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 2009

The Hockey News - Future Watch 2009

<div class="byline">BY JIM GINTONIO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02328/9229751-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="841" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maxim Goncharov (IHA)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01513/9229758-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="126" height="86"></div>One of the key goals of Coyotes GM Don Maloney when he took over last season was to enhance the team&rsquo;s development system.He saw quick results: The San Antonio Rampage made the post-season for the first time since 2003. The two top Coyotes from the farm establishing themselves are forward Enver Lisin and defenseman Keith Yandle.The Coyotes have been the subject of speculation because of its poor financial situation, but scouting will not take a hit, said Keith Gretzky, the director of amateur scouting.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 MAXIM GONCHAROV, D, 19, Central Army (Rus.)</h2>6-3, 190, 43-6-6-12-50OVERALL 21Goncharov jumps out at you with his size and plays with an edge. He needs to work on his defensive skills and learn how to keep up his intensity every shift.Big and strong is how Coyotes assistant GM Brad Treliving describes him: &ldquo;He plays against men right now in the Russian Elite League and there&rsquo;s a lot to like about his game.&rdquo; Goncharov plays at an elevated pace, but must work to stay at that level.&ldquo;Right now,&rdquo; Treliving said, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s as physically mature and physically ready for the NHL as anybody we have.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 123rd overall.<h2>2 BRETT MACLEAN, LW, 20, San Antonio (AHL)</h2>6-2, 200, 48-15-11-26-19OVERALL 42MacLean has an innate ability to score. He recorded 61 of them in 61 junior games last season and made the AHL All-Star Game this season.Coaches can&rsquo;t teach prospects the kind of unique scoring touch MacLean has &ndash; and he&rsquo;s learning to take advantage of it. No one expected him to score as efficiently in the pro ranks as he did in junior so he&rsquo;s still a work in progress.Areas of concern are his skating and his adaptability to learn the pro game when he doesn&rsquo;t have the puck.Acquired 2007 draft, 32nd overall.<h2>3 JONAS AHNELOV, D, 21, San Antonio (AHL)</h2>6-2, 210, 32-0-6-6-29A fearless defenseman who has been plagued by injuries this season, Ahnelov will be given plenty of time to continue his North American adjustment.Making the transition from the looser European style is not easy and that&rsquo;s part of the learning process, but the stay-athome Swede made a solid off-ice commitment during the off-season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a great disposition for the position because he has a knack for banging into people,&rdquo; Treliving said. &ldquo;He skates well and knows how to move the puck out of danger zones.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 88th overall.<h2>4 CHRIS SUMMERS, D, 20, Michigan (CCHA)</h2>6-2, 180, 28-4-11-15-30Skating is the strongest part of Summers&rsquo; game and he&rsquo;s regarded as one of the swiftest movers in the organization.Returning to Michigan for his junior year was a smart move for Summers as he has physically matured, growing an inch and added body mass. His leadership abilities are also rated high.It&rsquo;s likely Summers will turn pro this spring and join the Coyotes. He plays well with the puck and keeps the game simple. He could be knocking on the door within a year &ndash; a defenseman with his skating is a valuable commodity.Acquired 2006 draft, 29th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;CHAD KOLARIK, C, 23, San Antonio (AHL)</h2>5-11, 185, 50-13-20-33-26Less than a season out of college, Kolarik is still adjusting to the rigors of professional hockey.He needs more consistency and is going to have to get stronger to play at a high level every game. Kolarik has a knack for positioning himself well in scoring areas and has put forth an effort in improving his play away from the puck, especially along the boards.That type of commitment is being noticed by scouts in the organization and the more he layers his game, the better chance he has of moving up more quickly.Acquired 2004 draft, 199th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 MICHAEL STONE D, 18, 6-3, 200Calgary (WHL) 51-16-29-45-56Good stick work, shot; needs better footwork and more bite to his game.Acquired 2008 draft, 69th overall7 NICK ROSS D, 19, 5-11, 195Vancouver (WHL) 13-4-6-10-17Won&rsquo;t bring your out of your seat, but smart with puck; must ramp up intensity.Acquired 2007 draft, 30th overall8 MATHIEU BRODEUR D, 18, 6-5, 200Cape Breton (QMJHL) 48-2-10-12-14Needs to be more physical and get stronger, but is still growing into his body.Acquired 2008 draft, 76th overall9 JOSH TORDJMAN G, 24, 6-1, 153San Antonio (AHL) 19-16-1, 2.45, .915Quick and agile, he&lsquo;s learning how to play a lot of games over a short period.Acquired Free Agent, July 3, 200610 JARED STAAL RW, 18, 6-3, 200Sudbury (OHL) 50-12-28-40-24A &lsquo;project,&rsquo; has good hockey sense and beginning to understand how to improve.Acquired 2008 draft, 49th overall &#9632;

