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.

Future Watch 2008

The Hockey News - Future Watch 2008

<div class="byline">BY RICH HAMMOND</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02743/9084918-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="860" height="1008"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jonathan Bernier (GHYSLAIN BERGERON)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-011083/9084925-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="197" height="188"></div>There&rsquo;s a great amount of optimism around the Kings organization regarding the talent and depth in their system. Given how horribly things have gone at the NHL level, the team and its fans needed something to hold onto and it looks like they&rsquo;ve found it.It&rsquo;s not just blind optimism either. By all accounts, the Kings have a deep pool of talent, several of whom will be NHL-ready soon. They will join Anze Kopitar, who, in his second season, is on his way to stardom and rookie Jack Johnson, who has shown flashes of brilliance.<h2>1 JONATHAN BERNIER, G, 19, Lewiston (QMJHL)</h2>6-0, 184, 11-8-1, 2.87, .906OVERALL 10It has been an up and down season for Bernier. After an outstanding camp, the backstop found himself in London, England starting the season opener against the Stanley Cup-champion Anaheim Ducks. Bernier played well, but didn&rsquo;t get much defensive support.The Kings returned him to junior to avoid stunting his development. He earned a spot on Team Canada for the world juniors, then controversially lost the starting job. But Bernier is close to being NHL-ready. He&rsquo;ll get another chance to start next season.Acquired 2006 draft, 11th overall.<h2>2 TEDDY PURCELL, RW, 22, Manchester (AHL)</h2>6-3, 195, 43-15-40-55-20OVERALL 26No player in hockey has taken a bigger step forward since the summer than Purcell. Signed after one season at the University of Maine, Purcell entered camp with a low profile, but from the beginning, caught the eye of Kings&rsquo; management.He started the season in the AHL and quickly climbed to the top of Manchester&rsquo;s scoring list, earning a mid-January call-up. Purcell&rsquo;s size and relatively advanced age have helped him progress faster than expected. The Kings believe he has first-line potential.Acquired Signed as a free agent, April 27, 2007.<h2>3&nbsp;THOMAS HICKEY, D, 18, Seattle (WHL)</h2>5-10, 182, 44-9-18-27-35OVERALL 30When the Kings selected Hickey with the fourth overall pick in last year&rsquo;s draft, many fans at the draft party booed. The rest stood in stunned silence.Hickey might have been considered a &ldquo;reach&rsquo;&rsquo; then, but not now. He earned experience in camp and could be patrolling the Kings&rsquo; blueline today, given the way the team&rsquo;s defense has struggled.But another year in junior and Hickey has thrived. He&rsquo;s the Seattle captain, played for Canada in the world juniors and will surely crack the Kings roster next season.Acquired 2007 draft, fourth overall.<h2>4&nbsp;BRIAN BOYLE, C, 23, Manchester (AHL)</h2>6-7, 220, 47-21-22-43-43OVERALL 72He&rsquo;s making a great first impression in L.A. His size makes him nearly impossible for opponents to handle and he has developed a strong scoring sense. But the Kings don&rsquo;t know what to do with him.Boyle came out of college as a center, but spent the summer learning how to be a defenseman. He stayed on the blueline in camp, but went back to logging minutes at center in Manchester.The Kings need to make a choice or the back-and-forth will eventually mess with Boyle&rsquo;s game and confidence.Acquired 2003 draft, 26th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;TREVOR LEWIS, C, 21, Manchester (AHL)</h2>6-1, 192, 48-8-10-18-23As one of the last players cut in training camp before the season, Lewis was presumed to be on the fast track to the NHL.His AHL statistics haven&rsquo;t shown that yet, but there&rsquo;s no reason to panic since he&rsquo;s still only in the middle of his first pro season.The good news is the Kings don&rsquo;t need Lewis to be a dynamic scorer, at least not right away.If he can develop himself into a solid two-way player for the rest of this season, he will end up on the Kings&rsquo; third line next season and be a valuable contributor.Acquired 2006 draft, 17th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 OSCAR MOLLER RW, 19, 5-11, 177Chilliwack (WHL) 44-26-32-58-28A tenacious player with great hands; he&rsquo;s a legitimate point producer.&nbsp;Acquired 2007 draft, 52nd overall.7 WAYNE SIMMONDS RW, 19, 6-2, 175 Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) 15-7-7-14-32Young, raw and ambitious, played for Canada at WJC; battling injury this year.Acquired 2007 draft, 61st overall.8 LAURI TUKONEN RW, 21, 6-2, 198 Manchester (AHL) 32-4-11-15-8&nbsp;Talented, but has been regressing instead of getting closer to NHL level.Acquired 2004 draft, 11th overall.9 JEFF ZATKOFF G, 20, 6-3, 170 Miami (CCHA) 20-3-0, 1.50, .937&nbsp;Bernier gets all the press, but Zatkoff is posting stupendous numbers.Acquired 2006 draft, 74th overall.10 JON QUICK G, 22, 6-1, 200Reading (ECHL) 17-11-2, 2.93, .903&nbsp;Not dominating in ECHL; getting lost behind the other two young goalies.Acquired 2005 draft, 72nd overall. &#9632;

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TEAM REPORTS

ALERT L.A. FANS: FINALLY A GOALIE

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE GARRIOCH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02348/9085184-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="862" height="1010"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nick Foligno (JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01576/9085191-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="191" height="190"></div>This is no longer the same old Senators. There has been a changing of the guard since GM John Muckler was fired and replaced by Bryan Murray.Murray put his own stamp on the team by parting ways with director of amateur scouting Frank Jay, who was brought in by former GM Marshall Johnston and had been with the team 10 years.So now assistant GM Tim Murray has the strongest voice at the draft table. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s quite a bit of talent here, but there&rsquo;s work to be done,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not always talent that makes you an NHL player.&rdquo;<h2>1 NICK FOLIGNO, LW, 20, Binghamton (AHL)</h2>6-0, 201, 17-1-9-10-10OVERALL 27All he needs is a bit of time. The son of former NHLer Mike Foligno has been up and down this season, but he&rsquo;s not going to spend a lot of time in the AHL.Foligno needs to improve his strength, speed and consistency to stay at the NHL level. The Senators don&rsquo;t need Foligno to be nasty, but they want him to play a gritty game which means he has to play in traffic and be willing to go to the net.He&rsquo;ll have to train hard in the summer to create more power in his legs and a permanent NHL spot.Acquired 2006 draft, 28th overall.<h2>2 BRIAN LEE, D, 20, Binghamton (AHL)</h2>6-2, 205, 48-2-20-22-40OVERALL 35Lee has been a pleasant surprise in his first year as a pro. The Senators weren&rsquo;t sure what to expect after he left the University of North Dakota and was sent to the team&rsquo;s AHL affiliate in Binghamton.Lee is a puck-moving defenseman and tends to shy away from aggressive physical play. That being said, he doesn&rsquo;t mind taking a hit to make a play and does a good job moving the puck. If the Senators decide to part with Wade Redden, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, Lee has a good chance of stepping in next year.Acquired 2005 draft, 9th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;BRIAN ELLIOTT, G, 22, Binghamton (AHL)</h2>6-2, 202, 8-10-0, 3.08, .912In his first NHL game, Elliott, who had a strong camp, stopped 28 shots in a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;s going to be easy for him to get back to this level. Elliott has had to battle for playing time with third-year pro Jeff Glass in Binghamton.The Senators believe the Newmarket, Ont., native needs to work on fundamentals, particularly his angles and a bad habit of staying too deep in the crease. But with a little grooming, Elliott will make the goaltending situation in Ottawa even more crowded.Acquired 2003 draft, 291st overall.<h2>4&nbsp;ALEXANDER NIKULIN, C, 22, Binghamton (AHL))</h2>6-1, 198, 41-6-24-30-20The Senators weren&rsquo;t sure he was going to stay in North America this season, but they&rsquo;re glad he did.The skilled center was given a chance to play with the big club early in the season, but it quickly became apparent he needed more time in the minors to learn the defensive part of the game.Nikulin has to adjust to the North American style. Tim Murray said if he had returned to Russia, he probably would have fallen off the radar screen.&ldquo;We put a little pressure on him to get him over here,&rdquo; Murray said.Acquired 2004 draft, 122nd overall.<h2>5&nbsp;JIM O&rsquo;BRIEN, C, 19, Seattle (WHL)</h2>6-2, 196, 49-11-18-29-48After making the surprising decision to leave the University of Minnesota last summer to sign a pro contract, O&rsquo;Brien&rsquo;s transition to the WHL hasn&rsquo;t been smooth partly due to a shoulder injury he sustained late last season.With good on-ice awareness and a lethal wrist shot, O&rsquo;Brien possesses the tools that keep the Senators interested.With time, the Maplewood, Minn., native will develop into an effective two-way forward and will be a threat to make the big team at training camp next season.Acquired 2007 draft, 29th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 CODY BASS C, 21, 6-0, 211Binghamton (AHL) 24-3-5-8-44Gritty forward is willing to pay the price. The effort earned him an NHL trial.Acquired 2003 draft, 95th overall.7 JEFF GLASS G, 22, 6-3, 206Binghamton (AHL) 13-11-4, 2.50, .923&nbsp;Great rebound from poor season; he&rsquo;s showing plenty of mental toughness.&nbsp;Acquired 2004 draft, 89th overall.8 ILJA ZUBOV C, 20, 6-0, 199 Binghamton (AHL) 48-13-17-30-10&nbsp;Adjusting to North American game, but needs to improve defensively.&nbsp;Acquired 2005 draft, 98th overall.9 LOUIE CAPORUSSO LW, 18, 5-9, 185Michigan (CCHA) 19-7-7-14-8Freshman showed a high talent level right away. He has strong puck skills.Acquired 2007 draft, 90th overall.10 COLIN GREENING C, 21, 6-2, 191 Cornell (ECAC) 21-6-11-17-31He&rsquo;s a solid skater who competes well, but the offense is slow to come.Acquired 2005 draft, 204th overall. &#9632;

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IF IT AIN’T BROKE JUST TWEAK IT

Our leveling system shows the average draft position (ADP) for each team in the past four drafts. The number in parentheses shows how each team ranks in comparison to its report card rank (Rk.) For example, in drafts since &lsquo;04, the Rangers have selected on average 14th overall, which is 13th highest. The Rangers 11th-best report card (see chart on next page) is two sports higher (+2) than its average draft position.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011487/9084324-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="671" height="1376"></div> &#9632;

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FEATURES

LEVELING SYSTEM

<div class="byline">BY ANSAR KHAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02896/9084804-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="858" height="1004"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jakub Kindl (MARK NEWMAN)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011319/9084811-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="195" height="188"></div>The Red Wings have several prospects who would be in the NHL if they were in another organization. But this team is so strong and deep, it can allow its prospects to develop at their own pace.And considering this team hasn&rsquo;t drafted higher than 19th in 17 years, its scouts have done an outstanding job. They have a good mixture of skill players and grinders.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re happy with our depth; we have an NHL goalie (Jimmy Howard) and three NHL-ready defensemen (Jonathan Ericsson, Kyle Quincey, Jakub Kindl),&rsquo;&rsquo; said Wings assistant GM Jim Nill.<h2>1 JAKUB KINDL, D, 20, Grand Rapids (AHL)</h2>6-3, 200, 44-3-9-12-44OVERALL 36His first season as a pro has been an eye-opener for Kindl, who has had difficulty at times adjusting to the speed of the AHL game. It has led to turnovers and defensive lapses, contributing to a dreadful plus-minus.But he has a tremendous upside. He&rsquo;s a good skater who moves the puck quickly, can run the power play and play the Wings&rsquo; up-tempo puck-possession game. With his size, he need to be more physical.&ldquo;He got off to a little slow start, but has been coming (on), realizing why strength is important,&rsquo;&rsquo; Nill said.Acquired 2005 draft, 19th overall.<h2>2 JONATHAN ERICSSON, D, 23, Grand Rapids (AHL)</h2>6-5, 220, 48-6-15-21-48OVERALL 46The former center has played defense for only a few seasons, but is learning fast. With a terrific combination of size and skills, he has followed up a strong first season in North America by earning a spot in the AHL All-Star Game. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s taken another step in his career,&rsquo;&rsquo; Nill said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great skater, moves the puck well.&rsquo;&rsquo;His shot has been clocked at 100 mph. He uses his long reach well and gets involved physically, including the occasional scrap. He just needs to be more consistent defensively.Acquired 2002 draft, 291st overall.<h2>3&nbsp;JIMMY HOWARD, G, 23, Grand Rapids (AHL)</h2>6-1, 208, 16-18-2, 2.64, .912OVERALL 55Howard dropped 20 pounds by improving his diet and training habits in the off-season. It has enabled him to play with higher intensity for a longer stretch.He has rebounded from a mediocre season to achieve one of his preseason goals &ndash; making the AHL All-Star Game.&ldquo;He showed commitment,&rdquo; Nill said. &ldquo;He learned a lot in the playoffs (as the Wings&rsquo; third goalie), watching Hasek and Osgood, seeing what it takes.&rsquo;&rsquo;He&rsquo;ll spell Hasek next year, then Osgood two or three years down the road.Acquired 2003 draft, 64th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;BRENDAN SMITH, D, 18, Wisconsin (WCHA)</h2>6-2, 185, 21-2-10-12-26OVERALL 71The Wings liken him to how Niklas Kronwall was at the same age. He&rsquo;s a tremendous skater and creative player who likes to carry the puck. He plays with poise and makes a good first pass.A freshman who will need two or three more years to develop, he needs to improve defensively and add muscle. He was one of the last cuts for Canada&rsquo;s junior team and sustained a back injury.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great skater with offensive upside,&rdquo; Nill said. &ldquo;He needs to learn when to pick his spots &ndash; when to go, when to back off.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 27th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;DARREN HELM, C, 21, Grand Rapids (AHL)</h2>5-11, 185, 43-6-4-10-16OVERALL 73He has made a terrific transition from junior to pro and has been one of Grand Rapids&rsquo; best forwards, despite missing camp and the early season with a shoulder injury.His offensive potential is limited, but he has great speed and is a strong penalty-killer in the mold of a Kris Draper or Kirk Maltby. He&rsquo;s a gritty player who&rsquo;ll venture into high-traffic areas. He&rsquo;s destined to be a third-liner, but needs to add strength. He&rsquo;ll compete for a roster job next year.&ldquo;Great speed, strong on the puck; he&rsquo;s a Draper-Maltby type,&rdquo; Nill said.Acquired 2005 draft, 132nd overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 CORY EMMERTON C, 19, 6-0, 190Brampton (OHL) 14-4-8-12-4Mononucleosis sidelined this playmaker for two months. Not quick, but great vision.Acquired 2006 draft, 41st overall.7 JUSTIN ABDELKADER LW, 20, 6-1, 209Michigan State (CCHA) 29-13-12-25-65Good skater who plays a crash-and-bang style much like Johan Franzen.Acquired 2005 draft, 42nd overall.8 JAN MURSAK LW, 20, 5-11, 173Belleville (OHL) 18-7-18-25-8Tenacious, speedy player producing after trade from Saginaw; needs strength.&nbsp;Acquired 2006 draft, 182nd overall.9 KYLE QUINCEY D, 22, 6-2, 210Grand Rapids (AHL) 42-2-7-9-71&nbsp;A broken hand set him back in camp; he&rsquo;s a solid, stay-at-home defender.&nbsp;Acquired 2003 draft, 132nd overall.10 JOAKIM ANDERSSON C, 18, 6-2, 198Boras (Swe.) 6-1-0-1-2Needs to work on speed, but has good size and plays a solid two-way game.Acquired 2007 draft, 88th overall. &#9632;

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CONTINUED SUCCESS: HOW DO THEY DO IT?

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012064/9083886-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="269" height="456"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021742/9083879-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="1044" height="675"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilbert Brule (JAMIE SABAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>It takes a special player to get to the NHL without taking the route through our extravagant Future Watch corporate headquarters in windy North York, Ont. The direct passage, from the draft straight to the bigleagues, is taken only by a special few. We all knew Sidney Crosby in 2005 wasn&rsquo;t going to dither for another year in the feeder leagues. In 2006, Jordan Staal and Phil Kessel made the immediate jump and bypassed Future Watch. This season, it was Patrick Kane and Sam Gagner making the leap.The other 98 percent who eventually play in the NHL pass through the various development leagues and, in turn, are recognized by the scouts who contribute to the ranking of 300 prospects you&rsquo;ll see in the pages to follow.It&rsquo;s our pride and joy every year to backtest old top 50 prospect lists. On page 62, we rewind to 1998 and 2003 to take a five- and 10-year glimpse at former prospects. They don&rsquo;t all turn out to become NHL regulars, but it&rsquo;s interesting to note all 50 from the 1998 eventually played in the NHL. That&rsquo;s a credit to the scouts who help us identify the talent.It&rsquo;s also interesting to note Columbus center Gilbert Brule is back visiting Future Watch. Like Crosby in 2005, Brule made the immediate jump to the NHL before breaking his leg. He finished the season in junior, then made the Blue Jackets again last season. Clearly rushed, Brule was up and down this season before a demotion to the AHL near our deadline meant he was back being a prospect for the purposes of the lists that we sent out to our 21-scout voting panel.Here&rsquo;s what else is part of Future Watch 2008:Copy editor Ryan Kennedy spent several weeks canvassing insiders on the top 10 U.S. prep programs and the results can be seen on pages 56-58. For <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a>, he puts together a weekly Hot List on 10 up-and-coming prospects.Senior writer Mike Brophy delved inside the thought process of NHL power brokers who make the concerted decision to steer away from Russian-born players at the NHL draft. He discovers it&rsquo;s not a trend that&rsquo;s going away soon. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

FUTURE WATCH: THE SLOW AND STEADY ROUTE

<div class="byline">BY MATTHEW WUEST</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012283/9083948-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>When people hear Steven Stamkos&rsquo; name, some think of his speed, others think of his skill. More think of that famous YouTube video of his sick break-away move at the OHL skills competition.But when Columbus Blue Jackets scout Andrew Shaw hears the Sarnia Sting center&rsquo;s name, something else strikes him.&ldquo;Passion,&rdquo; Shaw said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a kid who loves to play the game.&rdquo;Shaw has the best seat in the house to judge Stamkos, who is ranked first overall by The Hockey News for June&rsquo;s NHL entry draft. Shaw is an NHL scout, but he is also Stamkos&rsquo; billet and the Sting&rsquo;s director of player personnel.&ldquo;When I think of guys like Gretzky and Orr, if you really look at them and why they were successful, they played the game because they loved it,&rdquo; Shaw noted. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s Steven. For him, it&rsquo;s not a job, it&rsquo;s a passion. It sets him apart.&rdquo;That passion shines through in Stamkos&rsquo; play. The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder from Unionville, Ont., is just 17, but already has 76 goals and 81 assists for 157 points in 103 OHL games.Stamkos has a wealth of natural talent, but it was a checker&rsquo;s mentality his dad instilled in him at a young age that makes him what one scout calls a &ldquo;competitive all-around player who never takes a shift off.&rdquo; Chris Stamkos was an up-and-down winger who played three seasons at Toronto&rsquo;s Centennial College.Stamkos showcased his dad&rsquo;s grit at the CHL Top Prospects Game in January, recording a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, an assist and a fight.&ldquo;I really benefited from his love for the game and his passion,&rdquo; Stamkos said. &ldquo;My dad was a different style of player than I was. He got down and dirty and he would always be in the (penalty) box, and growing up in that atmosphere taught me a lot.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021520/9083941-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="600" height="618"></div>The YouTube video, which shows Stamkos burning a be-wildered Andrew Perugini with a behind-the-back deke, is indicative of his elite skill level. He is an inventive player who will help sell tickets for whichever team drafts him.&ldquo;The fans are paying money to watch us,&rdquo; Stamkos said. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s any time you can do an exciting move that makes the fans go wild, that puts a smile on my face.&rdquo;Stamkos needs to bulk up, but scouts don&rsquo;t see any glaring weaknesses in his game. Their only worry is that Stamkos&rsquo; fearless style could make him an injury risk.Everything else checks out, even off the ice.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real down-to-earth kid,&rdquo; Shaw said. &ldquo;Aside from all the hype, when people come up to talk to Steven and meet him, he&rsquo;s always the first kid to introduce himself and say, &lsquo;Hi, I&rsquo;m Steven Stamkos.&rsquo; Anything he can do for a fan, he&rsquo;ll do it.&rdquo;The Grade 12 student is the OHL&rsquo;s reigning scholastic player of the year with an 80 per-cent average. When he returned from winning gold with Canada at the World Junior Championship, he didn&rsquo;t talk about chasing an OHL scoring title, instead saying, &ldquo;I have to buckle down and get some studying done.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s not to say Stamkos has any plans for a career away from the rink.&ldquo;I can see myself playing professional hockey for the next 15 years and I&rsquo;ll have a smile on my face every day,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That would be a dream come true.&rdquo; &#9632;

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UP FRONT

STAMKOS HAS THE PASSION

<div class="byline">BY MATTHEW WUEST</div><h2>1. STEVEN STAMKOS</h2>C, 6-1, 180, Sarnia (OHL)46-42-38-80-64<h2>2. DREW DOUGHTY</h2>D, 6-0, 213, Guelph (OHL)&nbsp;43-10-33-43-56Named top defenseman at world juniors despite injuries&hellip;A two-way workhorse. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;The hockey gods gave him a great mind for the game. He relies on that and does a phenomenal job reading and reacting.&rdquo;<h2>3. ALEX PIETRANGELO</h2>D, 6-4, 210, Niagara (OHL)47-11-28-39-65Boasts more untapped upside than any of the top defensemen&hellip;Relative of former NHL goalie Frank&hellip;Plus-minus has been fantastic past two seasons. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s such a steadying influence. He&rsquo;s totally in control.&rdquo;<h2>4. NIKITA FILATOV</h2>LW, 6-0, 170, CSKA Moscow (Rus-2)23-24-23-47-62Explodes every time he hits the international stage&hellip;Top-five pick on offensive ability alone, but transfer agreement issue will hurt his stock. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;Alexei Cherepanov was skilled, but everybody worried about his work ethic. This guy&rsquo;s more talented and he plays real hard, too.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-012054/9083979-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="784" height="1175"><figcaption class="caption-body">(CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>5. ZACH BOGOSIAN</h2>D, 6-2, 202, Peterborough (OHL)47-10-42-52-57Overlooked for U.S. world junior team&hellip;Assistant captain leads the Petes in scoring as a blueliner&hellip;Still learning defensively. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big, strong, strapping kid who can really skate.&rdquo;<h2>6. KYLE BEACH</h2>C, 6-3, 203, Everett (WHL)50-25-30-55-173Among WHL leaders in goals and penalty minutes&hellip;Concerns about his attitude could be enough to keep him out of top five. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He can score, fight and agitate &mdash; a power forward, on projection.&rdquo;<h2>7. LUKE SCHENN</h2>D, 6-3, 209, Kelowna (WHL)42-5-16-21-82Clocked a 94 mile-per-hour slapshot at CHL skills competition&hellip;A shutdown blueliner whom scouts compare to Adam Foote. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a warhorse. He stands up, forces the play and blocks shots.&rdquo;<h2>8. TYLER MYERS</h2>D, 6-7, 204, Kelowna (WHL)50-5-6-11-71Teammate of Luke Schenn&hellip;Has quietly ascended into the top-10 range. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;Chara bumbled around in junior, but this kid&rsquo;s feet are fine. He can move the puck and it&rsquo;s hard to beat him with his massive wingspan.&rdquo;<h2>9. MIKKEL BOEDKER</h2>RW, 5-11, 201, Kitchener (OHL)46-21-29-50-10Raised his standing with strong world juniors&hellip;Only CHL player on Team Denmark &hellip;Plays point on power play for juggernaut team in Kitchener. SCOUT SAYS: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got speed to burn and he can shoot the puck a ton.&rdquo;<h2>10. COLIN WILSON</h2>C, 6-1, 205, Boston U. (HE)25-9-17-26-14Dad, Carey, and grandfather, Jerry, both played in the NHL&hellip;Led world juniors in goals with six for U.S. team&hellip;Skating is only concern. SCOUT SAYS: &ldquo;He combines power and skill. He can play any type of game you want.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-01

