by consensus No. 1 Brian Finley of the Barrie Colts-in the first round, but only two in the second round. There are, however, another eight or nine goalies who weren&rsquo;t consensus second-rounders, but have a shot at being taken in the second round.Never in the 14-year history of THN&rsquo;s Draft Preview has there been as little consensus outside of the top 20 picks. Wildly divergent personal preferences should make this draft rather unpredictable after the first 15 or 20 picks. &#9632;

f0006-01

Draft full of mystery, intrigue

f0007-01

THE THN 56

f0007-07

DRAFT PRIMER

<div class="byline">By Gene Pereira</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011313/7176195-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barrie&rsquo;s Brian Finley made a great impression on scouts with his calm, cool demeanor. (Photo by Dan Hamilton)</figcaption></div>Steel isn&rsquo;t the only thing being molded in Sault Ste. Marie these days.In a Northern Ontario town already well known for its steel production, there&rsquo;s also a goaltending factory rolling top junior prospects off its assembly line.The Ontario League&rsquo;s Sault Ste. Greyhounds have produced their share of iron-clad goal tenders with Kevin Hodson (Tampa Bay Lightning), John Vanbiesbrouck (Philadelphia Flyers) and Dan Cloutier (New York Rangers). But when it comes to homegrown talent, not since the days of Tony Esposito has there been a bigger goaltending prospect than Brian Finley.While Sault natives Seamus Kotyk of the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s, Gene Chiarello of the London Knights and Patrick Dovigi of the Toronto St. Michael&rsquo;s Majors all starred for their respective OHL teams, no goaltender has attracted more attention from NHL scouts then Finley.The 17-year-old Barrie Colts&rsquo; star is the toprated goaltender heading into June&rsquo;s NHL entry draft in Boston. While Finley claims he didn&rsquo;t come from any secret assembly line, he does admit to benefitting from a successful minor hockey system loaded with talented coaches.&ldquo;I just think the hockey system is that good,&rdquo; said Finley, who&rsquo;s expected to be a top-15 pick.It also didn&rsquo;t hurt Finley that he grew up watching talented netminders like Cloutier and Dallas Stars&rsquo; prospect and Sault native Marty Turco, the 1998-99 International League rookie of the year, ply their trade.&ldquo;I was always going to watch the other guys because I knew I could learn from them,&rdquo; said Finley, who also credits Sault coach Dave Murphy, a former Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; draft pickwith helping him out. &ldquo;Some of the best goalies have played here and not everybody has had the good fortune of getting to see goalies like them. I also played summer hockey with Kotyk and that helped as well.&rdquo;The second-year Colt posted a 36-10-4 record and 2.66 goals-against average to capture OHL goaltender-of-the-year honors. His .913 save percentage was second best in the league.Finley sustained a broken left index finger in Barrie&rsquo;s first-round playoff win over the Kingston Frontenacs and had to watch from the sidelines as the Oshawa Generals pulled off a stunning upset of the Colts in the second round.The 6-foot-3, 181-pound Finley was also the backup for Canada at the World Junior Championship and is being touted as the starter next year.&ldquo;The excitement is starting to build, the anticipation,&rdquo; said his dad, Paul, who will be in attendance at the NHL draft with wife Christine and daughters Julie, 20, and Erin, 15.While there are those who see Finley as a franchise goaltender, there are others who see him as a steady netminder with a good pro career ahead of him.&ldquo;Whomever drafts the young netminder,&rdquo; said Rick Wamsley, a scout with the Toronto Maple Leafs and part-time Colts&rsquo; goaltending coach, &ldquo;won&rsquo;t be disappointed. For a big man, he has really good hands.&rdquo;While scouts rave about Finley&rsquo;s physical skills, it&rsquo;s his ability to maintain his composure regardless of the situation that stands him apart from others. Great save or bad goal, chances are you&rsquo;re not going to see any emotion from Finley.&ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;ve always tried not to overreact to anything,&rdquo; Finley said. &ldquo;I just keep an even keel on things. I&rsquo;ve always tried to keep my emotions in check, stay as calm as possible.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Top-rated goalie has nerves of steel

<div class="byline">By Kevin Allen</div>Lake Superior State&rsquo;s 6-foot-5, 235-pound defenseman Will Magnuson might be to the United States National Development program what the Atlas rocket was to the U.S. space program.He is proof this project is going to fly&mdash;at least from the NHL talent development standpoint.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably one of the guys who benefited most from the program,&rdquo; said national team coach Jeff Jackson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a hulk. If he would have stayed playing in Alaska, I don&rsquo;t think he would be anywhere near where he is today as a hockey player.&rdquo;This year&rsquo;s draft crop represents the NHL&rsquo;s first harvest from the fledgling program, which theoretically brings together the country&rsquo;s most talented 16-and 17-year-old players to hone their skills under a disciplined hockey environment in Ann Arbor, Mich.These kids are studying to be elite hockey players and the focus is to enhance the USA&rsquo;s national teams. But another objective is to prepare players for the NHL.&ldquo;That was part of the philosophy,&rdquo; Jackson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why we train so hard in the weight room, that&rsquo;s why we do cross-training with boxing. We do a lot of physical and defensive work. We encourage individual skills, but I know that mental toughness and the ability to play without the puck are the two biggest factors in determining your ability to make the pro game.&rdquo;Jackson says it&rsquo;s possible 20-to-25 U.S.-born players will go in the first three rounds of the June draft in Boston and the majority will be graduates of his program. The grads include: Maine freshman Barrett Heisten, who could be picked in the first round; Jordan Leopold, who has been compared to Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; defenseman Tom Poti; Adam Hall, a bull-strong winger; and Minnesota goalie Adam Hauser.Most of those players would have been scouted regardless of where they played, but Jackson argues many will go higher because of the way they performed against higher competition. That certainly could be true of Harvard&rsquo;s 6-foot-6 right winger Kyle Clark, who showed enough toughness last season to move him up higher than he would have, based just on this year&rsquo;s performance in college hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011346/7176226-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="823" height="1164"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Jackson feels the U.S. program accelerates development. (Photo by Dan Hamilton)</figcaption></div>Traditionally, the U.S. has produced some top offensive players, such as Pat LaFontaine, Mike Modano or, this year, Tim Connolly. But the NHL traditionally looked primarily to Canadian junior leagues for role players, grinders, or players who would fill the spots on the third and fourth line. Some NHL scouts feel the U.S. program is turning out grittier players because they have to turn up their intensity to get playing time when grouped with the best of the best.&ldquo;Their immediate impact is accelerated when they get to college because of the tremendous knowledge base they have from the work they do,&rdquo; said Maine coach Shaw Walsh. &ldquo;They have a pretty good sense of where they fit in the hockey world because they have been around other good players.&rdquo;Atlanta Thrashers&rsquo; GM Don Waddell is a supporter of the program. &ldquo;All of the guys have gone off to get college scholarships and it has to prepare them for what&rsquo;s ahead of them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Unfortunately, for the amount of money it costs, we are only developing a (small) number of players. That&rsquo;s my only concern.&rdquo;It has been argued, mostly by NHL scouts, the U.S. system&rsquo;s only drawback is the offensive creativity in some players is stifled somewhat because development team members must play conservatively to fit into a system. If they stay on their high school or junior teams, they will be the stars and will be afforded the opportunity to explore their creative potential. The flip side of that is top players don&rsquo;t learn as much against inferior competition.Jackson hopes eventually American citizens will make up 25 to 33 per cent of the NHL and to do that the U.S. has to start developing role players.&ldquo;We try to put them into a professional mentality,&rdquo; Jackson said. &ldquo;But we try to maintain a college-type atmosphere as far as their weight training, practice, plus academic and social development are concerned.&rdquo; &#9632;

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U.S. program produces first crop

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01863/7176278-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01976/7176271-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="3486" height="2035"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01897/7176264-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="3500" height="2033"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01958/7176257-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="3491" height="2033"></div> &#9632;

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CENTRAL SCOUTING BUREAU

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01975/7176316-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="672" height="3965"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02649/7176309-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="673" height="3967"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

THN’s TOP PROSPECTS

<div class="byline">By Szymon Szemberg</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02669/7176347-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daniel Sedin, above, says he could exist in the NHL with brother Henrik, but he&rsquo;d prefer play alongside his twin. (Photo by Bruce Jesop)</figcaption></div>These are pretty care-free times for Daniel Sedin.The 6-foot-l, 194-pound Swedish sensation isn&rsquo;t worried about when he is drafted or by whom and isn&rsquo;t fretting over the fact he may not land on the same team as twin brother Henrik. The talented left winger, rated second overall in Draft Preview and first among Europeans by the Central Scouting Bureau, just wants to play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather play in the coldest city in northern Canada than sit on the bench in sunny Florida,&rdquo; Sedin said.The draft, in fact, has been such a small factor in Sedin&rsquo;s life that he hadn&rsquo;t even heard about it until he was &ldquo;16 or so.&rdquo; Now, he could become the first Swede to go first overall since Mats Sundin was chosen by the Quebec Nordiques in 1989.&ldquo;I would like to be among the first five picks,&rdquo; said Sedin, 18. &ldquo;Being No. 1 overall isn&rsquo;t that important. I know it is for North American prospects, but the draft is not such a big thing here.&rdquo;Of course, going first would be an honor for Sedin. but he faces stiff competition. Czech star prospects Patrik Stefan and Pavel Brendl are also considered prime candidates to go No. 1 overall. Sedin, however, has accomplished something his fellow future draftees have yet to do: he has shown he can already compete at a major league level.After leading his club team MoDo in regular season scoring (21 goals and 42 points in 50 games) and the Swedish Elite League in game winning goals with five, Daniel and Henrik were the one-two punch in MoDo&rsquo;s run to the final of the Swedish playoffs.For that they were picked to represent their country in the World Championship in Norway in May, a tournament that featured proven NHL stars such as Alexei Yashin, Rob Blake, Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Jeff Friesen.The twins weren&rsquo;t a huge factor in Sweden&rsquo;s bronze-medal performance, but weren&rsquo;t out of place, either. In limited ice time, Daniel finished with one assist in nine games at the event.The Sedins come out of arguably the best hockey academy in Sweden, maybe Europe. The MoDo club plays out of the small northern town of Ornskoldsvik, which has become a major supplier of talent to the NHL.Anders Hedberg (assistant GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs), Marcus Naslund (Vancouver Canucks), Niklas Sundstrom (New York Rangers), Anders Eriksson (Chicago Blackhawks), Mattias Timander (Boston Bruins) and Peter Forsberg (Colorado Avalanche) all graduated from the MoDo school.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&rsquo;This is one guy who has a chance to be an elite player like a(Peter) Forsberg or a (Jaromir) Jagr. He&rsquo;s as niper and he has put up numbers at every level.&rsquo;</blockquote>Kent Forsberg, the father of Peter and former Swedish national team coach, said Daniel is in the same talent category as the Avs&rsquo; superstar.&ldquo;He reminds me of Peter when he was 18,&rdquo; said Forsberg, the current GM of MoDo. &ldquo;Daniel has the same drive to the net as Peter. I am sure that both him and Henrik will become NHL stars.&rdquo;Forsberg isn&rsquo;t sure whether Daniel will be able to establish himself in the pros as quickly as his son did.&ldquo;Peter developed enormously after he mined 18,&rdquo; Forsberg said. &ldquo;Daniel is still very dependent on Henrik&rsquo;s ability to provide him with the puck.&rdquo;An NHL scout also sees similarities between Sedin and Forsberg. &ldquo;This is one guy who has a chance to be an elite player like a Forsberg or a (Jaromir) Jagr,&rdquo; said the scout. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a sniper and he has put up numbers at every level.&rdquo;Despite not being aware of the draft until a couple years ago, Daniel knows perfectly well the draft, as it works out, diminishes his possibility to end up on the same team as Henrik.&ldquo;I can see a playing career for myself without Henrik,&rdquo; Daniel said. &ldquo;Outside the rink there would be no problem, we cope very well apart. But, of course, it would have been a dream to play on the same NHL team.&rdquo;According to their parents, Tora and Tommy, Daniel is the more outspoken of the twins and he has always drawn bigger reviews because of his knack for scoring.&ldquo;Daniel was always the one who developed faster,&rdquo; Tommy said. &ldquo;And he has always been the prolific goal-scorer.&rdquo;Just like his brother, Daniel has never had a favorite NHL team and can&rsquo;t tell you in which city he would prefer to play. But he realizes playing for a lottery team will mean a lot of losing in the beginning. Daniel points out that won&rsquo;t be a new experience. Both he and Henrik were extremely talented soccer midfielders, but the team on which they played left something to be desired.&ldquo;Until we were 16 we played soccer on a team called Amas IF where we lost frequently,&rdquo; Daniel said. &ldquo;It was a very good experience because in hockey there was a lot of winning.&rdquo;<h2>Sedins could surpass sutter as top twins</h2>This is not the first year NHL scouts have been seeing double, evaluating the highly-regarded Sedin twins.But Daniel and Henrik Sedin could go higher, collectively, than any other twinbill. THN ranks Daniel, a left winger, second and Henrik, a center, fourth.Both will likely go in the top five, best ever for twins, but not as impressive as Pierre Turgeon being selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 1987 after his older brother Sylvain was chosen second overall by the Hartford Whalers in 1983.Here&rsquo;s a look at the twins who have gone through the NHL entry draft:Ron and Rich Sutter, 1982 The fifth and sixth of the brothers to be selected, Ron was taken fourth over-all by the Philadelphia years and Rich 10th by the New York Islanders. Ron is the sole Sutter survivor scoring three goals and nine points in 59 games with Seven teamsAccumulating 149 goals and 315 pointsPeter and Chris, 1992 Peter was the New York Rangers&rsquo; first pick (24th overall) and had six goals and 14 points with the Boston Bruins this year. Chris was picked 85th by the Rangers the same year and had one goal in two games with the Edmonton Oilers this season.Patrik and Peter Sundstrom, 1980, 81 The 175th player picked in the 1980 draft by the Vancouver Canucks, Patrik played 679 games with two teams scoring 219 goals and 588 points. Peter was the 50th pick by the Rangers the following year and managed 61 goals and 144 points in 338 games with three teams. &#9632;

f0034-02

Twin Peaks: Here come the Sedins

<div class="byline">By Szymon Szemberg</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01919/7176378-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Henrik Sedin is more soft-spoken than his brother, but isn&rsquo;t shy in the heat of battle.</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s not often you would describe a potential fourth or fifth pick more as interesting than somebody who has the potential to be first overall.But while most GMs and scouts are perfectly secure about Daniel Sedin&rsquo;s qualities and potential, many of them show a growing curiosity towards twin brother Henrik. And almost everyone will tell you underdog Henrik is catching up.&ldquo;Definitely,&rdquo; said John Ferguson, director of player personnel for the San Jose Sharks. &ldquo;Being a center, he has a broader base in his game and he is the one who has made the biggest progress lately. Henrik could very well advance in the ranking.&rdquo;The facts back up Ferguson&rsquo;s assessment. In 1997-98, Henrik Sedin was not a regular with MoDo in the Swedish Elite League and had one goal and five points in 39 games. This season, while centering the club&rsquo;s top line with his brother on left wing, he recorded 12 goals and 34 points in 49 games and finished second in team scoring behind Daniel.No one knows the boys better than their father, Tommy, who has both played and coached at competitive levels.&ldquo;Daniel is the goal-scorer, but Henrik has become the more complete player,&rdquo; Tommy Sedin said. &ldquo;He is more of a defensive specialist, a pretty good faceoff man and has improved his physical game along the boards.&rdquo;Henrik, rated fourth in Draft Preview and the second-ranked European by the NHL&rsquo;sCentral Scouting Bureau, is comfortable with his game and the wider dimension he provides. &ldquo;From my position I can decide where the passes are going,&rdquo; Henrik said. &ldquo;I can make my wingers better, while Daniel maybe is more dependent on receiving passes.&rdquo;Because of those qualities, many scouts feel Henrik could play more in his rookie year than his more highly touted brother.There was an outcry in Sweden when the national team coaching staff scratched Henrik in the first stages of the World Championship in Norway in May, leaving Daniel without his usual center. Swedish fans wanted the twins to be reunited. As soon as Henrik laced up, he impressed everyone with his passing and faceoff skills. In the first two games he played, Henrik drew seven penalties on opposing players.&ldquo;There are 28 NHL scouts who (salivate) when the twins are connecting,&rdquo; said former NHL star Peter Stastny. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s Henrik who initiates the plays.&rdquo;There had been speculation Henr k would decide not to opt into the draft, giving him a better chance of being drafted next year by the same team that selects Daniel. But Henrik quashed that talk in mid-May. &ldquo;I have never considered anything else than going in the same draft as Daniel,&rdquo; Henrik said.What scouts and GMs like about Henrik is his size. At 6-foot-3 and 196 pounds, he is almost an inch taller than Daniel and more than 10 pounds heavier.While slightly bigger, Henrik is the more soft spoken of the twins.&ldquo;Henrik has always been the guy in the background,&rdquo; Tommy said. &ldquo;When you talk to him 1-on-l, he can be very outspoken, but when the boys are together, it&rsquo;s always Daniel who takes charge.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0035-01