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TEAM REPORTS

FINDING OASIS IN THE DESERT

<div class="byline">By Adam Proteau</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012108/9228718-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>When the Columbus Blue Jackets made Nikita Filatov the first Russian player selected at the 2008 NHL draft, they did so with some degree of risk. The lack of a transfer agreement between the Russian Hockey Federation and the NHL meant there was no guarantee Filatov could leave the Motherland. And playing at home in the upstart, flush-with-cash Kontinental League was a draw many players hailing from the great red hockey-factory of a nation would not resist.However, Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson and the Columbus braintrust had met with Filatov a handful of times prior to draft day and they all came away believing the 18-year-old left winger was as close to a sure thing as any Russian player can be these days.&ldquo;We knew he would get a lot of pressure from Russia and the KHL to stay home and play,&rdquo; Howson said. &ldquo;We talked to him three or four times before the draft and really tried to ask him the same question 10 or 15 different ways to find out his commitment level to do this. But Nikita&rsquo;s story stayed consistent &ndash; he told us, &lsquo;I want to play in the NHL and I&rsquo;m going to come over right away if the team wants me to.&rsquo;&ldquo;He also has a fairly strong command of the English language compared to many Russian and foreign-born players and that&rsquo;s part of the battle. And he&rsquo;s very confident in his ability to play no matter who the competition is and that hasn&rsquo;t changed from the first time I met him.&rdquo;Filatov&rsquo;s confidence shines through even in a phone interview.&ldquo;It was a difficult decision for me and my family to move here at 18 and play,&rdquo; Filatov said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play so much in the first Russian league last year, but my dream always was to play in the NHL. In my mind, it was OK even if I came and played (in) junior for the year. No problem.&rdquo;It never came to that, because very quickly, Howson&rsquo;s faith paid off: Despite battling a leg injury this season and adjusting to a different continent, culture and five different levels of hockey in less than two years, Filatov has impressed enough observers to be named THN&rsquo;s Future Watch &ldquo;best NHL-affiliated prospect&rdquo; for 2009.&ldquo;That is music to a scout&rsquo;s ears,&rdquo; said Don Boyd, Blue Jackets director of hockey operations, after being informed of Filatov&rsquo;s honor. &ldquo;We knew we were bringing in a special player when we drafted Nik and to see his skill and the determination he has to make it to the NHL and be an important contributor to our franchise, is really a huge thrill for us.&rdquo;Also excited beyond belief was Filatov, who admitted his fluency in English played a big role in his decision to come to North America.&ldquo;Being able to speak English is such a big advantage,&rdquo; Filatov said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m absolutely sure I would never come over here if I didn&rsquo;t know the language. It helps a lot. I&rsquo;m a person who likes to speak and I can&rsquo;t be quiet all the time. I like to have fun and I couldn&rsquo;t imagine what it would be like if I couldn&rsquo;t talk with my teammates.&rdquo;The Jackets drafted Filatov sixth overall, after the Toronto Maple Leafs traded up to take stay-at-home defenseman Luke Schenn with the fifth pick. Columbus likely would have taken a long look at selecting Schenn if that sequence of events didn&rsquo;t play out the way it did, but saying they&rsquo;re happy the way the draft went is a serious understatement.&ldquo;Nikita is really a talented player,&rdquo; said coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;He has that unique, rare ability to shoot the puck while skating at top speed. And to see what he can do off the stickhandle is pretty impressive.&rdquo;Equally impressive was the manner in which Filatov made his NHL debut &ndash; with a goal on his first shot in his first game and a hat trick in his sixth game. That&rsquo;s no small feat for the Moscow native, considering his age (18) and his 6-foot, 172-pound frame, and the fact he&rsquo;s played on both the Central Army senior and junior teams, the Russian national junior team, the Blue Jackets and their American League affiliate in Syracuse since the beginning of 2007-08.&ldquo;The biggest adjustment he&rsquo;s had to make this season is dealing with the size of players at the NHL level,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;The other thing is, he&rsquo;s making the adjustments you make coming out of junior as well, because now when he plays, he doesn&rsquo;t have the puck all the time.&ldquo;So here&rsquo;s a kid who is making a lot of adjustments on the fly and he&rsquo;s only 18. The NHL is tough enough for a 19-year-old, let alone somebody who&rsquo;s 18. It&rsquo;s a hard league, but he&rsquo;s done all right so far. He&rsquo;s not intimidated, but the biggest adjustment that&rsquo;s going to take time for him is learning to play the game on a smaller surface.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011872/9228711-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="965" height="1266"><figcaption class="caption-body">Working his magic on smaller rinks has been an adjustment for Nikita Filatov. (DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>As Howson noted, Filatov resembles many highly touted rookies in that he has supreme confidence in his abilities. But like those prospects had to learn, so too has Filatov discovered the road to NHL glory is far more difficult to traverse than at any other level.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got to come and see it and experience it here in the NHL,&rdquo; Howson said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got to see how hard it&rsquo;s going to be for him, because it is hard out there and it&rsquo;s harder than they think it&rsquo;s going to be. All young players have to fight through that.&rdquo;The Blue Jackets are helping Filatov&rsquo;s progress along by giving him a regular taste of life in both the AHL and NHL for the remainder of 2008-09. Shuttling between leagues may not be the preferred solution for Filatov, but it does accomplish the organization&rsquo;s goal of rapidly acclimating him to smaller North American arenas. Through 23 AHL games, Filatov had seven goals and 17 points.&ldquo;Between him playing in (Columbus) and Syracuse and in world junior games, we think getting him on a small surface as much as we can will accelerate his process,&rdquo; Hitchcock said of Filatov, who captained the Russians to a bronze medal in January after a heartbreaking semifinal loss to Canada. &ldquo;I think this year has really helped him already, because when he came back to (Columbus) the second time, he really had improved from training camp in understanding how to play on a smaller ice surface and competing for pucks.&rdquo;Filatov understands management&rsquo;s choice to move him around.&ldquo;Especially in training camp and (the) first month in the American League, I learned so much,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so much about small aspects of the game, small moments. And because of the different size of the rinks here, it takes a little bit of time to adjust.&rdquo;As the Blue Jackets make a late-season push for their first post-season berth in team history, Howson feels Filatov is a key member of the core group of youngsters all NHL teams have to commit to earlier than ever in the new salary cap world.&ldquo;You do make that commitment earlier now,&rdquo; Howson said. &ldquo;We feel we&rsquo;ve got a really strong core with Steve Mason and Kris Russell, Rick Nash and (Jakub) Voracek, Filatov and (Derrick) Brassard and that&rsquo;s probably the young group we&rsquo;re going to want to commit to.&rdquo; &#9632;