2008 NHL DRAFT PROJECTED TOP 10

<div class="byline">BY RISTO PAKARINEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012182/9084010-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="991" height="667"><figcaption class="caption-body">(IHA)</figcaption></div>When Victor Hedman was 14, he played in the highest Swedish junior league, against players who were five, six years older than him. When he was 16, he played in the Elite League, against players who may be 20 years older than him.He&rsquo;s 17 now &ndash; but barely. His birthday was in December.He&rsquo;s Swedish hockey&rsquo;s dream in so many ways. First, the country doesn&rsquo;t have too many big, mobile and skilled defensemen who can play the offensive game as well. Second, the way things look now, no other nation in the world has a defenseman like him, at that age. Period. And third, he&rsquo;s not going to leave Sweden for the NHL next summer, probably not even the one after that because his draft year is 2009.A year ago, Hedman was playing his first games in the junior league trying to establish himself as a force.As Lennart Hermansson, director of talent development at Modo Hockey said then, &ldquo;Everything has its time,&rdquo; suggesting Hedman wasn&rsquo;t ready for play in the Elite League.Well, he didn&rsquo;t just suggest it.&ldquo;Victor is definitely not ready for the Elite League, but there&rsquo;s no rush. You have to be a mature player to take that step,&rdquo; Hermansson said a year ago.Now Hedman has played more than 30 games with injury-plagued Modo in the Elite League and was elected a tournament all-star at the World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic, fueling further speculations about his station in the 2009 draft.&ldquo;The draft is something of a goal to me, but it&rsquo;s still far away,&rdquo; Hedman said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll cross that bridge when I come to it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to say where I stand right now, I&rsquo;ve only played against (John) Tavares. It really doesn&rsquo;t matter how high I go in the draft.&ldquo;Obviously it would be nice to go early, but it&rsquo;s the time after the draft that matters.&rdquo;That sounds mature.Last year, Hedman was still learning to use his size to make his defensive play more effective. Now he has learned to use his reach and he&rsquo;s better at positioning himself on the ice. At the same time, he misses using the aspects of his game he likes the most.&ldquo;Everything has happened so fast, my learning curve is really steep. I basically learn something new every day,&rdquo; Hedman said.&ldquo;It took me a while to adapt to the Elite League, but I think it&rsquo;s gone OK. I&rsquo;ve had to learn to play a simple game and forget any offensive rushes. Just keep it simple and trust your instincts.&ldquo;In some ways, it&rsquo;s more boring as well, because it&rsquo;s more fun to hold onto the puck, but I guess the offense comes when I get a little older.&rdquo;Luckily for Hedman, he has other chances to do that. Like the world juniors or the under-18 World Championship in Russia this spring.Joining a team with several NHL veterans, such as Niklas Sundstrom and Per Svartvadet, can be jarring. Hedman said he was the quiet one in the dressing room for quite some time.&ldquo;Now I feel like a part of the team and everybody&rsquo;s been really good to me and given me pointers,&rdquo; he said.On everything.&ldquo;I usually have my school books with me on the bus on away games and just the other day, Svartvadet read and corrected my English paper,&rdquo; he told a Swedish paper in the fall.Sounds like a lot of fun to be Victor Hedman right now.&ldquo;It sure is,&rdquo; he says with a laugh. &#9632;

f0008-01

HEDMAN HITS THE BIG TIME

<div class="byline">BY MATTHEW WUEST</div><h2>1. JOHN TAVARES</h2>C, 6-0, 183, Oshawa (OHL)43-33-62-95-55Last year&rsquo;s CHL MVP&hellip;Broke Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s OHL scoring record for a 16-year-old&hellip;Scored four times at world juniors. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got to work on his skating, but give this guy time and space and he&rsquo;s going to beat you.&rdquo;<h2>2. VICTOR HEDMAN</h2>D, 6-6, 220, Modo (Swe.)31-1-2-3-40Made world juniors all-star team at 17&hellip; Challenging John Tavares for No. 1. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a horse of a defenseman. I don&rsquo;t think (first pick in 2009) is going to be a runaway race for Tavares.&rdquo;<h2>3. JARED COWEN</h2>D, 6-5, 211, Spokane (WHL)42-4-11-15-50Former No. 1 bantam pick in the WHL draft&hellip;Among WHL leaders at plus-25. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;His size and skating ability at that age are outstanding. He&rsquo;s a big, smooth, steady, puck-moving defenseman.&rdquo;<h2>4. BRAYDEN SCHENN</h2>C, 6-0, 196, Brandon (WHL)51-22-34-56-42Younger brother of 2008 prospect Luke &hellip;Led world under-17 challenge in scoring (13 points in six games) and made all-star team. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s like Mike Richards, with more skill.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011965/9084041-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="654" height="1050"><figcaption class="caption-body">(CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>5. MATT DUCHENE</h2>C, 5-11, 190, Brampton (OHL)51-21-15-36-18Uncle Newell Brown is an assistant coach with Anaheim&hellip;Made all-star team while leading Ontario to gold at world under-17 challenge. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;This kid is loaded with skill &ndash; what a talent.&rdquo;<h2>6. MAGNUS SVENSSON-PAAJARVI</h2>LW, 6-1, 198, Timra (Swe.)24-0-1-1-2Became youngest Swede to ever play at WJC this year&hellip;Father Gunnar Svensson is agent for Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Backstrom. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He generates offense with great skating, hands and offensive sense.&rdquo;<h2>7. STEFAN ELLIOTT</h2>D, 6-1, 174, Saskatoon (WHL)&nbsp;52-9-23-32-17Puck-rushing blueliner is a top scorer for Saskatoon, but has team-worst minus-26&hellip; Once traded for San Jose first-rounder Devin Setoguchi. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a little bit like (Washington&rsquo;s) Mike Green at the same age.&rdquo;<h2>8. JORDAN SCHROEDER</h2>C, 5-8, 165, U.S. under-18 team30-8-15-23-8Turned heads on top U.S. line at world juniors &hellip;Leads U.S. under-18 development team in scoring&hellip;Handles the puck at high speed. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;That litter bugger is dynamic. He&rsquo;s a power forward in a small body.&rdquo;<h2>9. TONI RAJALA</h2>LW, 5-8, 160, Ilves Tampere (Fin.-A)28-10-20-30-8Some call him the &ldquo;Finnish Sidney Crosby.&rdquo; &hellip;Lightning quick and holds his own despite a small frame. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a dynamic player. He&rsquo;s tough. He&rsquo;s always a threat on the ice. I&rsquo;m really impressed.&rdquo;<h2>10. JIMMY BUBNICK</h2>C, 6-2, 190, Kamloops (WHL)52-7-18-25-20Production increased after disappointing start in Western League &hellip;Starred at world under-17 challenge (12 points in six games). SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got flat-out skill and he can fly. He&rsquo;s explosive.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

2009 NHL DRAFT WATCH LIST

<div class="byline">BY JIM CRESSMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012151/9084072-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(IHA)</figcaption></div>Kirill Kabanov has already revealed one trait needed to be successful in the NHL.While playing for Russia at the World Under-17 Challenge in London, Ont., his teammates got the munchies.So there was Kabanov, the only player with good command of the English language, on the hotel phone at two in the morning &ndash; ordering pizza.&ldquo;I am a player and a translator; my teammates should pay me money,&rdquo; the 15-year-old said with a big grin.Kabanov had the scouts smiling at the thought of what he might be like in two years.One said the Under-17 was his international coming-out party.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got to develop physically, but he looks like a pretty good prospect for 2010,&rdquo; the scout said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s in the mold of Ovechkin and Kovalchuk and these highly talented, right-hand shooting, left-wing playing Russians that have come along in past. He carries the puck well with a lot of speed and plays with confidence.&rdquo;Kabanov has a five-year contract with Spartak Moscow, making $5,000 a month playing on the second team and practising with the first.&ldquo;For me, at 15 years old, that is good money. I&rsquo;m going to buy a car, but I have to be 18 to drive in Russia. I know it&rsquo;s 16 in Canada, so maybe I will buy my car here,&rdquo; he said, showing his sense of humor.Kabanov&rsquo;s father is a businessman, his mother a gynecologist and his 18-year-old brother a stage and movie actor.&ldquo;My theatre is on the ice,&rdquo; Kabanov said. &ldquo;More people come to the hockey theatre than to the acting theatre. My love would be to play in the NHL.&rdquo;The scout said the family&rsquo;s talents extend to the youngest member. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very creative, very smart, sees the ice well and I thought he shared the puck well. Those types of guys have a certain flare that the fans like and obviously the scouts like, if it&rsquo;s effective in scoring goals and winning games.&ldquo;His strength right now is a big issue. He needs to make a real commitment to his body, but the Europeans tend to mature physically a little later.Kabanov is already North American in other ways.&ldquo;I said bad words to the referee, not bad in Russian, but I know bad in English,&rdquo; he said.He also plays guitar and chess, finding that it helps him on the ice. &ldquo;Chess is not physical, but it is physical in the head.&rdquo;Now he&rsquo;s on everyone&rsquo;s radar.&ldquo;He was a pleasant surprise,&rdquo; said the scout. &ldquo;I can remember this happening with Ovechkin and Kovalchuk and Gaborik, three names that had a big impact when they were 15. &#9632;

f0010-01

KABANOV DIALS UP SCOUT BUZZ

<div class="byline">BY MATTHEW WUEST</div><h2>CAM FOWLER</h2>D, 6-2, 180, U.S. under-17 team40-1-9-10-10Named an all-star at world under-17 challenge&hellip;Verbally committed to Notre Dame&hellip;Incredible skater who can do it all. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He can literally change a game. He&rsquo;s dominant at both ends.&rdquo;<h2>TAYLOR HALL</h2>C, 6-1, 168, Windsor (OHL)50-28-25-53-18Father, Steven, is a former CFL wide receiver and member of the Canadian bobsled team&hellip;Scored 25 of his 26 goals at even strength &hellip;Plus-24. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s pure speed. He does it all except take tickets and sell popcorn.&rdquo;<h2>KIRILL KABANOV</h2>LW, 6-1, 172, Spartak Moscow (Rus-Jr.)stats unavailableSecond-youngest player at world under-17 challenge&hellip;Enjoyed coming-out party at tournament with 11 points in five games. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a smart player who works &ndash; great skills and lots of energy.&rdquo;<h2>JOHN McFARLAND</h2>C, 6-0, 185, Toronto Jr. Canadiens (midget)48-70-40-110-122Favorite to go No. 1 in OHL draft&hellip; Captain of his midget team&hellip;Will emerge as high-end goal-scoring sensation. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s pretty special. He might possess one of the best shots I&rsquo;ve seen.&rdquo;<h2>MARK PYSYK</h2>D, 6-0, 170, Sherwood Park (Alberta midget AAA)28-9-5-14-52Third overall pick in last year&rsquo;s WHL draft&hellip;Probable top-pairing defenseman next season with second-year Edmonton Oil Kings. SCOUT SAYS&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a smart, smooth, all-around player, like a Wade Redden.&rdquo; &#9632;

2010 NHL DRAFT WATCH LIST

<div class="byline">By Matthew Wuest</div><h2>OHL DRAFT 08 FIVE TO WATCH</h2><h3>ERIK GUDBRANSON D, 6-3, 185</h3>He has size, raw ability and a nasty disposition. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s on the body all the time,&rdquo; a scout said.<h3>JARED KNIGHT C, 5-9, 155</h3>One scout compares him to Bryan Little. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got great feet and can finish,&rdquo; the scout said.<h3>JOHN MCFARLAND C, 6-0, 185</h3>McFarland compares to Steven Stamkos in potential impact and is the favorite to go No. 1. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a dynamic point-producer,&rdquo; one scout said. &ldquo;He knows he&rsquo;s good, too.&rdquo;<h3>JONATHAN MERRILL D, 6-2, 175</h3>He loves to run and gun and will challenge McFarland for top spot. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s real smooth offensively and he forces the puck up ice all the time,&rdquo; said a scout.<h3>RYAN SPOONER C, 5-9, 155</h3>He&rsquo;s one-dimensional, but his scoring upside is through the roof. &ldquo;Pure offense,&rdquo; a scout said.<h2>QMJHL DRAFT 08 FIVE TO WATCH</h2><h3>MATHIEU BRISSON D, 6-0, 174</h3>A slick offensive blueliner. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always creating,&rdquo; said a scout. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll put up a lot of points.&rdquo;<h3>YASIN CISSE RW, 6-1, 196</h3>The tenacious winger is touted as the fastest skater in the draft. &ldquo;He forechecks hard and has great hands,&rdquo; said a scout.<h3>SEAN COUTURIER C, 6-3, 185</h3>He has the speed and size to challenge for the No. 1 spot. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s like Mike Modano, the way he skates and cuts to the middle,&rdquo; a scout said.<h3>BEN DUFFY C, 5-9, 165</h3>Duffy is the star of Sidney Crosby&rsquo;s former midget team. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe this kid&rsquo;s shot,&rdquo; said a scout. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s NHL caliber.&rdquo;<h3>BRANDON GORMLEY D, 6-2, 180</h3>Smooth, mature and blessed with offensive talent, he&rsquo;s the consensus No. 1. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a quarter-back and he&rsquo;s great overall,&rdquo; a scout said.<h2>WHL DRAFT 08 FIVE TO WATCH</h2><h3>BRENT BENSON C, 5-11, 175</h3>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a Sidney Crosby build,&rdquo; said one scout. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t knock him off the puck.&rdquo;<h3>RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS C, 6-0, 150</h3>A recent growth spurt has this scoring machine rising fast. &ldquo;He might be the best guy available,&rdquo; one scout said.<h3>MICHAEL ST. CROIX RW, 5-10, 160</h3>The son of former NHL goalie Rick St. Croix is a prolific scorer. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a Joe Sakic-type who can do it all,&rdquo; a scout said.<h3>TY RATTIE C, 6-0, 160</h3>He leads Alberta&rsquo;s bantam ranks in scoring by a country mile. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the most offensive guy in the draft,&rdquo; said a scout.<h3>DUNCAN SIEMENS D, 6-2, 180</h3>Arguably the top blueliner available. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s physical, smart and an excellent skater,&rdquo; a scout said. &#9632;

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012094/9084172-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>CAREY PRICE</h2>2008Price has a winning pedigree and technical skills to boot. Stoic demeanor like ex-Habs great Ken Dryden. Flashes of brilliance in Montreal stints.<h2>ERIK JOHNSON</h2>2007Hulking Blue somewhat slowed by injury in rookie season, but developing into dominant physical presence with lots of offensive upside.<h2>EVGENI MALKIN</h2>2006Siberian Express joined Pens amidst intrigue, but showed immediate brilliance with record-setting goal streak to start career and a Calder win.<h2>ALEX OVECHKIN</h2>2005Beat out Crosby for 2006 Calder, top Hart and Art Ross candidate this season. Is there a more dynamic NHL player/personality than this Capital?<h2>KARI LEHTONEN</h2>20032004Injuries and defensively-challenged Thrashers teammates have contributed to ups and downs. Still a top prospect, but must take next step soon.<h2>TUOMO RUUTU</h2>2002Tantalizing talent, but injury concerns from his junior days have proven correct. Has been surpassed by younger Blackhawks offensively.<h2>ROSTISLAV KLESLA</h2>2001Described in 2001 by his GM as between a Pronger and a Lidstrom, Klesla would be hard-pressed to be a top-6 D-man if not in Columbus.<h2>ROBERTO LUONGO</h2>19992000Is there a more valuable Canuck? No. And there may be no more valuable NHLer. Luongo singlehandedly wins games regardless of the opposition.<h2>MARIAN HOSSA</h2>1998Described as having &ldquo;a lot of work to do defensively&rdquo; in 1998, the 12th pick in 1997 has done that and more. Feared sniper also a geat playmaker.<h2>MARC DENIS</h2>1997From junior star to NHL starter to&hellip;high-priced AHL backup. The Norfolk Admiral played his way out of the NHL with two horrendous seasons.<h2>BRYAN BERARD</h2>1996The 1st overall pick in 1995 started strong, winning the Calder. A horrific, legally blinding eye injury in 2000 stalled the current Islander&rsquo;s career.<h2>ED JOVANOVSKI</h2>1995The 1st selection in 1994 has dealt with injuries throughout his career, but this season the Coyote is close to regaining top form.<h2>PETER FORSBERG</h2>1994THN wrote he &ldquo;isn&rsquo;t the perfect prospect,&rdquo; but that was tongue in cheek. Forsberg was considered one of the most dominating players of his era.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-031053/9084165-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="1104" height="1753"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>ARE YOU EVER GOING TO MAKE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021635/9084158-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="740" height="652"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERIC FEHR (JUST SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div>We&rsquo;re considering giving Eric Fehr a corner office and a computer. He has been part of our Future Watch team for five years now. The 18th overall pick in 2003 was close to making it last year before injury got in the way. We predict he&rsquo;s in Washington for good now. Here are 18 prospects in our top 75 who have been in Future Watch at least three years.<h2>FUTURE WATCH MAINSTAYS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04634/9084151-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="946" height="1100"></div> &#9632;

f0012-01

DIGGING INTO THE PAST

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011848/9084217-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Just minutes before his team&rsquo;s first playoff game against the Rochester Americans last spring, Hamilton Bulldogs coach Don Lever was speaking to his team when he glanced over at the club&rsquo;s rookie goalie to check his body language and determine whether the 20-year-old was nervous.And there was Carey Price, just a couple of weeks after completing his junior hockey career, leaning back in his stall with his arms clasped over his chest, yawning. It wasn&rsquo;t as though Lever had asked the Montreal Canadiens to foist this rookie upon him in the playoffs, so seeing Price suffering from either boredom or sleep deprivation didn&rsquo;t exactly have Lever bubbling over with confidence.Then all Price did was go out and stop 30 shots to earn a shutout and a win, the first of 16 that he would record while leading the 10th-place Bulldogs to the Calder Cup championship.&ldquo;That first game he played for us,&rdquo; Lever said, &ldquo;he looked like he had played in the league for 15 years.&rdquo;Nothing fazes Price. (We know for sure that repeated telephone calls and messages certainly don&rsquo;t. We tried for a week to reach him for this story and left countless messages, but not a single one was returned.) The calm surrounding him is almost eerie. In fact, his Bulldog teammates had to convince Price to take a drink from the Calder Cup after defeating the Hershey Bears in the final.&ldquo;He has to be more focused,&rdquo; Lever said, when asked where Price could improve. &ldquo;I think sometimes his lackadaisical personality catches him flat-footed.&rdquo;It has certainly been an interesting 18 months for Price, who was selected as the No. 1 prospect outside the NHL by a panel of 21 NHL amateur scouts and directors of players personnel. Even though Price has played in the NHL and was up with Montreal as of mid-February, he still qualifies as a prospect because he is not yet a full-time NHL player.Price is, however, the first goalie to win a gold medal at the World Junior Championship and a Calder Cup in the same season. And in doing so, he evoked memories of former Canadiens goaltending legend Patrick Roy, who went straight from finishing his junior season with the Granby Bisons to leading the Sherbrooke Canadiens to the Calder Cup 22 years earlier.Perhaps the comparisons are unfair, but Price certainly didn&rsquo;t do anything to quell them by going out and repeating Roy&rsquo;s playoff feat while wearing Ken Dryden&rsquo;s No. 29 with the Bulldogs.&ldquo;It was really difficult not to make a comparison between the two situations because they were so similar,&rdquo; said Habs GM Bob Gainey, who was Montreal&rsquo;s captain when Roy led the team to a Stanley Cup as an NHL rookie in 1986. &ldquo;And yet I tried to stay away from it because I really didn&rsquo;t want to draw that line between those two players. Roy is such a clear picture for people here and putting (Price) in that category, if he doesn&rsquo;t do this it&rsquo;s going to be failure. What I did see was a player who played against the best AHL teams, against the best AHL players, and was dominant. It wasn&rsquo;t in a game and it wasn&rsquo;t in a week. It was in a six-week intense competition.&rdquo;The Bulldogs&rsquo; unlikely and Price-powered playoff run saw them win four straight series without home-ice advantage against teams that had all finished higher in the standings. In the final three series, the team was outshot in 13 of 16 games, including all five in the final against the Hershey Bears, who outshot Hamilton by more than 60 shots over the course of the series. That means Hershey averaged 12-plus shots per game more than the Bulldogs, but won only one contest in the final. At one point in the post-season, Price backstopped the Bulldogs to three straight overtime wins and stopped a total of 25 shots in the extra periods.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011848/9084210-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="1303" height="2233"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES FOR NHL)</figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">That first game he played for us, he looked like he had played in the league for 15 years.</blockquote><h2>RUNAWAY RACE</h2>Twenty-one NHL scouts cast a ballot for top NHL-affiliated prospect.Few in Hamilton, including Lever, were particularly thrilled with the Canadiens&rsquo; decision to toss Price into the breach in the playoffs. Jaroslav Halak, a very good prospect himself, had been one of the AHL&rsquo;s top goalies before spending the last six weeks of the regular season up with the Canadiens. When the Habs were eliminated from playoff contention on the second-last day of the season, most assumed Halak would go back to Hamilton. But Montreal decided to allow him to play for Slovakia in the 2007 World Championship, thus exposing its top two goaltending prospects to a high level of competition simultaneously.It&rsquo;s a tightrope that NHL teams have to walk all the time with their minor league teams. On one hand, the locals deserve the best team they can get and certainly, winning is a positive thing for emerging players, but the NHL organization also has to consider what is best for a player&rsquo;s development.How were the Canadiens able to predict things would turn out so well?&ldquo;Well, we weren&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Gainey said. &ldquo;Trying to get (Price) into the American League environment seemed like a normal course of action. We looked at our alternatives and we just took what had transpired and made a decision and did the best with it we could.&ldquo;It turned out great for Hamilton and Carey Price. Yeah, there was some risk. Carey could have failed there, but there was also upside to go that way.&rdquo;Although Price has been good this year, things have not gone quite as well in his first pro season. In 10 AHL games this season, he had a save percentage below .900 and had struggled at times with the Canadiens. However, when No. 1 man Cristobal Huet went down with an injury early in the season, Price stepped in and played well.The fifth overall pick in 2005 and a graduate of the Tri-City Americans of the WHL is considered a very good technical goalie who has superior positioning. And while his puck-handling is out-standing &ndash; as could be seen on his first NHL assist in early February in a loss to the Ottawa Senators, when he put a perfect pass onto Sergei Kostitsyn&rsquo;s stick from three zones away &ndash; Lever said Price has to learn to use more discretion with that skill set.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011631/9084203-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="895" height="1391"><figcaption class="caption-body">He&rsquo;s just 20, but Carey Price has a world junior gold medal and AHL title. (JUST SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;To me, he has to concentrate more on stopping the puck than handling the puck,&rdquo; Lever said. &ldquo;Sometimes he gets too aggressive with it and can turn the puck over. He&rsquo;s like a defenseman who always wants to make a play. He doesn&rsquo;t want to put it off the glass, he wants to make a tape-to-tape pass.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s nothing in Price&rsquo;s career trajectory that would suggest he won&rsquo;t learn more discretion at the NHL level. He is a future No. 1 goalie to be sure and perhaps a future star in the league. And with Halak also showing promise and former college standout Yann Danis emerging, the Canadiens are once again loaded at the most important position. It will create quite the conundrum this summer when Gainey has to decide whether to re-sign Huet or use the money somewhere else and allow his prospects to carry the load.&ldquo;I think that comes under the heading of a good problem. When has having too many good players ever been a problem?&rdquo; Gainey asked.&ldquo;There will always be a solution for having too many good players on your hands. If you&rsquo;re going to knock out the champ, you&rsquo;ve got to knock out the champ. So if somebody is going to rock the boat this year, one of those guys is going to have to go in and take the net and just demand not to be taken out of it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

CAREY PRICE

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021316/9084255-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brad Richards and Vinny Lecavalier are two of Tampa&rsquo;s big three. (ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011725/9084262-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="174" height="222"></div>Back in 1994, the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup with the fewest homegrown players in NHL history on their roster. Of the 25 players whose names are on the Stanley Cup with that team, just five of them &ndash; Brian Leetch, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Nemchinov, Mike Richter and Sergei Zubov &ndash; were drafted and developed by the Rangers.Ten years later, the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Cup with just six players they had either drafted and developed themselves or signed as undrafted free agents &ndash; Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Pavel Kubina, Dmitry Afanasenkov, Martin Cibak and Eric Perrin. Incredibly, four of those players came out of the 1998 draft alone.So, of course, it&rsquo;s entirely possible to win the Stanley Cup without paying much regard to the future of your organization. Shrewd acquisitions through free agency and trades can certainly build a championship team if it&rsquo;s done properly.But what ultimately happened to both of those teams? They essentially became Stanley Cup Supernovae, spectacular explosions that outshone the entire galaxy before fading from view within a couple of months. Both the Rangers and the Lightning were one-hit wonders who couldn&rsquo;t sustain any significant level of success because their players got older and they had no NHL-caliber youth in their system with whom to replace those guys who eventually moved on.Not only did the Rangers and Lightning fall out of Stanley Cup contention after their wins, within three years the Rangers were putting together a string of seven straight years out of the playoffs. Just three seasons removed from their Stanley Cup, the Lightning is careening into some very ugly territory and could be the worst team in the NHL by the end of the season.It&rsquo;s easy to follow the path to both their demises. Cup victories for those teams hid the fact they were doing a terrible job of drafting players and those they were getting, were not being put on the right development path.The Lightning has been particularly horrendous in this respect, which should be no surprise to anyone who regularly reads our Future Watch issue. This is the third straight year the Lightning has finished 30th out of 30 NHL teams in our rankings. In fact, since drafting Lecavalier, Richards, Afanasenkov and Cibak in 1998, the Lightning has drafted a total of 88 players, just six of whom have developed into anything resembling full-time NHL players &ndash; Ryan Craig, Fredrik Norrena, Paul Ranger, Nick Tarnasky, Karri Ramo and Mike Lundin.But perhaps the Lightning is onto something here, specifically if you can&rsquo;t draft worth a darn, then what&rsquo;s the point of hanging onto draft picks? In the 2006 draft, the Lightning picked just four players, which tied them for the fewest draft picks for a team in modern draft history. (The exception, of course, is the St. Louis Blues, who didn&rsquo;t participate in the 1983 draft.)Much has been made of the salary cap crunch the Lightning has faced by signing Lecavalier, Richards and Martin St-Louis to such burdensome contracts, but the true reason for the demise of the Lightning is because it hasn&rsquo;t been able to move anyone else into the lineup who can be reasonably priced enough to offset those signings and be capable of playing in the NHL. Ramo could be a good NHL goalie one day, but when the Lightning decided to allow Nikolai Khabibulin to leave as an unrestricted free agent and were then forced to hand the starting goalie job to John Grahame, that set in motion a series of dominos that has seen the organization seep into mediocrity.Actually, the Lightning would probably be thrilled to be even mediocre at this point. After two quick playoff exits, the Lightning is destined to miss the playoffs this season and the lack of depth on their roster seems to have their future, if not already in peril, certainly circling its way around the drain.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011562/9084248-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="1654" height="1392"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nine Anaheim Ducks were brought up through their minor league system. (JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Recent history suggests that the draft has less to do with winning than it ever has. The Anaheim Ducks had 26 players on their Stanley Cup docket last season, just nine of whom were homegrown players. The Carolina Hurricanes, another team that has struggled since winning the Cup, had just eight of 25 Stanley Cup-winning players brought through its own system. That&rsquo;s certainly significantly fewer than the 14 the Edmonton Oilers had on their roster 20 years ago or the 19 the Montreal Canadiens had when they won the Cup 10 years prior to that.But nothing has happened, at least not yet, to suggest that there is any way to have a sustained level of success without a good foundation in developing and drafting. The Detroit Red Wings might not win the Cup every year, but they have perennially challenged for it regardless of the economic structure of the league and this season have 13 homegrown players in their lineup. The second-best team in the league, the Ottawa Senators, have had 15 of their own players in their lineup at various times this season.It&rsquo;s a lesson the Lightning seem determined to learn the hard way. Perhaps it will start this June when it has a top-five draft pick around whom it can begin to build a credible foundation from the rubble of a floundering one. &#9632;

f0018-02

POOR DRAFTING, NOT BIG CONTRACTS, BRING BARREN CUPBOARDS

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div>Like the arrival of a leap year every four years, you can count on the Detroit Red Wings uncovering a hidden jewel from a late pick in the NHL draft every now and then.It&rsquo;s no secret the Red Wings are unlike other teams when it comes to using early draft picks to retool their lineup. Detroit hasn&rsquo;t picked higher than 19th overall in 16 drafts, a credit to their status near the top of the NHL standings for most of the past 20 years. In fact, the Red Wings have had only nine first-rounders since 1991.So not only does Detroit have to make its occasional first-rounder count, it has to mine for hidden value in the late rounds.In 1994, the Red Wings uncovered Tomas Holmstrom with the 257th pick. Four years later, Pavel Datsyuk was secured with the 171st selection. In 1999, Henrik Zetterberg was discovered with the 210th pick. Key secondary talent was found in the middle rounds of 2002 (Valtteri Filppula with the 95th pick) and 2004 (Johan Franzen with the 97th pick.)If you&rsquo;re wondering about the next wave of replacements, a panel of Future Watch scouts is telling us Jonathan Ericsson (291st overall in 2002) and Darren Helm (132nd overall in 2005) are it. They&rsquo;re both among our list of the top 75 NHL-affiliated prospects in the game, Ericsson at 46th overall and Helm at 73rd.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-021085/9084293-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="710" height="1056"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tomas Holmstrom (DAVE REGINEK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s key finds like these that led us to come up with an accompanying leveling system to go along with our team prospect report cards in Future Watch.Annual report cards like the one on the facing page tell us which organizations have the best young talent (prospects and 21-and-under NHLers).It&rsquo;s no surprise the Pittsburgh Penguins are first again this season. They have five 21-and-under NHLers and some good names on their prospect list. But when you consider they have drafted first overall twice and second overall twice in the past five years, it stands to reason they should have an excellent report card.The purpose of the leveling system is to compare a team&rsquo;s report card against how early it picks in the NHL draft. Since most prospects are 21 or younger, we derive a team&rsquo;s average first pick the past four drafts and stack it up against how the team finishes in the report card ranking.Let&rsquo;s use the Red Wings as an example. Their average pick the past four drafts is 46th overall, which ranks second lowest in the league. Only Toronto (49.5), with just two first-rounders in the past five drafts, is lower. Detroit&rsquo;s report card, based on the quality and quantity of its young talent, ranks 14th in this year&rsquo;s report card. The difference between 29th and 14th is a positive differential of 15.The Philadelphia Flyers have the highest differential (plus-18). They ranked 28th in average first pick and 10th in report card, based on blue-chip prospects such as James van Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux and Ryan Parent and young NHLer Steve Downie.Other teams with impressive positive differentials are Boston, Dallas, Edmonton, Nashville and St. Louis.At the other end, three teams (Minnesota, Florida and Anaheim) are at minus-12. That means their average draft position the past four years is high in relation to their placement in the report card grades.It&rsquo;s interesting to note that Chicago, which is second in report card, is a minus-one because the Blackhawks have the earliest draft position at 3.5. The Leafs have the lowest average first pick, but have the 28th best report card, so they&rsquo;re a plus-two. &#9632;

f0020-02

THE SECRET TO RED WINGS’ SUCCESS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011215/9084362-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Kessel (SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div>A panel of 21 NHL talent evaluators provided team grades on top-10 prospect lists and 21-and-under NHLers (ages as of Jan. 31, 2008). Results were blended and ranked. The 2007 rank is in parentheses. In some cases, some 21-and-under NHLers have been assigned to farm teams, while some top 10 prospects (on team pages) have been recalled to the NHL.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02796/9084355-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="1601" height="1255"></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