Playmaker Henrik not as flashy, but has better all-around game

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clark</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01882/7176409-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Teemu Selanne Drafted: 10th by Winnipeg, 1988</figcaption></div>Mighty Ducks of Anaheim GM Pierre Gauthier doesn&rsquo;t believe in quick fixes. He doesn&rsquo;t believe in trying to buy teams. He believes in building teams and that starts with the entry draft.He calls draft picks &ldquo;assets&rdquo; and would rather nurture and develop his team&rsquo;s own picks than trade them.This marks Gauthier&rsquo;s first time running the Ducks&rsquo; draft as team president-GM. Despite bringing structure and stability back to the organization, it&rsquo;s apparent the Ducks have little depth in most areas.Gauthier, a member of the Ducks&rsquo; organization in 1993 when they selected Paul Kariya, makes it clear, however, it&rsquo;s not a one-man show. He&rsquo;ll rely on his scouts when it comes time to make the picks.&ldquo;The scouts decide who we draft,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I see some of the guys a little bit, just to know who they&rsquo;re talking about. But I can&rsquo;t make that decision. They&rsquo;ve seen the players 10 times over. I&rsquo;ve seen them once. I&rsquo;d be making a mistake to get involved.&ldquo;But I can give them the criteria I believe is important to go to the draft with, which is very simple: Take the best player in every round. I don&rsquo;t care the position or origin or anything.&rdquo;Calling The Shots: This is Alain Chainey&rsquo;s third draft as the chief amateur scout and top decision-maker.Chainey, 46, began as the Ducks&rsquo; Quebec scout in 1993. He was a coach at various levels for 14 years prior to joining the Ducks, including three seasons as an assistant with the Nordiques.Draft Tendency: The only guiding philosophy the Ducks follow is to take the best player available.In the Ducks&rsquo; first six entry drafts, they went outside North America four times with their first picks.The Ducks have never drafted a goaltender higher than the fourth round, taking Joel Gagnon with the 82nd pick overall in 1993.Immediate Need: The Ducks need a high-caliber defenseman, one who can play physically in his own end and contribute offensively.The Ducks now have only one legitimate threat offensively on their blueline: Fredrik Olausson, who turns 33 Oct. 5.The Ducks think they have the guy who can eventually fill that need in 19-year-old Vitali Vishnevsky, their 1998 first round pick who was named best defenseman at the 1999 World Junior Championship.The he Ducks are in the process of trying to sign him and expect him to be at training camp in September.&ldquo;He can be more than just good,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;But we don&rsquo;t want to rush him. We don&rsquo;t want to rush anybody.&rdquo;Long-Term Need: The Ducks are set in goal now with Guy Hebert, 32, as their No. 1 man. In February, he signed a new three-year deal for nearly $4 million a season.Dominic Roussel, 28, is a fair backup. The Ducks also have Patrick Lal-ime, 24, in the wings, who could battle for the No. 2 job. Lalime, the NHL&rsquo;s all-rookie goalie as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1997, is coming off a solid season for Kansas City of the International League.But the Ducks don&rsquo;t have any goal tending prospects who appear able to succeed Hebert when that time comes.Ready To Step In: Gauthier was trying to be cautious, but he could barely contain his excitement on the April day he announced Russian left winger Maxim Balmochnykh had signed. Bal-mochnykh, who turned 20 March 7, is a pure offensive talent.Depending upon how quickly Balmochnykh acclimates himself to the NHL, he could find be on the second fine of a Ducks&rsquo; team short on offensive talent after captain Kariya and right winger Teemu Selanne.The Ducks don&rsquo;t want to rush the 6-foot, 185-pound Balmochnykh. He may start with their farm team in Cincinnati of the American League. But if he does, it&rsquo;s a good bet he will be with the Ducks fairly quickly.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Frank Banham. RW, 24; Ted Drury, LW, 27; Stu Grimson, LW, 34; Jim McKenzie, LW, 29; Jamie Pushor, D, 26; Dan Trebil, D, 25; Pascal Trepanier, D, 26.Restricted Free Agents: Antti Aalto, RW, 24; Mike Crowley, D, 23; Ted Drury, C, 27; Paul Kariya, LW, 24; Jason Marshall, D, 28; Jeff Nielsen, RW, 27; Jamie Pushor, D, 26; Dominic Roussel, G, 28; Pavel Tmka, D, 22.Unrestricted Free Agent: Tomas Sandstrom, RW, 34. &#9632;

f0036-01

Gauthier laying foundation

f0036-02

BEST PICKS FROM PAST THREE DRAFTS

<div class="byline">By Jeff Schultz</div>Don Waddell can take comfort in the fact the blur of wakeup calls and arena hot dogs in remote comers of the hockey world is not without its perks.&ldquo;I have something like 500,000 air miles in my account,&rdquo; said Waddell, GM of the expansion Atlanta Thrashers. &ldquo;And if I ever lose my job, I can stay at a hotel for six months and I can rent a car for over two years.&rdquo;Unlike other GMs who enter this year&rsquo;s entry draft with holes to fill, Waddell enters it with a blank sheet. The majority of the original Thrashers will be formed in a span of two days; with 26 selections in the expansion draft June 25 and nine picks (pending trades) in the entry draft the following day.While the talent available in the two pools differs, the Thrashers&rsquo; primary focus in the two drafts will be on goaltending and speed.The NHL mandates Atlanta take at least three goalies in the expansion draft, but the Thrashers intend to select five. The two young goalies who may be available with the greatest upside are Roman Turek of the Dallas Stars and Norm Maracle of the Detroit Red Wings. But the Stars may protect Turek and expose Belfour, who has only one year left on his contract, leaving open the possibility of a deal between the teams.The goaltenders Atlanta secures in the expansion draft will affect their willingness to deal with some teams and also impact decision-making in the entry draft.&ldquo;If we can get two or three of the top five goalies we wanted from expansion,&rdquo; Waddell said, &ldquo;then we&rsquo;ll start weighing what kind of position player we can get from teams. Is it worth taking a &rsquo;B&rsquo; goalie if there&rsquo;s an &rsquo;A&rsquo; defenseman there?&rdquo;It follows that if the Thrashers get enough competent goaltending in the expansion draft, the position moves down their priority list in the entry draft.With two rosters to stock-the NHL team and the primary minor league affiliate in Orlando (International Leaguej-Atlanta needs all types of players for all positions and roles. But Waddell, who spent a year as assistant GM in Detroit, favors an attacking team and is enamored of speed.&ldquo;New Jersey perfected the trap and won a Stanley Cup, so far be it for me to criticize them,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;But we want an exciting brand of hockey&rdquo;The centerpiece of the franchise&rsquo;s future will be their first-ever selection in the entry draft and, potentially, their second. The Thrashers pick second overall behind the Tampa Bay Lightning. There is a distinct possibility Waddell will take Swedish left winger Daniel Sedin at No. 2 and try to get a second high pick to select twin brother Henrik. (See pg. 6 for story.) If the GM doesn&rsquo;t take one or both of the Sedins, he will select one of the toprated Czechs-Patrik Stefan or Pavel Brendl. Stefan, a center, played the 1998-99 season with the IHL&rsquo;s Long Beach Ice Dogs and Brendl, a right winger, skated with the Western League&rsquo;s Calgary Hitmen.The Atlanta scouting staff is 12 deep, not including Waddell, assistant GM Les Jackson and goaltending consultant Andy Moog, who has been critiquing NHL netminders and may have the most important job of all. &ldquo;A good goaltender can make an expansion team competitive,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;A good forward can&rsquo;t do that much for us yet.&rdquo; &#9632;

GM Waddell focuses on goaltending, speed

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01862/7178343-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Jason Allison Drafted: 17th by Washington, 1993 (Photo By Jim Mclsac/BS)</figcaption></div>The Boston Bruins could hardly look more different today than they did two years ago.There are constants such as captain Ray Bourque, underrated defenseman Don Sweeney and left winger Steve Heinze, but most everyone else who played for the NHL&rsquo;s worst team in 1996-97 has been replaced by someone younger and better.The Bruins still need the draft, which they host this year, to prepare for expected job openings. Yet, with two-thirds of the players on their top two forward lines (Jason Allison, Sergei Samsonov, Anson Carter, Joe Thornton) 24 or younger and half of those on their top two defense pairs (Kyle McLaren, Hal Gill) also in that age bracket, the Bruins won&rsquo;t go to the table desperate for help in the short term.Calling The Shots: Youthful, 33-year-old Scott Bradley is completing his third season as the club&rsquo;s director of scouting. The Abbotsford, B.C.-based former American League goalie, upon whose recommendation the Bruins drafted McLaren ninth overall in 1995, is entrusted with seeing all the top prospects while overseeing Boston&rsquo;s 10-member amateur scouting staff. If push comes to shove at the draft-particularly in the early rounds-the ultimate decision is in the hands of assistant GM Mike O&rsquo;Connell, who continues to add more day-to-day responsibilities as GM Harry Sinden prepares for retirement.Draft Tendency: In general, the Bruins draft the highest-rated player on their list when their number is called. For three of the past four years, the Bruins have favored defensemen: McLaren and Sean Brown (since traded to the Edmonton Oilers) were first-rounders in 1995, Johnathan Aitken went No. 8 overall a year later, and last year&rsquo;s first two picks (Jonathan Girard, No. 48; Bobby Allen, No. 52) are blueliners, too. This is one year where they may deviate slightly from that philosophy, as it&rsquo;s incumbent on them to come out of draft day with a goalie.Immediate Need: Though they added Girard and Allen a year ago, the Bruins would still like to add a defenseman more along the lines of McLaren and Gill-big, strong, stay-at-home types who are tough in the defensive zone. Girard and Allen are expected to make the grade, but are seen more as puck-pushers than body-still like to add a defenseman more along the lines of McLaren and Gill-big, strong, stay-athome types who are tough in the defensive zone. Girard and Allen are expected to make the grade, but are seen more as puck-pushers than body-pounders. Assuming they won&rsquo;t find a defenseman who can step in quickly, third-year pro Mattias Timander (No. 208th overall, 1992) could fill the void. He has spent parts of the last three seasons with Boston, and at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, has the size to bang people around. There&rsquo;s a similar story up front, where the Bruins aren&rsquo;t especially big at left wing. A big grinder with decent hands is on Boston&rsquo;s wish list, with minor-leaguers Erie Nickulas (No. 99 overall, 1994) and Andre Savage (free agent) among those who might be able to play the role sooner.Long-Term Need: The Bruins have only four goalies under contract, and all of them become restricted free agents this summer. With the possible loss of backup Rob Tallas in the expansion draft and uncertainty over whether two-year pro Ron Grahame is ready to make an impact in the NHL, the Bruins would like to find someone to develop within the next several years. Boston is optimistic about the potential of Sudbury (Ontario League) goalie Andrew Raycroft (No. 134 overall, 1998), but with Paxton Schafer (No. 47 overall, 1995) not figuring heavily in Boston&rsquo;s I plans, the club is still thinner than it I likes in goal.Ready To Step In: Girard is the most likely candidate to play in Boston I next season. He opened enough eyes to make the club in his first training camp attempt last fall and the Bruins were I just as impressed that Girard got over I the disappointment of his late-October return to Acadie Bathurst (Quebec I League) to turn in a strong season. I There is little chance of Girard cracking Boston&rsquo;s top four (Bourque, McLaren, Sweeney, Gill) unless he&rsquo;s paired with Bourque, but the Bruins think he could be worked into their power play.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Ken Baumgartner, LW, 33; Dave Ellett, D, 35; Peter Ferraro, RW, 25; Grant i Ledyard, D, 37; Rob Tallas, G, 26.Restricted Free Agents: P-J _ Axelsson, LW, 24; Ken Belanger, LW, 25; Byron Dafoe, G, 28; Hal Gill, D, 24; Dmitri Khristich, RW, 29; Rob Tallas, G, 26; Mattias Timander, D, 25; Darren Van Impe, D, 26; Landon Wilson; RW, 24.Unrestricted Free Agents: Grant Ledyard, D, 37; Tim Taylor, C, 30. &#9632;

f0038-01

Goalie could be top priority

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01522/7178405-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Cory Stillman Drafted: sixth by Calgary, 1992 (Photo By Jim Mclsac/BS)</figcaption></div>That they&rsquo;ve missed the playoffs for three consecutive years, a team record, represents a goodthing only once a year for the Calgary Flames on the day of the NHL entry draft. (tm)That&rsquo;s the good news. The bad news is the Flames managed to finish ninth in the Western Conference standings this season, the highest placing among the non-playoff teams. As a result, they still don&rsquo;t have one of the elite picks; the Flames select ninth in the first round.One of the interesting aspects of this year&rsquo;s draft is two players projected to go in the top 10-right winger Pavel Brendl and center Kris Beech-play for the Calgary Hitmen, the junior franchise owned by the Flames. Accordingly, theFlames should have a good book on both players, since they played under their noses all season long.Calling The Shots: Nick Polano was elevated to director of player personnel in 1996 after Al Coates was made GM on a permanent basis. That means this will be Polano&rsquo;s third year in charge of the entry draft. Polano has received some criticism for passing on players now in the NHL-Sergei Samsonov(Boston), Marian Hossa (Ottawa) and Manny Malhotra (Rangers)-in order tdselect Daniel Tkaczuk and Rico Fata in successive years with the team&rsquo;s first pick. On the other hand, in an 18-year-old draft, it generally takes players three to five seasons before any legitimate long-term assessment is possible.Draft Tendency: For five year srunning, the Flames&rsquo; No. 1 choice has been a player from Canadian major junior hockey, which jibes with Coates&rsquo; operating philosophy: that home grown players, especially players from the Western League, would be happier playing in small-market Calgary than those from further afield.Immediate Need: The Flames need a scorer for the top two lines. In the past two years, the Flames traded away a series of reliable 20-plus goal-scorers-Marty McInnis, German Titov and then Theo Fleury and replaced them with hard-working grinders.The only player on the current roster that has ever scored 30 goals in the NHL is a defenseman, Phil Housley, and that happened back in 1983-84. After you get past the Flames&rsquo; top three goal-scorers-Jarome Iginla, Cory Still man and Valeri Bure, who combined for 81 goals-the next highest scorer on the team, Andrew Cassels, had just 12. The Flames&rsquo; 211 goals exceeded six other Western Conference clubs, but if you sub-1998-99 Top Scorer: Cory Still man Drafted: sixth by Calgary, 1992 tract the 30 Fleury scored on their behalf, they would drop to the bottom of the list.Long-Term Need: A center with size is high on the wish list. The Flames auditioned Iginla and Jason Wiemer at center this season, with mixed results. Iginla returned to the wing in the first month, Wiemer in the final month. After Cassels, who could leave as an unrestricted free agent anyway, the Flames have a shocking lack of depth down the middle. Tkaczuk, they believe, could play as high as a No. 2 center, but the consensus is he needs a full season in the minors to adapt to the professional game. The Flames don&rsquo;t just need the next Joe Nieuwendyk, they also need the next Doug Gilmour and next Joel Otto as well.Ready To Step In: Jean-Sebastien Giguere had an up-and-down season, split between Calgary and its No. 1 minor league affiliate, Saint John of the American League. Giguere started well in the minors and acquitted himself well in a 15-game mid-season stint (6-7-1, 3.21 goals-against average, .897 save percentage). Upon his return to Saint John, however, Giguere appeared to struggle with his confidence and, as a result, his GAA was almost a full goal higher (3.44 as opposed to 2.46) than it was a year ago. There is some thought Giguere could require yet another year of minor league apprenticeship before he&rsquo;s ready to step in, but that decision will, in large part, hinge on what happens to the other goaltenders in the team&rsquo;s system in the months ahead.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Cale Hulse, D, 25; Tyler Moss, G, 23; Ed Ward, RW, 29. Restricted Free Agents: Wade Belak, D, 22; Fred Brathwaite, G, 26; Eric Charron, D, 29; Denis Gauthier, D, 22; Cale Hulse, D, 25; Jarome Iginla, RW, 21; Hnat Domenichelli, RW, 23; Tyler Moss, G, 23; Andrei Nazarov, LW, 25; Dave Roche, LW, 23; Jason Wiemer, LW, 23; Ed Ward, RW, 29; Clarke Wilm, C, 22.Unrestricted Free Agents: Tommy Albelin, D, 35; Bob Bassen, LW, 34; Andrew Cassels, C, 30; Steve Smith, D, 36; Tom Chorske, RW, 32; Ken Wregget, G, 30. &#9632;

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Draft payoff for no playoffs

<div class="byline">By Todd fipatt</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0041-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01433/7178436-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Keith Primeau Drafted: third by Detroit, 1990</figcaption></div>While qualifying for the post-season for the first time in seven years, the Carolina Hurricaneswere the fourth-oldest team in the NHL.To cope with all the obstacles in their move from Hartford to Raleigh the Hurricanes probably needed a veteran bunch. But they&rsquo;re clearly going to have to get younger.As long as the Hurricanes re-sign restricted free agent Keith Primeau, the Hurricanes have a decent bunch of young players to build around. But they still need help at every position, most notably on the wing and on defense.This marks the sixth draft for most of the Hurricanes&rsquo; management, considering the club was purchased on draft day in1994.Calling The Shots: GM Jim Ruther-ford will call the shots for the Hurricanes, but he&rsquo;ll have substantial input from anumber of scouts. Two of the most influential are Sheldon Ferguson and Laurence Ferguson. Sheldon Ferguson, who began his scouting career with the Quebec Nordiques in 1979, has served as the Canes&rsquo; director of amateur scouting for five years. Laurence, who spent 16 years with the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau, mainly scouted the Western League for the Hurricanes this year.Draft Tendency: With their farm system so depleted in recent years, the Hurricanes haven&rsquo;t had much choice on draft day other than to snag the best player available. That three No. Is were shipped to Boston (1995, 1996, 1997)only exacerbated the situation. In five years behind the drafting table, Ruther-ford has taken a little of everything with the Hurricanes&rsquo; top pick-a center(O&rsquo;Neill), goaltender (Jean-Sebastien Giguere), left winger (Trevor Wasyluk),defenseman (Nikos Tselios) and right winger (Jeff Heerema).Immediate Need: The Hurricanes struggled all season to put the puck in the net and their final two playoff games put that inability on full display. The &rsquo;Canes missed at least six wide-open nets-or &ldquo;gimmes&rdquo; as Coach Paul Mauriced^cribed them-in dropping their last two to Boston. If unrestricted free agent Sheppard (25 regular season, five playoff goals) tsn t back, the Hurricanes have just one winger who scored more than 14 goals with the team. Kapanen finished two short of a career high with 24. Shane Willis had a strong rookie campaign with New Haven (American League), although he looked a little out of place in brief NHL stints. The &rsquo;Canes may need him to accelerate his progress for next season. The Hurricanes are high on juniors Jeff Heerema (Ontario League&rsquo;s Sarnia Sting) and Jaroslav Svoboda (Western League&rsquo;s Kootenay Ice), but neither is ready to jump to the big club.Long-Term Need: This tragic death of 13year veteran defenseman Steve Chiasson accentuates the Hurricanes&rsquo; need on the blueline. Chiasson was a horse, playing nearly 70 minutes in Carolina&rsquo;s last two playoff games, and was a steady quarterback on the power play. The Hurricanes desperately need to get some offense out of a defense corps that produced a league-worst 15 goals this past season.Acquiring a puck-moving defenseman has been Rutherford&rsquo;s top priority over the past two seasons, because the Hurricanes don&rsquo;t have anyone in the system ready to fill the role immediately. Tselios, 20, had 21 goals and 60 points for Plymouth (Ontario League) this past season. Even if the Hurricanes sign him, Tselios needs at least a year in New Haven and the Hurricanes don&rsquo;t project him as a potential quarterback. One member of the organization compared him to Marek Malik-a big, solid blueliner, but not the type of defenseman that&rsquo;s needed most.Ready To Step In: Craig MacDonald could slide into the center slot on the fourth line, allowing Kent Manderville to shift back to his more comfortable spot on the wing. Manderville and Paul Ranheim comprise two-thirds of one of the league&rsquo;s peskiest fourth units, and MacDonald has looked like a good fit in brief stints with them.The first-year pro netted 48 points in New Haven and is probably closer to filling his role with the &rsquo;Canes than anyone else in the system. He projects as a solid third-liner with a chance to move up if he can bring those points to the NHL.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Paul Coffey, D, 37; Dave Karpa, D, 28; Trevor Kidd, G, 27; Robert Kron, LW, 32.Restricted Free Agents: Andrei Kovalenko, RW, 28; Kent Manderville, C, 28; Jeff O&rsquo;Neill, C, 23; Keith Primeau, C, 27.Unrestricted Free Agents: Kevin Dineen, RW, 35; Ray Sheppard, RW, 33. &#9632;

f0041-01

Help wanted everywhere

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01461/7178498-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Peter Forsberg Drafted: sixth by Philadelphia, 1991</figcaption></div>What&rsquo;s this? An NHL entry draft in which theColorado Avalanche has only one first round pick?Yes, the Avs will just have to struggle through this year in Boston, after a 1998when Colorado took four players out of the first 20 picks. The Avs lost one of those picks (Robyn Regehr) to the Calgary Flames when they acquired Theo Fleury in February. But they signed the other three (Alex Tanguay, Scott Parker and Martin Skoula) and are well-stocked with young talent.Still, there&rsquo;s always the need for moreand the Avs again will look for the hid-den gems they&rsquo;ve done a good job atuncovering.Calling The Shots: Former chief scout Dave Draper is in semi-retirement and now serves as a consultant for the Avs. His role was assumed by Bryan Mac Donald, who apprenticed under Draper for years. MacDonald is well-respected in the league and keeps a low media profile.European scout Jan Janda has a say in things, as does director of player personnel, Michel Goulet. It&rsquo;s a very democratic process with the Avalanche, with GM Pierre Lacroix retaining ultimateveto power.Draft Tendency: From 1994through 1997, the Avs drafted either a goalie or a defenseman with their first pick. Until Tanguay, a center, was taken first in 1998, in fact, the Avs hadn&rsquo;t drafted a forward in the first round since right winger Adam Dead marsh in 1993.Like most teams, the Avs follow the best-player available strategy. Character also gets heavy consideration. Lacroix doesn&rsquo;t like players with checkered backgrounds. The team tends to beexhaustive with its pre-draft interviews. The players who score well on psycho-logical tests are the ones who get chosen.Immediate Need: The Avs could use a big, hard-hitting defenseman. Colorado gave up two recent picks who fit that bill (Regehr and Wade Belak) to get Fleury, so the cupboard needs to be restocked. Aside from Adam Foote and Aaron Miller, Colorado&rsquo;s defense just isn&rsquo;t very physical and the Avs often have trouble with teams that pack the front of the net.Kevin Grimes was drafted in 1997 with the physical attributes the team needs, but the organization isn&rsquo;t quite as high on him as it once was. Otherwise, there are no glaring needs.Long-Term Need: The Avs will have Peter Forsberg around for the next three years and Patrick Roy around for the next two. But what about Joe Sakic?After next season, his contract is up and the Avs already have one of the league&rsquo;s higher payrolls. Re-signing him, while paying Forsberg, Roy, Sandis Ozolinsh and possibly Fleury figures to give the Avs&rsquo; accountants headaches for a while.So, Tanguay&rsquo;s development as a center could be crucial for the Avs&rsquo; longterm depth and overall success. If Tanguay doesn&rsquo;t pan out and Sakic leaves, the Avs will need another center.Really, the Avs have done an excellent job moving toward the future. Lacroix is good at focussing on the big picture, always preaching about the importance of not standing pat.The team needs to replenish its defensive supply, especially if veteran unrestricted free agents Alexei Gusarov and Sylvain Lefebvre leave after this season.Ready To Step In: Tanguay almost made the team at the start of 1998-99, but a contract squabble sent him back to Halifax of the Quebec League. But Tanguay signed a three-year, $2.9-million contract late in the season and the Avs have high hopes for the young center. He impressed everybody with his passing skills and overall smarts.His skating is still being questioned by some, as is his toughness. But those are only marginal worries among even his harshest critics. Sakic had high praise for Tanguay in the pre-season and it&rsquo;s reasonable to expect the two to be teammates next season.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Shean Donovan, RW, 24; Alexei Gusarov, D. 34; Dale Hunter, C, 38; Sylvain Lefebvre, D, 31; Jeff Odgers, RW, 29; Warren Rychel, LW, 32.Restricted Free Agents: Greg de Vries, D, 26; Shean Donovan, RW, 24; Aaron Miller, D, 27.Unrestricted Free Agents: Theo Fleury, RW, 31; Dale Hunter, C, 38; Alexei Gusarov, D, 34; Valeri Kamensky, LW, 33; Sylvain Lefebvre, D, 31. &#9632;

f0043-01

Focus likely fixed on ’D’