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FEATURES

Nikita Filatov

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011521/9228846-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nikita Filatov</figcaption></div>The Future Watch top 50 ranking is a blend of ratings provided by a panel of 22 NHL scouts. Prospects are listed in order. Last year&rsquo;s rank is in parentheses. Unranked players in 2008 are denoted as (nr), while players listed as (new) are prospects drafted in 2008.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-021103/9228839-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="2345" height="1426"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011238/9228832-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="2346" height="2162"></div> &#9632;

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The Hockey News TOP 50

<div class="byline">BY JEREMY RUTHERFORD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-02222/9229827-1-eng-US/f0048-022.jpg" title="f0048-02" width="844" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alex Pietrangelo (RICK DENHAM)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01350/9229834-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg" title="f0048-01" width="126" height="85"></div>Two years ago, there were only promises from the Blues that top-end prospects were on their way.Now they have Patrik Berglund and David Perron who played at the NHL Young Stars game in January and rookie winger T.J. Oshie and sophomore defenseman Erik Johnson may have been in the game if not for serious injuries. Throw in defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and St. Louis looks burgeoning up front and on defense.Now a team that&rsquo;s struggled to develop a goalie must hope that Jake Allen or Ben Bishop, two of the Blues&rsquo; top four prospects, turn out to be legitimate.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 ALEX PIETRANGELO, D, 19, Niagara (OHL)</h2>6-3, 206, 20-5-16-21-12OVERALL 5Pietrangelo earned one assist in eight games with the Blues in 2008-09 before he was returned to his junior team. The Blues believe Pietrangelo has tremendous two-way potential, which is why they selected him over stay-at-home defenseman Luke Schenn.St. Louis wants to see more intensity from Pietrangelo, who didn&rsquo;t see much ice time on Team Canada at this year&rsquo;s WJC. Pietrangelo is eligible to play in junior next year, but many expect him to earn a spot on the Blues, who warned Pietrangelo that nothing is guaranteed.Acquired 2008 draft, 4th overall.<h2>2 LARS ELLER, C, 19, Frolunda (Swe.)</h2>6-0, 198, 40-9-9-18-20OVERALL 44The Blues high expectations for Eller have stabilized. They ranked him at No. 2 on their draft board in 2007 behind Patrick Kane and were overjoyed to get him at No. 13. But so far, Eller hasn&rsquo;t played in St. Louis other than a couple of summer prospect camps and has remained in the Swedish Elite League this season.Eller possesses exceptional skill and the Blues would love to see him play in North America next season. He&rsquo;ll surely need some apprenticing in the American League before being NHL-ready.Acquired 2007 draft, 13th overall.<h2>3 JAKE ALLEN, G, 18, Montreal (QMJHL)</h2>6-2, 175, 21-16-2, 2.74, 9.20OVERALL 45Allen has passed Ben Bishop to become the best goaltending prospect in the Blues&rsquo; system. He was the third goalie taken in the 2008 draft, but is considered to have the best puck-handling skills in the group.Allen&rsquo;s stock rose when he led Canada to the gold medal at the under-18 worlds in 2008.Though he failed to make the roster for Canada&rsquo;s 2009 World Junior Championship team, Allen is still seen as one of the best young goalie prospects in North America.Acquired 2008 draft, 34th overall.<h2>4 IAN COLE, D, 19, Notre Dame (CCHA)</h2>6-1, 215, 25-3-10-13-18OVERALL 72The Blues traded up to No. 18 from No. 24 in 2007 to select Cole, then with the U.S. national team development program.Although many called the pick a reach, Cole is proving otherwise as he continues to make strides at Notre Dame.The sophomore doesn&rsquo;t have the numbers he did in his first season with the Irish &ndash; eight goals, 20 points in 2007-08 - but a prospect who many scouts labeled as &ldquo;stronger than an ox&rdquo; is becoming a hardnosed presence in front of the net. Cole is difficult to knock off his feet.Acquired 2007 draft, 18th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;BEN BISHOP, G, 22, Peoria (AHL)</h2>6-7, 210, 13-13-1, 2.81, .899Jumping from amateur hockey to the pros, Bishop has been plagued by inconsistency.At 6-foot-7, Bishop became the tallest goalie ever to play in the NHL in his Blues&rsquo; debut Oct. 22. He nearly pitched a shutout in his home debut Oct. 24, but left in the third period with a groin injury. And he suffered a to 5-4 shootout loss in San Jose, where the Sharks had been undefeated.Overall, Bishop has been impressive in his limited NHL appearances, but the Blues still want to see more day-to-day smoothness in the AHL.Acquired 2005 draft, 85th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 JONAS JUNLAND D, 21, 6-2, 198Peoria (AHL) 40-9-15-24-26Skilled D-man showing improved strength after preseason shoulder injury.Acquired 2006 draft, 64th overall7 PHILIP MCRAE C, 18, 6-3, 191London (OHL) 45-27-30-57-41Son of former NHLer Basil McRae battled early season mono, but has rebounded.Acquired 2008 draft, 33rd overall8 AARON PALUSHAJ RW, 19, 6-0, 185Michigan (CCHA) 26-9-24-33-20Skilled, gritty forward has shined in NCAA and with U.S. national junior team.Acquired 2007 draft, 44th overall9 BRETT SONNE C, 19, 6-0, 200Calgary (WHL) 45-32-40-72-46Earned spot on Canada&rsquo;s national junior team because of two-way versatility.Acquired 2007 draft, 85th overall10 SIMON HJALMARSSON RW, 19, 5-11, 171Frolunda (Swe.) 34-11-17-28-22Stock is rising after scoring six points in five games at the world juniors.Acquired 2007 draft, 39th overall &#9632;