REPORT CARDS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011374/9084393-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"></div>The top 50 ranking is a blend of ratings provided by a panel of 21 NHL scouts. Prospects are listed in order of 2008 Future Watch top prospects ranking. Last year&rsquo;s rank is in parentheses. Unranked players in 2007 are denoted as (NR), while players listed as (new) are prospects drafted in 2007. &#9632;

f0022-01

THE HOCKEY NEWS TOP 50

<div class="byline">BY DAN WOOD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02957/9084424-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="853" height="1004"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Ryan (JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011324/9084431-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="195" height="188"></div>With Anaheim&rsquo;s player-development system having recently produced first-time NHL All-Star Game participants Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, as well as since-departed Joffrey Lupul and Dustin Penner, there is a tendency to think the Ducks&rsquo; cupboard is pretty bare. Don&rsquo;t count on it.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re nowhere near as bad as everybody thinks,&rdquo; said Bob Murray, the team&rsquo;s senior vice-president of operations. Winger Bobby Ryan, the second overall selection in the 2005 draft who improved his stock during two stints in the NHL this season, heads the prospect list.<h2>1 BOBBY RYAN, RW, 20, Portland (AHL)</h2>6-2, 218, 36-16-20-36-14OVERALL 7After playing four games with the Ducks in October and nine more in mid-season, the 6-foot-2, 218-pound winger has made more progress this season than at any time since he was selected behind Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby in the 2005 draft.Ryan has been dominant with Portland in the AHL. He has taken large steps in his conditioning level and ability to play a power game, enhancing the likelihood he will be ready to compete for full-time duty on one of Anaheim&rsquo;s top two lines next season.Acquired 2005 draft, 2nd overall.<h2>2 BRIAN SALCIDO, D, 22, Portland (AHL)</h2>6-1, 202, 45-8-31-39-42One of the increasing number of Southern California-trained players vying for NHL careers, Salcido has proven to be a productive defenseman in his second season with Portland, particularly on the power play.A former Colorado College standout, Salcido would have gotten a look in the NHL with many other organizations, but the Ducks have some pretty good offensive defensemen already on the team. The biggest challenge for Salcido is to prove he can handle the defensive aspects of the game.Acquired 2005 draft, 141st overall.<h2>3&nbsp;BRENDAN MIKKELSON, D, 20, Portland (AHL)</h2>6-3, 202, 48-5-7-12-36Mikkelson provides a ready complement to Salcido in the sense Mikkelson is more of a defensive-oriented defenseman, which gives Portland a nice mix.As an AHL rookie, Mikkelson is still making the transition from the trapping-type system he was used to playing as a junior with Vancouver of the Western League, to the up-tempo style favored in the Ducks organization.An outstanding skater, though not flashy, Mikkelson eats up a lot of ice time with the Pirates and projects as a big minutes-type guy in the NHL.Acquired 2005 draft, 31st overall.<h2>4&nbsp;J-P LEVASSEUR, G, 21, Portland (AHL)</h2>6-0, 205, 3-3-0, 2.18, .902Anaheim is hopeful Jean-Philippe Levasseur will turn into one of those familiar stories of a low-round draft pick &ndash; in this case a seventh-rounder &ndash; who develops into an NHL goaltending success.The early returns are favorable, given signs shown by the Quebec native, who has been impressive while splitting his first pro season between Portland of the AHL and Augusta of the ECHL.The Ducks are stressing patience, trying not to throw too much at Levasseur too soon. He figures to need significantly more minor-pro seasoning.Acquired 2005 draft, 197th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;PETTERI WIRTANEN, C, 21, Portland (AHL)</h2>6-2, 207, 48-7-21-28-40Even Wirtanen, a Finnish center who got into three early season games with Anaheim, saw himself in the mold of Samuel Pahlsson, the club&rsquo;s stand-out defensive center. But the Ducks aren&rsquo;t content to pigeonhole Wirtanen as a defensive specialist.He&rsquo;s working towards developing his offensive game in Portland, where he has displayed signs of scoring ability. The other challenge for Wirtanen is to step up his skating.There is no question about his hockey sense. The former captain of the Finnish national junior team knows the game.Acquired 2006 draft, 172nd overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 LOGAN MACMILLANC, 18, 6-1, 182Halifax (QMJHL) 28-9-18-27-45Concussion slowed him before a WJC appearance; point-per-game in Halifax.Acquired 2007 draft, 19th overall.7 ERIC TANGRADIC, 18, 6-3, 215Belleville (OHL) 42-20-30-50-33Broken thumb at mid-season interrupted strong start for power forward.Acquired 2007 draft, 42nd overall.8 MARK MITERAD, 20, 6-3, 202Michigan (CCHA) 28-1-7-8-40Departure of other top defenseman left Mitera as top dog for top-notch team.Acquired 2006 draft, 19th overall.9 MATT BELESKEYLW, 19, 6-0, 206Belleville (OHL) 48-34-34-68-85Continues the heart-and-soul type of game that is his bread and butter.Acquired 2006 draft, 112th overall.10 MAXIME MACENAUERC, 19, 6-0, 195Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL) 52-21-34-55-45Has bounced back strongly from a shoulder injury that cut last season short.Acquired 2007 draft, 63rd overall. &#9632;

f0024-02

ANOTHER WAVE OF YOUTH ON WAY

<div class="byline">BY CRAIG CUSTANCE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-011187/9084462-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="784" height="917"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Little (ROSS DETTMAN)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02842/9084469-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="196" height="190"></div>Only one rookie, defenseman Tobias Enstrom, made a major contribution to the Thrashers this season. But ask anyone in the organization if they would take one of him a year and they&rsquo;d jump at the offer.&ldquo;There are very few Enstroms,&rdquo; said GM Don Waddell.But the team feels it has two waves of prospects on the way. One, led by Bryan Little and Brett Sterling, is on the verge of contributing. The second, led by Riley Holzapfel and Spencer Machacek, is a few years away. The organization needs a physical, puck-moving defenseman, but who doesn&rsquo;t?<h2>1 BRYAN LITTLE, C, 20, Chicago (AHL)</h2>5-11, 190, 21-6-9-15-8OVERALL 17Little made the Thrashers out of camp without playing a season of pro hockey. After scoring a goal in his NHL debut, it looked like the Thrashers found the top-line center they have lacked since Marc Savard left.He had the physical tools to play in the NHL and he showed great vision. But ultimately Little needed more polish in the AHL. Thrashers director of player development Dan Marr said Little needs to think bigger:&ldquo;He&rsquo;s capable of being the best player every night, he needs to go out there knowing he can play that way.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 12th overall.<h2>2 ONDREJ PAVELEC, G, 20, Chicago (AHL)</h2>6-2, 200, 16-8-0, 3.26, .896OVERALL 25There&rsquo;s not a prospect in the system who gets more trade inquiries from rival GMs than Pavelec. The goalie was called up to Atlanta after Kari Lehtonen&rsquo;s groin injury and proved he could compete in the NHL.He impressed teammates with his confidence and cool demeanor. But like many young goalies, developing consistency is the key. He still allows the soft goal and tends to lose focus. At times, he gets caught sitting too deep and takes too long to get up when he hits the ice, but Pavelec covers a lot of space when he plays big.Acquired 2005 draft, 41st overall.<h2>3&nbsp;RILEY HOLZAPFEL, C, 19, Moose Jaw (WHL)</h2>6-0, 189, 35-13-13-26-29After the world juniors, three Canadian coaches made a point of finding Marr and telling him how impressed they were with Holzapfel&rsquo;s play. He made the team as a checker and penalty-killer after a late invite and his role expanded from there.The Thrashers feel he will develop as a center and like his strength in the corners. He plays bigger than he is and doesn&rsquo;t mind doing the dirty work.Holzapfel is versatile and has decent speed. He doesn&rsquo;t have overwhelming physical tools, but makes up for it with a solid work ethic and hockey sense.Acquired 2006 draft, 43rd overall.<h2>4&nbsp;BRETT STERLING, LW, 23, Chicago (AHL)</h2>5-7, 180, 36-23-18-41-70If you focus on Sterling&rsquo;s lack of size, you miss the fact there might not be another prospect in the organization as fearless as he is. Sterling&rsquo;s not afraid to go to the net, where he shows an outstanding scoring touch and he&rsquo;s a real pain to play against.&ldquo;He plays his most effective when he gets under the other team&rsquo;s skin just a little bit,&rdquo; Marr said.But playing the pest also means penalties and Sterling will need to control his time in the box to stay in the NHL.&ldquo;He has to be a spark,&rdquo; Marr noted. &ldquo;But he has to be a smart spark.&rdquo;Acquired 2003 draft, 145th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;BORIS VALABIK, D, 21, Chicago (AHL)</h2>6-7, 240, 35-0-6-6-121First there was penalty trouble; Valabik had to control his tendency to let his aggressive play lead to bad penalties.Then there were two ankle injuries last season that slowed his development and a concussion and virus this season.Valabik is still working on his timing, but if the big defenseman can stay healthy, he&rsquo;ll join Garnet Exelby as another physical presence on the Thrashers blueline.His puckhandling has come a long way as has his skating, but he&rsquo;ll never be a player the Thrashers ask to go end-to-end.Acquired 2004 draft, 10th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 SPENCER MACHACEKRW, 19, 6-1, 196Vancouver (WHL) 52-26-25-51-51Enjoyed a big offensive season because he generated his own chances.Acquired 2007 draft, 67th overall.7 JORDAN LAVALLEELW, 21, 6-3, 225Chicago (AHL) 46-13-17-30-40Still needs to improve skating, but provides a physical presence on the wing.Acquired 2005 draft, 116th overall.8 NATHAN OYSTRICKD, 25, 6-0, 215Chicago (AHL) 46-10-19-29-62Disappointing camp carried over into first half of AHL season. Needs to step it up.Acquired 2002 draft, 198th overall.9 NICLAS LUCENIUSC, 18, 6-0, 190Tappara (Fin.) 28-0-2-2-10Pleasant surprise as Finland&rsquo;s top scorer at WJC; skating needs work.Acquired 2007 draft, 115th overall.10 ANDREI ZUBAREVD, 20, 6-0, 198Kazan Ak Bars (Rus.) 35-4-3-7-85Has nasty streak and is strong on the puck. But will he come over from Russia?Acquired 2005 draft, 187th overall. &#9632;

f0025-01

LITTLE BIG MEN IN THE PIPELINE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE LOFTUS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02961/9084500-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="862" height="1008"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tuukka Rask (SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011337/9084507-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="195" height="189"></div>The Bruins spent the first half of 2007-08 discovering their young talent was deeper than they knew. Besides three under-22s playing regularly (forwards Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic and David Krejci), injuries forced Boston to slot in four other prospects from its top prospects list.In a perfect world, the Bruins get healthy and some freshmen return to full-time roles on the farm. But goalie Tuukka Rask, defensemen Matt Lashoff and Matt Hunwick, and forward Vladimir Sobotka have played well enough to keep the B&rsquo;s competitive.<h2>1 TUUKKA RASK, G, 20, Providence (AHL)</h2>6-3, 169, 17-5-0, 2.36, .899OVERALL 11After two seasons in Finland&rsquo;s top pro league, Rask is steadily and successfully adjusting to tighter arenas and more physical play in North America, mostly with Providence (AHL), but occasionally in Boston (2-1-1 in four appearances). With the right amount of seasoning and some extra weight, the Bruins expect Rask to graduate to the NHL full time within another season or so.&ldquo;He wants to learn and he&rsquo;s in a good environment in Providence,&rdquo; said assistant GM Jim Benning. &ldquo;We won&rsquo;t rush him, but we think he&rsquo;ll be a cornerstone of our team.&rdquo;Acquired Trade with Toronto, June 24, 2006.<h2>2 MATT LASHOFF, D, 21, Providence (AHL)</h2>6-2, 205, 38-5-20-25-43OVERALL 45The second-year pro&rsquo;s relatively early dispatch from Boston&rsquo;s camp to the AHL can be traced in part to lingering weakness caused by a neck/shoulder nerve injury sustained late last season. The Bruins, who used Lashoff in a limited role during two first-half call-ups, are excited about his skill set and potential.&ldquo;He can skate, he can handle the puck and he&rsquo;s smart,&rdquo; Benning said of the AHL all-star (and a member of last season&rsquo;s AHL all-rookie team). &ldquo;We see him developing into a top-four defenseman in the NHL.&rdquo;Acquired 2005 draft, 22nd overall.<h2>3&nbsp;ZACH HAMILL, C, 19, Everett (WHL)</h2>6-0, 175, 51-18-39-57-64OVERALL 49Despite a strong Canada-Russia Super Series last summer, followed by an impressive showing in Boston&rsquo;s development camp, Hamill started the season slowly in Everett, where he led the WHL last year with 93 points. But Hamill has been picking it up in the secnd half.&ldquo;Since mid-December, he&rsquo;s played very well,&rdquo; said Benning, who sees shades of Edmonton&rsquo;s Jarret Stoll in Hamill. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s good on the power play and the penalty-kill; those are areas where he excels.&rdquo;He was a late cut from Canada&rsquo;s junior team.Acquired 2007 draft, 8th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;BRAD MARCHAND, C, 19, Halifax (QMJHL)</h2>5-9, 190, 43-22-31-53-49OVERALL 64In recovery mode after being benched late in the Canada-Russia Super Series, Marchand went on to score big goals for Canada&rsquo;s gold medal-winning world junior team.He was then traded from Val d&rsquo;Or to a stronger team in his hometown of Halifax.The Bruins like his power game, despite his small frame. &ldquo;He has talent,&rdquo; Benning said, &ldquo;and he also plays with courage. He takes pucks to the net, goes to the front and gets tip-ins and rebounds.&ldquo;(Marchand) plays the pro-style game already.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 71st overall.<h2>5&nbsp;CARL SODERBERG, C, 22, Malmo (Swe.-1)</h2>6-3, 207, 25-12-24-36-14Boston fans so far only know him as the mysterious prospect obtained for one-time future No. 1 goalie Hannu Toivonen, but the Bruins hope to bring Soderberg&rsquo;s combination of size and talent to North America next season.Derailed last year by an eye injury after returning to Sweden from St. Louis (he has yet to play in North America), Soderberg has recovered and is piling up points in the division below the elite league.&ldquo;We have a lot of hard-working forwards who are physical,&rdquo; Benning said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a different flavor: He has size, hands and skill.&rdquo;Acquired Trade with St. Louis, July 23, 2007.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 VLADIMIR SOBOTKAC, 20, 5-10, 183Providence (AHL) 18-10-10-20-37Won fans during frequent call-ups by playing a physical, aggravating style.Acquired 2005 draft, 106th overall.7 MATT HUNWICKD, 22, 5-11, 190Providence (AHL) 27-1-10-11-16Skillful first-year pro has shown the ability to skate or pass out of trouble.Acquired 2004 draft, 224th overall.8 TOMMY CROSSD, 18, 6-3, 198Westminster (USHS) 19-5-16-21-n/aSolid and physical, the Boston College-bound Cross is dominating high school.Acquired 2007 draft, 35th overall.9 YURI ALEXANDROVD, 19, 6-0, 185Cherepovets (Rus.) 38-4-4-8-22A plus-4 for Russia in WJC; he&rsquo;s solid all around and makes good decisions.Acquired 2006 draft, 37th overall.10 MARTINS KARSUMSRW, 21, 5-10, 198Providence (AHL) 47-11-28-39-28Improved on his first-year AHL numbers; still working to achieve NHL quickness.Acquired 2004 draft, 64th overall. &#9632;

f0026-02

CUBS COMING OF AGE IN BEANTOWN

<div class="byline">BY JOHN VOGL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02892/9084538-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="859" height="1010"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andrej Sekera (JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011272/9084545-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="196" height="188"></div>Size hasn&rsquo;t mattered yet for most of the Sabres&rsquo; top prospects. The team will need that trend to continue when the players reach the NHL.The Sabres have gone to two straight semifinals with small, speedy forwards and defensemen who are more apt to carry the puck than bury a carrier. Their prospects are built in that same mode. Undersized players such as Jhonas Enroth, Nathan Gerbe and Tim Kennedy have managed to stand out on the world stage and in NCAA.&ldquo;We like our college guys,&rdquo; said Jon Christiano, the Sabres&rsquo; pro scout.<h2>1 ANDREJ SEKERA, D, 21, Rochester (AHL)</h2>6-0, 204, 29-1-11-12-16OVERALL 34Sekera started this season in Buffalo and that&rsquo;s where he&rsquo;ll be all next year. The Slovakian defenseman is sure to be part of the Sabres&rsquo; top six after showing potential during two call-ups.The quick skater has a solid frame, power play quarter-back potential and learns quickly. He made a few poor decisions with the puck during his first extended stint, but was more careful the second time summoned.&ldquo;He was playing well before he went down,&rdquo; said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really gaining confidence.&rdquo;Acquired 2004 draft, 71st overall.<h2>2 JHONAS ENROTH, G, 19, Sodertalje (Swe.)</h2>5-10, 174, 21 GP, 2.12, .930The little goalie who could is proving he can. Enroth backstopped Sweden to a silver medal in the world juniors and impressed the Sabres doing it. He has already been called a technically perfect butterfly goalie. His only drawback is his slight stature.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very upbeat guy,&rdquo; said Sabres GM Darcy Regier. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s extremely hard working. The size may be the thing that people would point to. On the other hand, he&rsquo;s played at the elite level. He&rsquo;s played in the men&rsquo;s leagues and big tournaments and he&rsquo;s been very good.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 46th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;NATHAN GERBE, C, 20, Boston College (HE)</h2>5-5, 160, 24-19-18-37-27The player with the most to overcome is the most eager to do it. Despite his tiny frame, Gerbe uses stellar skills to chip in big. Regier smiled broadly while thinking of his on-ice determination and off-ice attitude.&ldquo;Probably the most exciting player in the NCAA,&rdquo; Christiano said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got NHL quickness; at 5-foot-5, he&rsquo;d better. He&rsquo;s been an overachiever with every team he&rsquo;s been with.&rdquo;Gerbe knows how to create space when matched with defenders and his quick hands have helped him rack up excellent stats.Acquired 2005 draft, 142nd overall.<h2>4&nbsp;CHRIS BUTLER, D, 21, Denver (WCHA)</h2>6-1, 195, 26-1-12-13-20Butler has become the multi-faceted blueliner Buffalo desires. He plays the power play, kills penalties and is first over the boards with the game on the line.&ldquo;Anytime there&rsquo;s a critical situation, he&rsquo;s out there,&rdquo; Christiano said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s their man. Everything in Denver goes through him. There&rsquo;s not one area you&rsquo;d say he&rsquo;s deficient. He&rsquo;s an all-around guy.&rdquo;The college junior is Denver&rsquo;s career leader in points, with most coming on the power play. He&rsquo;s also a team leader in plus-minus and is physical whenever chances arise.Acquired 2005 draft, 96th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;TIM KENNEDY, LW, 21, Michigan St. (CCHA)</h2>5-9, 170, 29-13-16-29-38When Western New York rink rats aren&rsquo;t talking about Patrick Kane, they&rsquo;re talking about Kennedy.He continues to be one of college hockey&rsquo;s more dynamic players. There are noticeable comparisons to Kane, a fellow Buffalonian. They are similar in size and have a flair for drawing attention, but Kennedy doesn&rsquo;t nearly possess Kane&rsquo;s wizardry.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a gritty guy with good hands who loves to play,&rdquo; Christiano said.Kennedy helped Michigan State win the 2007 NCAA title and his point-per-game output has them thinking repeat.Acquired Trade with Washington, July 30, 2005.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 MIKE WEBERD, 20, 6-2, 199Rochester (AHL) 46-1-12-13-122Tough defenseman who&rsquo;s managed to stay near even on a poor Rochester team.Acquired 2006 draft, 57th overall.7 MARC-ANDRE GRAGNANID, 20, 6-1, 180Rochester (AHL) 51-5-23-28-26Boffo offensive stats for rookie pro, but dreadful minus-20 a concern.Acquired 2005 draft, 87th overall.8 PHILIP GOGULLARW, 20, 6-2, 176Cologne (Ger.) 43-9-26-35-18Lanky playmaking winger needs a stronger frame and a better test in the AHL.Acquired 2005 draft, 48th overall.9 MAREK ZAGRAPANC, 21, 6-1, 195Rochester (AHL) 47-15-13-28-38He continues to bulk up, but his all-around game needs to show more muscle.Acquired 2005 draft, 13th overall.10 DENNIS PERSSOND, 19, 6-1, 181Djurgarden (Swe.) 21-0-1-1-6Development has been slow in top Swedish league; offensive skills masked.Acquired 2006 draft, 24th overall. &#9632;

f0027-02

SABRES AREN’T GETTING ANY BIGGER

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SPORTAK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02932/9084576-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="857" height="1010"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mikael Backlund (IHA)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011323/9084583-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="196" height="188"></div>The quantity of legitimate prospects in the Calgary Flames system has certainly grown over the years. The quality remains to be seen.Only a few look capable of becoming high-impact NHLers. Part of the reason is because Calgary hasn&rsquo;t had a high pick in a while. Another factor has been strategy, taking what it considers safer, two-way players.The Flames haven&rsquo;t drafted and developed a true offensive forward since Cory Stillman in 1992. Top-end talent is not easy to find drafting in the mid-20s, but they have to start adding legitimate top-six forwards soon.<h2>1 MIKAEL BACKLUND, C, 18, Vasteras (Swe.-1)</h2>6-0, 194, 30-4-3-7-12OVERALL 23An outstanding performance for the silver medal-winning Swedish entry at the WJC did wonders for Calgary&rsquo;s top offensive prospect. A strong skater with above average playmaking skills, Backlund has been relegated to a minor role in Sweden&rsquo;s second-highest league, meaning he hasn&rsquo;t played that much, or that well.Strength is an issue while Backlund is maturing, but his performance at the world juniors has the Flames excited; GM Darryl Sutter said he was one of the top two centers in the tournament.Acquired 2007 draft, 24th overall.<h2>2 LELAND IRVING, G, 19, Everett (WHL)</h2>6-0, 176, 21-20-2, 2.62, .908OVERALL 42Miikka Kiprusoff may have signed a long-term extension, but Irving is still seen as Calgary&rsquo;s goalie of the future. Strong technically and mentally, Irving has the potential to be a No. 1 goalie with a couple years of seasoning after finishing his junior career.There was some disappointment for him this season. He was passed over for a spot on Canada&rsquo;s national junior team and his numbers have dropped off with the Silvertips. A strong finish and playoff run will do wonders for his confidence.Acquired 2006 draft, 26th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;ANDREI TARATUKHIN, C, 24, Ufa (Rus.)</h2>6-0, 211, 44-8-14-22-44Expected to contend for an NHL roster spot after a solid year in the AHL, Taratukhin surprised and disappointed the Flames by deciding to return home to Russia, despite having a contract to play in North America.A smart player with a strong all-around game, he has the potential to be a second-line center. He struggled in the early going this season &ndash; fitness was a question mark. But the Flames haven&rsquo;t written off a return to North America, especially since three of Calgary&rsquo;s top four centers are due to become unrestricted free agents.Acquired 2001 draft, 41st overall.<h2>4&nbsp;BRANDON PRUST, LW, 23, Quad City (AHL)</h2>5-11, 195, 49-8-16-24-123Late-summer hip surgery prevented the hard-working, aggressive, energy forward from taking part in Calgary&rsquo;s camp and having a shot at making the Flames to start the season. He did recover in time to start the season for Quad City.Another year in the minors certainly won&rsquo;t hurt the rugged winger. He needs to improve his skill set and learn to play with more discipline. If he can do those things, he&rsquo;ll have a good shot at starting next year with the big team. In his third AHL season, he&rsquo;s on pace to set career highs for points.Acquired 2004 draft, 70th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;DAN RYDER, C, 21, Quad City (AHL)</h2>5-11, 191, 6-1-4-5-2His future would be a lot easier to analyze if his intentions were clearer. A smart and skilled pointproducer, Ryder scored five points in six games before leaving Quad City. The organization said he&rsquo;s deciding whether he wants to play pro hockey.Ryder, who went home to Newfoundland, also skipped a summer development camp &ndash; a sign he wasn&rsquo;t fully into playing.After a successful junior career, he was pegged to be a couple of years away from the NHL, while he improved his defensive game and added size and strength.Acquired 2005 draft, 74th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 TIM RAMHOLTD, 23, 6-1, 190Quad City (AHL) 46-2-11-13-47Still learning defensive play, but developing some offensive skills in the minors.Acquired 2003 draft, 39th overall.7 MATT PELECHD, 20, 6-4, 224Quad City (AHL) 47-2-5-7-83Adjusting well as a rookie pro; still improving his skating and positioning.Acquired 2005 draft, 26th overall.8 KRIS CHUCKORW, 21, 6-2, 211Quad City (AHL) 49-6-7-13-25Second-year pro has stalled; skating, defensive-zone play need attention.Acquired 2004 draft, 24th overall.9 JUUSO PUUSTINENRW, 19, 6-2, 188Kamloops (WHL) 43-19-21-40-14Struggling with Kamloops, but was one of Finland&rsquo;s best players at WJC.Acquired 2006 draft, 149th overall.10 DEVIN DIDIOMETELW, 19, 5-11, 200Sarnia (OHL) 40-19-20-39-155Now a point-per-game player while maintaining strong, gritty two-way play.Acquired 2006 draft, 187th overall. &#9632;