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01357/7178529-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Mike Modano Drafted: first by Minnesota, 1988</figcaption></div>After two consecutive Presidents&rsquo; Trophies and a No. 2 finish in 1996-97, the draft has become less of an impact tool in building the Dallas Stars. After all, when you continue to pick late in every round, your chances of getting key additions declines accordingly.But the Stars still see the draft as a critical part of their building process. They have collected the core of their team-Derian Hatcher, Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen, Richard Matvichuk, Jamie Langenbrunner and Roman Turek-through the draft. They have used other draft assets-Jarome Iginla, Todd Harvey, Sergey Gusev-to acquire veterans such as Joe Nieuwendyk, Brian Skrudland and Benoit Hogue.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still the basis on which you have to build your franchise,&rdquo; said Craig Button, the Stars&rsquo; director of player personnel. &ldquo;We see the draft, even picking later, as a huge part of what we&rsquo;re building.&rdquo;Stars&rsquo; owner Tom Hicks said he does not expect to increase his $40 million payroll next season. In fact, he&rsquo;d like to see it go down. And the way the Stars will accomplish that is by the natural process of replacing highly paid veteran players with younger, cheaper versions of the same model.Waiting to bust into the lineup next season are Jason Botterill, Marty Turco, Juha Lind, Jon Sim, Blake Sloan, Brad Lukowich and Richard Jackman. Each was acquired via the draft.&ldquo;Obviously, free agency has allowed us to do some things we would never have been able to do,&rdquo; Button said. &ldquo;But, we still need the draft to keep our base.&rdquo;Calling The Shots: The Stars do their draft by committee, with Button and GM Bob Gainey at the top. However, they allow scouts such as Evgeny Larionov, Tim Bernhardt or Bob Gernander to make picks on their own. Button said Gainey has the final say, especially in trade situations, but Gainey also puts plenty of faith in his amateur scouts.Draft Tendency: The Stars typically draft the most competitive player they can find without real concern for position. In the past, they put emphasis on burly power forwards, particularly left-handed shooters. For a while, they focused on defensemen.But the key has been taking players with grit and determination. &ldquo;I think competitiveness is the best word,&rdquo; Button said. &ldquo;I mean, you could say we wanted &rsquo;hockey players,&rsquo; but really what it is is hard work and (having) no fear of makingthe tough plays.&rdquo;Immediate Need: The Stars don&rsquo;t use the draft to fill immediate needs. If the Stars want to plug a hole, they look to free agency or trades.That said, the Stars have done a great job in drafting physical defensemen, skilled defensemen, physical forwards and skilled defensive forwards, but real-lee haven&rsquo;t taken an offensively skilled forward in some time. Look for them to put a new focus on top six forwards, particularly skill centers who are versa-tile enough to play all three forward spots.Long-Term need: The Stars need to cultivate more goal-scorers. Jon Simappears to have a nice touch and could play in Dallas this season. Langenbrunner, Lehtinen and Modano should be around for a while. But still, you can never have enough snipers. Both the Stars and their minor league affiliate, the Michigan K-Wings of the International League, have had trouble scoring the past few years; both teams could use more finishers.Ready To Step In: Lind is a given. The Stars readily admit they made mistake by not signing him in the sum-mere and letting him return to Finland for a season. He&rsquo;ll be back. Lind spent the season with Jokerit of the Finnish League and recorded 20 goals and 39points in 50 games.Sim is a borderline player who could take the place of right winger Pat Verbeek if Verbeek isn&rsquo;t signed.Lukowich is ready, but the Stars want him to be more than just a seventh defenseman.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Manny Fernandez, G, 24; AaronGavey, C, 25; Craig Ludwig, D, 38;Derek Plante, C, 28; Brian Skrudland, C, 35.Restricted Free Agents: Manny Fernandez, G, 24; Aaron Gavey, C, 25; BradLukowich, D, 22; Grant Marshall, RW, 25;Richard Matvichuk, D, 26; Roman Turek, G,29; Jamie Wright, LW, 23.Unrestricted Free Agents: Tony Hrkac, C,32; Dave Reid, LW, 35; Pat Verbeek, RW, 35. &#9632;

f0044-01

Fire, desire valued traits

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0045-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01289/7178560-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Steve Yzerman Drafted: fourth by Detroit, 1983</figcaption></div>Most drafts need years to be evaluated. The Detroit Red Wings can already rate their 1999 draft, before they even make a pick.Let&rsquo;s see: Chris Chelios, Wendel Clark, Ulf Samuelsson and Bill Ranford. Hmmmm. Let&rsquo;s see. A Norris Trophy winner. A 300-goal scorer. A 15-year veteran defenseman. A Conn Smythe winner. As drafts go, not bad.&ldquo;We got what we were looking for,&rdquo; said GM Ken Holland, even if meant sacrificing the team&rsquo;s first three picks this season at the March 23 trading deadline and a fourth-rounder if Ranford played at least 10 playoff games.As a result, don&rsquo;t look for much activity around the Wings&rsquo; table during the early rounds in Boston.Calling The Shots: Senior vice president Jimmy Devellano and Holland both have served as chief scouts, which gives them insight into the process and the wisdom to trust the post&rsquo;s current occupant, Jim Nill.&ldquo;Jim makes the final call,&rdquo; Holland said. &ldquo;He has overseen the scouts and travel. Jim knows what I&rsquo;m trying to do and what&rsquo;s out there and what&rsquo;s available.&rdquo;Draft Tendency: As much as the Red Wings focus on a need, they&rsquo;ll take the best player left on their board. Last year, they stated over and over the need to draft a young forward in the first round.Suddenly, defenseman Jiri Fischer was still available with the 25th pick and everything changed.Remember this a team that from 1982 through 1992 used its first round pick to draft a forward 10 of 11 times. Now five of the last top six selections have been defensemen.If the Red Wings get an NHL-quality player, they figure he&rsquo;ll be an asset eventually-whether it&rsquo;s to them or other teams, like Jamie Pushor and Anders Eriksson.Immediate Need: Although what happens at the draft table will almost certainly be anti-climactic, Holland&rsquo;s goal is simple:"We want one player. We want to come out of the draft, hoping that in six or seven years, we can look back and find someone (such as) Tomas Holmstrom (10th round, 1994), Vladimir Konstantinov (11th round, 1989) and Randy McKay (sixth round, 1985).&rdquo;Position is irrelevant. By the time the Red Wings select, everybody is a gamble. But Detroit&rsquo;s thinking is that two eventual NHL players makes a good draft, three a great draft and usually one of those players comes in the later rounds.Don&rsquo;t rule out Detroit making a trade to move into the first round, especially with the vast financial resources the Red Wings have at their disposal.&ldquo;Anything&rsquo;s possible,&rdquo; Holland said.Long-Term Need: As hard as it is to imagine-on a team with Steve Yzer-i man, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan and Slava Kozlov-forwards are the biggest concern.Darryl Laplante and Yuri Butsayev are the only two NHL prospects in the system and neither is projected to be I more than a checker. Eventually that I situation has to be rectified.Of special concern is center. Igor Larionov is 38, while Yzerman is 34.While the defense is even older, the Red Wings pipeline is better stocked with current regulars Aaron Ward and Mathieu Dandenault, plus four prospects all 26 or younger.Ready To Step In: As much as the Red Wings love Fischer, they&rsquo;re reluctant to pencil him onto the roster next season.The 6-foot-5 Czech native played for Hull of the Quebec League this past season and impressed in all areas after a strong training camp.He finished second in defensemen scoring in the QMJHL with 78 points in 65 games. Fifteen of his 22 goals came on the power play and he also racked up 141 penalty minutes.&ldquo;Every team asked about him when we were making trades,&rdquo; said coach Scotty Bowman.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Doug Brown, RW, 34; Wendel Clark, LW, 32; Kris Draper. C, 28; Brent Gilchrist, LW, 32; Yan Golubovsky, D, 23; Uwe Krupp, D, 33; Norm Maracle, G, 24.Restricted Free Agents: Nicklas Lidstr&ouml;m, D, 29; Kirk Maltby, LW, 26; Darren McCarty, RW, 27; Aaron Ward, 26.Unrestricted Free Agents: Todd Gill, D, 33; Joe Kocur, RW, 34; Jamie Macoun, D, 38; Ulf Samuelsson, D, 35. &#9632;

f0045-01

Calm after trade storm?

<div class="byline">By David J. Neal</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01316/7178622-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Ray Whitney Drafted: 23rd by San Jose, 1991</figcaption></div>The Florida Panthers led the league in 1998-99 in goals by rookies with 48 goals coming from seven rookies. Obviously, scouts aren&rsquo;t just picking at the limp lettuce on their box I lunch sandwiches during the draft. It I doesn&rsquo;t hurt to scoop up what the Col-I orado Avalanche can&rsquo;t sign (right wing Mark Parrish, a league rookie high of 24 goals).&ldquo;If you can get three guys out of the draft, it&rsquo;s a heck of a draft,&rdquo; said GM Bryan Murray. &ldquo;If you have two players, it&rsquo;s a good draft.&rdquo;Still, there are significant holes in a system still under construction. Getting their own minor league affiliate-next year&rsquo;s American League addition in Louisville-should help build organizational depth and a true system of player development.Calling The Shots: Running the Panthers&rsquo; show at the draft are director of amateur scouting Tim Murray and director of player development Paul Henry, in that order. Tim Murray, nephew of Bryan and Panthers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray, has been a Panthers&rsquo; scout since 1994 and was given the director of amateur scouting job a year ago. Henry was a scout with the New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues before Florida.Draft Tendency: Like everybody else, Florida espouses the &ldquo;best player available&rdquo; philosophy for the first two rounds. Bet on one of those first two picks to be European. That has been the case in the three drafts under Bryan Murray in which the Panthers had a first and second round pick.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way the game has gone,&rdquo; Tim Murray said. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t get your skill from Europe, you don&rsquo;t get it at all. Look at the league now-Jaromir Jagr wins for Pittsburgh, Peter Forsberg wins for Colorado. If the theory holds you take the best player avaiiable, it&rsquo;s likely to be a European.&rdquo;Bryan Murray loves Swedish-trained players, but director of player development Paul Henry said the Panthers feel the development of 1996 first-rounder Marcus Nilson and 1997 second-rounder Kristian Huselius was hindered for a couple of years. Both played only a few shifts a game for their Swedish Elite League teams instead of getting quality ice time with a junior club.Immediate Need: Not only do the Panthers not have a potential backup goalie in their system, they don&rsquo;t have a goalie in the system they figure on seeing in an NHL uniform in this or the next century. When injuries forced the Panthers to call up and dress 1993 draftee Todd MacDonald as a backup, Terry Murray stated he didn&rsquo;t have enough confidence to play him.The Panthers&rsquo; goalie of the future was supposed to be Kevin Weekes, but a contract squabble last season got him thrown into the Pavel Bure trade. As such, the Panthers might use a pick in the first two rounds for a goalie and use a couple of their extra mid-round picks for goalies. &ldquo;This is a great year for goalies,&rdquo; Henry said.Long-Term Need: An established identity as a hard-working team has slowly crumbled over the past two seasons. Veterans such as left wihger Bill Lindsay and defenseman Paul Laus weren&rsquo;t as edgy this season as they had been. Right winger Dino Ciccarelli is still spry, but has an aching back pushing him towards retirement. Though there are a few young players who take no guff while putting in a long night&rsquo;s work, more hard-nosed types are needed. Determined diligence becomes a greater factor in winning not just in the playoffs, but in the regular season, as talent parity reigns over an over expanded league.&ldquo;We need more grit, more character without question,&rdquo; Henry said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s an area we&rsquo;ll address in the draft. You need guys who are going to pay the price, emblematic of the guys who took us to the final (in 1994).&rdquo;Ready To Step In: Defenseman Filip Kuba, an eighth round pick in 1995, might have been up earlier in 1998-99 if not for a knee injury. As it was, he came up for the last four games of the season. He doesn&rsquo;t provide much offense-10 points in 45 games for Kentucky (AHL)-but throws around his 6-foot-3, 202-pound body and moves the puck nicely.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Terry Carkner, D, 33; Johan Garpenlov, LW, 31; Kirk Muller, C, 33.Restricted Free Agents: Alex Hicks, LW, 29; Viktor Kozlov, C, 24; Chris Wells, C, 23.Unrestricted Free Agent: Kirk McLean, G, 33. &#9632;

f0047-01

Goalies, grit in demand

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0048-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01207/7178653-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Luc RobitailleDrafted: 171st by Los Angeles, 1984</figcaption></div>After missing the playoffs for the fifth time in the past six seasons, the Los Angeles Kings learned they still have a ways to go in their rebuilding program.On the bright side, some of the players they drafted earlier in the rebuildingprocess began to develop into NHL players. Although none of those players made an immediate impact, the Kings have depth in their system for the first time and have reason to hope they may yet reap more rewards.Calling The Shots: GM Dave Taylor and Al Murray, the Kings&rsquo; director of amateur scouting, are the kingpins at the draft table. Taylor fives by the traditional, build-through-the-draft philosophy and, as such, has been reluctant to trade any high picks or any of the youngsters the Kings have drafted with prime choices.Taylor has also said he&rsquo;s reluctant to dip into the free agent market after last season&rsquo;s Steve Duchesne fiasco.Murray, who was the Kings&rsquo; western scouting coordinator before being promoted to his current post, is an old-time scout who will drive through blizzards to catch a game if there&rsquo;s a kid who has caught his eye. Murray is blunt and able to assess players&rsquo; potential realistically, not wishfully, a valuable trait in a sport where scouts too often blindly defend their picks.Draft Tendency: The Kings have gone for big bodies the past few years, because coach Larry Robinson wanted a bigger, brawnier team and Taylor agreed that was the way to go. However, that&rsquo;s likely to change for several reasons: Robinson was not rehired, the league is turning more toward skill since its crack down on obstruction fouls, and the Kings have too many bigger players who lack speed. They&rsquo;re likely to put a higher premium on skill and may pay closer attention to smaller, swifter players whohave good track records and good character.Immediate Need: Goals from the wings were scarce last season after left winger Luc Robitaille&rsquo;s 39 and right winger Donald Audette&rsquo;s 18.In truth, they need scoring from everywhere and more dependable depth down the middle. The second-highest scoring left winger was Vladimir Tsyplakov, with 11 goals. Their top scoring center was Jozef Stumpel, who was limited to 13 goals in 64 games. Another puck-moving defenseman would help the power play, too.Long-Term Need: The situation on defense needs to be addressed. Garry Galley, Doug Bodger and Dave Babych are well into their 30s, and captain Rob Blake will be 30 in December. Mattias Norstrom is only 27 and should be the foundation for the defense for a long time, and rugged Sean O&rsquo;Donnell is also 27. However, the Kings will eventually need some heavy hitters and a defenseman who can quarterback the power play.They may also need production on the left side in the next few years, because Robitaille is 33 and it&rsquo;s uncertain how long he will remain as productive as he was this past season. They seem set in goal, with Stephane Fiset and/or Jamie Storr.Center is another area that needs reinforcing, although Olli Jokinen appears ready and able to develop into a capable player. He&rsquo;s big and has improved his all-around play, but he&rsquo;s not a prototypical first-line, high-scoring center.Ready To Step In: Scott Barney, a 6-foot-4, 198-pound right winger, had 41 goals and 67 points in 44 games with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario League this season. A second round pick (29th overall) in 1997, Barney has progressed well.He could start as a third line right winger and has the potential to move up.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Philippe Boucher, D, 26; Brandon Con-very, C, 25; Craig Johnson, LW, 27; Jaroslav Modry, D, 28; Sean Pronger, LW, 26.Restricted Free Agents: Aki Berg, D, 22; Stephane Fiset, G, 23; Steve McKenna, LW, 25; Sandy Moger, RW, 30; Jason Morgan, D, 22; Glen Murray, RW, 26; Jan Nemecek, D, 23; Mattias Norstrom, D, 27; Jason Podollan, RW, 22; Sean Pronger, C, 26; Vladimir Tsyplakov, LW, 30.Unrestricted Free Agents: Dave Babych, D, 37; Ryan Bach, G, 23; Doug Bodger, D, 32; Russ Courtnail, RW, Ray Ferraro, C, 34; Manny Legace, G, 26; Mark Visheau, D, 25. &#9632;