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HOPING FOR HELP BETWEEN THE PIPES

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021775/9228394-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="779" height="550"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kris Versteeg (BILL SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012097/9228401-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="99" height="123"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Every year, our readers tell us they look forward to Future Watch more than any other issue we put out.That makes sense because this is the one issue that truly provides an in-depth look at how teams stack up in the all-important category of being able to rebuild or reload by drafting and developing prospects. In a salary cap world, there&rsquo;s no other way for NHL teams to start and/or maintain a winning program.And the ratings and rankings you see in the next 58 pages come not from us or our correspondents, but straight from scouts, the professional talent evaluators. Each team&rsquo;s top 10 list of prospects &ndash; based on long-term outlook &ndash; is provided by a scout from that team, then cross-referenced and re-ordered by a panel of 22 NHL scouts.During the course of this exercise, the scouts establish a top-75 list of prospects from a long list of 300. Another byproduct of these independent evaluations are the report card grades, which are based on each team&rsquo;s top-10 prospect list and 21-and-under NHLers. (See charts on pg. 22.)Any potential for bias or misinformation on the part of one scout is blended away because of the size of the sample group. We also do five-and 10-year backtests from previous top-50 lists and the &lsquo;rewind&rsquo; results are impressive (pg. 62.)That doesn&rsquo;t mean the scouts are exempt from making errors. After all, they&rsquo;re human evaluators and there are many other variables in place. Sometimes a skilled prospect such as Maxim Balmochnykh (ranked No. 11 in 1999) doesn&rsquo;t make it for reasons other than his gift for skillfully propelling a glob of rubber with a piece of wood.Occasionally, prospects become NHL stars without registering a dent in Future Watch. Boston&rsquo;s David Krejci was hardly mentioned in FW05, FW06 or FW07. Same for Chicago&rsquo;s Kris Versteeg and San Jose&rsquo;s Ryane Clowe.We start the Future Watch project in January after the world juniors. At that point, we decide which young prospects have established themselves as NHL regulars and are therefore no longer considered prospects (Oscar Moller, Josh Bailey, Andreas Nodl, Karl Alzner, Luke Schenn are examples) regardless of the 50-game cutoff. Conversely, some prospects currently in the NHL (Matt D&rsquo;Agostini, Max Pacioretty, Shawn Matthias, Chris Butler) were up mainly due to injuries and we felt their short-term status should not strip them from being named Future Watch prospects for our purposes. That&rsquo;s why they&rsquo;re mentioned in these pages even though it seems they&rsquo;ve been in the NHL for a while.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031436/9228387-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="561" height="133"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

