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Draft Preview 2025
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.
LOS ANGELES KINGS
BUILT BY THE steady hand of outgoing GM Rob Blake, the Kings’ roster has a nice balance. The team Ken Holland will take over has an impressive bell curve of veteran leaders (seven players over 30), young up-and-comers (six skaters aged 21 to 25) and a core of nine players in their primes, aged 26 to 30. The task now is to restock the depleted prospect pipeline. IMMEDIATE NEEDS: Unheralded Vladislav Gavrikov played every game this season and averaged more than 23 minutes, ranking among the top 35 D-men league-wide. L.A. would love to keep the 29-year-old UFA around. If not, that’s a key role that needs a replacement. The same goes for winger Andrei Kuzmenko, who provided significant offensive contributions after arriving in March. LONG-TERM NEEDS: It’s folly to think the…
WINNIPEG JETS
THE JETS’ FORMERLY well-stocked pipeline has thinned out considerably. The causes are twofold. First, Winnipeg’s on-ice success has led to late first-round choices. And second, deadline dealing has required GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to spend draft capital. Given the challenges of recruiting free agents to Winnipeg, the Jets’ long-term stability is inextricably linked to their ability to unearth talented prospects, perhaps more so than any other franchise. IMMEDIATE NEEDS: The Jets believe they have a hole at second-line center, behind Mark Scheifele and ahead of Vladislav Namestnikov and Adam Lowry. And while Cole Perfetti had his best season to date, he’s not yet proven he can take on full-time pivot duty. LONG-TERM NEEDS: Winnipeg spent its only top-100 pick last summer on defender Alfons Freij, at 37th overall in the second round. Meanwhile,…
PEACEKEEPER AND PROTECTOR
LINKEDIN.COM/IN/ROUSTAN MASTER WARRANT OFFICER CARL Belanger served for 30 years in the Canadian Armed Forces. He also served a further nine years in the protection of my mother as the 6-foot-4 gentle giant neighbor from across the street. Unfortunately, I will never be able to repay the debt that I owe him. Carl was born in Jonquiere, Que., in 1971, and he enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces when he was just 17, needing permission from his parents to do so. After basic training at the Canadian Forces Base in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and English language school at CFB in Borden, Ont., he was posted at CFB Calgary, where he met his future wife and partner in life, Elizabeth. From a young age, Carl always knew that he was going to be a soldier…
PENN POSSIBILITIES
IN 2011, WHEN JAROMIR Jagr sought to return to the NHL from his years in the wilderness – or the KHL, as it’s more commonly known – a reunion with the Pittsburgh Penguins seemed not only on the table but a logical career capstone for the then-39-year-old hockey icon. Drafted fifth overall by the Penguins in 1990, Jagr had risen from precocious talent emerging from behind the recently fallen Iron Curtain to a big-league superstar and Hart Trophy winner. And while he’d first left the Penguins a decade earlier – a largely financially driven departure backdropped by an organization that was, at the time, on the brink of bankruptcy – a new day had dawned in Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby’s arrival, paired with that of Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Kris Letang,…
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