f0048-01

Look for shift towards skill

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0049-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01180/7178684-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Saku KoivuDrafted: 21st by Montreal, 1993</figcaption></div>This time, there can be no excuse.The Montreal Canadiens have never fared particularly well at the draft for a variety of reasons. The organization believes it has been victimized by its success. As a team that has regularly made the playoffs, the Canadiens have rarely had a high draft choice.But that has now changed. The Canadiens missed qualifying for the post-season and wound up with the 10th pick in the first round.It&rsquo;s unlikely Montreal will get a superstar, but should draft a pretty good player capable of making an impact in the future.Calling The Shots: Rejean Houle is the GM and this is his team. He has the final say. But Pierre Dorion Jr. is the chief scout. He, more than anyone, has seen the players and knows their strengths and weaknesses.The 26-year-old saw upwards of 230 games this season. He been with the organization five years and is completing his first full season as chief scout. He learned from one of the best. His late father, Pierre Sr., was the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; chief scout in the early 1990s.Draft Tendency: The Canadiens traditionally select the best prospect available, regardless of position.As such, the team won&rsquo;t hesitate to pick a goalie in the opening round, provided he&rsquo;s the best player available, even though they have two good ones on the horizon in Jose Theodore and Mathieu Garon.It&rsquo;s no secret the organization, under previous regimes, virtually ignored Europeans in the opening round, but has learned from its mistake.Immediate Need: It doesn&rsquo;t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. The Canadiens scored 184 goals last season and failed to have a 20-goal scorer on their roster. Only the Tampa Bay Lightning, the NHL&rsquo;s worst team, had a more pathetic offense.Was this an aberration, or are the Canadiens seriously in trouble? After all, Saku Koivu, Martin Rucinsky, Shayne Corson and Brian Savage are all capable of scoring, although Montreal&rsquo;s offense figures to take a hit following the late-season trades of Mark Recchi and Vincent Damphousse.Realizing there are holes to fill, the Canadiens will likely give rookie Eric Chouinard every opportunity to make the team out of training camp.Chouinard, a center selected 16th overall in 1998, is one of the few natural scorers the organization has coming up.Long-Term Need: The Canadiens believe the tandem of Theodore and Garon will fill their netminding requirements for years to come. And the team would appear to have the forwards coming up to compensate for the losses of Darcy Tucker to Tampa Bay and Sebastien Bordeleau to the Nashville Predators.But Montreal might have a lack of depth along the blueline. Vladimir Malakhov and Stephane Quintal, the Canadiens&rsquo; two best defensemen, are both 30. Patrice Brisebois is 28 and entering the prime of his career, but has sustained extensive injuries in two of the last three seasons. The Canadiens can only hope Finland&rsquo;s Ilkka Mikkola, selected 65th overall in 1997, and Russia&rsquo;s Andrei Markov, drafted 162nd last year, five up to expectations.Ready To Step In: Center Matt Higgins was the Canadiens&rsquo; first choice (18th overall) in 1996 out of Moose Jaw of the Western League.Higgins&rsquo; skating was questioned at the time and the Canadiens now believe they know why. The 6-foot-2, 188 pounder played only 11 games last season due to a herniated disc in his back. Surgery has corrected the problem.The Canadiens believe Higgins is a good enough skater to develop into a hard-working, two-way center. He&rsquo;s a complete player who knows the game and is smart on the ice. He won&rsquo;t run the power play, but Higgins can contribute offensively.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Jason Dawe, RW, 26; Jonas Hoglund, RW, 26; Scott Lachance, D, 26; Trent McCleary, C, 26; Patrick Poulin, LW, 26; Igor Ulanov, D, 30.Restricted Free Agents: Frederic Chabot, G, 31; Jason Dawe, RW, 26; Jonas Hoglund, RW, 26; Scott Lachance, D, 26; Trent McCleary, C, 26; Craig Rivet, D, 24; Jose Theodore, G, 22; Igor Ulanov, D, 30; Dainius Zubrus, RW, 20.Unrestricted Free Agent: Stephane Quintal, D, 30. &#9632;

f0049-01

High hopes for high pick

<div class="byline">By Jeff Legwold</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0050-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01179/7178715-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Cliff RonningDrafted: 134th by St. Louis, 1984</figcaption></div>Much like the team&rsquo;s first entry draft, the second one will have much the same theme for the Nashville Predators.It&rsquo;s not about today and the Predators are certainly still a team full of needs.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said with the eight picks in the first three rounds-if we get to the draft with all eight of those picks still in hand-there is every indication if we can hit on some of those picks it could be the foundation for this franchise for some time,&rdquo; said GM David Poile. &ldquo;But we may use some of those picks to obtain a player who we think could help us.&rdquo;Which is to say, as always, Poile is open for any and all ideas and is willing to be patient as he goes along.Calling The Shots: Poile&rsquo;s voice isn&rsquo;t the loudest, but it certainly is the last word when the Predators make their picks.Poile gives ample opportunity for all of the team&rsquo;s scouts, including chief scout Craig Channell and assistant GM Ray Shero to make their cases about each prospect.Poile is the unquestioned leader on personnel issues and he is likely more willing to play a hunch than most teams. Last year his move up from No. 3 into the No. 2 spot-where he selected center David Legwand-was made just minutes before San Jose was slated to use the pick.Draft Tendency: It is only the Predators&rsquo; second draft, but their philosophy is still fairly evident despite that-pick the best player available.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not picking needs per se,&rdquo; Shero said, &ldquo;because your needs now might not be your needs in three years or so when these draft picks are ready to play in the NHL.&rdquo;That is certainly how they went last season when they took Legwand and second pick left winger Denis Arkhipov, who is one of the team&rsquo;s best prospects after his quality showing for Russia at the World Junior Championship.Immediate Need: There&rsquo;s two pressing needs: size and additional offense.The Predators lack a physical presence along the boards on defense and don&rsquo;t clear the shooters from in front of their own net with nearly enough regularity.While it is not considered a likely option that any defenseman could be selected in this entry draft and step in and play next season, they want size and will probably look early to get it.Nashville&rsquo;s collection of centers are mostly small players-Greg Johnson, Cliff Ronning and Sebastien Bordeleau-so they would like to beef up there as well.Most likely to fit the mold are Calgary for&rdquo;&ldquo; wards Pavel Brendl and Kris Beech or Sudbury&rsquo;s Taylor Pyatt and on defense Branislav Mezei of Belleville and Michigan&rsquo;s Jeff Jillson.Long-Term Need: They talked about it before last season&rsquo;s draft, but did not act on it-a goaltending prospect to bring along in the organization.Mike Dunham battled a groin injury all season long and though his play was consistently strong when he was in the lineup, it is still unclear if he can play 65 games in a season. Eric Fichaud, who entered the season as the top backup, is coming back from shoulder surgery. Tomas Vokoun was a pleasant surprise, but he has to show he can consistently hold that form over the long haul.Ready To Step In: This is certainly the expectation for Legwand next season. He has grown an inch-he&rsquo;s about 6-foot-2 now-and added about 10 pounds (to get to 185) since the Predators selected him. Legwand is expected to spend most of the off-season in Nashville working out off the ice. He also played for the U.S. at the World Championship, where he collected two assists in six games.He is projected as the fourth line center next season, but could move up. He did not have the season in junior that was hoped for in 1998-99, but Legwand has said it took longer to fully recover from a case of mononucleosis he contracted during training camp.The Predators won&rsquo;t rush him just to play him, but they would certainly like to see him earn a spot.Atlanta Bound: The Predators do not have to make a player available to the Thrashers in the expansion draft.Restricted Free Agents: Sebastien Bordeleau, C, 24; Joel Bouchard, D, 25; Bob Boughner, D, 28; Andrew Brunette, LW, 26; Patrick Cote, LW, 24; Mike Dunham, G, 26; Jamie Heward, D, 28; Sergei Krivokrasov, RW, 25; Denny Lambert, LW, 29; Tomas Vokoun, G, 22.Unrestricted Free Agents: None. &#9632;

f0050-01

Eight pack of early picks

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0051-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-01169/7178746-1-eng-US/f0051-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Petr Sykora Drafted: 18th by New Jersey, 1995</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 27th OverallIf they gave out the Stanley Cup for success in the draft, the New Jersey Devils would be classified as a dynasty.While the Devils have been disappointments in the playoffs since winning the Cup in 1995, they have thrived at the draft table. No organization in recent years has been more successful at putting together a winning team with its own draft choices.Sixteen of the team&rsquo;s own picks were regulars this season, including seven first-rounders. That has kept the Devils contenders without the need to rebuild.The Scott Stevens tampering settlement gave the Devils even more artillery in the draft. After choosing not to take St. Louis&rsquo;s first pick this year, they will have the Blues&rsquo; first round pick in any of the next four drafts, along with the one-time right to swap first round picks with St. Louis.Calling The Shots: GM Lou Lamoriello, who has had the guidance of player personnel directors Marshall Johnston and David Conte through the years, will be calling the shots for the 13th time.Although there have been some easy calls over the past dozen years (Brendan Shanahan in 1987 and Scott Niedermayer in 1991), Lamoriello has had the confidence in his staff to find some &ldquo;diamonds in the rough&rdquo; to build one of the deepest stockpiles of talent in the league. Draft day is also often trade day for Lamonello.&ldquo;Every year we fight over every pick,&rdquo; Conte said with a laugh. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had to break up a few. One guy gets bullheaded about a player and another guy gets bull-headed about a player. I pull out the reports and ask a guy who never saw that player play, &rsquo;What do you think?&rsquo; &ldquo;Draft Tendency: With a system stocked with highly regarded prospects, the Devils have approached the last four drafts looking ahead. Stevens and Ken Daneyko are both 35, but the Devils have big young defensemen on the horizon. Scott Gomez and Brendan Morrison are young forwards with scoring touches, so the Devils are likely to look for some size at forward to complement them.Immediate Need: Four years after winning the Stanley Cup, the Devils still need a bonafide goal-scorer. They are hopeful Gomez, who scored 30 goals in 58 games for the Tri-City Americans of the Western League this season, could be that player, but there is no guarantee he will make the team next season. It is highly unlikely a 1SW draft pick will stay with the team. The plan has always been to work one or two rookies into the lineup each season, but after another playoff failure the Devils may very well concentrate on trading for a veteran leader or signing a free agent such as Vincent Damphousse they can count on as the &ldquo;go-to guy&rdquo; goalie Martin Brodeur said the team is missing.Long-Term Need: The Devils love forwards with size and a physical presence such as Bobby Holik and Randy McKay, but many of their recent draft picks have been smaller, skilled players such as Brendan Morrison, Gomez and Brian Gionta. They need to find some power forwards who can play physically and balance out wingers such as Petr Sykora and Patrik Elias.The opposite might be true at defense, where they have youth and size in players such as Cohn White and Sheldon Souray. A playmaking defenseman is on the shopping fist, along with another goalie to give them depth. Chris Terreri won&rsquo;t be around forever and the Devils hope J.F. Damphousse will be ready to step in as Brodeur&rsquo;s backup in another two years.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pretty good draft,&rdquo; Conte said. &ldquo;There are some high-end guys we probably won&rsquo;t get a smell at.&rdquo;Draftee Ready to Step In: Cohn White, the team&rsquo;s second round pick in 1996, will have an opportunity to step in on defense. He was impressive in camp last year and may convince the Devils to trade a veteran to open up a spot after playing for Albany River Rats of the American League this past season. Up front, Gomez (first round, 27th overall in 1998) is a good bet to spend most of next season with the Devils.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Sergei Brylin, C, 25; Kevin Dean, D, 30; Sasha Lakovic, LW, 27.Restricted Free Agents: Jason. Arnott, C, 24; Brad Bombardin, D, 27; Patrik Elias, LW, 23; Brendan Morrison, C, 23; Brian Rolston, LW, 26; Krzysztof Oliwa, LW, 26; Jay Pandolfo, LW, 24.Unrestricted Free Agents: Dave Andreychuk, LW, 35; Bobby Carpenter, C, 35. &#9632;

f0051-01

Winning tradition on D*day

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0052-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-01164/7178777-1-eng-US/f0052-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Ziggy Palffy Drafted: 26th by Islanders, 1991</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 5th OverallSince GM Mike Milbury&rsquo;s 1995 arrival, the New York Islanders have used many former draft picks as pawns in trades and have not had any impact players emerge from their drafts.Their lineup for the last regular season game included six players drafted by the club. Three are regulars: Ziggy Palffy, Zdeno Chara and Eric Brewer. The latter two were drafted by Milbury.The GM has dealt six players drafted in the first and second rounds by predecessors Bill Torrey and Don Maloney (Scott Lachance, Darius Kasparaitis, Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, Jason Holland, Wade Redden). Milbury also has traded four of the first five players he took in his first draft in 1996 (J.P. Dumont, Dan Lacouture, Tryone Garner, Bubba Berenzweig). So it is clear he and assistant GM Gordie Clark do not place a high priority on growing talent.&ldquo;You draft at 18 years old and then &rsquo; you get a chance to watch &rsquo;em play,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;Certain kids mature (early), others don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Calling The Shots: Clark, Milbury&rsquo;s former assistant coach with the Boston Bruins, oversees the pro and amateur scouting staff and is Milbury&rsquo;s right and man. On his say-so, the Islanders took goalie Roberto Luongo fourth and Brewer fifth overall in 1997, passing on Sergei Samsonov and Marian Hossa. Clark is more conservative than Milbury in terms of the minor league seasoning he feels young players need. Clark said his draft philosophy is to be flexible.&ldquo;Sometimes I&rsquo;ve taken players because of their position,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Other times you take the best player, no matter what the position.&rdquo;Draft Tendency: In their previous three drafts (Maloney ran the Isles&rsquo; 1995 draft), Clark and Milbury have used eight of their top 12 choices for forwards and shown a preference for big, physical ones who can play a two-way game.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not an accident,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;In most cases, you don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going to happen to them. Maybe they won&rsquo;t be a high-end forward. Maybe they&rsquo;ll be a role player and size will help.&rdquo;Immediate Need: The short-term needs include two top-six forwards who can score and a veteran defenseman to stabilize a unit which includes youngsters Kenny Jonsson, Brewer Chara and Vladimir Chebaturkin.The forwards and defenseman will come via trades or free agent signings, however, because Clark said the Isles do not expect their first round choice to play with them as an 18-year-old.Expect the Isles to take the best forward available with their fifth overall pick in the first round.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the most forwards I&rsquo;ve ever seen in the top 10,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s loaded with forwards.&rdquo;If Patrik Stefan, Pavel Brendl and Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin are gone when they are up, the Isles will take one of two centers: the Calgary Hitmen&rsquo;s Kris Beech or Moose Jaw Warriors&rsquo; Jamie Landmark.Long-Term Need: There are plenty of holes to fill. They include: a pure goal-scorer who can take checking heat off Palffy; a right handed shooter to play the point on power plays; a big defensive center to go up against large scoring centers such as Eric Lindros, Bobby Holik and Mats Sundin; and an enforcer who can stay healthy. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to have all of that,&rdquo; Clark said.Ready To Step In: After an injury to Rich Pilon, Chebaturkin played the last eight games, had a plus-6 rating and was rarely caught out of position. The Russian was pointless and had only four shots on goal, but showed good strength around the net. He might have the potential for a career similar to that of Marc Bergevin, who has spent 15 years in the NHL without exceeding 24 points in a season. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t skate as well as Bergevin,&rdquo; Clark said, &ldquo;but he&rsquo;s big and smart and moves the puck. He has come along as well as we expected.&rdquo;Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: David Harlock, D, 28; Steve Webb, RW, 24.Restricted Free Agents: Vladimir Chebaturkin, D, 24; Mariusz Czerkawski, RW/LW, 27; Trevor Linden, C/RW, 29; Mats Lindgren, C, 24; Warren Luhning, RW, 23; Felix Potvin, G, 28; Barry Richter, D, 28; Joe Sacco, RW/LW, 30; Bryan Smolinski, C, 27.Unrestricted Free Agents: Mike Hough, LW, 36; Craig Janney, C, 32; Wade Flaherty, G, 31; Mark Lawrence, RW, 27. &#9632;

f0052-01

Forward thinking in Round 1

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0054-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-01165/7178808-1-eng-US/f0054-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 No. 2 Scorer: John MacLean Drafted: sixth by New Jersey, 1983</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 11 th OverallThe New York Rangers have done all their homework for the 1999 draft and have identified what they feel is at least a dozen blue-chin amateurs.Since the Rangers are slated to draft 11th in the first round, they believe they will get a player who will make it to the NHL with that pick.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to get a good player in this draft,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; assistant GM Don Maloney. &ldquo;Hopefully, we&rsquo;ll fall into four or five other ones.&rdquo;More than ever, the Rangers need to stock their roster at the draft. They need to improve the overall skill level in the organization as they continue to turn over what was an aging team.&ldquo;(Coach) John Muckier likes big, strong guys,&rdquo; Maloney said. &ldquo;We all do. But it is obvious that (in today&rsquo;s NHL) skating ability is becoming more and more important.&rdquo;Calling The Shots: Director of scouting Martin Madden runs the draft. The former Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; GM will direct traffic, but will have plenty of input from Rangers&rsquo; president/GM Neil Smith, Maloney and the rest of the scouting staff. One individual who is always heard on draft day is European scout Christer Rockstrom. Of course, Smith will have the final say on all matters.Draft Tendency: The Rangers&rsquo; philosophy under Smith hasn&rsquo;t changed from year to year. They go for the best player available, figuring if they stockpile enough talent they can trade for specific needs later. That has led, in the past, to the Rangers winding up with a lot of skilled, small players, so they have changed course somewhat in recent years to go for bigger players who can skate.The emphasis, with the way the game has evolved, is now on skating more than size.Immediate Need: The Rangers don&rsquo;t expect to get as lucky as they did last year when they nabbed Manny Malhotra with the seventh pick overall and obtained a player who was able to play in the NHL immediately.&ldquo;We need to improve our skill level, our skating level,&rdquo; Maloney said. &ldquo;We do have needs in a lot of positions.&rdquo;The Rangers&rsquo; roster has holes, but the Rangers&rsquo; prospects are mostly at center and on defense. They seem to be set in goal with up-and-comer Dan Cloutier and proven veteran Mike Richter on the NHL roster and Johan Holmqvist a top prospect in Sweden. So, in a perfect world, the Rangers would load up on wingers. And in the perfect world, they&rsquo;d be big, fast wingers.&ldquo;If push comes to shove,&rdquo; Maloney said, &ldquo;the Rangers would take a smaller player who can skate over a bigger one who can&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Long-Term Need: It&rsquo;s pretty much the same as the short-term need because everything the Rangers have been doing for the last 14 months has been for the future.It also depends on how the Rangers&rsquo; prospects develop. In particular, the focus is on Marc Savard, Malhotra, Mike York and Christian Dube at center; Burke Henry, Wes Jarvis and Alexei Vasiliev on defense.Obviously, the team is thin on the wings for the long term, particularly with top prospect Stefan Chemeski&rsquo;s career in doubt following two major knee reconstructions this year.Ready To Step In: The Rangers are hopeful York can make the jump to the NHL after a good stint in Hartford (American League). &ldquo;He has been impressive here,&rdquo; Maloney said. &ldquo;He has opened a lot of eyes. He&rsquo;s not big. But he&rsquo;s smart and competitive.&rdquo;York, 5-foot-9 and 179 pounds, is a similar type of player to Savard, and with Petr Nedved the No. 1 center and Malhotra possibly the No. 3 center, the Rangers could trade Savard or York for help on defense or on the wing.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Jeff Beukeboom, D, 34; Bob Errey, LW, 34; Brent Fedyk, RW, 32; Scott Fraser, RW, 27; Mike Maneluk, RW, 25; Chris Tamer, D, 28.Restricted Free Agents: Jason Doig, D, 22; Christian Dube, C, 22; Daniel Goneau, RW, 23; Mike Knuble, RW, 26; Mike Maneluk, RW, 25; Jan Mertzig, D, 28; Rumun Ndur, D, 23; Mathieu Schneider, D, 29; P.J. Stock, C, 24; Chris Tamer, D, 28.Unrestricted Free Agents: Rich Brennan, D, 26; Kevin Brown, RW, 25; Brent Fedyk, RW, 32; Brian Leetch, D, 31; Chris O&rsquo;Sullivan, D, 25. &#9632;