f0028-02

SOME SMOKE, VERY LITTLE FIRE

<div class="byline">BY LUKE DECOCK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02806/9084614-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="573" height="673"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brandon Sutter (CHRISTOPHER J RELKE)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-011172/9084621-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="131" height="126"></div>Carolina&rsquo;s farm system has been depleted by trades and a handful of first round busts &ndash; Nikos Tselios, Jeff Heerema, Igor Knyazev, et al.But there&rsquo;s some newfound reason for optimism with a few young defensemen playing at the AHL level, a handful of promising junior and college prospects and some late-round sleepers who have a chance to pan out.When Ron Francis joined the front office as director of player development last fall, the Hurricanes had eight junior and college prospects and half an AHL team in Albany. Now, they have 12 prospects and a full farm team.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 BRANDON SUTTER, C, 18, Red Deer (WHL)</h2>6-2, 170, 44-19-21-40-30OVERALL 22His work shutting down the top U.S. line at the world juniors is what the Canes hope to get from Sutter at the NHL level as a long-term replacement for Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour.The question surrounding Sutter is whether he&rsquo;ll score enough to be a second-line center or if he&rsquo;ll be a defensive specialist on the third line. He&rsquo;s seeing a lot of ice time with a sub-.500 Red Deer team, which the Canes think will help his development. They expect contributions in the grand Sutter tradition for many years.Acquired 2007 draft, 11th overall.<h2>2 DRAYSON BOWMAN, LW, 18, Spokane (WHL)</h2>6-1, 185, 47-33-30-63-51Getting passed over for the U.S. junior team is the only blemish on Bowman&rsquo;s resume. He has already surpassed his career-highs in goals, assists and points, ranking among the WHL leaders in goals and points.With an NHL-caliber release, Bowman was one of Carolina&rsquo;s most impressive prospects in camp. But he has exceeded all expectations this fall.&ldquo;When he came into camp, he opened a lot of eyes,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;You could see talent, but it was the way he handled himself and the way he played.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 72nd overall.<h2>3&nbsp;JAMIE MCBAIN, D, 19, Wisconsin (WCHA)</h2>6-2, 197, 24-3-11-14-12If the Canes were willing to move McBain, there&rsquo;d be a long line of teams trying to deal for the Wisconsin sophomore. But the Canes are waiting for the Shattuck-St. Mary&rsquo;s product to develop with the Badgers, where he&rsquo;s likely to spend at least another season.&ldquo;He handles the puck well,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;That bodes well for him getting that time on the power play. On the point, you can see him create.&rdquo;A key player for Wisconsin as a freshman, he was also a lynchpin on the blueline for the U.S. junior team.Acquired 2006 draft, 63rd overall.<h2>4&nbsp;JUSTIN PETERS, G, 21, Florida (ECHL)</h2>6-1, 213, 16-10-2, 2.68, .919After struggling in the AHL last year, his first pro season, Peters has established himself in the ECHL this season &ndash; earning an invitation to the All-Star Game as well as Carolina&rsquo;s confidence that he can jump up a level if something changes with their goaltending situation.&ldquo;He did a real good job getting his game back together over the summer,&rdquo; Francis said.Very athletic, Peters needs to refine his technique and stretch his mental approach. He&rsquo;s the prize protege of Carolina&rsquo;s first-year goaltending coach, Tom Barrasso.Acquired 2004 draft, 38th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;CHRIS TERRY, LW, 18, Plymouth (OHL)</h2>5-10, 195, 51-35-46-81-76Terry&rsquo;s selection in the fifth round of the draft last summer was notable mostly because he showed up in Columbus knowing he wouldn&rsquo;t go high. He just wanted to be there.Maybe he knew something the scouts didn&rsquo;t, because he&rsquo;s playing like a first-rounder in the OHL, leading the Whalers in most stats categories.&ldquo;He can score, he can pass &ndash; he&rsquo;s doing a lot on that team,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;A lot of people didn&rsquo;t think Plymouth could contend because they didn&rsquo;t think they were deep enough and he really has taken a lot of that load on himself.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 132nd overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 HARRISON REEDC, 20, 6-1, 175Guelph (OHL) 23-3-12-15-12An 81-point scorer a year ago, Reed has struggled offensively and was dealt.Acquired 2006 draft, 93rd overall.7 JUSTIN MCCRAEC, 19, 6-0, 182Spokane (WHL) 13-3-6-9-4Rescued from struggling Saskatoon, where he was captain and leading scorer.Acquired 2007 draft, 102nd overall.8 STEFAN CHAPUTC, 19, 5-11, 185Lewiston (QMJHL) 43-23-27-50-46An energy player in the playoff run last year, Chaput is scoring more now.Acquired 2006 draft, 153rd overall.9 DANIEL MANZATOG, 24, 6-0, 178Las Vegas (ECHL) 13-4-3, 2.32, .920Made ECHL All-Star Game after 3 1/2 years playing in his native Switzerland.Acquired 2002 draft, 160th overall.10 NICK DODGERW, 21, 5-10, 175Clarkson (ECAC) 26-7-9-16-18Hard-working senior has an all-around game that translates to a role player.Acquired 2006 draft, 183rd overall. &#9632;

f0029-02

RONNY FRANCHISE IN REBUILDING MODE

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02903/9084652-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="861" height="1006"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack Skille (ROSS DETTMAN)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011330/9084659-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="195" height="188"></div>The future is now for the Blackhawks in more ways than one.Not only have 19-year-old rookies Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews been two of their best players from the start of the season, injuries have allowed the Hawks to see most of their top prospects play at least a handful of games at the NHL level. By the all-star break, Chicago had used 13 rookies for at least one game.&ldquo;You have to look at the positives,&rdquo; said GM Dale Tallon. &ldquo;These guys have got to come in, play some games and understand what they need to do to play at this level.&rdquo;<h2>1 JACK SKILLE, RW, 20, Rockford (AHL)</h2>6-1, 198, 35-8-10-18-29OVERALL 18One of those rookies the Hawks brought up in an emergency, Skille was making it a difficult decision to send him back. A 2005 first round pick with size, speed and skill, the Hawks would have preferred Skille to spend a full season in the minors fine-tuning his wall work and ability to protect the puck.&ldquo;Once he stops chasing the puck and learns to be more patient, he&rsquo;s going to be fine,&rdquo; Tallon said.&ldquo;This kid is going to be a good Hawk for a long time,&rdquo; said Chicago coach Denis Savard.Acquired 2005 draft, 7th overall.<h2>2 COREY CRAWFORD, G, 23, Rockford (AHL)</h2>6-2, 190, 24-11-5, 2.61, .915The Hawks think Crawford will be ready to be Nikolai Khabibulin&rsquo;s backup next season and play 25-30 games.&ldquo;His preparation and approach are solid,&rdquo; Tallon said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s right on schedule.&rdquo;That schedule would include Crawford possibly being the No. 1 guy in 2009-10.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s big, strong and has tremendous desire,&rdquo; Tallon said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t let a lot of things bother him.&rdquo;The one thing the Hawks have yet to see from Craw-ford is a deep playoff run in the AHL.Acquired 2003 draft, 52nd overall.<h2>3&nbsp;NIKLAS HJALMARSSON, D, 20, Rockford (AHL)</h2>6-3, 196, 28-2-2-4-23He is the Hawks&rsquo; top prospect on defense and it is expected he will be ready to step in as soon as next season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s starting to learn the North American game, which is what we wanted to see from him this year,&rdquo; Tallon said. &ldquo;We think he&rsquo;s going to be a good one.&rdquo;Hjalmarsson has size, can move the puck and is the type of aggressive defenseman the Hawks want to add to their blueline.His progress was slowed early by a wrist injury that forced him to miss the first six weeks, but he has been a smooth performer ever since.Acquired 2005 draft, 108th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;EVAN BROPHEY, C, 21, Rockford (AHL)</h2>6-1, 203, 48-2-13-15-42Brophey&rsquo;s upside doesn&rsquo;t always show up on the scoresheet.The Hawks see him as one of their top three centers a few seasons down the road, possibly lining up behind Toews and Dave Bolland.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got great feet and is a great skater,&rdquo; Tallon said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got size, he&rsquo;s smart and he plays hard.&rdquo;Even though he got off to a great pro start in Rockford (seven points in his first six games), Brophey hasn&rsquo;t scored as much as the Hawks had hoped, but they think that part of his game will come in time as a pro.Acquired 2005 draft, 67th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;AKIM ALIU, C, 18, London (OHL)</h2>6-2, 200, 47-21-28-49-106The Hawks considered Aliu one of the steals of last June&rsquo;s draft, viewing him as a difference maker.While some teams passed on Aliu because of a few behavioral incidents, the Hawks took the chance and are happy they did.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s starting to get it,&rdquo; Tallon said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big kid who can play all three positions. We wanted him to become more consistent this year, play shift-in and shift-out and not have one good game and one bad.&rdquo;Said assistant GM Rick Dudley: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s starting to understand the game and has a more mature approach to the finer points.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 56th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 MIKE BLUNDENRW, 21, 6-3, 207Rockford (AHL) 48-12-19-31-52A budding power forward, he&rsquo;s rebounding from last year&rsquo;s shoulder injury.Acquired 2005 draft, 43rd overall.7 KRIS VERSTEEGLW, 21, 5-10, 179Rockford (AHL) 32-10-21-31-63Plays with energy and grit and has a nice scoring touch to go with speed.Acquired From Boston, Feb. 3, 2007.8 NATHAN DAVISC, 21, 6-1, 194Miami-Ohio (CCHA) 8-3-1-4-6Another versatile forward who&rsquo;s battling injuries; he&rsquo;s quick and can score.Acquired 2005 draft, 117th overall.9 TROY BROUWERRW, 22, 6-3, 220Rockford (AHL) 49-22-13-35-95He&rsquo;s a pure scorer who&rsquo;s only being held back by his average skating.Acquired 2004 draft, 214th overall.10 PETRI KONTIOLAC, 23, 6-0, 198Rockford (AHL) 40-13-27-40-24A smart and crafty playmaker quickly adapting to North American game.Acquired 2004 draft, 196th overall. &#9632;

f0030-02

REGENERATING RESPECTABILITY

<div class="byline">BY ADRIAN DATER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02817/9084690-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="858" height="1004"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Shattenkirk (SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011223/9084697-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="193" height="190"></div>You&rsquo;re hearing it more and more in sports: teams don&rsquo;t just want to establish a winning tradition, they want to establish a culture. They want results, but they also want a brand name.The Avalanche has a fine winning tradition since 1995, but it wasn&rsquo;t until it got its own farm team at Lake Erie (AHL), that it felt it could imprint the kind of culture it wants in young prospects. Smart, tough, dedicated, but also fast and skilled &ndash; those are the kinds of players director of player development Craig Billington wants.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting there,&rdquo; Billington said.<h2>1 KEVIN SHATTENKIRK, D, 19, Boston University (HE)</h2>5-11, 193, 26-3-13-16-16OVERALL 39The Avs feel good not only about having the puck-moving American blueliner, but the fact he&rsquo;ll spend his college career playing under ace coach Jack Parker.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s in a great program and he&rsquo;s done the things he needs to do so far, which is just play and keep developing,&rdquo; Billington said.Shattenkirk&rsquo;s production started to pick up as the Terriers&rsquo; season moved along. He moves the puck quickly and with precision, which most believe will help make up for his smaller size.Acquired 2007 draft, 14th overall.<h2>2 CHRIS STEWART, RW, 20, Lake Erie (AHL)</h2>6-2, 228, 43-15-12-27-45A slow start to his first pro season didn&rsquo;t deter the rugged Stewart, who has probably been the Monsters&rsquo; best offensive player since.&ldquo;He has a lot of attributes that make you really notice him and like his potential,&rdquo; Billington said.Stewart&rsquo;s fundamentals are good for a big man, but like any young forward, his defensive game still needs improvement. Like his older brother Anthony, in the Florida Panthers system, Chris has an upside that translates into a second or third-line power forward.Acquired 2006 draft, 18th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;DAVID JONES, RW, 23, Lake Erie (AHL)</h2>6-2, 220, 41-14-15-29-12After a good three-year career at Dartmouth, Jones has stepped up to be Lake Erie&rsquo;s leading scorer this season and he even got a cup of coffee with the Avalanche when injuries hit.Jones played a little in awe in his time with the Avs, but management likes his attitude and size. Player development coordinator Steve Konowalchuk, especially likes the Guelph native.Considering his size, Jones needs to be more aggressive. He also needs to keep working on his skating and overall vision with the puck.Acquired 2003 draft, 288th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;COLBY COHEN, D, 18, Boston University (HE)</h2>6-3, 210, 25-1-9-10-22The Avs are very high on the native of Villanova, Pa. Like Shattenkirk, Cohen is a freshman at BU and the Avs think he&rsquo;ll be a top-four defenseman in their future.Playing under Parker will continue to give him a great hockey education. Cohen hits hard and can contribute at the offensive end, with a hard slapshot and good passing instincts. But his defensive positioning needs work.He left the U.S. national team development program in the fall of 2006 and dazzled in the USHL with 60 points in 53 games.Acquired 2007 draft, 45th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;RYAN STOA, C, 20, Minnesota (WCHA)</h2>6-3, 200, 2-1-1-2-2A knee injury has kept the rangy Stoa sidelined most of the season for the Golden Gophers. But he started skating again in January and hoped to salvage the rest of the year with a late return.Stoa likely won&rsquo;t turn into a high point-producer at the NHL level, but has excellent defensive instincts and the Avs still think he&rsquo;s a future player.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a smart kid and it&rsquo;s tough to get hurt like he did, but he should be able to return 100 per cent,&rdquo; Billington said.Stoa protects the puck with his size and works hard in the corners.Acquired 2005 draft, 34th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 MICHAEL CARMANC, 19, 6-0, 180Minnesota (WCHA) 8-2-1-3-12Sat out first half of Gophers season because of academic ineligibility.Acquired 2006 draft, 81st overall.7 NIGEL WILLIAMSD, 19, 6-4, 226Belleville (OHL) 21-5-5-10-28Big blueliner needs to work on foot speed, but Avs like his toughness.Acquired 2006 draft, 51st overall.8 DENIS PARSHINRW, 21, 5-10, 165Central Army (Rus.) 47-11-14-25-40Has lightning-fast hands. There&rsquo;s still no picture of him in the media guide.Acquired 2004 draft, 72nd overall.9 TREVOR CANNG, 18, 5-11, 199Peterborough (OHL) 16-21-2, 3.72, .903Has had a decent year for the Petes; Billington likes his quickness.Acquired 2007 draft, 49th overall.10 T.J. GALIARDILW, 19, 6-2, 180Calgary (WHL) 56-14-40-54-49Sophomore left Dartmouth to move to more challenging ranks of WHL.Acquired 2007 draft, 55th overall. &#9632;

f0031-02

TERRIER TERRORS ON DENVER QUEST

<div class="byline">BY AARON PORTZLINE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02870/9084728-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="854" height="1002"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jakub Voracek (GHYSLAIN BERGERON)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011307/9084735-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="196" height="189"></div>As the NHL&rsquo;s only team to never make the playoffs, the Blue Jackets farm system is stocked for years to come. Only recently though, has Columbus taken full advantage of its struggles.Its last two drafts have been its best. Derick Brassard is already the most skilled pivot in the organization. He was recalled this season and will surely be a fixture for years to come.Goaltender Steve Mason has &ldquo;franchise goaltender&rdquo; written all over him and right winger Jakub Voracek has tremendous playmaking skills.<h2>1 JAKUB VORACEK, RW, 18, Halifax (QMJHL)</h2>6-1, 187, 36-23-49-72-28OVERALL 4A sublime playmaker, Voracek would have made the Blue Jackets out of camp if his body was more NHL-ready. That&rsquo;s the focus for him now, bulking up and getting in shape beyond what he is in junior.Voracek has exceptional vision and thinks the game as well as anybody. Scouts say his skill set is already NHL caliber, beyond anybody currently on Columbus&rsquo; roster except Rick Nash and Nikolai Zherdev. The fact Voracek came to North America to get used to a more physical brand of hockey sent the right message, too.Acquired 2007 draft, 7th overall.<h2>2 DERICK BRASSARD, C, 20, Syracuse (AHL)</h2>6-0, 180, 21-5-20-25-20OVERALL 6The hope was Brassard could spend an entire season in the AHL learning to play, score and create against mature, physical players. But the Blue Jackets made it to mid-January before deciding they couldn&rsquo;t wait for his playmaking ability any longer.He&rsquo;s more competitive than coach Ken Hitchcock ever imagined, which keeps him in good graces. But it&rsquo;s his ability to read plays, find gaps and make passes at high speed that stand out. Once his frame fills out, he&rsquo;s expected to be the No. 1 center the Jackets have lacked.Acquired 2006 draft, 6th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;STEVE MASON, G, 19, Kitchener (OHL)</h2>6-3, 186, 3-2-0, 2.80, .896OVERALL 13Between his stellar play in the Super Series and backstopping Canada to world junior gold, Mason&rsquo;s stock continues to soar.He has a prototypical goalie&rsquo;s frame, with hands the size of bear paws. Using that frame, he&rsquo;s positionally sound, always square to the shooter and tight to the post.What sets him apart is his athletic ability &ndash; his bendy-ness. Mason never gives up on a puck and his &lsquo;aw-shucks&rsquo; attitude fits well in the dressing room.His mid-season trade from London assures he&rsquo;ll play in the Memorial Cup.Acquired 2006 draft, 69th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;GILBERT BRULE, RW, 21, Syracuse (AHL)</h2>5-10, 180, 12-4-4-8-16OVERALL 14Brule was sent to the minors on New Year&rsquo;s Day to rediscover the two-way game that made him a dominating junior.So far it hasn&rsquo;t transferred to the NHL. His hits don&rsquo;t resonate like they did in the WHL. He isn&rsquo;t comfortable with the puck on his stick, so he can&rsquo;t find space to unleash a very good array of shots.Because of this, he drew mostly fourth-line time in the NHL before being demoted. The Blue Jackets recalled him after a month in the AHL and they remain convinced a bright future lies ahead.Acquired 2005 draft, 6th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;JOAKIM LINDSTROM, LW, 24, Syracuse (AHL)</h2>6-0, 187, 38-20-27-47-54If Lindstrom were a stronger, swifter skater, he would be an NHL regular by now. Instead, he has trouble finding open ice or keeping up with a play at the elite level.When the puck is contained, Lindstrom&rsquo;s lethal, both because of his hands and ability to anticipate passing lanes. In a couple of brief glimpses in the NHL this season, Lindstrom looked much more comfortable than he did the previous two seasons.There are whispers he&rsquo;ll get a long look if Columbus falls out of the playoff race in March or April.Acquired 2002 draft, 41st overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE&nbsp;NEXT FIVE</h2>6 ALEXANDRE PICARD LW, 22, 6-2, 190 Syracuse (AHL) 30-4-10-14-44Long haul back from knee surgery has some already labeling him a bust.Acquired 2004 draft, 8th overall.7 MARC METHOT D, 22, 6-3, 224Syracuse (AHL) 40-2-1-3-52Not a gifted skater or puck mover, but as rugged and sturdy as an oak tree.Acquired 2003 draft, 168th overall.8 TOM SESTITO LW, 20, 6-4, 213Syracuse (AHL) 42-7-9-16-143His toughness is one of the reasons the Jackets traded Jody Shelley in January.Acquired 2006 draft, 85th overall.9 ADAM PINEAULT RW, 21, 6-1, 201 Syracuse (AHL) 51-13-19-32-46Straight-ahead player who has shown surprising point production as a pro.Acquired 2004 draft, 46th overall.10 WILL WEBER D, 19, 6-4, 205Chicago (USHL) 38-6-8-14-117Raw and gangly, he projects as a physical, offensive defender in the future.Acquired 2007 draft, 53rd overall. &#9632;

f0032-02

EARLY DRAFT PICKS NETTING RESULTS

<div class="byline">BY MIKE HEIKA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02794/9084766-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="856" height="1006"><figcaption class="caption-body">James Neal (TREY EASON)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-011166/9084773-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="190" height="188"></div>The advancement of Les Jackson to co-GM this season has accelerated the development of several Stars prospects &ndash; Dallas has seen its average age fall below 29 (it&rsquo;s 28.7) for the first time in a decade.Defensemen under-24 Matt Niskanen, Nicklas Grossman and Mark Fistric are expected to be a big part of the team for several years.Niskanen played in the Young Stars game and is showing a calm maturity while facing some of the best players in the league. He has spent most of the season on the top pair with Sergei Zubov.<h2>1 JAMES NEAL, LW, 20, Iowa (AHL)</h2>6-2, 185, 32-5-7-12-24OVERALL 56There is great hope &ndash; and great concern &ndash; for Neal. A bruising winger with a leadership style about him, the Stars are hoping Neal can step into a Brenden Morrow-like role in the future.Neal has struggled in his first year in the AHL. He had started to find his touch, but then injured his knee in early January. After winning world junior gold in 2007 and an appearance in the Memorial Cup with Plymouth, Stars insiders say he needs the rest. He&rsquo;ll be back and needed if Iowa is to make any sort of a playoff push.Acquired 2005 draft, 33rd overall.<h2>2 IVAN VISHNEVSKIY, D, 19, Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL)</h2>5-11, 176, 31-14-20-34-28OVERALL 74Vishnevskiy has missed a good chunk of the season with a knee injury, but he&rsquo;s back on the ice and looks smooth. The slick-skating defenseman is a power play force and a key cog on an offensive machine.The Stars want to make sure he continues to improve defensively, which will result in a slow NHL ascension.&ldquo;People want to compare him to Sergei Zubov, but he really plays a very different game,&rdquo; Jackson said. &ldquo;He likes to speed things up and Zubov likes to slow things down. But we have a lot of faith in him.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 27th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;JAMIE BENN, LW, 18, Kelowna (WHL)</h2>6-2, 185, 48-29-31-60-56Benn is the most natural scorer the Stars possess in the prospect department. He moved up from the BCHL this season and has been dominating for a solid Kelowna team.Benn is plus-31 and has found great chemistry alongside California-born center Colin Long. The two 18-year-olds are an exciting combo to watch.Benn sustained an ankle injury in late January and will be out for a while, but it&rsquo;s not a career-threatening injury. Like Neal, it will be a welcome break for the winger before he gets ready for his first playoff run.Acquired 2007 draft, 129th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;PERTTU LINDGREN, C, 20, Iowa (AHL)</h2>6-0, 185, 43-4-14-18-0A talented play-making center, Lindgren is adapting to play in North America this season.He is coming off two seasons of 20 assists in Finland, but playing behind older players Toby Petersen and Marty Sertich in the minors has left him with little power play time.He will have to work for his opportunities and may have to wait a year or two.&ldquo;The change is so drastic, both on the ice and culturally for these young European players,&rdquo; said Stars player development coach Andy Moog. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be fine once he gets some more time here.&rdquo;Acquired 2005 draft, 75th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;MARK FISTRIC, D, 21, Iowa (AHL)</h2>6-2, 232, 30-1-4-5-48Fistric has taken advantage of injuries to Sergei Zubov and Philippe Boucher to play 14 games for Dallas.&ldquo;Mark has shown himself very well in his first dozen NHL games,&rdquo; said Stars coach Dave Tippett. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s played smart and stayed within himself and that&rsquo;s been important.&rdquo;The physical defenseman has displayed good, calm and strong positioning and is well on his way to earning an NHL job. The question is whether or not he&rsquo;ll be able to stick once all the Stars players are healthy. If he doesn&rsquo;t this year, he will the next.Acquired 2004 draft, 28th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 TOBIAS STEPHEN G, 24, 6-2, 180 Iowa (AHL) 17-16-2, 2.60, .907The Swiss goalie has been just OK in his first year as an AHL No. 1.&nbsp;Acquired 2002 draft, 34th overall.7 SERGEI KOROSTIN RW, 18, 5-10, 176 Texas (NAHL) 5-4-3-7-2 Russian sniper moved to Texas in January and is scoring for Texas Tornado.&nbsp;Acquired 2007 draft, 64th overall.8 NICO SACCHETTIC, 18, 5-11, 189 Omaha (USHL) 35-6-7-13-27 Hasn&rsquo;t flourished offensively, but he&rsquo;s earmarked for NCAA Minnesota.Acquired 2007 draft, 50th overall.9 RICHARD BACHMAN G, 20, 5-11, 172Colorado College (WCHA) 14-3-1, 1.71, .937Has been a revelation in his freshman season, leading Colorado to top of WCHA.&nbsp;Acquired 2006 draft, 120th overall.10 VOJTECH POLAK RW, 22, 5-11, 180 Iowa (AHL) 35-6-10-16-18Battling bad luck and injuries and is slipping behind other forward prospects.Acquired 2003 draft, 36th overall. &#9632;