FUTURE IS NOW: REBUILDING FROM WITHIN

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012321/9228463-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(IHA)</figcaption></div>As a 17-year-old playing amongst men in the Swedish Elite League, Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson is acquitting himself quite well on Europe&rsquo;s big ice surfaces. What&rsquo;s terrifying for future NHL defenders is Paajarvi-Svensson now has a taste of the smaller North American ice thanks to this year&rsquo;s world juniors &ndash; and he likes it.&ldquo;I love the small rinks,&rdquo; said the youngster, whose last name is Paajarvi-Svensson, despite reports of the reverse. &ldquo;It was a pretty big change and a challenge. I love the high-tempo games, you get a lot of odd-man rushes.&rdquo;And if there&rsquo;s anything Paajarvi-Svensson can kill a team with, it&rsquo;s an odd-man rush. As he showed in Ottawa, where he helped Sweden to a silver medal, the young left winger from Timra IK is an absolute speed demon; one of the fastest players in the draft this year.He was also a treat for the North American media. Paajarvi-Svensson speaks very competent English and raised eyebrows when he said before the gold medal game that the Canadian players would soil themselves if Sweden took an early 2-0 lead. So was he just having fun in the press?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about fun,&rdquo; said a more humble Paajarvi-Svensson. &ldquo;The (North American) media picks up everything you say, so that was an experience.&rdquo;Fortunately, all that is water under the bridge in North America. The Timra prodigy is one of the highest-rated forwards in the 2009 draft pool and second amongst Europeans behind countryman Victor Hedman. In fact, while his name is a hot topic over here in NHL draft-crazy North America, Paajarvi-Svensson has had a pretty easy go of it back home, considering how good and how young he is.&ldquo;Lately I&rsquo;ve gotten a lot of attention,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But not as much as in Canada or the United States.&rdquo;Making a big impression in Ottawa will do that for a guy.&ldquo;They say the WJC is a tournament for 19-year-olds,&rdquo; noted one scout. &ldquo;But he was right up there as a 17-year-old in the Swedish attack.&rdquo;Paajarvi-Svensson ended the tourney with seven points in six games. If there is one thing that has scouts a little concerned, it&rsquo;s the fact he had more assists (five) than goals (two); finish has been the one part of the 6-foot-1, 198-pounder&rsquo;s game that needs improving.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021555/9228456-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="294" height="412"><figcaption class="caption-body">(MARK WILSON)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He lacks a little focus around the net,&rdquo; said another scout. &ldquo;Having said that, he creates five or six chances a game.&rdquo;It goes without saying that placed on an NHL line with legitimate finishers, Paajarvi-Svensson the playmaker would create all sorts of headaches for opposing defenders. But his most important trait may be his drive.&ldquo;His skating is definitely his best asset by far,&rdquo; the scout noted, &ldquo;(but) work ethic is second.&rdquo;That enthusiasm for the game is something many in the hockey community have already picked up on and the others are learning fast. Like Hedman, Paajarvi-Svensson is playing against competition nearly twice his age with Timra, yet he had still registered 13 points through 41 games. Since coming back from the world juniors, the speedster had been getting more ice time as well, so those numbers skew low.Paajarvi-Svensson is pragmatic about his NHL debut, saying he obviously wants to play in the world&rsquo;s best league, he just won&rsquo;t rush it if he&rsquo;s not ready. But when he is, he knows what his strengths will be.&ldquo;I create chances,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to make goals, I want to make opponents turn the puck over&hellip;I&rsquo;m just a pure offensive player.&rdquo; &#9632;