f0054-01

Looking to get fill of skill

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0055-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-01159/7178839-1-eng-US/f0055-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Alexei Yashin Drafted: second by Ottawa, 1992</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 26th OverallFor the first time in team history, the Ottawa Senators are going to be forced to play the waiting game at the draft table.That&rsquo;s the price of regular season success.Eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Buffalo Sabres, the Senators&rsquo; second place finish in the Eastern Conference means they&rsquo;ll have time to twiddle their thumbs at the FleetCenter.While the Senators-with the exception of Alexandre Daigle-have had success with top selections, the challenge this year will be to find a player at the bottom end of the first round.&ldquo;Our philosophy has always been to take the best player available,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; assistant GM Marshall Johnston, who moved into his new post after working as the club&rsquo;s player personnel director the last two years.Calling The Shots: With Johnston&rsquo;s move, the lead draft duties have been handed to chief scout Andre Savard. A former member of the Buffalo Sabres, Savard has worked closely with former GM Pierre Gauthier and Johnston at the draft table the past two years. Savard and Johnston were instrumental in the decision to draft Calder Trophy nominee Marian Hossa from Slovakia with the 12th overall pick in 1996. Savard may not have the final decision because that ultimately belongs to GM Rick Dudley, but Dudley generally listens to his staff.Draft Tendency: The Senators have always maintained they&rsquo;ll take the best player available and that won&rsquo;t change under Dudley. What could be interesting is whether the club will try to package together its first round pick with one of two second round selections it holds to move up. Dudley has shown in the International League he can get an itchy finger and he&rsquo;s not a reluctant trader. If there is talent in the first round which Dudley believes he&rsquo;d like to have, the Senators won&rsquo;t be afraid to wheel and deal.Immediate Need: The Senators need another natural goal-scorer to complement their second line. Finding that in the draft may be impossible. The club&rsquo;s philosophy is to build around star center Alexei Yashin. Wingers Daniel Alfredsson, Shawn McEachern, Magnus Arvedson, Radek Bonk and Hossa provide a good supporting cast. But the Senators found in the playoffs that center Vaclav Prospal is not the answer for the second line.Finding somebody who can take the pressure off Yashin to score-especially after he was held pointless in the playoffs-would be a good step for the organization.Long-Term Need: Goaltending, goaltending and more goaltending tops the list of needs. The Senators have plenty of defensemen for the future and their forward lines could also be well stocked. The big question: who will be in net?Last year, the Senators selected goalie Mathieu Chouinard from Shawinigan (Quebec League) in the first round, but many questions remain. He had a less than stellar playoffs this past season, but the Senators like his confidence, attitude and still believe he can play in the league.Goalies Jani Hurme and Frederic Cassivi, who have been toiling in the minors, remain longshots. The Senators are going to need a netminder, so they may as well start preparing for it-even if it means using a first round selection.Ready To Step In: Center Mike Fisher, a second round selection (44th overall) last season, was the only prospect to play in an exhibition game during training camp. Fisher, 19, a 6-foot, 180-pounder, could eventually be the man to fill the role on the second line, but he needs time to develop. If he&rsquo;s going to start 1999-2000 with the Senators, he&rsquo;ll have to be eased into the lineup by Ottawa coach Jacques Martin.Fisher finished fifth in Ontario League scoring in 1998-99, collecting 41 goals and 106 points in 68 games for the Sudbury Wolves. Should he find his touch in the NHL, Fisher could be around to stay for a long time.ATLANTA BOUND? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Janne Laukkanen, D, 29; Damian Rhodes, G, 30; Shaun Van Allen, C, 32.Restricted Free Agents: Magnus Arvedson, C, 27; Radek Bonk, C, 23; Ted Donato, C/LW, 30; Bruce Gardiner, RW, 27; Janne Laukkanen, D, 29; Lance Pitlick, D, 31; Vaclav Prospal, C, 24; Wade Redden, D, 21; Damian Rhodes, G, 30; Jason York, D, 29.Unrestricted Free Agents: Bill Berg, LW, 31; Nelson Emerson, RW, 31. &#9632;

f0055-01

Success brings challenge

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0056-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-01132/7178870-1-eng-US/f0056-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Eric Lindros Drafted: first by Quebec, 1991</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 22nd OverallJust about everybody thought the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; season ended when Eric Lindros suffered a collapsed lung April 1 and just about everybody was right.The Flyers didn&rsquo;t make it past the first round of playoffs for a second straight season, but they believe they can rebound next year if Lindros can.Management says it plans to bring back coach Roger Neilson and pretty much the same cast. The Flyers&rsquo; core players-Lindros, Eric Desjardins, John LeClair and Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour-will average nearly 30 years of age in 19992000, but president/GM Bob Clarke says the group deserves another chance.The players are realistic and realize changes will come if another season begins and/or ends in disappointing fashion.&ldquo;Obviously, we would all like to stick together and try to do it,&rdquo; Brind&rsquo;Amout said, &ldquo;but this is the &rsquo;90s and it&rsquo;s Philadelphia. It&rsquo;s about winning. When you don&rsquo;t, you have to look at ways to change it.&rdquo;Added Desjardins: &ldquo;I believe everybody (in the nucleus) is going to be back. You don&rsquo;t want to trade a big impacl player for two, three average players. 1 believe in the guys we have here.&rdquo;Clarke kept an important support player to that group by signing Marl Recchi to a five-year, $25-million contract before he became eligible for free agency.Calling The Shots: Clarke puts lot of trust in his scouting staff, but gets the final word. The GM relied on scow Simon Nolet&rsquo;s input before taking No. 1 pick Simon Gagne last year. Clarke is not a big believer in the 18-year-ok draft (he would prefer 19 or 20), bu sometimes addresses &ldquo;needs,&rdquo; even i the player is years away from the NHL.Draft Tendency: In the &rsquo;90s, the Flyers have tapped the European market mute freely, but their roster doesn&rsquo;t reflect that international mix. They have only two Swedes and two Russians on their squad. The Flyers still like big players who play a physical style, but have made an effort to upgrade the speed and skill in recent drafts. Except for a five-year stretch in the early &rsquo;90s, the Flyers have been in the playoffs every year since 1972, so they seldom get high first-rounders. That means drafting players that take longer to develop.Immediate Need: The Flyers generally develop players in patient fashion and are no: known for drafting players to fill an immediate need. Defense is the team&rsquo;s biggest concern. Aside from Desjardins, the talent level is average. On the farm, only the Phantoms&rsquo; Mark Eaton looks ready to move up on the Flyers&rsquo; back line if unrestricted Steve Duchesne is not signed. The future in goal is set with Brian Boucher and Jean-Marc Pelletier. Gagne could challenge for a job next year at center.Long-Term Need: Twelve trades pulled off during the season made the Flyers appreciably older. Gone are young-20s types Chris Gratton, Dainius Zubrus, Colin Forbes and Alexandre Daigle. In their places are 32-year-old Mikael Andersson, 30-year-old Valeri Zelepukin, 31-year-old Recchi and 33-year-old Craig Berube. So, at some point, the Flyers will have to think about another cycle of young players. The Flyers have the oldest goaltending tandem in the league in 35-year-olds John Vanbiesbrouck and Ron Hextail, so Boucher, Pelletier or an outsider will be here within a year or two.Ready To Step In: Gagne was among the Quebec League scoring leaders with Quebec and one of the top players in Canadian major junior hockey. The Flyers like his skill, speed and playmaking ability. However, the Flyers are deep at center with Lindros, Brind&rsquo;Amour, Daymond Langkow and Marc Bureau. Boucher, the No. 1 pick in 1997, was slowed by a couple of knee injuries this past year, but was playing well for the Phantoms in the playoffs. Pelletier saw action in one NHL game this season and kept the Ottawa Senators in check for two periods before allowing a late flurry of goals after the game had been decided.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Ron Hextail, G, 35; Sandy McCarthy, 26, RW.Restricted Free Agents: Karl Dykhuis, D, 26; Keith Jones, RW, 30; Daymond Langkow, C, 22; Eric Lindros, C, 26; Sandy McCarthy, RW, 26; Dan McGillis, D, 26; Mikael Renberg, RW, 27; Valeri Zelepukin, LW, 30.Unrestricted Free Agents: Craig Berube, LW, 33; Steve Duchesne, D, 33. &#9632;

f0056-01

Nothing radical in works

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0057-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-01121/7178901-1-eng-US/f0057-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Jeremy Roenick Drafted: eighth by Chicago, 1988</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 19th OverallPhoenix Coyotes&rsquo; GM Bobby Smith doesn&rsquo;t expect to make any wholesale changes despite the fact his team made yet another first round playoff exit, this time losing to the St. Louis Blues.Smith has a solid nucleus of talent, one good enough to make the Coyotes a potential Stanley Cup contender, but based on their eight straight first round exits from the post-season, they probably are at least two quality players away from taking the next step.Those players won&rsquo;t come immediately from the entry draft, but like all organizations, the Coyotes will use the process to acquire commodities to fuel the system.Calling The Shots: Though Smith has taken an active role at the draft in each of his first three years with the Coyotes, the final word still belongs to Bill Lesuk, the team&rsquo;s veteran director of scouting. He&rsquo;s entering his 25th season with the franchise; it&rsquo;s his 10th as the man in charge at the draft.The &rsquo;Tractor,&rsquo; as Lesuk was known during his NHL playing days, was responsible for hauling in such talent as Keith Tkachuk, Teppo Numminen and Nikolai Khabibulin. Lesuk may seek more input this season from Sean Coady, the team&rsquo;s director of player personnel.Draft Tendency: In the past three years, 11 of the club&rsquo;s 24 choices have been invested on defensemen. If a highly rated blueliner falls to them in the first round, it will be hard for them to pass up, but expect the Coyotes to go the international route with a couple of their top picks. Like most NHL teams, they&rsquo;ve beefed up their European scouting in recent seasons.Immediate Need: Though they have drafted forwards who can easily be moved from center to wing and from one side to the other, the Coyotes have taken just two players listed as left wingers in the past five years and one of them-Jason Issel-was the last player (264th overall) they took in 1994. The other is German-born Robert Francz (sixth round, 1997), who is still a project.The Coyotes desperately need to find somebody to play behind No. 1 left winger Keith Tkachuk, 27, who could be gone when his contract expires after two more seasons. The No. 2 left winger is veteran Greg Adams and beyond veteran defensive specialist Mike Sullivan, who becomes an unrestricted free agent, there is little depth on the Phoenix roster.Long-Term Need: The current first and second lines of Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick and Dallas Drake and Adams, Robert Reichel and Rick Tocchet have an average age of 30.5. That means the window of opportunity for the Coyotes is closing. The team can go another year, maybe two, if it keeps its top six forwards together.But even that&rsquo;s no guarantee. Reichel, 27, is set to become a Group II free agent and has indicated he might return to his native Czech Republic for good. Roenick, 29, has put excessive miles on his body in recent years, as has the gritty, 30-year-old Drake. And Adams and Tocchet, both 35, probably won&rsquo;t be back after next season.Center Daniel Briere, coming off an inconsistent rookie season, has tremendous upside, but he&rsquo;ll need a capable winger-other than Tkachuk-to skate alongside him.Ready To Step In: Tavis Hansen, a 23-year-old right winger, made the most of his 20 games with the parent club this past season. The Coyotes learned a lot about the physical, hardworking forward who can play all three spots up front. He quickly proved he&rsquo;s ready for NHL duty and saw action in two post-season games. He only scored two goals and had one assist during the regular season, but will contend for a spot on the third or fourth line next season. The 6-foot-2, 204-pounder might be the team&rsquo;s new Brad Isbister, the young, 6-foot-4 forward prospect Phoenix shipped to the New York Islanders for Reichel.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: J.J. Daigneault, D, 33; Louie DeBrusk, LW, 28; Deron Quint, D, 23; Mikhail Shtalenkov, G, 33; Mike Stapleton, C, 32; Jimmy Waite, G, 30.Restricted Free Agents: Jim Cummins, RW, 28; Shane Doan, RW, 22; Tavis Hansen, RW, 23; Nikolai Khabibulin, G, 26; Stan Neckar, D, 23; Robert Reichel, C, 27; Oleg Tverdovsky, D, 23.Unrestricted Free Agents: Bob Corkum, C, 31; Gerald Diduck, D, 34; Jamie Huscroft, D, 32; Mike Sullivan, C/LW, 31; Jimmy Waite, G, 30. &#9632;

f0057-01

System lacks forward depth

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0058-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-01129/7178932-1-eng-US/f0058-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Jaromin Jagr Drafted: fifth by Pittsburgh, 1990</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 18th OverallOff the ice, the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; future might not be too bright. It might not even exist. But if the team stays in Pittsburgh, the future on the ice is bright-especially on defense.A horde of quality young defensemen, including Pavel Skrbek, Michal Rozsival, Sven Butenschon, Tuomas Gronman, Chris Kelleher, Andrew Ference and Josef Melichar, are NHL-ready. Few organizations have as much depth on defense.Depth at forward isn&rsquo;t quite as good, although 1997 first round pick Robert Dome owns immense potential, as does 1998 first round pick Milan Kraft.In goal, Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Peter Skudra and 1996 first round pick Craig Hillier (less likely) are young players who could someday fill the No. 1 spot that 34-year-old Tom Barrasso currently holds.After sharing the American League Syracuse Crunch with the Vancouver Canucks, the Penguins will have their own AHL affiliate next season in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.Calling The Shots: The Penguins draft as a staff. No single person has the final say on a pick. Head scout Greg Malone generally pinpoints the player the Penguins want and runs the idea past GM Craig Patrick. Sometimes Patrick will bring up another name. Mostly, he delegates to his scouts.Sometimes one scout-be it Herb Brooks, European scout Mark Kelley or Malone-will feel particularly strong about a certain player. That can lead to a healthy debate. Patrick mediates.Draft Tendency: A film on the Penguins&rsquo; draft tendencies this decade could be titled &ldquo;European Vocation.&rdquo; They have selected a European player with their first pick seven times in nine drafts. The two exceptions-Canadian center Chris Wells (1994) and Canadian goaltender Craig Hillier (1996)-have not panned out. Wells was traded. Hillier has gone from goalie of the future to question mark.Patrick&rsquo;s philosophy is to take the best player available, rather than to draft by need. The Penguins aren&rsquo;t afraid to take a risk and they generally get a highly skilled player despite their low. drafting position each year.Immediate Need: A big, hard-hitting winger. The Penguins really haven&rsquo;t had a big, hard-hitting winger-at least not one who can skate and score-since Rick Tocchet was traded in 1994. They have plenty of skill at every for-ward position and even some size, but not many players outside to defenseman Darius Kasparaitis with the capability to knock somebody through the glass. It says a lot that Rob Brown was the team&rsquo;s leading hitter among forwards.Long-Term Need: Depending on how the young goalies pan out, goaltending could be a need in the future. Barrasso is 34. Hillier took a huge step back this season and was supplanted by Aubin. In fact, Aubin might have moved ahead of Peter Skudra as the organization&rsquo;s No. 2 goalie. Questions still linger about both Aubin and Skudra.Depending on what happens with the team&rsquo;s bankruptcy situation, the Penguins might need a star player to build around in three or four years.Ready To Step In: Skrbek, the Penguins&rsquo; second round pick (28th overall) in 1996, is big enough and skilled enough to crack the Penguins&rsquo; lineup next season. After a fast start with Syracuse this season, Skrbek was slowed by nagging injuries.Still, in his first season in North America, Skrbek, a defenseman, shone for the league&rsquo;s worst team.Most scouts mention Skrbek and 1996 fourth round pick Michal Rozsival in the same breath. Rozsival, also a Czech defenseman, is a serious threat to break the lineup next season.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve both been working out heavy duty this year,&rdquo; said Syracuse assistant coach Glenn Patrick. &ldquo;After all the years in the weight room working out every day after practice, it&rsquo;s pretty encouraging.&rdquo;Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Bobby Dollas, D, 34; Victor Ignatjev, D, 29; Dan Kesa, RW, 27; Jeff Serowik, D, 32; Tyler Wright, C, 26.Restricted Free Agents: Matthew Barnaby, LW, 26; Sven Butenschon, D, 23; Todd Hlushko, C, 29; Darius Kasparaitis, D, 26; Dan Kesa, RW, 27; Alexei Kovalev, RW, 26; Robert Lang, C, 28; Kip Miller, LW, 29; Ian Moran, D, 26; Jiri Slegr, D, 28; Martin Straka, C, 26.Unrestricted Free Agents: Greg Andrusak, D, 29; Bobby Dollas, D, 34; Victor Ignatjev, D, 29; Jeff Serowik, D, 32. &#9632;

f0058-01

Outlook good… on the ice

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0059-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-01109/7178963-1-eng-US/f0059-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Pavol Demitra Drafted: 227th by Ottawa, 1993</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 17th OverallDuring the playoffs, an inquiring mind raised the specter of Mike Keenan, asking St. Louis Blues&rsquo; coach Joel Quenneville to compare and contrast his willingness to use untested youngsters in the post-season to his predecessor&rsquo;s preference for battle-proven veterans.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going there,&rdquo; Quenneville said.It&rsquo;s unlikely that either Quenneville or the Blues will ever go there again. The Blues have been there, done that, with ownership learning the painful and expensive lesson Keenan&rsquo;s road to the Stanley Cup was a dead end.Instead, the Blues are trying to take a different route. With a new-age coach and conservative managers, they&rsquo;re trying to do it the old-fashioned way, by building a foundation of home-grown talent.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking to develop assets through the draft,&rdquo; said GM Larry Pleau, who is entering his second draft as Blues&rsquo; GM. &ldquo;The more assets you have, the better. The key thing is to develop players.&rdquo;Calling The Shots: As usual, director of scouting Ted Hampson will be the Blues&rsquo; main man at the draft table. Hampson has been the Blues&rsquo; scouting chief since 1983, presiding over the amateur draft for an organization that was continually mortgaging the future for the present by dealing picks and prospects even before Keenan&rsquo;s arrival. In 15 years, Hampson has picked only six times in the first round, with two coming in the last three years. Barring an unlikely trade of the No. 1 pick before draft day, this will make the first time that Hampson has been able to pick in the first round in back-to-back years since 1988 and 1989.Draft Tendency: The Blues draft philosophy under Pleau can be summed up by three words: Best player available.&ldquo;Your organizational depth chart might show you need something in a specific area, but if you need a forward and a defenseman is clearly better, you take the defenseman,&rdquo; Pleau said.In recent years, the Blues&rsquo; picks have come from the junior and European ranks, with an eye to long-term development. The Blues have gone almost completely away from drafting collegebound players, a staple of their strategy in the 1980s and early 1990s.Immediate Need: Before Grant Fuhr returned from his third knee surgery in as many years, the Blues employed a goaltender by committee approach, trying rookies Brent Johnson and Rich Parent, taking a gamble on Jim Care; and going back to Fuhr&rsquo;s former co-No. 1 Jamif McLennan. None of them stepped forward, the Blues went back to Fuhr, who led then down the stretch. But at 36, Fuhr has i limited shelf life and the Blues desperately need to develop a replacement.Pleau inked free agent Cody Rudkowski from Seattle of the Western League earlier this season and he could be in the mix for the future.Long-Term Need: Beyond the to two of Al Maclnnis and Chris Pronger the Blues&rsquo; defense has been a patch work unit of veterans and minor league castoffs, which works only because Maclnnis and Pronger play so much But the Blues need to develop some defensemen to ultimately step in for the 35-year-old Maclnnis and replace the likes of Jeff Finley, Ricard Persson and Chris McAlpine.Ready To Step In: Winger Jocher Hecht, the 49 pick overall in 1995, had an eye-opening debut in the playoffs scoring goals in Games 3 and 4 against the Dallas Stars in the second round in only his fifth and sixth career games. A skilled player with speed and good size Hecht played on the second line with leading scorer Pavol Demitra and impressed with his determination.&ldquo;He has done a great job,&rdquo; Pleau said during the series. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be somebody we&rsquo;ll take a close look at next year Having a year under his belt helps.&rdquo;Hecht led the Blues&rsquo; farm in Worcester (American League) in scoring with 21 goals and 56 points in 74 games.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 24 expansion draft Marc Bergevin, D, 33; Jim Campbell RW, 26; Jim Carey, G, 24; Kelly Chase, RW, 31; Geoff Courtnail, LW 36; Rory Fitzpatrick, D, 24; Bryan Helmer, D, 26; Jamie McLennan, G 27; Michel Picard, LW, 29; Rudrucsvuek, D, 32; Geoff Smith, D, 30; Terry Yake, C, 30.Restricted Free Agents: Craig Conroy, C 27; Jamie Rivers, D, 24; Pierre Turgeon, C, 29.Unrestricted Free Agents: Jeff Finley, D 32; Brad Shaw, D, 35; Tony Twist, LW, 31. &#9632;