f0033-02

JACKSON’S FIVE SHOW PROMISE

<div class="byline">BY ROB TYCHKOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02866/9084842-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="852" height="1008"><figcaption class="caption-body">Riley Nash (CORNELL ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011237/9084849-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="194" height="188"></div>When it comes to selecting and developing young talent, the Oilers are either feast or famine.When After a few years of bread and water, the plate is full again. Sam Gagner (sixth overall in 2007) stepped right in at 18 and made the Young Stars Game, Andrew Cogliano (25th overall in 2005) has been every bit as good as Gagner and rookie defenseman Tom Gilbert, acquired in 2005, is playing 22 minutes a night.Down in Springfield of the AHL, Rob Schremp is one of the league&rsquo;s leading scorers and goalie Jeff Deslauriers is an MVP candidate.<h2>1 RILEY NASH, C, 19, Cornell (ECAC)</h2>6-1, 175, 21-8-10-18-16OVERALL 58Nash is a complete two-way player with offensive upside and he&rsquo;s having a great freshman year.That he&rsquo;s leading his team in scoring as a rookie is good; that he&rsquo;s playing at Ivy league Cornell is bad. The program isn&rsquo;t as strong as some options that were available and Cornell&rsquo;s soft schedule won&rsquo;t provide the experience and challenge a Michigan or Wisconsin would.Nevertheless, he&rsquo;s a driven, intelligent player at both ends and getting plenty of ice time. Maybe the added responsibility will compensate for the weaker program.Acquired 2007 draft, 21st overall.<h2>2 TAYLOR CHORNEY, D, 20, North Dakota (WCHA)</h2>5-11, 182, 27-2-17-19-16OVERALL 63Chorney is small for a defenseman, so if he&rsquo;s going to make the NHL, it will have to be on his ability to skate and move the puck. And he does both very well.The Oilers are still a few years away from seeing if that translates to the NHL, but two world junior appearances (for Team USA in 2006 and captain in 2007), show he&rsquo;s trending up.He definitely needs to get bigger and stronger, which will come with time, but he&rsquo;s a smart leader who has been a captain at every level.Acquired 2005 draft, 36th overall<h2>3&nbsp;ROB SCHREMP, C, 21, Springfield (AHL)</h2>5-11, 200, 47-11-32-43-38OVERALL 65Schremp is scoring in the AHL, though not at the pace he did during his 145-point season in the OHL. His ability to generate offense and run a power play has translated into success. His work ethic and attention to defense has improved. All that&rsquo;s left is to make the jump.That&rsquo;s the hard part, as Craig MacTavish doesn&rsquo;t think Schremp is fast or strong enough to make an impact in Edmonton. He won&rsquo;t get much of a sniff this year &ndash; unless the Oilers are out of the playoff race early &ndash; but deserves an honest shot next fall.Acquired 2004 draft, 25th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;JEFF PETRY, D, 19, Michigan State (CCHA)</h2>6-2, 180, 29-1-12-13-20A freshman at Michigan State, Petry is well down the Spartans pecking order, but he&rsquo;s in a good hockey program that will benefit his evolution as a player.The raw tools are there, they just need to be shaped and honed. He&rsquo;s a big, lanky kid with a good point shot and a willingness to play with an edge.He skates well and can make a good first pass. He has the size and wingspan to be a good shutdown guy, yet he has to offensive ability to make things happen at the other end. He&rsquo;s still a few years away, though.Acquired 2006 draft, 45th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;JEFF DESLAURIERS, G, 23, Springfield (AHL)</h2>6-4, 192, 18-14-5, 2.68, .917His progress had been hampered significantly by Edmonton&rsquo;s lack of a minor league team the past two years, but the Oilers finally have control of his development and he&rsquo;s much better for it.He will surely surpass last season&rsquo;s total of 40 games, played while loaned to Pittsburgh&rsquo;s AHL team in Wilkes-Barre. The steady work is sharpening his mechanics and being the No. 1 goalie is paying off psychologically.He&rsquo;s a big guy who covers a lot of net, but needs to work on rebound control and keeping himself on an even keel.Acquired 2002 draft, 31st overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 J-FRANCOIS JACQUES LW, 22, 6-4, 220Springfield (AHL) 38-11-14-25-63&nbsp;Jekyll and Hyde: Dominant in AHL, invisible in NHL. Can&rsquo;t figure out why.Acquired 2003 draft, 68th overall.7 LIAM REDDOX LW, 22, 5-11, 180Springfield (AHL) 38-11-14-25-22&nbsp;Skilled and speedy, he&rsquo;s undersized, but doesn&rsquo;t mind corner work.Acquired 2004 draft, 112th overall.8 MARC-ANTOINE POULIOT C, 22, 6-1, 195Springfield (AHL) 37-13-16-29-39&nbsp;Hasn&rsquo;t shown a whole lot when called up; needs confidence and consistency.Acquired 2003 draft, 22nd overall.9 THEO PECKHAM D, 20, 6-1, 223Springfield (AHL) 29-3-2-5-85&nbsp;Big and strong enough to play in the NHL, but his game isn&rsquo;t ready yet.&nbsp;Acquired 2006 draft, 75th overall.10 DEVAN DUBNYK G, 21, 6-5, 194Springfield (AHL) 3-9-0, 3.30, .901Completely outmatched in the battle of the Oilers goalie of the future.&nbsp;Acquired 2004 draft, 14th overall. &#9632;

f0035-02

OIL-INJECTED YOUTH MAKE THE GRADE

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN BIGGANE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02800/9084880-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="853" height="1006"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shawn Matthias (JEFF BOYCE)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011212/9084887-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="196" height="190"></div>The Panthers have been insisting lately they&rsquo;re more patient with their prospects, feeling they erred in rushing teenagers Nathan Horton and Rostislav Olesz to the NHL before they were ready. Having said that, they went ahead and called up 19-year-old Shawn Matthias in January when they ran into injury problems.Still, the plan has been to let their draft picks finish their junior or college careers and then get some AHL experience and for the most part they&rsquo;ve stuck to that.There&rsquo;s a sense of optimism in the organization that there&rsquo;s more depth at the pro level than ever before.<h2>1 SHAWN MATTHIAS, C, 19, Belleville (OHL)</h2>6-4, 215, 37-21-40-61-33OVERALL 12By the third period of his NHL debut at New Jersey, Matthias was centering Olli Jokinen and Horton on the top line. That&rsquo;s an indication of the expectations coach-GM Jacques Martin has for the second-rounder of Detroit, who was acquired in the Todd Bertuzzi trade.Among the leaders in the OHL scoring race with Belleville prior to helping Canada win gold at the world juniors, where the coaching staff named him one of the team&rsquo;s top three players, Matthias is a complete player who can beat you with both power and finesse.Acquired Trade with Detroit, Feb. 27, 2007.<h2>2 MICHAEL FROLIK, C, 19, Rimouski (QMJHL)</h2>6-1, 185, 29-14-26-40-12OVERALL 29Florida&rsquo;s first-rounder in 2006 has been a star in his two seasons with Rimouski and had a solid world juniors with the host Czechs this year, scoring a hat trick in a win over Denmark. Luce said he &ldquo;projects as a high-scoring winger&rdquo; and expects him to continue to produce at the AHL level, where he figures to start next season.&ldquo;He dominates night in and night out (at Rimouski),&rdquo; Luce said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a versatile forward who can play both center and wing. We have no issues with him being able to produce on his projection.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 10th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;KEATON ELLERBY, D, 19, Moose Jaw (WHL)</h2>6-4, 186, 34-0-14-14-49OVERALL 70Questions were raised when Ellerby was traded from Kamloops to Moose Jaw in the midst of an organizational power-struggle, then sent home from Canada&rsquo;s national junior camp. But his maturity was evidenced by a plus-8 rating in his first month with his new team.An excellent skater with good size, Ellerby needs to add strength. &ldquo;His upside is still strong,&rdquo; said Florida head scout Scott Luce. &ldquo;He was in a situation in Kamloops where he was used as a bit of a pawn. The best thing was for him to get a fresh start.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 10th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;MICHAL REPIK, RW, 19, Vancouver (WHL)</h2>5-10, 180, 33-20-23-43-30The Panthers were delighted Repik lasted until the 10th pick of the second round in the 2007 draft after he led the Memorial Cup in scoring and netted the winning goal in the final for Vancouver. Already under contract, he is expected to turn pro next season despite missing two months in 2007-08 due to a concussion.&ldquo;He has to put on strength to play against men, but he&rsquo;s a real dedicated player and he&rsquo;ll put the time in to get there,&rdquo; Luce said. The Panthers were impressed with the leadership role he took in last year&rsquo;s rookie camp.Acquired 2007 draft, 40th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;NOAH WELCH, D, 25, Florida (NHL)</h2>6-4, 212, 4-0-0-0-7After appearing to have made the jump to the NHL &ndash; he played a handful of shifts alongside Jay Bouwmeester &ndash; Welch had his season ended after just four games when he suffered a dislocated shoulder that required surgery in a fight with Tom Kostopolous Oct. 16 in Montreal.Acquired from Pittsburgh, where he played 22 games last season, Welch immediately jumped to the top of the list of Panther defense prospects. He was a captain at Harvard and has the size, strength, speed and skills to be a top-four performer for years to come.Acquired Trade with Pittsburgh, Feb. 27, 2007.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 TYLER PLANTE G, 20, 6-2, 185 Rochester (AHL) 2-10-1, 2.96, .898&nbsp;Projected No. 1 stopper getting tough baptism with last-place team.&nbsp;Acquired 2005 draft, 32nd overall.7 DERRICK LAPOINT D, 19, 6-2, 175North Dakota (WCHA) 20-2-3-5-28&nbsp;Big, rangy blueliner getting excellent coaching in top-notch program.Acquired 2006 draft, 116th overall.8 KENNDAL MCARDLE LW, 21, 5-11, 195 Rochester (AHL) 35-5-5-10-31After great Memorial Cup run, injury-plagued 2007-08 has stalled his progress.Acquired 2005 draft, 20th overall.9 EVGENY DADONOV RW, 18, 5-10, 178Chelyabinsk (Rus.) 34-4-9-13-14&nbsp;Has made big statistical jump in Russian Elite League this season.Acquired 2007 draft, 71st overall.10 MICHAEL CARUSO D, 19, 6-2, 191Guelph (OHL) 44-9-18-27-80High-character performer selected to play in 2008 OHL All-Star Game.Acquired 2006 draft, 103rd overall. &#9632;

f0036-02

FUTURE BOUNTY RIPENING ON FARM

<div class="byline">BY MICHAEL RUSSO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02788/9084956-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="853" height="1006"><figcaption class="caption-body">Colton Gillies (COURTESY SASKATOON BLADES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011168/9084963-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="196" height="185"></div>There has been a transformation in Wild philosophy.There In the minors, where Houston was the worst team in the AHL&rsquo;s Western Conference in 2006-07, taskmaster Kevin Constantine was brought in and the plan is to build with youth rather than with vets.&ldquo;The successful teams developing players had young, fast, hard-working minor league teams,&rdquo; said assistant GM Tom Lynn. &ldquo;Now we want a team of Danny Irmens and Cal Clutterbucks, not Kirby Laws and Jean-Guy Trudels.&rdquo;The Wild is trying to develop rugged, competitive players after years of going for speed and skill.<h2>1 COLTON GILLIES, C, 18, Saskatoon (WHL)</h2>6-4, 194, 40-15-15-30-80OVERALL 40Confident after winning gold with Canada at the WJC, Gillies, a world-class skater and battler, has one goal next year: To play in the NHL, like 19-year-old James Sheppard this season. &ldquo;I know the Wild have a history of putting young prospects on the team,&rdquo; Gillies said. &ldquo;One of my goals going into next year is to be up there.&rdquo;Assistant GM Tom Thompson added: &ldquo;The chance is there. What works in his favor is he doesn&rsquo;t have to score to earn his keep. He&rsquo;s big, strong, can skate and we know he&rsquo;s not scared.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 16th overall.<h2>2 BENOIT POULIOT, LW, 21, Houston (AHL)</h2>6-3, 199, 30-7-9-16-43OVERALL 61His development has stalled. The skilled forward has only earned a three-game call-up for the second year in a row and has followed up a sluggish rookie season &ndash; and criticized for not being a &ldquo;pro&rdquo; by GM Doug Risebrough &ndash; by being Houston&rsquo;s 11th-leading scorer.But Lynn says, &ldquo;Different people come at different rates. (Former Wild defenseman) Willie Mitchell didn&rsquo;t make the NHL until 24. Pouliot is going to take steps each year. This year, he&rsquo;s trying to turn himself into an NHL call-up. Next year, he&rsquo;ll try to make the team. He&rsquo;s on pace.&rdquo;Acquired 2005 draft, 4th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;PETR KALUS, RW, 20, Houston (AHL)</h2>6-1, 201, 43-8-9-17-43Last season, Kalus was the AHL&rsquo;s youngest player. He had 30 points and 110 penalty minutes playing in Providence.But the fast, hard-nosed forward, who scored on his first three NHL shots last season, is still searching for a role in Houston.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got offensive talent, physical strengths and defensive strengths,&rdquo; Lynn said.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s pretty good at a number of things, but not great at one. So he&rsquo;s trying to find the way he&rsquo;ll make an impact. In Houston, sometimes he&rsquo;s in the top-six, sometimes his job is to check.&rdquo;Acquired Trade with Boston, July 1, 2007.<h2>4&nbsp;CAL CLUTTERBUCK, RW, 20, Houston (AHL)</h2>5-11, 213, 39-6-7-13-54The Wild loves the edge and mean streak in Clutterbuck&rsquo;s game enough that the team gave him a two-game look in October and he impressed with his aggressive, physical style.Clutterbuck would have earned another promotion too if hard-nosed Aaron Voros hadn&rsquo;t made an immediate impact in the NHL.Keeping his composure is an area Clutterbuck must improve in.&ldquo;Cal makes an impact in every game,&rdquo; Lynn said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s working on developing his skating and hockey sense so he can be a physical force at the NHL level without hurting the team.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 72nd overall.<h2>5&nbsp;RYAN JONES, RW, 23, Miami (CCHA)</h2>6-1, 207, 28-22-13-35-48The CCHA&rsquo;s third-leading scorer has climbed up the Wild&rsquo;s depth chart and is close to turning pro. Jones is another example of the Wild&rsquo;s intent to develop grittier, more competitive players.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the kind of guy who sees very few of the goals he scores because he&rsquo;s usually on his rear end or banging in a rebound or deflecting pucks,&rdquo; Thompson said. &ldquo;He plays hard. He&rsquo;s not a real finesse guy, just a salt of the earth type player. His goals, everything he does in fact, is because of effort, which is what we love about him.&rdquo;Acquired 2004 draft, 111th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 ERIK REITZ D, 25, 6-1, 210 Houston (AHL) 34-8-17-25-63Houston&rsquo;s captain and soon-to-be free agent is on the cusp of NHL duty.&nbsp;Acquired 2000 draft, 170th overall.7 CLAYTON STONER D, 22, 6-3, 206 Houston (AHL) 29-1-6-7-42Recurring back problems slowed his progress, but he&rsquo;s looking rejuvenated.Acquired 2004 draft, 79th overall.8 DANNY IRMEN C, 23, 6-0, 190Houston (AHL) 44-4-11-15-31Smart combatant in midst of a strong year, but still not distinguishing himself.Acquired 2003 draft, 78th overall.9 MORTON MADSEN LW, 21, 6-2, 204Houston (AHL) 31-2-8-10-10&nbsp;Denmark-born physical player dominated junior; slowly making adjustment.&nbsp;Acquired 2005 draft, 122nd overall.10 PETER OLVECKY LW, 22, 6-2, 214Houston (AHL) 35-9-11-20-22&nbsp;An enigma last season, he had a rebound year in Houston; now a go-to guy.&nbsp;Acquired 2004 draft, 78th overall. &#9632;

f0038-02

ENERGY TRUMPS EXPERIENCE IN AHL

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02695/9084994-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="858" height="1010"><figcaption class="caption-body">Carey Price (JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011076/9085001-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="196" height="186"></div>The Montreal Canadiens, competitive again but more than a decade removed from their last Stanley Cup triumph, have the best of both worlds.They have a core of young players, including brothers Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn, playing and contributing. And the minor-pro affiliate in Hamilton is churning out talent such as goaltender Carey Price and center Kyle Chipchura, both of whom have been shuttled to Montreal.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve added to the depth of our young talent,&rdquo; said Trevor Timmins, director of player recruitment and development. &ldquo;That internal competition is a good thing.&rdquo;<h2>1 CAREY PRICE, G, 20, Hamilton (AHL)</h2>6-3, 226, 6-4-0, 2.69, .896OVERALL 1Price has handled every challenge he has faced. He led Canada to gold at the 2007 World Junior Championship, then joined the Bulldogs for their Calder Cup-title run. He started this season with the Habs and was holding his own before a brief slump and inactivity led to his January demotion to Hamilton.Price has the size, poise and patience to excel at the NHL level. He is good at reading the play and has strong puck-handling ability. He doesn&rsquo;t possess any weaknesses, but requires maturity and experience.Acquired 2005 draft, 5th overall.<h2>2 RYAN MCDONAGH, D, 18, Wisconsin (WCHA)</h2>6-1, 204, 28-5-7-12-22OVERALL 31The American-born McDonagh was disappointed not to be named to the U.S. squad at the WJC, which at first blush indicates his development has stalled.But he has enjoyed a strong opening half to his freshman season. He has developed nicely playing at a higher level and is on the top defense pairing, kills penalties and plays the power play.McDonagh is a complete and solid two-way defender; a strong skater who is difficult to play against. The Canadiens don&rsquo;t believe his game has any serious deficiencies.Acquired 2007 draft, 12th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;MAX PACIORETTY, LW, 19, Michigan (CCHA)</h2>6-1, 209, 23-7-16-23-32OVERALL 37The Canadiens are bullish over his development in his freshman season. Pacioretty is playing on the Wolverines&rsquo; first line, while killing penalties and spending time on the power play.Although he played every game at the world juniors, his effectiveness was derailed by a knee injury in the first contest.Pacioretty is a power forward who brings a physical presence to his team and enjoys administering hard hits. He has size, speed and good puck skills. He also reads the play well. He must continue working on finessing the puck.Acquired 2007 draft, 22nd overall.<h2>4&nbsp;P.K. SUBBAN, D, 18, Belleville (OHL)</h2>6-0, 200, 41-7-28-35-82OVERALL 69Everybody likes talking about the loquacious Subban, who will delight the media when he makes it to the big show.Belleville relies on him to put up points from the back end. He brings speed, strength and enthusiasm to his game and is a well-rounded two-way defenseman. He&rsquo;s a good skater who is strong and possesses a decent shot.Although considered a longshot, Subban made the gold medal-winning Canadian team at the world juniors. Like many young prospects, he must improve his play without the puck.Acquired 2007 draft, 43rd overall.<h2>5&nbsp;DAVID FISCHER, D, 19, Minnesota (WCHA)</h2>6-4, 192, 30-1-10-11-12Fischer was plagued by a slow start and a bout with tonsillitis last season, his first year of college hockey. He lost 15 pounds from his already slender frame, which hurt his strength.Fischer has improved steadily, according to the Canadiens organization, and has become a leader at the NCAA level in his sophomore season.He sees the ice well, can handle the puck and is a good skater for someone his size. But he must obviously improve his strength and power before he can think about competing at the pro level.Acquired 2006 draft, 20th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 ALEXEI YEMELIN D, 21, 6-0, 187Kazan (Rus.) 47-0-2-2-11A physical defenseman who moves the puck and distributes it effectively.Acquired 2004 draft, 84th overall.7 YANNICK WEBER D, 19, 5-11, 191Kitchener (OHL) 41-19-27-46-65&nbsp;Finesse blueliner moves the puck well and possesses a strong, accurate shot.Acquired 2007 draft, 73rd overall.8 BEN MAXWELL C, 19, 6-1, 187 Kootenay (WHL) 13-4-8-12-8&nbsp;Smart two-way center has been plagued by a charley-horse that calcified.Acquired 2006 draft, 49th overall.9 RYAN WHITE C, 19, 6-0, 213 Calgary (WHL) 52-25-34-59-83Offers character and a physical presence; must work on his skating.Acquired 2006 draft, 66th overall.10 MIKHAIL GRABOVSKY C, 24, 5-9, 179Hamilton (AHL) 2-0-1-1-0&nbsp;Dynamic player with speed and skill. Slow to recover from a high ankle sprain.&nbsp;Acquired 2004 draft, 150th overall. &#9632;

f0039-02

PRICE THE JEWEL, BUT HE’S NOT ALONE

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GLENNON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02458/9085032-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="861" height="1010"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cody Franson (ROSS DETTMAN)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01766/9085039-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="196" height="187"></div>The Predators may not have a slew of prospects who are on the verge of making it, but the organization&rsquo;s depth will eventually pay dividends.Nashville&rsquo;s strength is on defense, where blueliners Cody Franson, Alexander Sulzer, Teemu Laakso and Jonathon Blum have the skills to form a quality corps.Nashville also has a good crop of two-way forwards in the system as well, though Patric Hornqvist is the only pure goal-scorer of the bunch.Goalie Pekka Rinne has shown he can compete at the NHL level and will return at some point.<h2>1 CODY FRANSON, D, 20, Milwaukee (AHL)</h2>6-4, 204, 45-6-13-19-16OVERALL 33Franson posted outstanding numbers in junior, notching more than 50 points each of his last two seasons. He has shown flashes of potential in his first pro year, but is adjusting to the higher level. A good sign is that Franson is already running the Admirals&rsquo; power play.Milwaukee coaches are working with him to be more aggressive and assertive, which would allow him to showcase his passing skills. Franson has a big frame and the Predators are looking for him to add some weight and strength to it.Acquired 2005 draft, 79th overall.<h2>2 JONATHAN BLUM, D, 19, Vancouver (WHL)</h2>6-0, 168, 46-11-35-46-40OVERALL 48There were those who questioned Blum&rsquo;s size and strength when he was drafted in the first round, but the Predators believe he&rsquo;ll fill out over the years.In the meantime, he&rsquo;s tearing up the Western League, averaging a point per game. Blum has put together an impressive resume over the past few years as well.He has played in two Memorial Cups, helping the Giants win it all in 2007, and represented the U.S. at the world juniors. The Predators are particularly pleased with Blum&rsquo;s intelligence and feel for the game.Acquired 2007 draft, 23rd overall.<h2>3&nbsp;PEKKA RINNE, G, 25, Milwaukee (AHL)</h2>6-5, 207, 23-17-2, 2.62, .905OVERALL 52Rinne was expected to start the season as the No. 2 netminder in Nashville. He had a good camp, but was beaten out by Dan Ellis, who had an even better one. In the long run, another season of work in the AHL will prove beneficial for Rinne.He missed most of last season because of shoulder surgery and has never played more than 51 games in a season. He&rsquo;s on course to do so this season.Rinne has been good thus far, using his size and athleticism to bolster a team that has had difficulty scoring at times.Acquired 2004 draft, 258th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;ALEXANDER SULZER, D, 23, Milwaukee (AHL)</h2>6-1, 207, 44-5-19-24-41The Predators have been pleasantly surprised by the German native&rsquo;s rise through the organization&rsquo;s prospect rankings.Sulzer has made a nice transition to the North American game, contributing at both ends. He has also impressed coaches with his maturity and quiet leadership.Those qualities stem from Sulzer&rsquo;s international experience, considering he has already played for Germany in the Olympics and worlds. The Predators believe if Sulzer continues at his pace and betters his all-round game, he&rsquo;ll soon arrive.Acquired 2003 draft, 92nd overall.<h2>5&nbsp;PATRIC HORNQVIST, C, 21, Djurgarden (Swe.)</h2>5-11, 194, 42-16-11-27-52Hornqvist first opened eyes last season when he broke Peter Forsberg&rsquo;s rookie record for goals in the Swedish elite league, netting 23 in 49 games.He made another strong impression in camp, good enough that the organization talked to him about the possibility of coming to North America this season. Hornqvist chose to stay in Sweden and got off to a slow start.But after collecting a couple of hat tricks mid-winter, Hornqvist is back on his game. The team would like to see him challenge for a roster spot next season.Acquired 2005 draft, 230th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 TEEMU LAAKSO D, 20, 6-1, 211Helsinki (Fin.) 43-3-4-7-28Finland&rsquo;s WJC captain continues to develop his solid all-round game.Acquired 2005 draft, 78th overall.7 ANTTI PIHLSTROM LW, 23, 5-10, 181Milwaukee (AHL) 45-18-10-28-37Rookie pro has used his speed to become Milwau-kee&rsquo;s top scorer.Acquired Free agent, June 1, 2007.8 MIKE SANTORELLI C, 22, 6-0, 194Milwaukee (AHL) 47-13-14-27-38&nbsp;Has made strides in his first pro season; looking to shore up his defensive game.Acquired 2004 draft, 178th overall.9 JEREMY SMITH G, 19, 5-11, 161Plymouth (OHL) 18-9-3, 2.80, .921&nbsp;Had up-and-down showing at world juniors, but putting up good stats in OHL.Acquired 2007 draft, 54th overall.10 NICK SPALING C, 20, 6-1, 182 Kitchener (OHL) 38-29-24-53-14Displaying good all-round game despite suffering a bout of mononucleosis.Acquired 2007 draft, 58th overall. &#9632;

f0040-02

DEFENSE JUST FINE ON NASHVILLE FARM

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02400/9085070-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="855" height="1009"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nicklas Bergfors (JASON KENNEDY)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01654/9085077-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="194" height="189"></div>Travis Zajac was the exception when he forced the Devils to keep him last season after a sensational camp. Normally there&rsquo;s no fast track in New Jersey.&ldquo;We still like to hold players off for as long as possible,&rdquo; said GM Lou Lamoriello. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d rather bring them up too late than too soon. When Travis came in we had a void at center and he played so well.&rdquo;The Devils do not yet have a sure-shot successor for Martin Brodeur, who will be 36 in May. A panel of NHL scouts ranked the Devils&rsquo; list of prospects and 21-and-under NHLers second worst in the league.<h2>1 NICKLAS BERGFORS, RW, 20, Lowell (AHL)</h2>5-11, 190, 34-6-7-13-10Injuries to both shoulders plagued the young Swede, but he is back to playing at the level that convinced the Devils to keep him after camp. &ldquo;If he doesn&rsquo;t get hurt in New Jersey, maybe he&rsquo;s still there,&rdquo; said David Conte, executive VP of hockey operations. Although his AHL stats aren&rsquo;t impressive, Bergfors was the only forward on the team with a plus rating. So why isn&rsquo;t he in the NHL?&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a player you put on the fourth line,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a skill player, but it&rsquo;s tough to find a spot for him because we have Langenbrunner and Gionta.Acquired 2005 draft, 23rd overall.<h2>2 MATTHEW CORRENTE, D, 19, Niagara (OHL)</h2>6-0, 195, 20-2-13-15-64Corrente endured off-ice problems last year and a suspension for an on-ice altercation this season.Now the highly regarded defenseman is dealing with a physical setback, but it won&rsquo;t affect his climb to the NHL. Corrente broke his thumb in early January and had surgery in New Jersey. He is expected to be sidelined until early March.The Devils love his gritty style and were impressed by his poise and aggressiveness in camp. He&rsquo;ll be the next young defenseman to crack the Devils&rsquo; lineup.Acquired 2006 draft, 30th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;JEFF FRAZEE, G, 20, Minnesota (WCHA)</h2>6-0, 185, 6-7-0, 2.93, .890Earmarked to be Brodeur&rsquo;s successor, Frazee has had a tough year. He started this season as Minnesota&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie, but was a backup by January because of inconsistency.Goalie coach Robb Stauber said he is &ldquo;building a track record of basically falling asleep&rdquo; and suggested Frazee&rsquo;s career was at a crossroads.Leaving Minnesota for major junior is a possibility, which the Devils do not encourage. &ldquo;Whether he&rsquo;s struggling or not, he&rsquo;s not playing to the abilities we think he can,&rdquo; Lamoriello said.Acquired 2005 draft, 38th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;MIKE HOEFFEL, LW, 18, Minnesota (WCHA)</h2>6-2, 185, 30-6-6-12-14Only a college freshman, Hoeffel has made quick strides. A power forward with good size and strength, he has rebounded well after an injury last season.Realistically, big Barry Tallackson, who has been a call-up from Lowell at various points, and power forward Nick Palmieri, coached by Robbie Ftorek at Erie (OHL), will get to the NHL faster than Hoeffel. But the North Oaks, Minn., native has a knack for scoring shorthanded goals and is defensively responsible making him an attractive winger prospect in the Devils system.Acquired 2007 draft, 57th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;PETR VRANA, C, 22, Lowell (AHL)</h2>5-10, 190, 47-8-28-36-38On his way to another solid season in the AHL, Vrana was selected to play in the AHL All-Star Game. The skilled Czech has established himself as a productive offensive player, ranking among the AHL&rsquo;s top 10 in assists, but needs to win more 1-on-1 battles to show he&rsquo;s ready for the NHL.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an offensive player with extreme speed,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll have to be put into the right situation to succeed because of his size.&rdquo;He could wind up being the type of player who is better at the NHL level than in the minors.Acquired 2003 draft, 42nd overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 MATT HALISCHUK RW, 19, 5-11, 175 Kitchener (OHL) 36-12-38-50-14Scored the clinching goal at the WJC. Devils like his sense and work ethic.Acquired 2007 draft, 117th overall.7 ALEXANDER VASYUNOV LW, 19, 6-0, 190 Yaroslavl (Rus.) 17-2-0-2-2Explosive, two-way forward impressed Brent Sutter in 2007 Super Series.Acquired 2006 draft, 58th overall.8 VILI SOPANEN LW, 20, 6-4, 210 Pelicans (Fin.) 46-12-15-27-8Top-line scorer on his junior team, his risky style will delay his development.Acquired 2007 draft, 177th overall.9 MARK FAYNE D, 20, 6-3, 195Providence (HE) 24-1-4-5-12Defensive-minded blue-liner is fitting in well in his sophomore college season.Acquired 2005 draft, 155th overall.10 TYLER ECKFORD D, 22, 6-1, 205Alaska-Fairbanks (CCHA) 26-6-19-25-47&nbsp;Finishing his junior year, he is drawing raves as a playmaking offensive gem.Acquired 2004 draft, 217th overall. &#9632;

f0041-02

SO WHAT’S NEXT AFTER MARTY?