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UP FRONT

SPEED TO BURN WILL BE TITLE OF MAGNUS’ OPUS

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div>1. John Tavares, C, 6-0, 198, London (OHL)Cemented his legend with a fantastic WJC performance&hellip;Preternatural ability to score goals and put up numbers&hellip;Skating has been the only question, but he&rsquo;s certainly not a liability.Scout Says &ldquo;This is a guy who has put up numbers at every level. You can tell he comes from a lacrosse background &ndash; his hands in tight are elite. It&rsquo;s pretty hard to go against Tavares (this year).&rdquo;2. Victor Hedman, D, 6-6, 220, Modo (Swe.)Great skater, especially considering his behemoth frame&hellip;Has drawn comparisons to a nicer version of Chris Pronger, so naturally, aggressiveness is a question&hellip;Tops in Swedish Elite League scoring among junior-aged players.Scout Says &ldquo;Big, solid, all-around &lsquo;D.&rsquo; He can join the rush, he can support the rush&hellip;He&rsquo;ll be in your top three and eat a lot of minutes. He can handle the load.&rdquo;3. Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson LW, 6-1, 198, Timra (Swe.)4. Jared Cowen, D, 6-5, 218, Spokane (WHL)Solid, all-around defender knocked out in February with an MCL injury&hellip;Already has a Memorial Cup under his belt with the Chiefs&hellip; Many scouts don&rsquo;t see a lot of drop-off between Hedman and him.Scout Says &ldquo;When you get mobility and size on the blueline, that&rsquo;s attractive to anybody.&rdquo;5. Evander Kane, C, 5-11, 160, Vancouver (WHL)A physical forward who can also put the puck in the net&hellip;Played beyond his years at the WJC, notching a point per game while playing on the energy line&hellip;Named after boxer Evander Holyfield.Scout Says &ldquo;He&rsquo;s competitive, tough, good hands &ndash; he&rsquo;s the proto-type of everything you&rsquo;re looking for in a professional hockey player.&rdquo;6. Matt Duchene, C, 5-11, 196, Brampton (OHL)Incredible quickness and speed&hellip;One of the top scorers in the OHL this season.Scout Says &ldquo;He&rsquo;s explosive. From a stand-still to top speed, he is quick and in the NHL that quickness is so important.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-012080/9228494-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="530" height="396"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nazem Kadri (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>7. Nazem Kadri, C, 6-0, 177, London (OHL)Listed as a center, but can play all three forward positions with ease&hellip;Kadri is fast and creative, making him dangerous on the attack&hellip;A top-10 scorer in the OHL.Scout Says &ldquo;His best assets are his hands and his vision. He&rsquo;s nifty, a good playmaker. Versatility for me is huge and you can fit him in the lineup wherever you need him.&rdquo;8. Brayden Schenn, C, 6-0, 192, Brandon (WHL)More of a two-way player than most highly ranked prospects, Schenn&rsquo;s upside is of a Mike Richards-type who may not put up huge numbers, but can contribute in many different ways&hellip;Older brother Luke plays for the Maple Leafs.Scout Says &ldquo;He plays with a lot of character. He&rsquo;s going to be on the ice in all key situations.&rdquo;9. Ryan Ellis, D, 5-10, 173, Windsor (OHL)Unparalleled skills as a power play quarterback, Ellis was magic for Canada at the world juniors&hellip;Puts up tremendous numbers for Windsor and even led Tavares in points through the early part of the season&hellip;Seen by some as a Brian Campbell-type.Scout Says &ldquo;He defies the rules of what a prospect is. When he defends you, he bites at you &ndash; he doesn&rsquo;t quit.&rdquo;10. Jordan Schroeder, RW, 5-9, 180, Minnesota (WCHA)Wowed everybody as an underager at the world juniors in 2008, but came up short in &rsquo;09&hellip;Still drives the Gopher offense as a freshman and is courageous despite his diminutive size.Scout Says &ldquo;His strengths are his hockey sense and puck skills. He&rsquo;s intelligent, poised and creative, with a very good focus around the net.&rdquo; &#9632;