f0059-01

Going conservative route

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0060-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0060-01100/7178994-1-eng-US/f0060-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Jeff Friesen Drafted: 11th by San Jose, 1994</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 14th OverallLargely because of significant contributions from first round selections Mike Rathje, Jeff Friesen, Marco Sturm and Patrick Marleau the San Jose Sharks appear headed upward in the Western Conference. &rsquo;While the Sharks bowed out of the playoffs in the first round for a second consecutive year, they improved slightly from eighth place to seventh during the I regular season. With the right moves this summer, the expected return to health of defenseman Gary Suter and continued development from the organization&rsquo;s top young players, San Jose might be able to compete for a top four spot in the West next year.Calling The Shots: While GM Dean Lombardi maintains final say at the draft table, particularly with regard to trades, director of amateur scouting Tim Burke is the man when it comes to selecting players.Burke, who formerly served as the club&rsquo;s director of professional scouting, took over as entry draft guru in 1996. Since then, the Sharks have added Sturm, Marleau and highly regarded defensemen Andrei Zyuzin and Brad Stuart.A former minor league player in the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; and New Jersey Devils&rsquo; systems, Burke worked in several capacities for the Devils before joining San Jose&rsquo;s scouting staff in 1992.Draft Tendency: In each of the past three years, Lombardi has swung a trade to give Burke a second pick either late in the first round or early in the second.Three years ago, the Sharks landed Sturm with the 21st pick in the first round, a selection that originally belonged to the Chicago Blackhawks. Two years ago, San Jose obtained the 23rd pick overall from the Carolina Hurricanes and grabbed defenseman Scott Hannan. A year ago, the Sharks selected right winger Jonathan Cheechoo with the second pick in the second round, the result of a deal with the Nashville Predators.Immediate Need: After scoring only 196 goals this season, seventh-fewest in the league and the lowest total among playoff teams, San Jose needs an offensive infusion. The late-sea-son addition of center Vincent Damphousse provided a significant boost. Damphousse and right winger Joe Murphy, who led the team with a mere 25 goals, both stand to become unrestricted free agents July 1. The Sharks definitely want to re-sign Damphousse, while Murphy&rsquo;s status is less certain. In any event, San Jose figures to actively research trade and free agent possibilities, with scoring forwards the primary focus.The Sharks also hope Suter can generate some production from the blueline next season.In the long term, San Jose is counting heavily on youngsters such as Friesen, Marleau and left winger Alex Korolyuk stepping up to lead the way offensively.Long-Term Need: The Sharks have never drafted a goaltender higher than the third round and haven&rsquo;t selected one at all the past two years.Steve Shields, who will be 27 at the outset of next season, showed enough this season to convince people he is the heir apparent to veteran Mike Vernon. Beyond that, however, San Jose isn&rsquo;t certain what, if anything, it possesses.Minor leaguers John Nabokov, Sean Gauthier or Terry Friesen might be ready to back up Shields whenever Vernon&rsquo;s career ends, but there are no guarantees. Given they will be drafting lower than ever before, 14th, the Sharks might see fit to use an early pick on a goalie.Ready To Step In: San Jose isn&rsquo;t sure exactly who it will be, but club officials have a pretty good idea where an infusion of youth might come next year. With Stuart, Hannan and Shawn Heins among a talented group of young defensemen, the Sharks very well could add a new face on defense.Smart, the third overall selection from last year&rsquo;s draft, is the most intriguing possibility. A mid-season trade from Regina to Calgary gave the offense-minded Smart the opportunity to play in the Memorial Cup. He also gained valuable experience playing for Canada at the World Junior Championship.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Shawn Burr, LW, 32; Mike Craig, RW, 27; Murray Craven, LW, 34; Stephen Guolla, C, 26; Dave Lowry, LW, 34; Jett Norton, D, 33; Ron Sutter, C, 35.Restricted Free Agents: None.Unrestricted Free Agents: Vincent Damphousse, C, 31; Dave Lowry, LW, 34; Joe Murphy, RW, 31; Jeff Norton, D, 33; Ron Sutter, C, 35. &#9632;

f0060-01

Team on rise needs goals

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0061-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0061-01105/7179025-1-eng-US/f0061-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Darcy Tucker Drafted: 151st by Montreal, 1993</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 1st OverallOwner Art Williams made waves at the 1998 entry draft by saying No. I overall selection Vincent Lecavalier would be &ldquo;the Michael Jordan of hockey,&rdquo; and that the 18-year-old was destined to become a Hall-of-Famer who would lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to multiple Stanley Cups.Williams will be nowhere near the 1999 draft. Less than one year after buying the Lightning, he is selling it to a group of Detroit businessmen.One thing, however, has not changed: the Lightning finished last again and got the &ldquo;reward&rdquo; of first overall pick.Calling The Shots: Assuming new Lightning ownership makes no changes after the sale of the team formally closes, coach-GM Jacques Demers will have the final say at the table. But Tampa Bay essentially drafts by committee. Director of player development Don Murdoch and the scouting staff he oversees, including pro scout Peter Mahovlich, do all the leg work and have plenty of input.Senior adviser Cliff Fletcher also will be heard. He and Demers have had firsthand looks at top prospects, including trips to see Pavel Brendl of the Calgary Hitmen in the Western League playoffs and Sweden&rsquo;s Sedin twins at the World Championship.Draft Tendency: The Lightning, which has grown accustomed to drafting high in the first round, typically takes the best player available with its first round pick. Demers will take one of Brendl, Henrik or Daniel Sedin, and Long Beach Ice Dog Patrik Stefan of the International League. Once it is out of the first round, need becomes more of a priority. Murdoch also likes to take at least one middle round flyer and the Lightning will not shy from taking European prospects.Immediate Need: When Tampa Bay drafted Lecavalier and re-acquired Chris Gratton from the Philadelphia Flyers last season, it essentially tabbed them as its top two centers for seasons to come. The presence of third-liner Darcy Tucker further reduces the need for help up the middle.The Lightning took defensemen Mario Larocque and Paul Mara with its first round picks in 1996 and 1997, respectively. Along with 1996 sixth-round pick Pavel Kubina, who spent most of 1998-99 with the Lightning,Tampa Bay is well-stocked with promising prospects on the blueline. All of which points to the wing as the Lightning&rsquo;s most-immediate need. And since this offensively inept club has a dearth of pure goal-scorers, some suspect Brendl is Tampa Bay&rsquo;s man. (See pg. 6 for more.) Like Lecavalier, Brendl could conceivably land an NHL roster spot right away.Long-Term Need: As has often been the case, the Lightning is a mess in net. Injury-prone Daren Puppa remains under contract, but is no longer counted on to carry the club. The Lightning considers Corey Schwab a quality backup, but still isn&rsquo;t sure he can be a bonafide No. 1. Kevin Hodson arrived from the Detroit Red Wings on trading deadline day and will be given a shot. Zac Bierk is dubbed Tampa&rsquo;s goalie of the future, but he remains relatively unproven. Bierk is the only young goalie in the Lightning&rsquo;s system, which is why some think that if Tampa Bay should trade down it would take Jeff Finley of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Barrie Colts.Ready To Step In: Many thought Mara might land a job out of camp last season, but was returned to the OHL for one more year of seasoning. When called up to make his NHL debut in Tampa Bay&rsquo;s final game of the season, he was considerably bulked up. Mara had a goal and an assist in that game. Don&rsquo;t be shocked if he starts among the Lightning&rsquo;s top six defensemen and quickly works his way to the top four.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Drew Bannister, D, 24; Jesse Belanger, 29; Brian Bradley, C, 34; Jassen Cullimore, D, 26; Daren Puppa, G, 34; Stephane Richer, LW, 32; Corey Schwab, G, 28; Corey Spring, RW/LW, 28; Michal Sykora, D, 25; David Wilkie, D, 25; Derek Wilkinson, G, 24; Paul Ysebaert, LW, 33.Restricted Free Agents: Jesse Belanger, C, 29; Jason Bonsignore, C, 22; Colin Cloutier, C, 23; Cory Cross, 28; Colin Forbes, LW, 23; Sergey Gusev, D, 23; Kevin Hodson, G, 27; Steve Kelly, LW, 22; Michael Nylander, LW, 26; Corey Schwab, G, 28; Mike Sillinger, RW, 27; Michal Sykora, D, 25; David Wilkie, D, 25; Derek Wilkinson, G, 24.Unrestricted Free Agents: Brian Bradley, C, 34; Paul Ysebaert, LW, 33. &#9632;

f0061-01

Back in familiar territory

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0064-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0064-0195/7179056-1-eng-US/f0064-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Mats SundinDrafted: first by Quebec, 1989</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 24th OverallThe Toronto Maple Leafs are entering uncharted territory in this year&rsquo;s entry draft. Before the season, most hockey observers figured that by mid-May the Leafs would be a more serious contender for the first overall pick than the Stanley Cup.But thanks to a season more successful than even the most ardent optimist could have imagined, the Leafs enter this year&rsquo;s draft with the No. 24 pick. That leaves them in an unfamiliar position because in years past they&rsquo;ve either picked in the top half of the first round or not at all.Barring a trade, the Leafs are certain to miss out on the top-end talent this year, but it&rsquo;s still important that assistant GM Anders Hedberg and his staff find some quality prospects. While things are most definitely looking up for the Leafs on all fronts, their prospect list still needs some bolstering and there is very little in the way of future NHL talent on their farm team, the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs of the American League.Calling The Shots: Both GM-president Ken Dryden and associate GM Mike Smith defer to Hedberg on all draft selections. Hedberg, 47, has been with the Leafs since 1991, serving as their European scout and liaison with European club teams. In 1997, he joined the management team as assistant GM and director of player personnel.Since Hedberg took over the scouting duties, the Leafs have acquired top prospects such as Nikolai Antropov and Adam Mail and Hedberg was instrumental in the Leafs&rsquo; selection of Sergei Berezin 256th overall in 1994. Berezin led the Leafs in goals this past season with 37.Hedberg aspires to become a GM and will likely become the first European to hold the portfolio. Smith and Hedberg rarely communicate and there is speculation Smith will leave the team after this season, putting Hedberg on a faster track to the GM&rsquo;sjob.Draft Tendency: Until a few years ago, the tendency was to either trade the first pick for a veteran in decline or select the player and then trade him later for a veteran in decline. However, that has changed with the Dryden regime and the Leafs have put a greater emphasis on drafting and developing talent. They do not draft to fill holes; instead, they take the best player available.Immediate Need: The Leafs have several, but the two most&rsquo;glaring are a large, tough defense-only defenseman and a forward, prefer ably a center, who plays a gritty, two-way game.The Leafs are woefully short on defense prospects and their only tough one is D.J. Smith, who enjoyed a breakthrough year in St. John&rsquo;s, but has struggled mightily against NHL competition. Mair could develop into the two-way center every good team needs.Long-Term Need: When both Curtis Joseph and Glenn Healy went down with injuries this year, the Leafs&rsquo; No. 1 and 2 goalies were Jeff Reese and Francis Larivee. Reese is a stopgap and Larivee finished this season in the East Coast League. Free agent acquisition Marc Robitaille has not shown he can even be consistent at the AHL level and their future hopes now rest with Jamie Hodson of the Western League&rsquo;s Brandon Wheat Kings. Joseph has three more years on his contract, so the Leafs have some time to find a quality goalie.Ready To Step In: The 20-year-old Mair nearly made the team out of training camp and got the call in the second round of the playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins when Steve Sullivan suffered a back strain. He has very good leadership qualities, knows his way around both ends of the ice and plays an intense game. &ldquo;Our staff was very impressed with him in training camp,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; coach Pat Quinn. &ldquo;We were very seriously considering keeping him here and not sending him back to junior. We did send him back, but we had several days of discussion about it.&rdquo;Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Dallas Eakins, D, 32; Glenn Healy, G, 36; Derek King, LW, 32; Kris King, LW, 33; Chris McAllister, D, 24; Yannick Tremblay, D, 23; Garry Valk, RW, 31; Todd Warriner, C, 25.Restricted Free Agents: Bryan Berard, D, 22; Mike Johnson, RW, 24; Alyn McCauley, C, 22; Fredrik Modin, LW, 24; Yanic Perreault, C, 28; Steve Sullivan, C, 24; Yannick Tremblay, D, 23; Todd Warriner, C, 25; Dimitri Yushkevich, D, 27.Unrestricted Free Agents: Dallas Eakins, D, 32; Garry Valk, RW, 31. &#9632;

f0064-01

System needs bolstering

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0065-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-01109/7179087-1-eng-US/f0065-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Markus Naslund Drafted: 16th by Pittsburgh, 1991</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Picks3rd Overall12th Overall (Conditional from Florida)After a second successive bottom-dwelling season, and Pavel Bure long gone, the Vancouver Canucks are desperately seeking a game-breaker to renew interest in their sagging franchise.The Canucks are winning less, scoring less and selling fewer tickets to a public grown weary of the constant losing. Vancouver has missed the playoffs three years in a row and failed to play above .500 five straight seasons.In the 29-year history of the team, there have been just five seasons above .500. GM Brian Burke is entering his second year at the helm and can&rsquo;t afford a mistake at the draft table.The terrible times have led to speculation Burke, whose Canucks hold the third overall selection, may try to do something so dramatic as land both Sedin brothers in the draft. (See pg. 6for story.)Calling The Shots: After a year as the Canucks&rsquo; assistant GM, Mike Penny returned this season as Vancouver&rsquo;s head of amateur scouting, a position he held from 1985 through 1997. The 51-year-old Montreal native has had both his good and bad moments with the club. His greatest coup was taking Pavel Bure in the fifth round in 1989. His biggest mistake was 1992 first round pick Libor Polasek.Draft Tendency: Under Burke, the Canucks&rsquo; drafting philosophy is cut and dried: take the best player available. Burke does not believe in drafting by position, or to fill a need, if it means passing on a superior player. The Canucks, for example, were loaded with young defensemen, but took Bryan Allen last year. Now they are in a position to trade a blueliner for help up front. The Canucks will adopt the same strategy again this season if the same scenario unfolds, although that seems unlikely with the top-rated players all forwards.Immediate Need: The Canucks are starving for a playmaking center, especially with their best-captain Mark Messier-turning 39 in 1999-2000. Veteran Dave Gagner, picked up in the Bure trade, was ineffective and can&rsquo;t be counted on at age 34 while 1996 first-rounder Josh Holden does not appear ready after going the final 16 regular season games without an assist. The other centers currently on the roster, Dave Scatchard, Darby Hendrickson and HarryYork, aren&rsquo;t playmakers and don&rsquo;t seem capable of setting the table for snipers Markus Naslund, Alexander Mogilny and Bill Muckalt. TheCanucks may be able to get some playmaking off the left wing if Peter Schaefer, the team&rsquo;s 1995 third-rounder, can make the jump full time. Schaefer was beginning to show flashes during a late-season call-up, but suffered a year-ending separated shoulder with six games remaining.Long-Term Need: The only position where Vancouver is in excellent shape is defense, where they have Adrian Aucoin, Bryan McCabe, Mattias Ohlund, Ed Jovanovski and Jason Strudwick all under 26 with Bryan Allen coming. Otherwise, it looks like trouble.Kevin Weekes, obtained in the Pavel Bure trade, failed to make an impression as the Canucks&rsquo; &ldquo;goalie of the I future&rdquo; and management may have to re-visit this position. Up front, the center spot remains a black hole with I Messier and Gagner expected to be in I retirement in another couple of seasons.Scoring from the wings is also a con-cem as there is little in the pipeline and hardly anything on the big club, except Naslund, with a touch around the net.Mogilny is in steep decline and may not I even finish the final two years on his I contract in Vancouver.Ready To Step In: Allen, the I Canucks&rsquo; first pick in 1998, made the I team last October, but was returned to Oshawa (Ontario League) when he couldn&rsquo;t come to contract terms. He has | since signed and is projected to play on | the third defense pairing, or perhaps as a | seventh guy. At 6-foot-5 and 215 | pounds, Allen is in the mould of Derian I Hatcher.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Corey Hirsch, G, 26; Trent Klatt, RW, I 28; Steve Staios, D/RW, 25.Restricted Free Agents: Adrian I Aucoin, D, 25; Todd Bertuzzi, LW, 24; I Corey Hirsch, G, 26; Ed Jovanovski, D, I 22; Bill Muckalt, RW, 24; Markus Naslund, RW, 25; Dave Scatchard, C, 23; Peter Schaefer, LW, 21; Garth Snow, G, 29; Steve Staios, D/RW, 25; Jason Strudwick, D, 23; Harry York, C, 25.Unrestricted Free Agents: Dana Murzyn, D, 32; Bert Robertsson, D/LW, 25; Peter Zezel, C, 34. &#9632;

f0065-01

Time to hit a home run

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0066-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0066-0195/7179118-1-eng-US/f0066-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">1998-99 Top Scorer: Peter Bondra Drafted: 156th by Washington, 1984</figcaption></div>1999 First Round Pick 7 th OverallIt has been two seasons since the Washington Capitals&rsquo; current hierarchy took over and their inventory of assets has them searching for new stock. That search begins in earnest June 26 in Boston.During the past two seasons? the Caps have averaged more than 490 mangames lost per campaign, giving management more than ample opportunity to get a close look at every player in the system. What it learned, in short, is that the system is broke. There are bodies on the payroll, but not many that can move right in and help.Calling The Shots: Ross Mahoney is director of amateur scouting for the Caps, the 12th year he has mapped the future for possible NHLers. The University of Regina graduate worked for the Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres before joining the Caps and will direct draft day operations.Because the organization feels a lack of depth is the primary concern, Mahoney will probably be in command throughout the day, stepping aside only if GM George McPhee is able to make a deal.Tendencies: Mahoney believes, &ldquo;you can&rsquo;t play in the NHL if you can&rsquo;t skate at a certain level and it doesn&rsquo;t matter how big you are, how strong or how good a shot you have.&rdquo;The Caps also place a high value on character. &ldquo;The desire to be the best is a very important asset as is toughness, the willingness to take a hit to make a play,&rdquo; Mahoney said. &ldquo;But the critically important thing is skating ability.&rdquo;Immediate Need: An injury-riddled season exposed the fact the Caps have holes everywhere. Still, management said it is not looking for any member of the Class of &rsquo;99 to step right in.&ldquo;We really believe in giving players time to develop,&rdquo; Mahoney said. &ldquo;We want to draft them, send them back to junior to develop with their own age group then get some more development in the American League. There are too many cases of good prospects being rushed and then never reaching their potential.&ldquo;Having the skills and tools is one thing; having the maturity is quite another.&rdquo;Mahoney said he could not identify one potential 1999 draft pick who could step right in and help with the possible exception of Long Beach Ice Dogs&rsquo; center Patrik Stefan. &ldquo;He has good size and has shown he can excel in the (International League), but there you have the problem of two (head) injuries,&rdquo; Mahoney said.Long-Term Need: The Capitals are in a situation where there is good veteran experience and good youthful potential. The problem comes with the void in the middle age group.Nonetheless, &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re picking in the first round you take the best player available regardless of what the organization thinks is its biggest need,&rdquo; Mahoney said.The team has a youngish goalie in 29-year-old Olie Kolzig and four good young defensemen, but needs depth for both positions. Up front there is a glaring need for depth and improvement. Both goals there could be achieved for the short-term if the Caps get a break on injuries which will provide talent and free up bodies.Ready To Step In: The Caps are hoping that center Benoit Gratton can be their next Dale Hunter. There is an opening for a fourth-fine center after trading their captain. Gratton, who has been called up a number of times, was given a shot to fill the role late in the season.He&rsquo;s not expected to be an offensive threat (seven points in 16 games last season), although he did lead their Portland farm team with 60 points. Gratton&rsquo;s not very big (5-foot-10, 163 pounds), but he mixes spirit and dedication not unlike Hunter, who&rsquo;s only 5-foot-10.Atlanta Bound? Candidates to be exposed in the June 25 expansion draft: Mike Eagles, C, 36; Calle Johansson, D, 32; Dmitri Mironov, D, 34; Michal Pivonka, C/LW, 33; Joe Reekie, D, 34.Restricted Free Agents:Stephane Beauregard, G, 31; Patrick Boileau, D, 24; Enrico Ciccone, D, 29; Benoit Gratton, C, 23; Stewart Malgu nas, D, 29; Rick Mrozik, D, 24; Mike Peluso, C, 25; Chris Simon, LW, 26; Yogi Sve-jkovsky, RW, 23; Jeff Toms, LW, 26; Richard Zednik, RW, 23.Unrestricted Free Agents: Brian Bellows, RW, 35; Mike Eagles, C, 36; Rick Tabaracci, G, 30; Mark Tinordi, D, 33. &#9632;