<div class="byline">BY PETER BOTTE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02419/9085108-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="859" height="1008"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kyle Okposo (JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01685/9085115-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="193" height="188"></div>While mostly hailed as a worthwhile gamble, Isles GM Garth Snow&rsquo;s trade-deadline acquisition of Ryan Smyth last spring was also perceived as an outright gutting of his minor-league system.Only the former NHL goalie doesn&rsquo;t see it that way.&ldquo;We determined which prospects we had to retain and which ones we were willing to move,&rdquo; said Snow, who dealt first round draft picks Robert Nilsson and Ryan O&rsquo;Marra, as well as his 2007 first-rounder. &ldquo;Nothing against them, but we liked the people we kept and have coming as much or more than the players we traded.&rdquo;<h2>1 KYLE OKPOSO, RW, 19, Bridgeport (AHL)</h2>6-0, 195, 11-2-8-10-2OVERALL 8NCAA coaches were hardly pleased the Isles inked the budding power forward midway through his sophomore season at Minnesota. But Snow willingly absorbed the criticism largely to protect Okposo, who acclimated himself quickly to the pro ranks with seven points in his first four games with Bridgeport after a strong showing for Team USA at the world juniors.Okposo will zoom quickly to the NHL if his hands and decision-making catch up to the poise, confidence and strength on the puck he&rsquo;s already showing in the minors.Acquired 2006 draft, 7th overall.<h2>2 BLAKE COMEAU, LW, 21, Bridgeport (AHL)</h2>6-1, 207, 25-3-6-9-28OVERALL 54Part of Snow&rsquo;s willingness to move Nilsson and O&rsquo;Marra came about due to the belief in Comeau, whose play improved at both ends in Bridgeport.When Chris Simon was suspended in December, he was called up because of his two-way ability.Comeau&rsquo;s AHL numbers weren&rsquo;t impressive, but Nolan has been rewarded for his belief that the winger&rsquo;s hockey sense would translate better at the highest level. While asked to provide fourth-line energy minutes, Comeau also earned Nolan&rsquo;s trust in late-game NHL situations.Acquired 2004 draft, 47th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;JEFF TAMBELLINI, LW, 23, Bridgeport (AHL)</h2>5-11, 186, 43-28-28-56-26Tweener, anyone? Steve Tambellini&rsquo;s kid continues to rack up the goals in the AHL, 25-plus for the third straight season. But he has been unable to stick despite a handful of modest chances with the Islanders. He has just three goals in 50-plus games with the Isles over three seasons.His above-average speed and excellent hands have yet to translate to the NHL and Ted Nolan has said he can&rsquo;t afford to keep Tambellini, whose game isn&rsquo;t suited for a strict checking role, if he&rsquo;s not able to produce as a top-six forward.Acquired Trade with L.A., March 8, 2006.<h2>4&nbsp;JESSE JOENSUU, LW, 20, Assat (Finland)</h2>6-4, 207, 47-15-14-29-73This under-achieiving man child, who made his pro debut in Finland at 15, boasts an offensive game that&rsquo;s catching up to his physical tools.The Isles dispatched Bridgeport assistant Bernie Cassell to Finland to work with Joensuu on his skating last summer and that paid dividends as the huge winger has already posted a career-best in goals for a weak team.His size and production in Europe will earn Joensuu, who was once ranked as high as No. 1 by scouting services as a teen, his first crack at North America by next season.Acquired 2006 draft, 60th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;BEN WALTER, C, 23, Bridgeport (AHL)</h2>6-1, 195, 42-14-26-40-8When you consider his first hockey memory includes firing shots at Patrick Roy before practices at the old Montreal Forum, it&rsquo;s certainly no surprise the son of former Canadiens star Ryan Walter has averaged nearly a point per game in each of the past two seasons in the AHL.In two brief stints with the Isles this season, the younger Walter impressed Nolan with his &ldquo;smarts with and without the puck,&rdquo; and the Isles coach predicted the savvy two-way center will get his chance to earn a regular NHL job &ldquo;in the very near future.&rdquo;Acquired Trade with Boston, Sept. 11, 2007.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 FRANS NIELSEN C, 23, 5-11, 172 Bridgeport (AHL) 48-10-28-38-18Defensively responsible Dane had 15-game NHL cup of coffee last season.Acquired 2002 draft, 87th overall.7 DUSTIN KOHN D, 20, 6-2, 182Bridgeport (AHL) 39-2-4-6-22&nbsp;He&rsquo;s already Bridgeport&rsquo;s most reliable blueliner in first full pro season.&nbsp;Acquired 2005 draft, 46th overall.8 ROBIN FIGREN RW, 19, 5-11, 176 Edmonton (WHL) 35-18-13-31-46&nbsp;Heart-and-soul player for silver-medalist Sweden at WJC ready for pro test.&nbsp;Acquired 2006 draft, 70th overall.9 JEREMY COLLITON C, 23, 6-2, 195Bridgeport (AHL) 47-6-3-9-31Defense-first center battling offensive regression for second straight year.&nbsp;Acquired 2003 draft, 58th overall.10 RHETT RAKHSHANI RW, 19, 5-10, 170 Denver (WCHA) 22-9-10-19-32California native was successful with Okposo for Team USA at WJC.Acquired 2006 draft, 100th overall. &#9632;

f0042-02

TRADING ASSETS STILL AN ISLES TRAIT

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BROOKS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02449/9085146-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="858" height="1010"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexei Cherepanov (IHA)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01676/9085153-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="196" height="188"></div>Management&rsquo;s conversion to building from within has by no means reached fruition, but when the team faced the Canadiens in Montreal Feb. 3, the Rangers had nine players in the lineup 25 or younger.In other words, even if the marquee remains lit with star power, the philosophy that arose from the ashes of seven straight playoff misses with crazy-quilt, patchwork clubs from 1998 to 2004 is alive and well on Broadway.GM Glen Sather has used his collection of draft picks to build a pipeline to New York. Success will be achieved when the team&rsquo;s highest selections become leading men.<h2>1 ALEXEI CHEREPANOV, RW, 19, Omsk (Rus.)</h2>6-1, 183, 37-10-11-21-10OVERALL 19The Rangers aren&rsquo;t promising Cherepanov will soon become another Ovechkin, Kovalchuk or Malkin, but, according to assistant GM Jim Schoenfeld, &ldquo;Alex is definitely on track to be a high skill-level NHL player; he&rsquo;s a powerful skater with a quick release.&rdquo;Management believes Cherepanov will be strong enough physically and mentally to compete for an NHL spot the moment he comes over. The issue is whether the Blueshirts will be able to overcome the political issues and get the flamboyant winger here next season.Acquired 2007 draft, 17th overall.<h2>2 BOBBY SANGUINETTI, D, 19, Brampton (OHL)</h2>6-3, 180, 44-20-35-55-30OVERALL 32The New Jersey native, who was born on the same Feb. 29, 1988 day that idol Brian Leetch made his NHL debut, has had a dominating third OHL season.And while his ability to rush, dish and control the game from the back end is his signature, he has improved his play in the defensive zone, as well.&ldquo;When he was up with Hartford at the end of last year, he held his own physically, 1-on-1, and in his own end,&rdquo; said Schoenfeld. &ldquo;He needs to get stronger, but his defensive zone awareness and anticipation is outstanding.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 21st overall.<h2>3&nbsp;AL MONTOYA, G, 22, Hartford (AHL)</h2>6-2, 185, 12-8-3, 2.49, .907OVERALL 51The celebrated goaltender from Michigan who led Team USA to a stunning 2004 World Junior Championship has had an injury-interrupted third AHL season, notably sustaining a fractured vertebrae.Though eclipsed in the Rangers&rsquo; universe by Henrik Lundqvist, Montoya remains a prospect.&ldquo;Al is a skilled, athletic, competitive goaltender who needs to refine his technique,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;As is the case with so many young goalies, he needs to understand how to do more by doing less. It&rsquo;s a learning process.&rdquo;Acquired 2004 draft, 6th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;IVAN BARANKA, D, 22, Hartford (AHL)</h2>6-3, 205, 36-4-12-16-35Had Baranka remained healthy this season, there&rsquo;s little doubt he&rsquo;d have gotten a look on a Ranger blueline in need of bolstering.But, as has been the story for much of his two seasons in North America, the native of Slovakia has been plagued by injuries. An outstanding skater with a big shot, Baranka brings the complete package.&ldquo;He can bang, but he&rsquo;s not a hitter; he can skate and shoot, but he&rsquo;s not an offensive defenseman,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;Ivan needs to stay healthy so he can gain (valuable) experience.&rdquo;Acquired 2003 draft, 50th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;ARTEM ANISIMOV, C, 19, Hartford (AHL)</h2>6-4, 190, 44-7-16-23-20The Rangers think they have something special in this Russian teenager who has adapted well to the pro game in his first year in North America.A two-way pivot with excellent hockey sense who had a strong NHL camp, Anisimov needs to mature physically in order to mount a challenge for a spot on Broadway.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s going to be a natural progression of strength that will allow Artem to thrive,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very intelligent player with outstanding hockey sense who thinks the game through.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 54th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 LAURI KORPIKOSKI LW, 21, 6-1, 190Hartford (AHL) 49-10-14-24-43On the cusp of getting first NHL taste&hellip;great outside speed, good penalty-killer.Acquired 2004 draft, 19th overall.7 ALEX BOURRET RW, 21, 5-11, 205Hartford (AHL) 40-8-15-23-65Weight issues have turned this blue-chipper from can&rsquo;t miss to can&rsquo;t score.Acquired From Atl, Feb. 27, 2007.8 GREG MOORE C, 23, 6-1, 210 Hartford (AHL) 42-18-21-39-21Reaping benefits of summer dedication to a conditioning program; versatile, strong.Acquired From Cgy, March 6, 2004.9 DANE BYERS LW, 21, 6-3, 195 Hartford (AHL) 46-12-11-23-130Establishing himself as a physical presence who competes in battle areas.Acquired 2004 draft, 48th overall.10 MICHAEL SAUER D, 20, 6-3, 215Hartford (AHL) 44-2-5-7-54&nbsp;Old-school, stay-at-home rookie pro defenseman with puck moving skills.Acquired 2005 draft, 40th overall. &#9632;

f0043-02

YOUNG STARS OFF BROADWAY

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE FISH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02315/9085222-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="854" height="1006"><figcaption class="caption-body">James van Riemsdyk (COURTESY UNH ATHLETICS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01495/9085229-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="196" height="187"></div>One of the added positives of the Flyers&rsquo; turnaround season is the afforded luxury of allowing prospects more time in the development system.During last year&rsquo;s forgettable campaign, Philadelphia was forced to play some youngsters who weren&rsquo;t quite ready for the NHL game. But with the Flyers now surging, some of the franchise&rsquo;s top hopefuls continue to gain experience at the minor pro, junior and college levels.That will pay extra benefits in the long run.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re pretty happy with this group,&rdquo; said GM Paul Holmgren. &ldquo;I think we have some strong prospects.&rdquo;<h2>1 JAMES VAN RIEMSDYK, LW, 18, N. HAMPSHIRE (HE)</h2>6-3, 200, 19-10-13-23-22OVERALL 3The prototypical power forward generated headlines at the WJC by leading Team USA to a 4-0 start and was later named the squad&rsquo;s top player.For his size, he&rsquo;s a superb skater and puck protector. The Flyers believe the Middletown, N.J., native will top out at 210 to 215 pounds when he&rsquo;s full grown.&ldquo;He played against the best in the world in his peer group and led the tournament in scoring,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;At the worlds and New Hampshire, he&rsquo;s shown good hands for a big man.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 2nd overall.<h2>2 CLAUDE GIROUX, RW, 20, GATINEAU (QMJHL)</h2>5-11, 180, 42-29-43-72-27OVERALL 16He played on the top line with Phoenix prospect Kyle Turris during Canada&rsquo;s gold medal effort at the world juniors. The Hearst, Ont., native has been a top scorer in the Quebec League all year, using his quickness to offset size limitations.Giroux will challenge for an NHL job next September at training camp.&ldquo;He was one of the better players for Canada in the WJC,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably one of the smartest players in junior hockey right now.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 22nd overall.<h2>3&nbsp;RYAN PARENT, D, 20, Philadelphia (AHL)</h2>6-2, 201, 48-1-7-8-40OVERALL 38Parent makes his living playing stay-at-home defense and probably won&rsquo;t generate more than 20 points per year. An excellent skater with a strong stick and heavy shot, the Prince Albert, Sask., native doesn&rsquo;t need to be overly physical to be effective.&ldquo;The best-case scenario for Ryan would be to play the full year for the Phantoms,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;Certain parts of his game need work, but he&rsquo;s a tremendous defender. He&rsquo;s very competitive in puck battles, but there are things in the offensive side that can improve.&rdquo;Acquired Trade with Nashville, Feb. 15, 2007.<h2>4 ANDREAS NODL,&nbsp;RW, 20, St. Cloud (WCHA)</h2>6-1, 190, 26-12-18-30-10The Vienna, Austria native has a deft touch around the net, averaging more than a point per game in college.Even though he&rsquo;s only a college sophomore, he will probably turn pro at season&rsquo;s end due to his age and experience.&ldquo;His team&rsquo;s skill level dropped this year, but Andreas continues to play well,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;When you watch him play, his skating ability and skill level jump right out at you. We&rsquo;ll see where he&rsquo;s at when the year&rsquo;s over.&rdquo;A year or two in the AHL will ease the transition.Acquired 2006 draft, 39th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;ALEXANDRE PICARD, D, 22, Philadelphia (AHL)</h2>6-2, 220, 43-6-21-27-25The Gatineau, Que., native was pushed into 62 Flyers games last year at 21. While he did produce a team-record five-assist game, some of his defensive shortcomings were exposed. Now he&rsquo;s getting the chance to address those issues in the AHL with a strong Phantoms team.&ldquo;He knew what was at stake in this year&rsquo;s training camp, he knew we had made changes and didn&rsquo;t pout,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s gone down and been a tremendous player for them &ndash; a good power play guy and one of their top defensemen.&rdquo;Acquired 2003 draft, 85th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 MICHAEL RATCHUKD, 19, 5-10, 180Michigan State (CCHA) 29-6-15-21-38Flyers impressed with his skating; likes to attack on offense, needs work on D.Acquired 2006 draft, 42nd overall.7 OSKARS BARTULISD, 21, 6-2, 201Philadelphia (AHL) 38-1-15-16-24Good with the puck, but lengthy concussion has hampered progress.Acquired 2005 draft, 91st overall.8 PATRICK MAROONLW, 19, 6-4, 225London (OHL) 46-31-42-73-43Battled weight issues in past, but Flyers have him on conditioning program.Acquired 2007 draft, 161st overall.9 NATE GUENIND, 25, 6-2, 209Philadelphia (AHL) 46-2-8-10-101One of only three Pittsburgh natives to play in NHL; excellent puckhandler.Acquired Free agent, Aug. 16, 2006.10 JOONAS LEHTIVUORID, 19, 5-11, 170Ilves-Tampere (Fin.) 40-7-12-19-10Ran Finland&rsquo;s power play in WJC; smart with the puck, has to improve skating.Acquired 2006 draft, 101st overall. &#9632;

f0045-02

RUSH HOUR OVER FOR IMPROVED TEAM

<div class="byline">BY MATT PAULSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02310/9085260-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="860" height="1008"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kyle Turris (DAVID STLUKA)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01481/9085267-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="194" height="187"></div>While suffering through three last-place finishes, Phoenix&rsquo;s brass put a positive spin on things by pointing to the future and raving about the pipeline of high-quality talent it has amassed since the 2004 draft. The first of those players arrived this season and early returns have supported the Coyotes&rsquo; boasting.Peter Mueller and Martin Hanzal have played a major role in Phoenix&rsquo;s surprising season while Keith Yandle has recently taken over the sixth spot on the blueline.Three more first round picks could jump to the NHL next season, led by the super-skilled Kyle Turris.<h2>1 KYLE TURRIS, C, 18, Wisconsin (WCHA)</h2>6-1, 170, 24-10-18-28-28OVERALL 2Often compared to Joe Sakic, Turris has been riding high and turning heads the past year. The franchise&rsquo;s highest pick since its relocation to Arizona was the leading goal-scorer in the Super Series against Russia and top point producer for the gold-medal winning Canadian team at the world juniors.His fluid skating and quick, accurate shot have made him equally as dominant with Wisconsin. Turris&rsquo; only weakness is his size, but once he fills out his frame, he&rsquo;ll be ready to lace up his skates in Phoenix.Acquired 2007 draft, 3rd overall.<h2>2 BRETT MACLEAN, LW, 19, Oshawa (OHL)</h2>6-2, 197, 45-50-51-101-32OVERALL 41Thought of as John Tavares&rsquo; sidekick the past two campaigns, MacLean has emerged as a full-fledged star and is the leading contender to be the OHL&rsquo;s MVP. How much of his success is due to playing alongside Tavares remains to be seen.But with good hands and the ability to finish, MacLean has the talent to be a big-time scorer at any level. To become NHL ready, he must improve his mobility, footwork and stickhandling. MacLean needs at least a year of seasoning at the AHL level before moving on to the big club.Acquired 2007 draft, 32nd overall.<h2>3&nbsp;BLAKE WHEELER, RW, 21, Minnesota (WCHA)</h2>6-5, 214, 29-13-13-26-60OVERALL 57Drafted in his junior year in high school, Wheeler has progressed slower than the Coyotes projected. His work ethic is second to none which has given him an NHL body. He needs to improve his creativity to complement his speed and stickhandling.His effectiveness is closely tied to his confidence level. Wheeler has become the Gophers&rsquo; leader and his playmaking ability is vastly improved.The expectation is Wheeler will leave college after his junior season to turn pro and will battle for a roster spot in October.Acquired 2004 draft, 5th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;KEVIN PORTER, LW, 21, Michigan (CCHA)</h2>5-11, 194, 28-23-19-42-10OVERALL 60This fourth-rounder has shown great growth during four years at Michigan where his offensive statistics and hockey IQ have improved every season.Among the conference leaders in all offensive categories, Porter has worked hard to develop his defensive game. He is considered one of the NCAA&rsquo;s top two-way players and those skills will put him on the fast track.Porter is projected to be a third-line player, but if his playmaking ability translates to the pros, he could easily be a top-six forward.Acquired 2004 draft, 119th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;CHRIS SUMMERS, D, 19, Michigan (CCHA)</h2>6-2, 180, 26-2-7-9-37Phoenix traded up to grab Summers at the end of the first round in 2006. Known for his agility, quickness and vision, Summers&rsquo; most valuable trait is his versatility.He has also played forward for the Wolverines and the U.S. national development team, giving him valuable game experience to work on his offensive skills.Summers&rsquo; stock is rising at Michigan and internationally as he was voted one of the top three U.S. players at the WJC. The sophomore needs to add weight and is a year away from turning pro.Acquired 2006 draft, 29th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 DAVID LENEVEUG, 24, 6-1, 187San Antonio (AHL) 7-6-3, 2.45, .916&nbsp;One-time goalie of future sliding down organizational ladder. Consistency an issue.Acquired 2002 draft, 46th overall.7 JONAS AHNELOVD, 20, 6-3, 205Frolunda (Swe.) 43-3-3-6-28Rising quickly in ranks while continuing to impress in Swedish Elite League.Acquired 2006 draft, 88th overall.8 JOSH TORDJMANG, 23, 6-1, 155San Antonio (AHL) 17-7-1, 2.76, .907Has become Rampage&rsquo;s go&nbsp;to goalie. Must fill out frame to make jump to NHL.Acquired Free agent, July 2, 2006.9 ENVER LISINRW, 21, 6-2, 190San Antonio (AHL) 40-15-14-29-16Continues to impress with speed, soft hands. Needs work on game&rsquo;s finer points.Acquired 2004 draft, 50th overall.10 BENN FERRIEROC, 20, 5-10, 191Boston College (HE) 26-10-18-28-34Production has tailed off after breakout 2006-07. Needs to shoot more.Acquired 2006 draft, 196th overall. &#9632;

f0046-02

TOP DESERT PUPS BIG ON CAMPUS

<div class="byline">BY JOE STARKEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02307/9085298-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="861" height="1006"><figcaption class="caption-body">Angelo Esposito (GHYSLAIN BERGERON)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01459/9085305-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="196" height="189"></div>Each year brings fresh young talent to Pittsburgh, which currently has five major contributors under age 22. This year&rsquo;s newbies were defenseman Kris Letang and winger Tyler Kennedy, both of whom were selected for the Young Stars Game.Below the NHL level, the organizational strength is defense. Young D-men Alex Goligoski and Brian Strait will soon be knocking on the NHL door. First round pick Angelo Esposito, transitioning from center to left wing, is showing signs he was a steal at No. 20. Sniper-type wingers and goaltending depth are scarce.<h2>1 ANGELO ESPOSITO, LW, 18, Quebec (QMJHL)</h2>6-1, 180, 40-24-24-48-52OVERALL 53If adversity makes a player better, then Esposito&rsquo;s in good shape. In the past year, his draft stock plummeted, he was cut from Canada&rsquo;s junior team for the third time and the Pens converted him to wing. Through it all, the speedy Esposito is thriving, to the point where Tom Fitzgerald, the Pens&rsquo; director of development, says he is becoming a &ldquo;dominant player.&rdquo; A versatile one, too.Esposito&rsquo;s coach, Patrick Roy, is emphasizing defensive coverage and playing without the puck. If he&rsquo;s to reach the NHL in two years, Esposito must get stronger.Acquired 2007 draft, 20th overall.<h2>2 ALEX GOLIGOSKI, D, 22, Wilkes-Barre (AHL)</h2>6-0, 178, 43-6-11-17-26OVERALL 59Off-season shoulder surgery made it tough on Goligoski early in his first pro season, but he earned a spot in the AHL All-Star Game.&ldquo;I hate comparing kids to stars, but he reminds me of Brian Leetch &ndash; not overly big, but real slippery,&rdquo; Fitzgerald said. &ldquo;He skates well and sees the whole ice.&rdquo;Goligoski must get stronger. And like most young D-men, he needs work on own-zone coverage and 1-on-1 battles. He wasn&rsquo;t able to do much strength training last summer, so that&rsquo;s a prime requirement this off-season.Acquired 2004 draft, 61st overall.<h2>3&nbsp;RYAN STONE, LW, 22, Wilkes-Barre (AHL)</h2>6-2, 207, 38-7-14-21-74Stone projects as a poor man&rsquo;s Gary Roberts at the NHL level. He finishes checks, causes trouble in the goal mouth and has a decent touch (no Stone hands here). Mostly, he makes people angry.&ldquo;Opposing benches scream at him,&rdquo; Fitzgerald said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun to watch.&rdquo;Coming off an injury plagued year, Stone asserted himself early in the AHL season and was recalled amid a spate of Pens&rsquo; injuries. Skating is the weakest part of his game. &ldquo;Once in flight, he&rsquo;s fine,&rdquo; Fitzgerald said. &ldquo;But he needs to work on his dot-to-dot quickness.&rdquo;Acquired 2003 draft, 32nd overall.<h2>4&nbsp;KEVEN VEILLEUX, C, 18, Rimouski (QMJHL)</h2>6-5, 200, 52-15-42-57-62A trade from Victoriaville &ndash; near his hometown &ndash; sparked Veilleux, who had 10 goals in 42 games at Victoriaville but five in his first 10 games with Rimouski. He skates well, can play wing, and puts NHL-like zip on his passes.He must get stronger on the puck and raise his intensity. One night when Veilleux knew Fitzgerald would be there, he played a gritty game. Fitzgerald gave no advance warning the next time and saw a different player. &ldquo;I was thinking, &lsquo;Come on, buddy, get it going,&rsquo; &rdquo; Fitzgerald recalled. &ldquo;He has to be more consistent.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 51st overall.<h2>5&nbsp;BRIAN STRAIT, D, 20, Boston University (HE)</h2>6-1, 200, 24-0-9-9-12Strait continues to hone his simple, effective defensive style. He isn&rsquo;t a great skater, but makes up for it by rarely stopping. &ldquo;He uses his edges very well,&rdquo; Fitzgerald said. &ldquo;It looks like he&rsquo;s on roller blades; he never stops. I like that in a defenseman.&rdquo;Strait is also a natural leader. He was chosen to captain Team USA at the world juniors. Fitzgerald tells Strait to pattern his game after Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi, who has become a highly effective stay-at-home, less-is-more type. &ldquo;Do that and you can play a long time,&rdquo; Fitzgerald said.Acquired 2006 draft, 65th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 LUCA CAPUTILW, 19, 6-2, 184Niagara (OHL) 50-37-40-77-88Blown away last season&rsquo;s totals of 27-38-65; skating better, but still needs work.Acquired 2007 draft, 111th overall.7 JONATHAN FILEWICHRW, 23, 6-2, 205Wilkes-Barre (AHL) 37-7-10-17-19Scoring has dipped; must add nastiness if he wants to be third- or fourth-liner.Acquired 2003 draft, 70th overall.8 DUSTIN JEFFREYC, 19, 6-1, 205Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) 40-22-43-65-20Surprise at NHL camp; always around puck, but must improve conditioning.Acquired 2007 draft, 171st overall.9 ALEX GRANTD, 19, 6-2, 185 Saint John (QMJHL) 52-13-22-35-76&nbsp;Booming right-handed shot; scoring output up, but must stop overhandling the puck.Acquired 2007 draft, 118th overall.10 JOE VITALEC, 22, 6-1, 194Northeastern (HE) 24-7-17-24-50Has taken huge leap in leadership and stats; as strong as any Pens prospect.Acquired 2005 draft, 195th overall. &#9632;