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2009 NHL DRAFT PROJECTED TOP 10

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012218/9228525-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(RICK DENHAM/HOCKEY HALL OF FAME)</figcaption></div>There is always going to be a &ldquo;Next One.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s the&nbsp;nature of the game and the carrot that drives the scouting mule cart. Fortunately for Windsor Spitfires dynamo Taylor Hall, the unrelenting hype that usually accompanies a future No. 1 draft pick has largely been muted thanks to the player right in front of him &ndash; John Tavares.Like Tavares, Hall&rsquo;s birthday falls just after the draft eligibility deadline, meaning the wily center won&rsquo;t be on the board until 2010. So while Johnny T will finally be in the NHL next year, Hall will still be plying his trade in the Ontario League, which is just fine with him.&ldquo;It gives me more opportunity to grow as a player and as a person,&rdquo; Hall said. &ldquo;I have so much time and I actually don&rsquo;t mind. I can fly under the radar.&rdquo;With Tavares taking most of the flak from scouts and media &ndash; and thanks to his extended stay in the OHL, there was much poking of the holes in his game &ndash; Hall has merrily skated circles around the competition in relative anonymity, despite putting up 45 goals and 84 points in 63 games as a rookie and leading the league in scoring for most of this season (Tavares eventually passed him.)Windsor coach/co-owner Bob Boughner is well aware the microscopes will inevitably turn to his star prodigy and his Spits organization is preparing already for next season&rsquo;s glaring spotlight.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to do our best to make sure he isn&rsquo;t pulled in a hundred different directions,&rdquo; said Boughner, a former NHLer himself. &ldquo;Every function, every charity event, they want Taylor Hall there. He puts a lot of pressure on himself, probably more than he should.&rdquo;On the ice, however, it&rsquo;s Hall applying the pressure to his opponents.&ldquo;He backs other teams off with his speed,&rdquo; Boughner said. &ldquo;You have to respect it. And he scores a ton 5-on-5; he doesn&rsquo;t make a living on the power play.&rdquo;Hall certainly has an impressive bag of tricks and his quick release can be very disarming for goaltenders, but where does he fit in with the recent group of OHL stars, such as Tavares or past No. 1 picks Patrick Kane and Steven Stamkos?&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a top player,&rdquo; said one scout. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s right up there with the guys who have gone No. 1 lately.&rdquo;Another scout believes that playing in Windsor, where he is surrounded by Boughner and GM Warren Rychel, not to mention potential 2009 first-rounder Ryan Ellis and 2008 draftees such as Greg Nemisz, Andre Loktionov and Dale Mitchell, puts Hall on par with Tavares when it comes to NHL upside.&ldquo;Right now I&rsquo;d say yes,&rdquo; the scout said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s with a good organization.&rdquo;For his part, Hall simply wants to get Windsor deep into the playoffs and take a run at the Memorial Cup, not to mention keep improving his overall game.&ldquo;You can never work on defense enough,&rdquo; Hall said. &ldquo;I want to be a reliable player who the coach puts out on the ice during the last minute of play, whether we&rsquo;re down a goal or up one.&rdquo;More times than not this year, the Spits have been up one &ndash; or several &ndash; in that situation. As for the coming tide of hype that will greet Hall once Tavares is gone; the understudy has been paying close attention.&ldquo;What he&rsquo;s been going through is tough,&rdquo; Hall said. &ldquo;Young players get scrutinized to the point of no return now. All I can do is be a good player and good kid.&rdquo; &#9632;