f0066-01

Injuries expose big holes

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0067-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0067-0171/7179149-1-eng-US/f0067-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nashville GM David Polle picked Mike Dunham No. 1 last year.</figcaption></div>Furrow your brow as you repeat the following phrase: &ldquo;Who the heck is this guy?&rdquo;Now say it again, and again, and again. Congratulations, you&rsquo;re now prepared for the Atlanta Thrashers&rsquo; expansion draft.Thrashers&rsquo; GM Don Waddell is going to raise a few eyebrows June 25 in Boston, no doubt about it. Teams&rsquo; available lists will be stacked with NHL veterans, yet Waddell has promised to take four or five players nobody has heard of from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.Waddell knows plucking 25-goal scorers off NHL rosters in the expansion draft is like hunting for wooden nickels, so he&rsquo;ll try to get them from overseas. Europeans who were drafted by an NHL team in 1995 or earlier but remain unsigned, are eligible to be selected.The relative success of late-round entry draft picks such as Ottawa Senators&rsquo; Daniel Alfredsson, Andreas Dackell and Magnus Arvedson and St. Louis Blues&rsquo; sniper Pavol Demitra represents the blueprint Atlanta would like to follow. &ldquo;With us,&rdquo; Waddell said, &ldquo;they&rsquo;re going to get an opportunity to play immediately.&rdquo;Waddell wouldn&rsquo;t tip his hand, but it&rsquo;s not a stretch to think one such player could be Czech forward Jan Hlavac, the 28th overall pick of the New York Islanders in 1995. The Islanders traded his rights to the Calgary Flames last year.Like the Nashville Predators a year ago, the Thrashers are likely to select the maximum five goalies to use as assets. Barring a side deal, the Dallas Stars will have to expose either Roman Turek or Ed Belfour (or face losing a top-four defenseman such as Richard Matvichuk) and the Thrashers would snap up either one in a heartbeat. Other goalies who could be left available and selected are Trevor Kidd from the Carolina Hurricanes and Damian Rhodes or Ron Tugnutt from the Ottawa Senators.The big difference between the Thrashers and the Predators will be the budget. Waddell expects the Thrashers to be among the bottom third of the league in payroll next season, but significantly higher than Nashville&rsquo;s $13.6 million. They would be willing to select a player with a $1.5-million contract, someone such as Derek King of the Toronto Maple Leafs (24 goals, $1.65 million next season) or Geoff Sanderson of the Buffalo Sabres (12 goals, restricted free agent).Some other expansion draft points to ponder:?Nashville is exempt. The other teams can protect five defensemen, nine forwards and a goalie or three defensemen, seven forwards and two goalies. Teams must leave exposed at least one defensemen and two forwards under contract who have played 40 games in 1998-99 or 70 games the past two years. Protected lists are submitted the week of June 21.?Atlanta can select a maximum of six free agents. Last year Nashville chose free agents Uwe Krupp and Mike Richter for the compensatory picks they received when those players signed with Detroit and the New York Rangers, respectively.?The Red Wings have to decide whether to pick up the option on Wendel Clark&rsquo;s contract. If they do, and if Waddell passes on goalie Norm Maracle, center Kris Draper would be the next best choice.?Of the 26 players Nashville chose in its expansion draft a year ago, only 10 were on the Predators&rsquo; roster at the end of the season.?Are the Senators disappointed enough in defenseman Igor Kravchuk to leave him exposed and at $2.5 million, would the Thrashers take him? &#9632;

f0067-01

Thrashers think Euro

<div class="byline">by STEVE DRYDEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0002-012/7179274-1-eng-US/thn0002-012.jpg" title="THN0002-01" width="301" height="255"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0002-022/7179267-1-eng-US/thn0002-022.jpg" title="THN0002-02" width="303" height="257"></div><h2>Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Buffalo Sabres THN&rsquo;s Choice: Maple Leafs in seven games</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0002-032/7179260-1-eng-US/thn0002-032.jpg" title="THN0002-03" width="1016" height="1258"><figcaption class="caption-body">Curtis Joseph</figcaption></div>Toronto has risen from 20th overall and non-playoff status to fifth overall and Final Four status in a single season. Taking Pennsylvania by storm in the playoffs, with 4-2 series victories over Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, has added to the year&rsquo;s biggest surprise story.Three Stars of Playoffs1.Curtis Joseph: The Conn Smythe candidate has earned every bit of his $5.5-million salary this year.2.Dimitri Yushkevich: Jaromir Jagr and John LeClair will not soon forget the crushin&rsquo; Russian.3.Pat Quinn: The coach has pushed the right buttons, including adding minor leaguer Lonny Bohonos.Revelation Bohonos breathed life into the top line with seven points in five games against Pittsburgh.Underachiever Mats Sundin&rsquo;s overall game has been strong, but he had points in just four of 12 games.Overachiever Grinder Garry Valk eliminated the Penguins in OT and has been excellent all playoffs.Secret Weapon Quick draw artist Yanic Perreault gives Toronto consistent puck control off faceoffs.Playoff Overtime Record 3-01998-99 Record vs. Buffalo 2-3Key Conference Final Match-UpCurtis Joseph vs. Dominik Hasek: Toronto supporters will tell you Joseph has delivered every bit as much, if not more, than Hasek this season.Leafs&rsquo; Team Ratings (Scale: 1-5)Speed 4 Only the two Kings aren&rsquo;t good skatersSkill 4 Toronto boasts eight legitimate scorersGrit 3.5 Have learned toplay tougher, but&hellip;What the Leafs Must Do to Win Toronto&rsquo;s backbone 1 must stand up to its severest test yet. If Bohonos&rsquo; bubble bursts, somebody (Sundin and Derek King come&ldquo; to mind) better be there to blow up another.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0002-042/7179253-1-eng-US/thn0002-042.jpg" title="THN0002-04" width="820" height="349"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0002-05/7179246-1-eng-US/thn0002-052.jpg" title="THN0002-05" width="920" height="1289"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michael Peca</figcaption></div>Buffalo was outshot by an average of 15 shots per game and swept aside Ottawa (4-0) and then outscored Boston by a total of three goals in sidelining the Bruins (4-2). Ailing Dominik Hasek&rsquo;s Round 1 save percentage: .970. Round 2 save percentage: .913.<h3>Three Stars of Playoffs</h3>1.Michael Peca: A force in every game, the captain sets the pace defensively and offensively.2.Dominik Hasek: A lingering groin injury reduced Hasek&rsquo;s effectiveness against Boston.3.Alexei Zhitnik: He ran Ray Bourque and produced a game-winning goal in each series.Revelation Timely goals and grit has raised Curtis Brown&rsquo;s previously low profile.Underachiever Michal Grosek, last season&rsquo;s playoff hero, was a healthy scratch for Game 6 vs. Boston.Overachiever Rhett Warrener solidifies the defense and is a dynamic penalty-killer alongside Jay McKee. Secret Weapon He&rsquo;s no secret in Buffalo, but Jason Woolley consistently delivers strong offensive touch.Playoff Overtime Record 1-01998-99 Record vs. Toronto 3-2Key Conference Final Match-UpPower Play vs. Power Play: The Sabres&rsquo; PP (22.7 per cent) scored in 10 straight playoff games and the Maple Leafs&rsquo; PP was less than half as effective (10.5).Sabres&rsquo; Team Ratings (Scale: 1-5)Speed 4 Senators&rsquo; speed didn&rsquo;t faze SabresSkill 3.5 Can&rsquo;t afford to be without Miroslav Satan Grit 4 In-your-face forwards are relentlessWhat the Sabres Must Do to Win Buffalo needs to challenge Toronto physically, get on top of the Leafs&rsquo; defense with their marginal speed advantage and get goals from Satan (on his return) and Grosek.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0002-06/7179239-1-eng-US/thn0002-062.jpg" title="THN0002-06" width="819" height="354"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0002-07/7179232-1-eng-US/thn0002-072.jpg" title="THN0002-07" width="808" height="1299"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theo Fleury</figcaption></div>Colorado&rsquo;s shocking four-game sweep of defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit-after losing the first two games-should be remembered as one of the more unlikely events in NHL history. Beating San Jose in six games shouldn&rsquo;t be.<h2>Dallas Stars vs. Colorado Avalanche THN&rsquo;s Choice: Avalanche in six games</h2>Three Stars of Playoffs1.Patrick Roy: He is closing in on earning the label of best playoff goalie ever. Just ask him.2.Adam Deadmarsh: Deadmarsh plays with conviction and consistency (goals in six of 12 games).3.Peter Forsberg: How big a lead would Forsberg have in the scoring race if he was on top of his game? Revelation Aaron Miller, efficient and physical, was plus or even in every playoff game.Underachiever After averaging two points per game against San Jose, Sakic had two points vs. Detroit.Overachiever Deadmarsh, moved to third line center after Valeri Kamensky&rsquo;s return, is a man on a mission. Secret Weapon Skilled and smart, Milan Hejduk&rsquo;s positional play allows Sakic and Theo Fleury to roam.Overtime Record 2-11998-99 Record vs. Dallas 2-1-1Key Conference Final Match-UpPeter Forsberg-Joe Sakic vs. Mike Modano-Joe Nieuwendyk: Forsberg and Sakic must be more consistent in a battle of centers sure to catch our attention.Avs&rsquo; Team Ratings (Scale: 1-5)Speed 4.5 Sound barrier speed including on defense Skill 4.5 Best group of skill forwards in league Grit 4 Maintaining mental edge is challengeWhat the Avs Must Do to Win Colorado can take the next step to winning its second Cup in four years by playing through the Stars&rsquo; abrasiveness and not letting Dallas&rsquo; hunger for a championship eclipse their own.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0002-08/7179225-1-eng-US/thn0002-082.jpg" title="THN0002-08" width="827" height="350"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0002-09/7179218-1-eng-US/thn0002-092.jpg" title="THN0002-09" width="909" height="1294"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Nieuwendyk</figcaption></div>The two-time regular season champions have only one thing left to prove-they can win the Stanley Cup. Beating Edmonton (4-0) and St. Louis (4-2) tells us nothing we don&rsquo;t already know about the Stars. That is, they can make it through two playoff rounds.<h3>Three Stars of Playoffs</h3>1.Ed Belfour: The erratic and emotional goalie has been a calm presence in the playoffs&hellip;so far.2.Mike Modano: Dallas&rsquo; best player has taken a step along the path to proving he won&rsquo;t back down.3.Joe Nieuwendyk: Three of eight game-winners over two rounds were from the stick of Nieuwendyk.Revelation Jamie Langenbrunner has distanced himself from a disastrous 1998 playoff season (one goal). Underachiever Brett Hull&rsquo;s two goals in 10 playoff games isn&rsquo;t enough for a $5.5-million player.Overachiever Grant Marshall has earned minutes on the power play and No. 1 line with inspired play.Secret Weapon The Stars were 4-0 with heart-and-soul center Guy Carbonneau in the lineup.Playoff Overtime Record 3-21998-99 Record vs. Colorado 1-2-1Key Conference Final Match-UpEd Belfour vs. Patrick Roy: Roy has what Belfour craves: respect born of fabulous playoff success. Here&rsquo;s Belfour&rsquo;s chance to win over the critics.Stars&rsquo; Team Ratings (Scale: 1-5)Speed 3 Sound positioning makes up for slowness Skill 4 Stars have cluster of high-end players Grit 4.5 Determination defining element of team What the Stars Must Do to Win Three things: 1. Belfour must maintain his composure; 2. Modano and Nieuwendyk have to lay it on the line; and 3. The Dallas &rsquo;D&rsquo; has to punish the Avs&rsquo; super-skilled forwards.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0002-10/7179211-1-eng-US/thn0002-102.jpg" title="THN0002-10" width="821" height="352"></div> &#9632;

THN0002-01

THN Scouting Reports

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0003-012/7179305-1-eng-US/thn0003-012.jpg" title="THN0003-01" width="159" height="159"></div>Blame injuries. Or stars not named Steve Yzerman. Or the role players who failed to deliver on cue.And credit-more than anything-the Colorado Avalanche, led by Patrick Roy and center Peter Forsberg.When a dynasty falls, pinpointing one factor is difficult. In the case of the Detroit Red Wings, eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, it&rsquo;s nearly impossible. Seldom has a team so dominant fallen so far so fast.&ldquo;Losing is a humbling thing,&rdquo; said a subdued Yzerman, whose nine playoff goals in 10 games weren&rsquo;t enough.One minute, his team was riding an 11-game playoff winning streak toward a three-peat and had lost just twice in 18 games since the trading deadline. In eight stark days, they were gone from the playoffs. Detroit was beaten four consecutive times-and outscored 19-7 in the process-by an Avalanche team which had lost the first two games of the series at home.The New York Islanders (1980-83) remain the last team to win at least three consecutive Stanley Cups.&ldquo;When it came time to play better, we didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Yzerman said after Colorado effortlessly put Detroit away in Game 6 May 18, winning 5-2 as Detroit fans gave their team one final poignant ovation in the final minute,Yzerman was involved in the series&rsquo; turning point. He had scored over Roy&rsquo;s shoulder for a 1-0 lead in Game 3 and hit the crossbar later in the period. Then a roughing penalty on Aaron Ward and an accidental four-minute high-sticking call on Nicklas Lidstrom led to a Claude Lemieux power-play goal. Suddenly, backup goaltender Bill Ranford was vulnerable, giving up eight goals in the next four periods. And Chris Osgood, never 100 per cent with a sprained right knee, was unable to stop Colorado in the final two games.Key Detroit component Igor Larionov went down with a broken pinky finger in Game 2 and Colorado forward Valeri Kamensky returned from a broken arm in Game 3, another key swing.The Avalanche, the last team to beat the Red Wings in a playoff series in 1996 that fueled hockey&rsquo;s latest blood feud, did it again with Roy stopping 146 of Detroit&rsquo;s final 153 shots and Forsberg dominating the series with four goals and nine points.&ldquo;We were playing the defending champions,&rdquo; said Colorado defenseman Adam Foote. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just very, very sweet. It has been a long couple of years, but that&rsquo;s over for us against that team now. We beat them.&rdquo;For Detroit, the loss only raised more questions. The blockbuster deals of March 23 suddenly looked less earth shattering in May. The bill finally came due on the best team money could rent. Defenseman Chris Chelios, 37, was minus-8 in the series and minus-4 in a decisive Game 6. Left winger Wendel Clark had one deflection goal and might not be retained. Defenseman Ulf Samuelsson pulled a groin and missed the final two games.Avalanche afterthought acquisition Dale Hunter singlehandedly equaled the goal-scoring of those three in the series with one, but that was still one more than Brendan Shanahan and Sergei Fedorov.NOTEBOOK: GM Ken Holland believes the deals he swung at the trading deadline were worth the gamble, despite the team&rsquo;s second round defeat. &ldquo;We had won two Stanley Cups and had the same nucleus and were one of the elite teams and had to do everything we could to win again,&rdquo; Holland said. &ldquo;Had we made no moves and lost, today 1 might have felt even worse."&hellip;Coach Scotty Bowman was leaning towards a return and is &ldquo;intrigued&rdquo; by the possibility of coaching in five decades and two centuries&hellip;The team was still awaiting word about the plans of Norris Trophy finalist Nicklas Lidstrom. a restricted free agent who has said he might leave the NHL this summer to raise his two children in his native Sweden. &#9632;

THN0003-01

Champs humbled by Avs

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecklng</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0003-02/7179336-1-eng-US/thn0003-022.jpg" title="THN0003-02" width="160" height="161"></div>Although the Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues in six games to advance to the Western Conference semifinal, the Blues were unconvinced that they lost to a better team.Coach Joel Quenneville shot down a question after the Blues&rsquo; 2-1 overtime loss in Game 6 about whether the Blues overachieved in the playoffs.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we overachieved,&rdquo; Quenneville said. &ldquo;We like our team. We found a way to compete against these top teams. We played better than we did in the second round exit last year.&rdquo;A year ago, the Blues lost in six games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, who decisively outscored the Blues 23-13. Detroit won two games by five goals, another by three and only one by a single goal.The Blues and Stars played four overtime thrillers, splitting them 2-2. The Stars&rsquo; other victories essentially were by two goals, with Mike Modano scoring an empty-netter to give Dallas a 3-0 victory in Game 1. That game came just 36 hours after the Blues arrived in &rsquo;Big D&rsquo; from Game 7 in Phoenix after a gruelling first round series with the Coyotes.&ldquo;So close,&rdquo; lamented Blues&rsquo; center Pierre Turgeon, who led the team in playoff scoring with four goals and 12 points in 13 games. &ldquo;We were right there. It&rsquo;s not like we were outworked. We won battles in the comers. We had good scoring chances.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always disappointing when you finish like this, especially knowing you had a good chance to go on. It seems like it wasn&rsquo;t long enough.&rdquo;The Blues had played almost every other day since April 21, when they started the playoffs in Phoenix. Despite outplaying the Coyotes in the first four games, the Blues fell behind 3-1, only to recover and win the series.They fell behind 2-0 to the Stars as well, but won two overtime games at Kiel Center to tie the series, only to lose the last two games-3-1 in Game 5 May 15 in Dallas and 2-1 in overtime in Game 6 on May 17 at Kiel Center.&ldquo;We were expecting to win this series,&rdquo; said a dejected Craig Conroy. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t and now it&rsquo;s going to be a long summer, thinking about little things here and there that could have made a difference. It&rsquo;s disappointing. This one is going to sting for&rsquo; a while.&rdquo;Dallas goalie Eddie Belfour, the Stars&rsquo; special teams, big-time performances by Joe Nieuwendyk and Mike Modano throughout the series, and a big game by former Blues&rsquo; star Brett Hull in the finale overcame clutch performances by the Blues&rsquo; centers Turgeon and Pavol Demitra, and inspired playoff debuts by rookies Jochen Hecht, Michal Handzus and Jamal Mayers.&ldquo;When it&rsquo;s over, there&rsquo;s a big void, but we played hard,&rdquo; Quenneville said. &ldquo;We improved our playoff commitment from last year to this year, which was a step in the right direction.&ldquo;We made some nice strides this past season. Injecting some youth is going to be helpful in the long term. Eventually, some of these guys might turn out to be big-time players.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Blues went to overtime in seven of their 13 post-season games&hellip;Defenseman Chris Pronger was minus-6 and had just two assists in the second round loss to Dallas. He also took 12 minutes in penalties&hellip;Center Pierre Turgeon, a restricted free agent, needs just three goals to hit the 400-goal plateau and three points for 1,000. Turgeon, 29, has played 11 years in the NHL and was second in Blues&rsquo; scoring this year with 31 goals and 65 points&hellip;Even scoring first didn&rsquo;t help the Blues. After allowing the first goal in each of the first five games, St. Louis scored first, but lost 2-1 in the deciding game against Dallas&hellip;games three and four against Dallas were the Blues&rsquo; first two sellouts of the season. &#9632;