f0047-02

YOUNG STARS FACTORY AT WORK

<div class="byline">BY JEREMY RUTHERFORD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-02203/9085336-1-eng-US/f0048-022.jpg" title="f0048-02" width="857" height="1008"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrik Berglund (IHA)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01319/9085343-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg" title="f0048-01" width="196" height="189"></div>John Davidson stated his No. 1 goal when taking over the Blues in 2006 was to stockpile assets.An example of Davidson&rsquo;s mission came last year when the president of operations traded Keith Tkachuk and Bill Guerin for first round picks, one of which turned out to be 19-year-old NHLer David Perron. &ldquo;If we do our job drafting, those are assets,&rdquo; Davidson said.And Doug Weight was sent to Anaheim for Andy McDonald in December. Perron and rookie defenseman Erik Johnson, also 19, symbolize the Blues&rsquo; philosophical change of building through young talent.<h2>1 PATRIK BERGLUND, C, 19, Vasteras (Swe.-1)</h2>6-4, 205, 29-18-17-35-14OVERALL 5Blues assistant GM Jarmo Kekalainen said Berglund looked like &ldquo;Bambi&rdquo; at the WJC a year ago.At this year&rsquo;s tournament in the Czech Republic, Kekalainen said he was &ldquo;the man&rdquo; and felt he was the best forward there.Berglund played soft at the Blues&rsquo; camp last September, but has added strength to his gangly frame. After another successful year in Sweden, Berglund will be ready for his next challenge. The creative two-way pivot will get a good look for 2008-09.Acquired 2006 draft, 25th overall.<h2>2 T.J. OSHIE, C, 21, North Dakota (WCHA)</h2>6-0, 192, 26-12-14-26-47OVERALL 21Oshie could have signed with the Blues over the summer and would have played with the team all season as a rookie. He was that impressive during the team&rsquo;s development camp.But Oshie told the Blues he made a pact with his teammates at North Dakota to stay and win an NCAA title and he wanted to stay true to his word.Oshie hasn&rsquo;t put up the offensive numbers some would have expected, but the Blues are sold on his talent. He is a big-body forward who is as physical as he is skillful.Acquired 2005 draft, 24th overall<h2>3&nbsp;LARS ELLER, C, 18, Frolunda (Swe.)</h2>6-1, 198, 19-2-6-8-8OVERALL 44It was a surprise to the Blues when they learned after the 2007 draft that Eller had a wrist injury that required surgery.He had surgery during the Blues&rsquo; development camp last summer and missed two months of the season for Frolunda Jr.Since then, he has not only returned, but been promoted to Frolunda HC of the Elite League.Eller has some catching up to do, but he&rsquo;s a player who wants to play in North America sooner than later. His technical skills and knack for finding the open man will get him there.Acquired 2007 draft, 13th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;BEN BISHOP, G, 21, Maine (HE)</h2>6-7, 210, 8-13-3, 2.64, .913OVERALL 62Bishop doesn&rsquo;t have the flashy numbers he posted last season at Maine. But there&rsquo;s a reason for that.Maine has a much younger team and Bishop is seeing a lot more rubber than he did a year ago, though his size doesn&rsquo;t leave much to shoot at.Bishop is the first to tell you the extra action has been good for him, even if his record doesn&rsquo;t tell the same story. His goals-against average and save percentage are similar.Bishop is the team&rsquo;s top goalie prospect and many expect him to be in the AHL by the spring.Acquired 2005 draft, 85th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;IAN COLE, D, 18, Notre Dame (CCHA)</h2>6-1, 211, 26-3-5-8-22Many were surprised to see the Blues trade up in last June&rsquo;s NHL draft to take the U.S.-born defenseman.Cole may end up making team officials look like geniuses, but right now he&rsquo;s a raw talent who&rsquo;s relying on brute strength to make plays.He was used sparingly by Team USA at the world juniors and the Blues know the experience will be beneficial.Cole needs to develop his game at Notre Dame. If he can add some skill to an already strong frame, he will be a defensive force in the NHL.Acquired 2007 draft, 18th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 JONAS JUNLANDD, 20, 6-2, 200Linkoping (Swe.) 43-3-11-14-36Chose to stay in Sweden this season, but WJC play showed he&rsquo;s progressing.Acquired 2006 draft, 64th overall.7 MAREK SCHWARZG, 21, 6-0, 186Peoria (AHL) 9-8-2, 2.47, .896Has failed to impress during infrequent call-ups. Development has stalled.Acquired 2004 draft, 17th overall.8 ROMAN POLAKD, 21, 6-1, 227Peoria (AHL) 21-0-5-5-15&nbsp;Throws bone-crushing hits, but season was halted by an ankle injury.Acquired 2004 draft, 180th overall.9 CADE FAIRCHILDD, 19, 5-11, 186Minnesota (WCHA) 25-2-8-10-16Despite his size, Team USA used him in all defensive situations at WJC.Acquired 2007 draft, 96th overall.10 NIKITA NIKITIND, 21, 6-3, 210Omsk (Rus.) 48-1-7-8-46&nbsp;Big, puck-moving defenseman is physically maturing, but needs more intensity.Acquired 2004 draft, 136th overall. &#9632;

f0048-02

BLUES READY TO ROCK AND ROLL

<div class="byline">BY DAVID POLLAK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-02193/9085374-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg" title="f0049-02" width="863" height="1010"><figcaption class="caption-body">Devin Setoguchi (JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01281/9085381-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="196" height="186"></div>The Sharks have an impressive track record for drafting and developing their own players. Sixteen on their roster have taken that route to the NHL.But nowadays, the process takes a little longer. The Sharks say that comes from having higher-caliber players in San Jose and not because of any deficiencies on the part of prospects in the system.The Sharks haven&rsquo;t had a shot at a star-level draft pick in years, a byproduct of success. But San Jose has been willing to trade other assets to move up high enough to come away with prospects to take care of future needs.<h2>1 DEVIN SETOGUCHI, RW, 21, Worcester (AHL)</h2>6-0, 205, 14-3-9-12-16OVERALL 15There was talk Setoguchi was NHL-ready more than a year ago, but a knee injury kept him out of camp in 2006. He made the team last fall, only to have his debut delayed because of an ankle injury.Finally, Setoguchi started his NHL career in style Oct. 29, scoring twice in a 3-2 victory. He had seven goals in nine games, then hit a wall, scoring once in the next 15.That slump and a loss of focus earned Setoguchi a stint in the minors, but the shuttle has continued. The Sharks like his speed and offensive instincts.Acquired 2005 draft, 8th overall.<h2>2 TY WISHART, D, 19, Moose Jaw (WHL)</h2>6-4, 205, 54-14-38-52-38OVERALL 47Wishart has been the WHL&rsquo;s top-scoring defenseman, but the Sharks are even happier about the mid-season trade that saw him move from Prince George because it means he&rsquo;ll be getting playoff experience.The Sharks say Wishart will bring a balanced game to the NHL, with solid play at both ends of the ice. At this point, he isn&rsquo;t a very physical defenseman, but the Sharks say that will improve as he adds strength to his frame.Wishart was invited to Canada&rsquo;s national junior camp, but didn&rsquo;t make the final cut.Acquired 2006 draft, 16th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;LOGAN COUTURE, C, 18, Ottawa (OHL)</h2>6-0, 200, 34-17-28-45-31OVERALL 66The Sharks went to a lot of effort to draft Couture, their prize last summer in a pair of draft-day deals, including the one that sent Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell to Toronto.For a while, Couture was having a season that justified their level of interest. He was showing the leadership they expected and scoring at more than a point per game. Couture even bettered OHL phenom John Tavares in one fund-raising shootout.But on Dec. 16, he sustained a concussion. Not getting invited to Canada&rsquo;s junior camp was a blow.Acquired 2007 draft, 9th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;LUKAS KASPAR, LW, 22, Worcester (AHL)</h2>6-2, 220, 40-13-10-23-30The Sharks weren&rsquo;t worried about Kaspar&rsquo;s skills when they drafted him, but it has taken a while for the defensive aspects to catch up.That started to happen last spring. The Sharks say he&rsquo;s playing much harder on the puck and starting to develop more of an all-around game. They cite Kaspar&rsquo;s Czech countryman in the organization, Milan Michalek, as a role model.Kaspar, who impressed his bosses on a line with Setoguchi and center Torrey Mitchell during camp, was one of the last players trimmed from the roster.Acquired 2004 draft, 22nd overall.<h2>5&nbsp;JAMIE MCGINN, LW, 19, Ottawa (OHL)</h2>6-0, 200, 41-22-25-47-39Couture&rsquo;s linemate had health problems of his own earlier in the season, a back injury kept him out of nine games.But he&rsquo;s playing now &ndash; and performing well enough to take over the team scoring lead while Couture recuperates. His defensive game has also improved from the previous two seasons.McGinn is hard-nosed, fearless and has the potential to be a power forward in the NHL. That&rsquo;ll take added size and strength and the Sharks say they already have him on an off-season conditioning program.Acquired 2007 draft, 36th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 THOMAS GREISSG, 22, 6-1, 200 Worcester (AHL) 13-10-1, 3.06, .898Nice athleticism as Worcester&rsquo;s top goalie; limited role as Nabokov&rsquo;s NHL backup.Acquired 2004 draft, 94th overall.7 NICK PETRECKID, 18, 6-3, 215Boston College (HE) 24-0-6-6-50Freshman living up to reputation as hard-hitter, strong skater.Acquired 2007 draft, 28th overall.8 DEREK JOSLIND, 21, 6-1, 210Worcester (AHL) 46-6-15-21-26&nbsp;Showing poise, leadership after early adjustment period as a rookie pro.Acquired 2005 draft, 149th overall.9 TAYLOR DAKERSG, 21, 6-1, 175Worcester (AHL) 4-9-1, 3.05, .893Good reads for a young goalie, still needs to add leg strength.Acquired 2005 draft, 140th overall.10 DAN SPANGD, 24, 6-0, 205Worcester (AHL) 46-5-16-21-18Shoulder problem contributed to slow start; window of opportunity is closing.Acquired 2002 draft, 52nd overall. &#9632;

f0049-02

SHARKS ATTACK THROUGH DRAFT

<div class="byline">BY DAMIAN CRISTODERO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02181/9085412-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg" title="f0050-02" width="858" height="1010"><figcaption class="caption-body">Riku Helenius (DAVID PITCHER/SEATTLE THUNDERBIRDS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01270/9085419-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="194" height="187"></div>After nearly a decade of poor drafting, Tampa Bay is feeling the effects and its minor league system even more so. The Lightning has just five players currently on its roster drafted after 1998, when they selected Vinny Lecavalier and Brad Richards. And none are impact players.The problem is especially acute at forward.The situation led GM Jay Feaster to commit the organization to drafting for offensive production last year, grabbing seven forwards out of nine picks. That trend has to continue this season.<h2>1 RIKU HELENIUS, G, 19, Seattle (WHL)</h2>6-3, 202, 15-9-6, 2.37, .917OVERALL 68This is a season of transition for Helenius, playing his first North American season after starring at the junior level in Finland. He trying to resurrect himself after missing almost all of 2006-07 with a shoulder injury.That&rsquo;s why Tampa likes Helenius in Seattle, where roving goaltenders coach Corey Schwab can work with him. The Lightning is also trying to alleviate pressure by not judging this season or his poor world junior performance too harshly. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting a grace period,&rsquo;&rsquo; said head scout Jake Goertzen.Acquired 2006 draft, 15th overall.<h2>2 KARRI RAMO, G, 21, Norfolk (AHL)</h2>6-2, 201, 2-4-0, 3.33, .898Ramo was called up Dec. 19 and played nine of Tampa Bay&rsquo;s next 10 games, making eight starts. The idea, the team said, was to evaluate Ramo to see if he has what it takes to be a real No. 1. Ramo started fast and then faded under the work load. Still, the team likes what it saw.Ramo is athletic and capable of making jaw-dropping saves. The key will be to do it consistently. Ramo also has an intangible the team loves: an ability to not only shrug off bad goals and bad games, but to come back stronger the next time.Acquired 2004 draft, 191st overall.<h2>3&nbsp;VLADIMIR MIHALIK, D, 21, Norfolk (AHL)</h2>6-7, 222, 36-1-10-11-33Goertzen said Mihalik finally has grown into his body. As the head scout said, &ldquo;When we drafted him, he was on his ass all the time. He was a comedy on ice. He seldom falls anymore, no more than anybody else.&rdquo;Still, Mihalik took a step back because of a fairly serious groin strain, not exactly what was needed as he tried to feel his way around in his first year in the AHL.That said, Goertzen noted Mihalik is getting more comfortable and is even getting his nose dirty, almost imperative given his size and strength.Acquired 2005 draft, 30th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;MATT SMABY, D, 23, Norfolk (AHL)</h2>6-5, 222, 38-0-4-4-29Smaby is an interesting case: he has the size, temperament and skills necessary to play in the NHL. Those are three reasons why Smaby stuck with the team in the latter part of 2006-07, though he didn&rsquo;t get in a game.He needs to make sure he is physically in shape and consistently focused.Smaby impressed the Lightning enough during this year&rsquo;s camp that he began the season in the NHL. Tampa Bay decided it was better for Smaby to play higher minutes in the minors, rather than five-to-eight minutes with the Lightning.Acquired 2003 draft, 41st overall.<h2>5&nbsp;DANA TYRELL, LW, 18, Prince George (WHL)</h2>6-1, 175, 49-21-30-51-33Tyrell is having an outstanding season with the Cougars and hit the 20-goal mark for the second straight year. Goertzen said he&rsquo;s a &ldquo;heart and soul guy who competes and battles every game.&rdquo;Tyrell is the type of player the Lightning needs more of &ndash; a straight-ahead forechecker who can score. He has maintained work ethic and focus despite playing for an underachieving team. That speaks of character.&ldquo;In order to survive you have to battle,&rdquo; Goertzen said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had some down nights, but he&rsquo;s bounced back quick.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 47th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 BLAIR JONESC, 21, 6-3, 207Norfolk (AHL) 43-7-13-20-42The Blair Jones project is progressing well in AHL, but sputters at NHL level.Acquired 2005 draft, 102nd overall.7 KEVIN QUICKD, 19, 6-0, 175Michigan (CCHA) 21-2-2-4-12Worked way into Michigan&rsquo;s top four; a &ldquo;tremendous&rdquo; skater, Goertzen said.Acquired 2006 draft, 78th overall.8 ANDY ROGERSD, 21, 6-5, 201Norfolk (AHL) 30-0-1-1-35&nbsp;Huge talent who was set back by injuries past two seasons. Finally healthy.Acquired 2004 draft, 30th overall.9 LUCA CUNTIC, 18, 6-0, 190Chicago (USHL) 13-4-7-11-8Forced to leave St. Cloud State because he played in a Swiss pro league.Acquired 2007 draft, 75th overall.10 ALEXANDER KILLORNC, 18, 6-1, 161Deerfield Academy (USHS) n/a-25-24-49-n/a&nbsp;Offensive-minded playmaker who can skate and score. Committed to Harvard.&nbsp;Acquired 2007 draft, 107th overall. &#9632;

f0050-02

NOTHING SURGING IN TAMPA SYSTEM

<div class="byline">BY MIKE ZEISBERGER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-02191/9085450-1-eng-US/f0051-022.jpg" title="f0051-02" width="856" height="1008"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nikolai Kulemin (IHA)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-01264/9085457-1-eng-US/f0051-012.jpg" title="f0051-01" width="196" height="188"></div>The most successful Leafs draft pick of the past 25 years can be spotted on many a night at the Air Canada Centre. Not on the ice though.His playing days behind him, Wendel Clark is now an ambassador for the franchise. If only he could lace &lsquo;em up.Leafs assistant GM Mike Penny doesn&rsquo;t buy the gloom and doom, even though a panel of scouts ranked the Toronto prospects 28th out of 30 teams.&ldquo;First of all, who knows how any of these guys are going to develop down the road?&rdquo; Penny said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what this is about &ndash; getting players to improve.&rdquo;<h2>1 NIKOLAI KULEMIN, LW, 21, Magnitogorsk (Rus.)</h2>6-0, 200, 49-19-9-28-59OVERALL 24A former junior linemate of Evgeni Malkin, Kulemin&rsquo;s development continues to excite Leafs brass. A pure scorer, Kulemin opted to play one more season in Russia rather than coming to North America.&ldquo;We made an agreement with Toronto management that I would spend this year at home and will be in the NHL next season,&rdquo; Kulemin told Novye Izvestia.Kulemin, who has picked up some valuable experience during his stints with the Russian national team, is seen as a key building block in 2008-09.Acquired 2006 draft, 44th overall.<h2>2 JUSTIN POGGE, G, 21, Toronto (AHL)</h2>6-3, 204, 17-3-4, 2.26, .911OVERALL 43After struggling in his first year as a pro, Pogge has emerged as one of the top goalies in the AHL.&ldquo;Last year I would be so excited and jacked up before games,&rdquo; Pogge said. &ldquo;Now I&rsquo;m much calmer; just let the puck hit me instead of trying to do too much.&rdquo;Marlies coach Greg Gilbert scoffs at those who feel fellow prospects Carey Price (Canadiens) and Tuukka Rask (Bruins) have shown more promise than Pogge. &ldquo;There are no guarantees they will be better goalies than Justin in three years,&rdquo; Gilbert said.Acquired 2004 draft, 90th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;ROBBIE EARL, LW, 22, Toronto (AHL)</h2>6-0, 195, 44-11-22-33-36Earl carries a chip on his shoulder dating back to draft day. Bitter he wasn&rsquo;t selected on the first day of the 2004 draft, Earl vowed to reporters he would prove the NHL establishment wrong for passing on him until the sixth round.Earl has always had the jets that make him one of the faster players on every shift, but he has finally picked up his defensive play while learning to deal with the more physical style of the pros.&ldquo;Now he&rsquo;s a more complete player,&rdquo; Penny said.If the Wisconsin grad continues to develop, he&rsquo;ll soon prove critics wrong.Acquired 2004 draft, 187th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;ALEX FOSTER, LW, 23, Toronto (AHL)</h2>6-1, 190, 37-9-18-27-12There is no arguing the Bowling Green alumnus has the bloodlines to make it to the NHL, considering his dad is former Boston Bruin Dwight Foster.Scouts like the energy Foster brings to each and every shift. He&rsquo;s not shy to throw his body around and uses his impressive speed to cause havoc.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a guy that&rsquo;s really tough for opponents to play against,&rdquo; Penny said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a nice find.&rdquo;To call Foster a &ldquo;can&rsquo;t miss&rdquo; prospect is stretching things. But he has all the tools needed to be at least a third or fourth-liner in the NHL.Acquired Signed as a free agent, March 8, 2006.<h2>5&nbsp;DARRYL BOYCE, C, 23, Toronto (AHL)</h2>6-0, 200, 41-8-16-24-71While playing with the Marlies, Boyce learned to adapt to the tight-checking, physical style of pro hockey and had found a scoring touch as the season progressed.His play earned him a two-way contract and less than a month later, he was called up to the NHL.For a kid from Summerside, P.E.I., having spent the past two years playing at the University of New Brunswick, what could be better?But on Jan. 24 making his NHL debut against Washington, Boyce injured his shoulder and is out indefinitely.Acquired Signed as free agent, Jan. 1, 2008.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 CHRIS DIDOMENICOC, 18, 6-1, 170Saint John (QMJHL) 52-34-43-77-77A natural sniper who has had stints atop the scoring race; nice offensive upside.Acquired 2007 draft, 164th overall.7 DALE MITCHELLRW, 18, 5-8, 207Oshawa (OHL) 45-14-26-40-60Energy player who brings scoring touch to the table; uses frame effectively.Acquired 2007 draft, 74th overall.8 KORBINIAN HALZERD, 19, 6-3, 195Metro Stars (Ger.) 27-1-5-6-36Big lanky kid who needs to bulk up. A raw talent who is still refining his skills.Acquired 2006 draft, 111th overall.9 JAMES REIMERG, 19, 6-2, 208Red Deer (WHL) 8-15-4, 2.73, .916Multiple winner of WHL goalie-of-the-week award; uses large frame well.Acquired 2006 draft, 99th overall.10 JAIME SIFERSD, 24, 5-11, 210Toronto (AHL) 46-0-6-6-37Stocky kid not afraid to get his nose dirty; has shown flashes of offensive flair.Acquired Free agent, July 26, 2006. &#9632;

f0051-02

LEAFS DESPERATE FOR GROWTH PLAN

<div class="byline">BY ELLIOTT PAP</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-02156/9085488-1-eng-US/f0052-022.jpg" title="f0052-02" width="858" height="1004"><figcaption class="caption-body">Luc Bourdon (JONATHAN KOZUB/MANITOBA MOOSE)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-01256/9085495-1-eng-US/f0052-012.jpg" title="f0052-01" width="196" height="187"></div>The Canucks have a trio of first round picks ripening on their AHL farm team in Manitoba, but it is a third-rounder from 2004, defenseman Alex Edler, who has become the prize tomato in their system.The unheralded Swede, called up in October due to injuries, has become one of the NHL&rsquo;s top rookie blueliners while first-rounders Cory Schneider, Luc Bourdon and Michael Grabner continue to develop in the minors.&ldquo;From an overall skill point, we&rsquo;re excited with what we have, but center is an area we&rsquo;d like to improve on,&rdquo; said Canuck assistant GM Steve Tambellini.<h2>1 LUC BOURDON, D, 20, Manitoba (AHL)</h2>6-1, 211, 34-6-6-12-64OVERALL 20It has been an up-and-down season for the 2005 first-rounder. In his first full season of pro, the smooth-skating defenseman began well in the AHL, came up for nine games in November (going an excellent plus-6), then struggled upon his return to the Moose. Bourdon can skate, hit, shoot and fight, so all he needs is the experience reading the game and making better decisions.&ldquo;Luc has an A-plus skill set,&rdquo; Tambellini said. &ldquo;His whole thing is getting experience and how that translates into the pro game.&rdquo;Acquired 2005 draft, 10th overall.<h2>2 MASON RAYMOND, LW, 22, Manitoba (AHL)</h2>6-0, 182, 20-7-10-17-6OVERALL 28Raymond has been riding the Vancouver-Manitoba shuttle since leaving Minnesota-Duluth last spring.A speedy left winger, Raymond is ahead of the curve. He was projected for full-time work on the farm, but a lack of top-six forwards on the big club, plus an injury to Brendan Morrison, has resulted in significant stints at the NHL level. Raymond is an excellent passer and very shifty in addition to having great acceleration.&ldquo;Every time we&rsquo;ve called him up, he&rsquo;s an improved player,&rdquo; Tambellini said.Acquired 2005 draft, 51st overall.<h2>3&nbsp;CORY SCHNEIDER, G, 21, Manitoba (AHL)</h2>6-2, 202, 7-9-1, 2.90, .893OVERALL 75When the Canucks were trying to sign their 2004 first-rounder, they touted Schneider as being capable of stepping into a No. 1 role at the AHL level. It hasn&rsquo;t worked out that way. Schneider, a huge star with Boston College, struggled early and was relegated to backup behind Drew MacIntyre. The Canucks wanted more.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a huge adjustment going from college to playing against guys just below the NHL level,&rdquo; Tambellini said. &ldquo;Yes, we would like him to be playing more, but we also want him to earn the right.&rdquo;Acquired 2004 draft, 26th overall.<h2>4&nbsp;MICHAEL GRABNER, RW, 20, Manitoba (AHL)</h2>6-0, 187, 44-15-13-28-6Drafted as a goal-scorer, the Austrian winger is proving to be just that in his first pro season. The problem with Grabner is consistency. He began slowly, then went through a mid-season stretch where he scored in five straight games and shortly thereafter, was a healthy scratch. The Canucks think he&rsquo;ll need a couple of AHL years to hone his skills.&ldquo;Everybody is concerned about the warts or holes on a player who is coming straight out of junior or college,&rdquo; Tambellini said. &ldquo;What you can&rsquo;t teach is that he knows how to score.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 14th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;JANNIK HANSEN, RW, 21, Manitoba (AHL)</h2>6-0, 194, 16-3-2-5-4A product of Denmark and the Portland Winter Hawks, Hansen was excellent in training camp, but broke his wrist in the pre-season.He was sent down to Manitoba to work his way back and sustained a concussion. The injuries have slowed his progress. The Canucks had high hopes for the hustling forward, based on a 10-game stint with the big club during last season&rsquo;s playoffs.&ldquo;I think Jannik had a great chance to stay with our team, but unfortunately, he had those injuries and that&rsquo;s kind of delayed his progress,&rdquo; Tambellini said.Acquired 2004 draft, 287th overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 PATRICK WHITEC, 19, 6-0, 186Minnesota (WCHA) 30-3-3-6-10A true freshman, White began his college career as a third-liner.Acquired 2007 draft, 25th overall.7 TAYLOR ELLINGTOND, 19, 6-0, 205Everett (WHL) 48-3-11-14-66Returned to junior after an impressive camp. Ellington is progressing well.Acquired 2007 draft, 33rd overall.8 ILYA KABLUKOVC, 20, 6-2, 183Central Army (Rus.) 42-4-8-12-16Canucks loved his compete level at last year&rsquo;s Canada-Russia Super Series.Acquired 2007 draft, 146th overall.9 JURAJ SIMEKRW, 20, 6-1, 192Manitoba (AHL) 38-6-6-12-14Creative puckhandler, first-year pro trying to earn his minutes in the AHL.Acquired 2006 draft, 167th overall.10 SERGEI SHIROKOVC, 21, 5-10, 176Central Army (Rus.) 48-8-17-25-20&nbsp;Small, skilled and a leader, Canucks want him playing in North America.Acquired 2006 draft, 163rd overall. &#9632;