THN0003-02

Defeat leaves bad taste

<div class="byline">By Nancy L. Marrapese</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0004-012/7179367-1-eng-US/thn0004-012.jpg" title="THN0004-01" width="163" height="162"></div>When the Boston Bruins were knocked out of the playoffs in six games by the Buffalo Sabres, it wasn&rsquo;t a quiet exit.Even though the team had gone one round farther in the post-season than a year earlier, president/GM Harry Sinden took the defeat hard, singling out center Jason Allison and right winger Dmitri Khristich for criticism.Khristich had a sub-par playoffs (three goals, seven points, 12 games) while Allison was up and down (two goals, 11 points, 12 games).Sinden said he believed that Allison, who held out for a big contract increase last fall, and Khristich, who took the team to arbitration and got less than he wanted but more than the club was offering, were less effective because of money.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Allison was the player he was last year, he wasn&rsquo;t the player he should&rsquo;ve been for one of our top-priced players in tonight&rsquo;s game,&rdquo; Sinden said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s his problem, not mine. I paid him. If you want it and you get it, earn it. Earn it, baby.&rdquo;Sinden was even harder on Khristich. &ldquo;Khristich was a total, total disappointment,&rdquo; Sinden said. &ldquo;All he does is give the puck to the other team.&rdquo;Both Allison and Khristich responded to their boss&rsquo; criticism with hurt and confusion.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to blame somebody for it,&rdquo; Allison said. &ldquo;I can be happy with my effort. Maybe I could&rsquo;ve played better, but it wasn&rsquo;t from lack of effort. It seems like it&rsquo;s someone different&rsquo;s fault every year. How many years had it been since they got out of the first round? With 10 different coaches and 500 different players. It&rsquo;s my fault this time, I guess. I&rsquo;ll take the blame.&rdquo;Khristich said he thought Sinden&rsquo;s comments were made because the player again this summer plans to go to arbitration. &ldquo;Otherwise, no normal person would say something like that the day after a disappointing loss,&rdquo; Khristich said.Sinden subsequently said part of his disappointment aimed at Allison was because he was so good in Game 5, one of two Boston victories, and so ineffective in the decisive game.NOTEBOOK: The biggest order of business facing the team this summer is the signing of No. 1 goaltender Byron Dafoe. Dafoe, a Vezina Trophy finalist as the league&rsquo;s top netminder, becomes a Group II free agent July 1. GM Harry Sinden said he will match any offer made to his star goalie. Dafoe entered the post-season wanting to win a playoff series for the first time in his career. He accomplished that when the Bruins defeated Carolina in Round 1. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re definitely on the right track,&rdquo; Dafoe said&hellip;The player who will be the most difficult to keep for the Bruins is center Tim Taylor. He&rsquo;ll be an unrestricted free agent because he has 10 years experience and makes less than the league average salary&hellip;The Bruins were planning to bring young defenseman Jonathan Girard up to Providence to play in the American League playoffs after his Memorial Cup post-season with Acadie-Bathurst ended. &rsquo;There&rsquo;s no question he&rsquo;s an outstanding talent,&rdquo; Sinden said. &#9632;

THN0004-01

GM Sinden wages war of words with Allison, Khristich after loss

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0004-02/7179398-1-eng-US/thn0004-022.jpg" title="THN0004-02" width="159" height="160"></div>The Pittsburgh Penguins won two playoff games without Jaromir Jagr, but they couldn&rsquo;t win any without Alexei Kovalev.Jagr and coach Kevin Constantine believe it was Kovalev&rsquo;s foot injury in a second round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs that probably cost the Penguins a trip to the Eastern Conference final.Kovalev sustained a fracture in his right foot when he blocked Steve Thomas&rsquo; slapshot with four seconds left in Game 3. The Penguins won the game 4-3, but Kovalev missed the next two games, both losses. Left winger German Titov also missed two games, with back spasms, and right winger Aleksei Morozov missed three because of a concussion.Titov, Morozov and Kovalev all sat out the Penguins&rsquo; overtime loss in Game 4, when the Pens could have taken a commanding 3-1 series lead. They lost in six games when ex-Penguin Garry Valk scored in overtime of the decisive game at the Civic Arena. The Penguins were 0-3 in the playoffs without Kovalev, who scored a goal playing on a broken foot in Game 6. He missed Game 1 of the opening series against the New Jersey Devils because of a sprained wrist.&ldquo;I think the turning point in this series (against Toronto) was probably, unfortunately, us winning at the end of Game 3 and losing Kovalev,&rdquo; Constantine said. &ldquo;He was such a great player for us. Titov, Kovalev and Morozov&hellip;with those guys, I think we win Game 4 and go up 3-1. We had a little more adversity than we could deal with in the way of injuries in the playoffs.&rdquo;After their loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs last season, the Penguins were fairly certain they&rsquo;d been beaten by a better team. That wasn&rsquo;t the case this season. To a man, they believe they were as good as the Leafs, if not better.But Constantine praised his team&rsquo;s effort.&ldquo;They refused to latch onto a real legitimate excuse because they wanted a Stanley Cup so badly,&rdquo; Constantine said of his players.NOTEBOOK: The Penguins&rsquo; fate is expected to be decided in U.S. Bankruptcy Court by the end of June. As of May 21, three separate proposals for taking over the team had emerged. The first of those was filed by former Penguins&rsquo; superstar Mario Lemieux. The second was filed by the NHL and calls for the team to either be dissolved or sold, reportedly for $85 million to Seattle billionaire Paul Allen for a move to the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore. If the team was dissolved, the players would be auctioned off. The NHL maintains Lemieux&rsquo;s plan is optimal and theirs is only a fallback position. A third proposal was filed May 18 by Civic Arena landlord SMG and Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh, the station that carries Penguins games. Their joint proposal is called the Penguins Millennium Group, and it would make Lemieux chairman of the team&rsquo;s management committee and would make him a significant equity owner. Lemieux, however, is owed $33 million by the team and does not want to be part of the group. &#9632;

THN0004-02

Loss of Kovalev for two games comes back to haunt Penguins

The Hockey News may have deemed Wayne Gretzky the greatest NHL player of all-time, but the Canadian Hockey League pronounced Mario Lemieux the best centerman ever to play junior hockey.Lemieux, who played three seasons for the Laval Voisins of the Quebec League, was selected one of the greatest players in CHL history by a panel of journalists, CHL officials and league historians.Joining Lemieux on the all-time all-star team were goalie Bernie Parent (Niagara Falls Flyers), defensemen Bobby Orr (Oshawa Generals) and Denis Potvin (Ottawa 67&rsquo;s), right winger Guy Lafleur (Quebec Rem-parts) and left winger Brian Propp (Brandon Wheat Kings). Ottawa&rsquo;s Brian Kilrea was named top coach.Of the six players, only Propp is no! in the Hockey Hall of Fame.Lemieux recorded 247 goals and 562 points in 200 career games, including an CHL record 133 goals and 282 points in his final season-an average of 4.03 points per game.Gretzky had 70 goals and 182 points in his one season with the Sauli Ste. Marie Greyhounds.NIECE PASSES AWAY: Jillian Carter, the four-year-old niece of Vancouver Canucks center Peter Zezel, succumbed to a rare form of cancer May 16. She was diagnosed with neuroblastoma when she was two-years-old.Zezel had refused a trade to Anaheim in March because he wanted to spend time with her during her illness. Zezel was given permission to leave the team and donated the remaining portion of his $800,000 (U.S.) contract to charity. The Canucks matched his donation.WINGS LOSE CLUB: The Detroit Red Wings won&rsquo;t have an American League farm team next season. The club is planning to move its Adirondack club to Rossford, Ohio, but the AHL board of governors decided to supend operations until the 2000-01 season.The Glen Falls, N.Y. arena, which the AHL Red Wings played out of, seated only 4,806 in a market of less than 50,000 people.The Rossford arena, though, will not be completed until the fall of 2000. The suburb of Toledo is only a 75-minute drive from Detroit.Adirondack was the AHL&rsquo;s third oldest franchise having been in the league since 1979-80.CHA MEETINGS: The Canadian Hockey Association met May 21-25 in Charlottetown, P.E.I. to discuss problems in the minor hockey system.One of the bigger issues is younger players being fast-tracked to junior hockey. Other issues to be tackled include practice-to-game ratios and transfer fees for overseas players to limit the number of imports using the Canadian system.CHA chairman Bob MacKinnon told the Toronto Star the transfer fee has been scaled down from $10,000 to $4,000 for junior hockey.&ldquo;We think it&rsquo;s still big enough to be considered a deterent fee,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;For minor players we expect it to be $1,000 to $2,000, but they will not be eligible to play in minor hockey championships.&rdquo;NHL AWARDS LIVE: For the first time in 16 years, fans can buy tickets to the NHL Awards, to be held June 24 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Tickets cost $20 (Cdn.) and $10 (Cdn.). For more information call 1-800-4NHL-FANS. &#9632;

Lemieux leads CHL all-star team PUCK BRIEFS

<div class="byline">By Mike Davies</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="THN0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0005-01/7179453-1-eng-US/thn0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Chiasson&rsquo;s wife, Susan, and three children at his funeral. (Photo by Canapress)</figcaption></div>Steve Chiasson was best known as a hockey player, but he was remembered as a family man and giving person at his May 8 funeral in Peterborough, Ont.Wayne Gretzky and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman were among more than 800 to attend the ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Peter-In-Chains.Chiasson, 32, a native of Barrie, Ont. who grew up in Peterborough, died in a single-vehicle accident May 3 near his home in Raleigh, N.C. Toxicology reports showed Chiasson&rsquo;s blood alcohol level of .27 was more than three times the state legal limit (.08), according to the state Medical Examiner&rsquo;s Office May 10.Susan Chiasson, Steve&rsquo;s wife, told the funeral gathering she wanted the ceremony to celebrate her husband&rsquo;s life. Chiasson also is survived by the couple&rsquo;s children Michael, 8, Ryan, 4. and Stephanie 2.She said when she first heard her husband had died, a black pit formed in her stomach. In the intervening days, though, she said the love and support she received from family friends and the hockey community helped ease the pain.&ldquo;Through God, Steve and all your prayers,&rdquo; she said, fighting back tears &ldquo;that pit in my stomach has been replaced by Steve&rsquo;s love and his strength and his ability to always stay positive.&rdquo;Teammates Kevin Dineen and Ray Sheppard, Chiasson&rsquo;s road roommate and several of Chiasson&rsquo;s boyhood friends were pall bearers.Dineen, the last person to see Chiasson alive, said he was a humble man.&ldquo;Steve wasn&rsquo;t a man of many words, but he was comfortable in any situation,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;When he needed to say something, he&rsquo;d be the type of guy to say it.&rdquo;Investigators estimated Chiasson was travelling 74 mph in a 55-mph zone while driving home from a party at Gary Roberts&rsquo; house after the team was eliminated by the Boston Bruins He was not wearing a seatbelt.&ldquo;There are things we all wish we&rsquo;d done differently,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;This tragedy comes down to one person&rsquo;s judgment. It was a direct result of Steve&rsquo;s stubbornness and his desire to see his family.&rdquo;-with a file from Todd Graff &#9632;

THN0005-01

Chiasson remembered as humble family man

<div class="byline">By Steve Keating</div>LILLEHAMMER, Norway-When Jan Hlavac scored in overtime to lift the Czech Republic to victory over Finland in the final of the World Championship, it showed once again the Czechs know all about what it takes to win gold medals.What they want to know is, what it&rsquo;s going to take to win a little respect?Despite their stunning gold medal victory at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and a proven track record at the World Championship, the Czechs arrived in Norway ranked among the outsiders to take the title.But once again it was the Czechs who returned home to a hero&rsquo;s welcome after claiming their second world title in four years.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve won a World Championship and an Olympic gold in the last year; I don&rsquo;t think I can ask for much more,&rdquo; said Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; Martin Rucinsky, whose 10 points tied Hlavac for the team lead in tournament scoring.&ldquo;I know we&rsquo;re not getting the respect, but there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with that. We like to surprise people.&rdquo;Actually, it&rsquo;s getting to be less and less a surprise. If the dual titles of reigning world and Olympic champions aren&rsquo;t enough, then a sparkling resume adds weight to the claim.Since parting company with Slovakia, the Czechs have reached the medal podium five times in seven years, claiming their first major title as an independent nation with a victory over Canada at the 1996 World Championship.They are the only country to win a medal at the last four championships and currently possess some of the planet&rsquo;s top hockey talent.When he retired in April, Wayne Gretzky suggested Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; superstar Jaromir Jagr could be his replacement as the game&rsquo;s No. 1 player. If Gretzky&rsquo;s endorsement isn&rsquo;t enough, the NHL confirmed that assessment by nominating Jagr, the NHL&rsquo;s leading scorer this season, for the Hart Trophy, as the league&rsquo;s most valuable player. Jagr has already received The Hockey News&rsquo; nod as the 199899 NHL player of the year.Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; all-world goalie Dominik Hasek, who led the Czech Republic to gold in Nagano, is also one of three nominees for professional hockey&rsquo;s highest individual honor.The future looks pretty darned good, too. Prospects Pavel Brendl (No.l) and Patrik Stefan (No. 3) hold down two of the top three spots in The Hockey News 1999 Draft Preview rankings.&ldquo;This is a golden age for ice hockey in the Czech Republic,&rdquo; said Czech coach Ivan Hlinka, a member of the great Czechoslovakian teams of the 1970s.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0006-012/7179491-1-eng-US/thn0006-012.jpg" title="THN0006-01" width="364" height="560"><figcaption class="caption-body">Martin Rucinsky</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It reminds me of 1972, &rsquo;76 and &rsquo;77 when we won gold medals.&rdquo;The Czechs pulled off the golden double without the help of either Hasek or Jagr, who were still busy chasing the Stanley Cup. While there were five NHLers sprinkled throughout the 23-man Czech roster, the Olympic champions relied heavily on players from their own national league.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re a skilled team and they&rsquo;ve learned to battle harder than they used to,&rdquo; said Canadian coach Mike Johnston. &ldquo;But I think the big thing is they have great players in their national league. They&rsquo;ve been together for a while and they like playing together.&rdquo;One of the most impressive parts of the Czech game has been their ability to produce tig games when they matter most-particularly Against Canada. The Czechs relegated Canada the bronze medal final after winning a dramatic semifinal overtime shootout. (See below &rsquo;or World Championship statistics.)It was the second time in just over a year the Czechs dashed Canadian gold medal hopes, raving also beaten them in the semifinal at the Nagano Olympics.&ldquo;I can tell you this,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;Against us they&rsquo;ve looked like the best team in the world.&rdquo;Having not won a medal at a major competition since taking gold at the 1997 worlds, Canada once again returned home empty-handed after losing 3-2 to Sweden in the bronze medal game.Still, Canada&rsquo;s fourth place finish was an improvement on last year&rsquo;s sixth place effort, the country&rsquo;s second worst result since it began taking part in the tournament in 1920.The United States, which had to requalify for a place in the A pool after a dismal 12th place finish last year, successfully avoided another relegation battle by making it to the second round with wins over Austria and Japan.The Americans&rsquo; failure to get in amongst the medal contenders can once again be traced to an inability to persuade NHLers to participate in the tournament. For the second consecutive year, the story for the Americans wasn&rsquo;t who was playing, but who wasn&rsquo;t, with top U.S. players from teams eliminated from the NHL playoffs, declining invitations from GM David Poile.The International Ice Hockey Federation (HHF) announced before the start of the final it would scrap the confusing two-game playoff format used the past two years and revert to one-game semifinals and final next year in Russia.<h2>1999 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0006-02/7179484-1-eng-US/thn0006-022.jpg" title="THN0006-02" width="3431" height="1988"></div> &#9632;

THN0006-01

Czechs earn superpower status

<div class="image-hero"><img title="THN0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0007-012/7179536-1-eng-US/thn0007-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0008-012/7179529-1-eng-US/thn0008-012.jpg" title="THN0008-01" width="3434" height="4090"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0009-012/7179522-1-eng-US/thn0009-012.jpg" title="THN0009-01" width="3479" height="954"></div> &#9632;

THN0007-01

NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="THN0009-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0009-022/7179567-1-eng-US/thn0009-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

THN0009-02

NHL PLAYOFF GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="THN0009-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0009-03/7179605-1-eng-US/thn0009-032.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0010-012/7179598-1-eng-US/thn0010-012.jpg" title="THN0010-01" width="3449" height="4096"></div> &#9632;

THN0009-03

NHL PLAYOFF GAME SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="THN0001-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0001-02/7179643-1-eng-US/thn0001-022.jpg"></div>When it comes to building a champion, Bob Gainey advises against cut-ting comers in the amateur scouting department.&ldquo;The draft is a very important way to supply your roster,&rdquo; said the GM of the Dallas Stars. &ldquo;I know that our organization puts a lot of time and money into scouting.&rdquo;And it shows.Of the players on his roster who helped carry the Stars into the final four this season, six players are original Dallas draft picks. That includes scoring ace Mike Modano, the first overall pick in the 1988 entry draft. (Not included is defenseman Shawn Chambers, who was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars, traded away, then reacquired).Of the six Dallas originals, Modano, defensemen Derian Hatcher and Richard Matvichuk and forwards Jere Lehtinen and Jamie Langenbrunner accumulated 78 goals and 220 points this season. The other is backup goalie Roman Turek.Impressive? For sure.But consider, the Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres, who also made the final four, have seven original draft picks each. And the seven Avs, all skaters, managed 119 goals and 315 points. Center Joe Sakic led the way with 41 goals and 96 points.Not on the Avalanche list is veteran center Dale Hunter, a Quebec Nordique draft choice who was reacquired by the organization at the 1999 trading deadline.The Sabres, meanwhile, have assembled some fine young talent through the draft including Curtis Brown, Brian Holzinger, Wayne Primeau, Erik Rasmussen, Jay McKee along with Richard Smehlik and Rob Ray. They accumulated 49 goals and 121 points this season.If you take a quick peek at the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; roster, you might suggest the draft is not very important at all. The Maple Leafs have the fewest number of their own picks (five).Their star player is goalie Curtis Joseph who was signed last summer as a free agent and their leading scorer in the regular season, center Mats Sundin, arrived via atrade.&ldquo;What that tells me is the draft is only one way to build your team and, also, there&rsquo;s a lot of player movement,&rdquo; said Toronto associate GM Mike Smith. &ldquo;The draft can neither be underrated or overrated.&rdquo;Of the Leafs&rsquo; homegrown talent, Sergei Berezin led the team in goals with 37, Tomas Kaberle and Daniil Markov are rookie defensemen, center Adam Mair was a late-season callup from junior and left winger Fredrik Modin is an enigma-wonder, fill one night, invisible the next month. In all, the Leafs&rsquo; original picks scored 61 goals and 124 points.Forwards Tie Domi and Yanic Perreault were original Leaf picks, but were traded away, and subsequently reacquired.&ldquo;You draft for talent and for character,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;We like to think we got both in Adam Mair.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s also worth noting, while some have the perception the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings are nothing but a product of trades and rich ownership, they had 10 players on their roster who were original draft choices, including stars Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstr&ouml;m.<h2>Draft keepers: Who&rsquo;s still around</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0001-01/7179636-1-eng-US/thn0001-012.jpg" title="THN0001-01" width="1051" height="709"></div> &#9632;

THN0001-02

The Hockey News 1999 DRAFT PREVIEW

1.Pavel Brendl Calgary Hitmen 73-goal scorer THN&rsquo;s choice to be first player selected in entry draft.2.Golden moment The Czech Republic defeats Finland in overtime to claim World Championship.3.Don&rsquo;t blame &rsquo;Stevie Y&rsquo; Red Wings are history, but captain Steve Yzerman superb to very end.4.One tough Penguin Alexei Kovalev plays on broken foot and even scores goal for Pittsburgh.5.Garry Valk Maple Leafs&rsquo; grinder scores first two career playoff goals sending Toronto to semifinal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0001-03/7179674-1-eng-US/thn0001-032.jpg" title="THN0001-03" width="473" height="632"><figcaption class="caption-body">Garry Valk</figcaption></div> &#9632;

THN0001-03

PLUS

1.Yankee pride? Not! Top American NHLers fail to heed call to compete for country at World Championship.2.Shootout woes continue Canada loses another international shootout, this time at World Championship.3.Wings clipped Detroit smoked in four straight after building 20 lead against Colorado4.Memorial Cup meltdown Acadie-Bathurst goalie Roberto Luongo has 0-6 record in two trips to junior championship.5.Sabre Stuing Buffalo&rsquo;s Stu Barnes fails to score in 27 games since joining team in trade for Matthew Barnaby.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/thn0001-04/7179705-1-eng-US/thn0001-042.jpg" title="THN0001-04" width="475" height="629"><figcaption class="caption-body">Garry Valk</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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June 1, 1999

Scoring relief next goal

Key year in building plan

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

No longer desperate in net