f0052-02

CANUCKS LACKING A CENTERPIECE

<div class="byline">BY PETER KERZEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-02161/9085526-1-eng-US/f0053-022.jpg" title="f0053-02" width="848" height="1006"><figcaption class="caption-body">Karl Alzner (CHRISTOPHER J RELKE)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-01242/9085533-1-eng-US/f0053-012.jpg" title="f0053-01" width="196" height="189"></div>Now that they&rsquo;re approaching the precipice of playoff contention, the Capitals cannot afford to abandon their emphasis on player development.&ldquo;It becomes even more critical to be able to replace someone with a younger and cheaper player,&rdquo; said GM George McPhee, who stockpiled prospects while Washington took its post-lockout lumps.For now, the Capitals will rely on depth players from a system deeper than most. In a few years, with Alex Ovechkin and others committed long term, Washington will count on those now ripening in the system.<h2>1 KARL ALZNER, D, 19, Calgary (WHL)</h2>6-2, 206, 44-7-22-29-11OVERALL 9When Alzner fell to Washington in the 2007 draft, the Caps eagerly snatched him up, figuring they had a cornerstone to fortify their defense for a decade.No one expects Alzner to develop into an end-to-end threat; the Capitals will be thrilled if he continues to play responsibly, move the puck to his forwards and concentrate on shutting down opposition rushes.More steady than flashy, Alzner doesn&rsquo;t shy from physical play, displays an uncanny intuition and captained Canada to world junior gold. He has few apparent flaws.Acquired 2007 draft, 5th overall.<h2>2 ERIC FEHR, RW, 22, Hershey (AHL)</h2>6-4, 212, 10-2-4-6-4OVERALL 50Another scoring winger would be in Washington had his progress not been derailed by a mysterious back/hip ailment that shelved Fehr for almost a year. In two brief trials, the brass saw good hands, speed down the wing, a quick shot and the ability to adapt his game to different pivots. Then came injury problems and a long rehabilitation that has now taken Fehr to Hershey.A refined 20-year-old demonstrated he could advantageously use his sizeable frame. Fehr&rsquo;s goals are working on conditioning and regaining his timing.Acquired 2003 draft, 18th overall.<h2>3&nbsp;SIMEON VARLAMOV, G, 19, Yaroslavl (Rus.)</h2>6-1, 183, 23-10-0, 2.42, .912OVERALL 67After his spotty play in the Super Series, Varlamov was snubbed from Russia&rsquo;s junior team. Political or not, the rebuff hasn&rsquo;t bothered Varlamov, a butterfly specialist who continues to perfect his craft in Russia, where he&rsquo;s a top goaltending prospect.Consistency is the key &ndash; he&rsquo;s praised for reflexes and a quick glove hand, yet he was consistently beaten low and between the pads in the Super Series.Although Washington signed the long-term project to a three-year deal, Varlamov needs to even out his play.Acquired 2006 draft, 23rd overall.<h2>4&nbsp;MICHAL NEUVIRTH, G, 19, Oshawa (OHL)</h2>6-1, 197, 14-5-2, 2.78, .910Yes, he has quick reflexes and poise that belies his age, but Washington won&rsquo;t rush Neuvirth into being Olaf Kolzig&rsquo;s heir in goal. Rather than risk having his cool-almost-cocky demeanor crushed by accelerating his maturation, the Capitals will be patient.An AHL stint is still another season away for Neuvirth, who has been traded twice this OHL season, testing his mental mettle.By virtue of his play at the world juniors and the fact he steps up his play in big-game situations, the Czech is pushing Varlamov on the depth chart.Acquired 2006 draft, 36th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;CHRIS BOURQUE, LW, 22, Hershey (AHL)</h2>5-9, 173, 41-15-15-30-24The undersized son of Hall of Famer Ray Bourque enjoys hearing reasons he can&rsquo;t succeed, then obliterates them.Bourque is technically sound and will soon crack the Caps&rsquo; lineup, especially with former Hershey coach Bruce Boudreau now guiding the team.Experience is the only roadblock he has yet to conquer.Opponents marvel at Bourque&rsquo;s willingness to play hard along the boards and in front of the net. Assuming he continues to employ that style and grit, no one will question his size.Acquired 2004 draft, 33rd overall.<h2>ON THE HORIZON&nbsp;THE NEXT FIVE</h2>6 FRANCOIS BOUCHARDRW, 19, 6-0, 180Baie-Comeau (QMJHL) 54-29-47-76-54Good hands, playmaking abilities; figures to be a top-six scoring winger.&nbsp;Acquired 2006 draft, 35th overall.7 JOSH GODFREYD, 20, 6-0, 197Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) 44-15-23-38-49High-scoring defenseman packs howitzer shot, likes to create offense.Acquired 2007 draft, 34th overall.8 OSKAR OSALALW, 20, 6-4, 217Espoo (Fin.) 44-14-15-29-54Speedy big man is two-way threat, but must adjust to North American style.Acquired 2006 draft, 96th overall.9 MATHIEU PERREAULTC, 20, 5-8, 151Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL) 45-25-47-72-35Set-&lsquo;em-up pivot relies on quickness, guile. Needs to add strength to repertoire.Acquired 2006 draft, 177th overall.10 JOE FINLEYD, 20, 6-7, 233North Dakota (WCHA) 27-3-8-11-59&nbsp;Post-college test will speak volumes about stay-at-home type with soft hands.Acquired 2005 draft, 27th overall. &#9632;

f0053-02

EMERGING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GRIGG</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0054-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-01247/9085564-1-eng-US/f0054-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ISS is closely monitoring 2008 draft prospects such as Cody Hodgson. (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>International Scouting Services has made the bold move to redefine itself and, it believes, its entire industry by adding a player development component to its renowned scouting outfit.The Antigonish, N.S.-based ISS employs 20 scouts across North America and Europe. It supplies subscribers with prospect news from around the globe, including rankings and profiles of top NHL and major junior draft-eligible players.Now it&rsquo;s trying to diversify by adding player development.The basic concept? Inject more efficiency into development and scouting by getting players young, testing them repeatedly over a period of years, identifying the elite players and providing the data to interested parties, including teams and scouts.&ldquo;We think we&rsquo;ve created a better scouting model,&rdquo; said ISS GM Matt Ebbs of the ISS Future Stars Program.That model includes a partnership with Next Testing, a Wisconsin-based company using the latest technology to get the most exact testing results.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s so much human involvement with certain testing,&rdquo; said Ward Hillegas, Next Testing&rsquo;s vice-president of business development. &ldquo;You get a guy with a stopwatch versus another guy with a stopwatch and whose thumb is quicker (makes a difference); whereas all our testing is done electronically and is wireless. The times and measurements we get are very accurate.&rdquo;The company uses laser gates, sensors with light-activation units and automated timing systems to test physiology, biometrics, cognition, sport-specific skills and even intangibles, like attitude and discipline.&ldquo;Nobody goes into the depth Next Testing does,&rdquo; Ebbs said. &ldquo;(Our program) is about the information. Capturing the data from year-to-year so the player (can) use it to develop and, down the road, it then evolves into the ultimate scouting model.&rdquo;&ldquo;It is not just that you have an issue with your skating,&rdquo; Ebbs elaborated. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s specifically &lsquo;this is the problem&rsquo;. So (for instance) from a kinetic standpoint, you&rsquo;ve got to get two inches lower and once you do that, you&rsquo;ll generate that much more power.&rdquo;To build a &lsquo;continuum of data,&rsquo; as Ebbs calls it, ISS plans to test and detail development in players as young as 11. And not just elite players, anyone can sign up for the testing combines. Players then use the Next Testing website to see how they measure up against their peers and where they need to improve.Although ISS charges players a fee to attend its combines, that&rsquo;s not how it expects to realize the bulk of its profits. NHL, NCAA or major junior teams and their scouts can also sign up with Next Testing to follow the development of ISS&rsquo;s future stars.&ldquo;We feel that from a business perspective, it&rsquo;s the data that&rsquo;s going to be the most valuable asset moving forward,&rdquo; Ebbs said. &ldquo;(NHL teams) would like to see information from 14, 15, 16 to see what kind of developmental trajectory the player is on.&rdquo;And there&rsquo;s the rub. Shouldn&rsquo;t player development and scouting be mutually exclusive? How can ISS be objective with its rankings if it&rsquo;s trying to develop prospects and promote many of those same players as high-end talents?NHL Central Scouting Service director E.J. McGuire doesn&rsquo;t see any major ethical problems with the new ISS business model.&ldquo;Yes. It is a conflict of interest, but not a bad one,&rdquo; McGuire said. &ldquo;Yes. They will try to push their players, but that&rsquo;s part of it. The fact they have a strong opinion and push a kid, heck, we do that all the time.&rdquo;Ebbs admitted the ISS executive discussed the new model being perceived as a conflict of interest, but he&rsquo;s adamant ISS would never falsely promote a player for business reasons.&ldquo;Our response has been we&rsquo;re never going to compromise our integrity in terms of who&rsquo;s going to be ranked what, where, when and why,&rdquo; Ebbs said.The Future Stars program is still in its infancy, but ISS is ambitious. Ebbs talked of testing combines in centers across North America &ndash; the next will be in Toronto in March &ndash; and plans are in the works to run similar events in Europe. There are even discussions about sponsoring elite, invitational tournaments that include testing. Time will tell, but it looks like the future of scouting is upon us. &#9632;

f0054-01

SCOUTING REVOLUTION

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0056-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-01187/9085609-1-eng-US/f0056-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Pittsburgh Hornets have ruled western Pennsylvania for years. (COURTESY STUDIO IZIIMAGES)</figcaption></div>EVERY PARENT WANTSto give their kid the best shot possible at making something of their passion, but finding the correct path is difficult. The debate between a young man playing major junior or NCAA is no longer decided by which side of the border you were born on and competition for the top talent is furious.But before a teenager gets to those ranks, he must navigate the world of elite youth hockey. In Canada, where the majority of major junior players hail from, a teen can be drafted into the Western League at 14, so while the youth ranks are still crucial to development, there is less time in which to have an impact. In the U.S., players must first graduate high school before playing NCAA hockey, so prep programs hold on to players longer.With that in mind, The Hockey News presents its first-ever ranking of the top prep programs in America.Culled from a panel of experts on both sides of the border, the criterion included quality of alumni graduated to major junior, NCAA, the AHL and in the best-case scenario, NHL, as well as the success the team has had at tournaments.The first thing any wellversed puckhead will notice is a lack of representation from two of America&rsquo;s biggest hockey hotbeds, Minnesota and Massachusetts. This is because the high school game dominates the landscape so much in those districts.Ironically, our No. 1 pick also represents the exception to the rule: Shattuck-St. Mary&rsquo;s prep school in Faribault, Minn., is included because it is a private school which competes against the other teams on the list and is not subject to the same rules (ie. number of games played in a season) as other Minnesota high schools. With that in mind, let&rsquo;s get down to business.1. SHATTUCK-ST. MARY&rsquo;S&nbsp;SABRES Look at Shattuck&rsquo;s list of NHL alumni and you&rsquo;re looking at a list of the NHL&rsquo;s best young talent. When a teenaged Sidney Crosby wanted to hone his considerable skills, he headed to Faribault. Jonathan Toews did the same en route to the University of North Dakota and ultimately, the Chicago Blackhawks. And New Jersey&rsquo;s Zach Parise had a rather easy decision in attending the school; his father, former NHLer J-P Parise, is director of prospect evaluation at SSM. Other Sabres grads include Kyle Okposo, Angelo Esposito and Patrick Eaves, while 2008 draft prospects David Toews, David Carle (younger brothers of Jonathan and San Jose&rsquo;s Matt) and Derek Stepan are currently suiting up for the squad.What largely sets Shattuck apart from the crowd is the fact the team has gone international. This year&rsquo;s roster featured players from Sweden, England and the Czech Republic, though future Denver Pioneer Stepan Novotny left to play in the USHL.The key to recruiting for J-P Parise is going to Europe so everyone can see the Shattuck way.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been to Russia, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy with the hope someone sees us and says &lsquo;Gosh, I&rsquo;d like to send my child there,&rsquo; &rdquo; Parise said. &ldquo;And it works.&rdquo;Being an established brand, Shattuck can be very selective when choosing its charges.&ldquo;It takes a very special player to come here,&rdquo; said Parise, noting that since Shattuck is still a private school, it&rsquo;s not cheap to attend and the education standard is high. &ldquo;We are very disciplined. It reminds me of when I played for the Isles &ndash; we competed and we had character.&rdquo;And that issue of character is one Jonathan Toews found crucial to his experience at SSM.&ldquo;It was a huge step,&rdquo; Toews said. &ldquo;Everybody you&rsquo;re with is after the same thing and you grow close to your teammates.&rdquo;2. HONEYBAKED Alumni: Jim Slater, Ryan Kesler, Jason Bacashihua, Tim Gleason, David Booth, Peter Mueller.Founded in 1994 and playing out of the Detroit suburb of Oak Park, Honeybaked has been a dominant force in a competitive market. Since its inception, the program has 39 state titles and four national titles while winning the vaunted Quebec Peewee Tournament four times.&ldquo;Michigan is one of the three M&rsquo;s (with Minnesota and Massachusetts) and now they&rsquo;ve added the best from Illinois,&rdquo; said Bob Turow, director of central scouting for the USHL. &ldquo;(Honeybaked) has probably been the most powerful the past five to 10 years.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-01172/9085602-1-eng-US/f0057-012.jpg" title="f0057-01" width="2198" height="1112"><figcaption class="caption-body">California has seen an explosion of teams recently, including the Selects.</figcaption></div>Rob Kitamura, director of scouting and development for the OHL, concurs: &ldquo;Consistently, they field excellent teams. They have great drawing power.&rdquo;3. TEAM ILLINOIS Alumni: Ed Olczyk, Bates Battaglia, Craig Anderson, Danny Richmond.With a long tradition in the game, Team Illinois is a perennial power in the tough Midwest.&ldquo;T.I. is traditionally a good team,&rdquo; said Madison coach Gary Suter. &ldquo;They draw well.&rdquo;Along with a host of NHLers from the 1980s to present day, T.I. has graduated a baffling number of NCAA players from virtually every Division I school. The organization also features a very strong girl&rsquo;s program.The Chicago Mission and Chicago Chill also got votes as tough outs in the Illinois area.4. LITTLE CAESAR&rsquo;S Alumni: Mike Modano, Derian Hatcher, Kevin Hatcher, David Legwand, Doug Weight, John Vanbiesbrouck.Established in 1968 by Mike and Marian Illitch, the Detroitbased Little Caesar&rsquo;s team naturally has close ties with the Red Wings. And for a squad named after a pizza chain, Little Caesar&rsquo;s hockey program has certainly delivered. Twenty-seven players and counting have gone from the team to the NHL.The team has won numerous state championships and tourneys over the years.5. DALLAS JR. STARS&nbsp;Alumni: David McKee. Thanks to the NHL&rsquo;s Dallas Stars, hockey in Texas has taken off in the past decade. Turow notes that where there used to be just a handful of high school teams in the state, there are now more than one hundred. One of the teams beginning to make waves nationally is the Dallas Jr. Stars.The program is now consistently sending players to major NCAA schools, such as Maine and Colorado College.6. L.A. SELECTS &ldquo;California has some great players coming out,&rdquo; Parise said. &ldquo;And these teams are getting good.&rdquo;The Selects are part of a California rush of talent that also includes the L.A. Jr. Kings and California Wave. The arrival of Wayne Gretzky in 1988 served as the genesis of grassroots hockey in the state and many of those Children of Wayne are now making their way through the college and major junior ranks. Bobby Ryan (Jr. Kings) and Jonathon Blum (Wave) are two of the bigger names.&ldquo;There was a five- to 10-year period when they were pretty proactive,&rdquo; Kitamura said. &ldquo;They would come to Silver Stick and (Toronto) Marlie tournaments and do quite well.&rdquo;James Gasseau, president of the Selects, has seen the competition increase first-hand in the Golden State. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s been an upswing in the past five years,&rdquo; he noted.7. MADISON CAPITOLS&nbsp;Alumni: Gary Suter, Ryan Suter, Phil Kessel.If the Madison Capitols are on the ice, chances are a Suter is involved. Former NHLer Gary Suter is the bench boss of the Capitols U-18 team, where he coaches his son, Jake. The team was founded in 1977 by, among others, Gary&rsquo;s father Marlowe.&ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t another AAA program around at the time,&rdquo; said Gary, who played on the original 1977-78 team. &ldquo;Their theory was players would develop the quickest if they played against the best competition.&rdquo;And that philosophy continues today. The Capitols play all the other top programs and host their own tourney, which draws teams from across the country. This despite competing with &ldquo;before and after&rdquo; programs in Wisconsin &ndash; teams that only operate outside the scholastic calendar, enabling players to suit up for their high school teams in the interim.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-01183/9085595-1-eng-US/f0058-012.jpg" title="f0058-01" width="827" height="1134"><figcaption class="caption-body">David Toews is following in his brother&rsquo;s big footsteps at Shattuck. (SCOTT A. SCHNEIDER/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Suter is not a fan of the concept. &ldquo;Between November and March, the best players aren&rsquo;t pushed,&rdquo; he noted. &ldquo;You want to play with and against the best so when you go to those junior tryouts, you&rsquo;re ready to play.&rdquo;8. PITTSBURGH HORNETS Alumni: R.J. Umberger, Ryan Malone, Nate Guenin, John Zeiler.The Hornets have been buzzing in Pittsburgh since 1997-98, but the history of the team goes back to the 1980s, when they were the Mt. Lebanon Hornets. Drawing largely from western Pennsylvania, the Hornets nonetheless usually feature several imports, often steered there by independent scouts.&ldquo;We take those as the biggest compliments,&rdquo; said Chris Stern, coaching co-ordinator for the Hornets and assistant coach of the midget major team. The Hornets benefit from a home NHL team &ndash; several ex-Pens, including Joe Mullen &ndash; have sent their sons through the program.9. COMPUWARE Alumni: Eric Lindros, Jack Johnson, Chad LaRose, Pat LaFontaine.Founded in the mid-1970s by Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos and partner Thomas Thewes, Compuware plays out of Plymouth, Mich., and boasts impressive alumni. New competition has wrestled away some talent, but it is still one of the marquis names in the game.It is also known for being the training ground for the Compuware Jr. A team that competed in the NAHL.10. SYRACUSE STARS Alumni: Tim Connolly, Brian Gionta, Robert Esche, Rob Schremp, Dustin Brown.Unlike the &ldquo;hot house&rdquo; programs, some teams can rely on location for talent. &ldquo;Rochester and Syracuse, they&rsquo;re pretty geographically based,&rdquo; said Kitamura of the OHL. &ldquo;I consider them more like Canadian teams.&rdquo;Along with the Syracuse Stars, Kitamura points to the Rochester Alliance and Rochester Jr. Americans as other good New York-based programs. &#9632;

f0056-01

RATING TOP U.S. PREP PROGRAMS

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0060-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0060-01152/9085647-1-eng-US/f0060-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Seven Russians played in this year&rsquo;s NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta. (DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>There is a very good chance a Russian will lead the NHL in scoring this season and win the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player.And you can bet the first allstar team will include a Russian or two.But when NHL teams gather in Ottawa for the draft, don&rsquo;t count on any of them rushin&rsquo; to choose Russians. That&rsquo;s because it has grown increasingly difficult to get them to come over to North America and teams don&rsquo;t want to waste a high pick on a player who won&rsquo;t report.The NHL and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation do not have a transfer agreement deal, so beyond bona-fide star players, NHL teams have grown reluctant to pick Russians early. Beyond that, the Russian Super League pays its players so well, many Russians elect to stay home where they can earn as much, and sometimes even more, than if they played hockey in North America.&ldquo;The average player, if he wants to earn top dollars, he&rsquo;s probably going to end up heading back overseas,&rdquo; says one team executive who requested anonymity. &ldquo;That is what we&rsquo;re seeing and going forward, we&rsquo;re going to see it more and more. If there was an agreement, it would be easier to get your players out (of Russia). As it is, there are so many question marks about players being under contract over there.&rdquo;Rather than have a standard transfer fee, which is supposed to cover some of the costs of players being developed in Russia, the Russians want a floating fee that rises depending on the skill of the player.&ldquo;In other words, instead of paying $100,000 to get an (Alexander) Ovechkin, the Russians wanted the ability to charge $1 million for his release,&rdquo; the executive says.Last year, only seven Russians were drafted in the seven-round event, the fewest since 1987 when just two were picked. That&rsquo;s a far cry from 1992 when 45 Russians were chosen. In fact, Alexei Cherepanov was ranked fifth in Draft Preview 2007, but wasn&rsquo;t selected until 17th overall by the New York Rangers.NHL teams have not turned their backs on Russian players altogether. Ovechkin, in his third seasons with the Washington Capitals, has a very good chance to lead the NHL in both goals and points. Ilya Kovalchuk has developed into a better two-way player in Atlanta and is still a scoring threat every time he has the puck. Evgeni Malkin, just 21, kept the Pittsburgh Penguins afloat while Sidney Crosby was out with an ankle injury, producing 15 points in one five-game stretch.Although Viktor Khatulev, the first Russian drafted into the NHL by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1975, never made it over here, many Russians have enjoyed tremendous success including Ovechkin, Evgeni Nabokov, Sergei Samsonov and Pavel Bure, who were all named rookie of the year; Sergei Fedorov, who was the NHL&rsquo;s MVP in 1994 and has twice been named winner of the Selke Trophy as the leaguer&rsquo;s best defensive forward; and Detroit&rsquo;s Pavel Datsyuk who twice has been named winner of the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play.There are, however, some managers who shy away from Russian players &ndash; European players, for that matter &ndash; because they don&rsquo;t believe they have the same conviction as North American-born players when it comes to competing for the Stanley Cup. In fact, the only Russian on last year&rsquo;s championship Anaheim team was backup goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who has since departed for Phoenix. There were no Russians on the Carolina Hurricanes, which won the Cup in 2006, and only two on the Lightning team which won in 2004.&ldquo;Will they play hard in the playoffs, when the paychecks stop&hellip;do they have the inherent desire to win the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; asks one NHL GM. &ldquo;If you are going to get a star, you can put up with that stuff. For an Ovechkin or Kovalchuk or Malkin, you can live with those question marks.&ldquo;But for an average, run-of-the-mill player, you can get a player like that over here in North America who you know you can sign and you know he wants to play in the NHL and you know he&rsquo;ll play hard in May and June. Kids like that grow up living to play that time of year. There isn&rsquo;t as much risk involved.&rdquo;If there is any prejudice against Russian players, Samsonov &ndash; who came to North America as an 18-year-old &ndash; says he hasn&rsquo;t noticed it.&ldquo;To be honest, I never got the sense there is a backlash against Russian players,&rdquo; says Samsonov. &ldquo;I think the biggest thing is, guys are getting so much more money to stay home and play in Russia. If you are a young guy and you don&rsquo;t make the NHL team, why not go back to Russia where you can make 10 times more than you would in the (AHL) and you are home where you don&rsquo;t have cultural and language differences?&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0061-01150/9085640-1-eng-US/f0061-012.jpg" title="f0061-01" width="1755" height="1093"><figcaption class="caption-body">NHL teams may avoid &ldquo;average&rdquo; Russians, not the Evgeni Malkins. (DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>One NHL pro scout says teams are once again looking for size and brawn, two attributes most often found in North American-trained players.&ldquo;Coming out of the lockout it was about speed and skill, because they changed the rules so the small guy could get to the net,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why Buffalo did so well and why (Brian) Gionta scored 48 goals for New Jersey, but now with all the teams collapsing into their own end and playing the 4-plus-1 box, or dice, whatever you want to call it, it has gotten back to where the small guy can&rsquo;t get to the net.&ldquo;Teams are getting back to what Anaheim did and that is building with size and strength so you can get inside the box and maintain position, keep people in front for rebounds. Coming out of the lockout there may have been three or four teams playing that game, but now there&rsquo;s 30 teams playing that way.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0060-01

THE NEW NHL: FROM RUSSIA WITH ANGST

<div class="byline">BY RUI GOMES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-01152/9085685-1-eng-US/f0062-012.jpg" title="f0062-01" width="708" height="722"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Spezza (ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Looking back a decade at the top 50 prospects from Future Watch 1998, there were some diamonds in the rough: Daniel Briere, Marc Savard, Maxim Afinogenov and Chris Drury weren&rsquo;t in the top 10, but should have been.Still, the scouts did a pretty darned good job. Of the top 12 prospects, only Marc Denis won&rsquo;t reach the 500-game plateau. Five of the top 12 are exceptional players and six others are or were solid NHL citizens.All 50 players at least a game in the NHL, although for four of them, it was just a sip of espresso.As for the top 50 prospects from 2003, five players (four Russians, one Finn) have failed to reach the NHL &ndash; the highest ranked, Igor Grigorenko (ninth), likely had his final shot with Detroit last training camp.Top-ranked Kari Lehtonen and his once touted elastic legs have endured groin problems. No. 4 Tuomo Ruutu teased Chicago fans with his potential, but doesn&rsquo;t produce much when he&rsquo;s healthy. No. 40 Alexander Semin is back on track and better than first projected and No. 33 Raffi Torres is the game-played leader.Thirty-four of the top 50 prospects from 2003 are in the NHL five years later, while 23 from 1998 are still active big-leaguers.Here are THN&rsquo;s top 50 prospects from Future Watch 2003 and 1998. Players are listed with current team and NHL games played as of Feb. 6, 2008<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0287/9085678-1-eng-US/f0062-022.jpg" title="f0062-02" width="1557" height="2609"></div> &#9632;

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Future Watch 2008

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