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ACE SPITFIRE HALL FLYING UNDER RADAR

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div>1. Taylor Hall, C, 6-0, 180, Windsor (OHL)2. Kirill Kabanov, LW, 6-1, 172, Spartak Moscow Jr. (Rus.)It&rsquo;s still early, but the &ldquo;next Ovechkin&rdquo; tag has been thrown around&hellip;already speaks fluent English&hellip;tallied seven points in four games at World Jr. A Challenge.Scout Says &ldquo;Big, but he still needs to put on weight. A classic Russian winger with very good technical skills.&rdquo;3. Brandon Gormley, D, 6-1, 175, Moncton (QMJHL)No. 1 pick in the Quebec League draft played for vaunted Notre Dame Hounds&hellip;playing better than expected considering his age.Scout Says &ldquo;He&rsquo;s made the most impact of the first-year players. He&rsquo;s a blend that does a lot of things well; he can defend and he moves the puck well at that age. He plays against top lines.&rdquo;4. Cam Fowler, D, 6-2, 190, U.S. NTDPGood skater playing up an age group with the under-18 team&hellip;led Americans in scoring at Four Nations Cup&hellip;CCHA&rsquo;s Notre Dame and OHL&rsquo;s Windsor are battling for his future services.Scout Says &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good defender when it&rsquo;s said and done. His decision-making is right up there.&rdquo;5. Erik Gudbranson, D, 6-3, 195, Kingston (OHL)A standout player on a sub-par team, he&rsquo;s contributing more than expected this early in his career.Scout Says &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big kid and he has pretty good feet. Looks like he understands the game pretty well and skill-wise he has upside in all departments.&rdquo;6. Mikael Granlund, C, 5-8, 167, Karpat Oulu Jr. (Fin.)Prolific goal-scorer is already tearing up the Finnish junior circuit&hellip; Had tourney-best nine points in four games at Four Nations Cup&hellip;size will be an issue going forward.Scout Says &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an all-round player with no weak points, but no real strong points. Small, but absolutely fearless.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011994/9228556-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="411" height="504"><figcaption class="caption-body">John McFarland (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>7. John McFarland, C, 6-0, 192, Sudbury (OHL)Highly touted No. 1 draft pick started off slowly, but found his stride as season went on&hellip;doing too much on a bad team, but scouts like his effort.Scout Says &ldquo;He plays a high-speed offensive game and will make others around him better.&rdquo;8. Teemu Pulkkinen, RW, 5-10, 176, Jokerit Jr. (Fin.)Dominated his own age group and was bumped up to under-20s, where he still put up impressive stats&hellip;already playing in SM-Liiga this year&hellip;another hyped Finn who is small in stature.Scout Says &ldquo;He is three or four years younger than teammates and still playing on the top line. Very good vision, good shot &ndash; he likes to use the one-timer.&rdquo;9. Alexander Burmistrov, C, 5-10, 158, Ak Bars Kazan (KHL)Already has suited up with the men in the KHL&hellip;played on a line with Kabanov at several international events and demonstrated great hands and playmaking abilities.Scout Says &ldquo;He was one of those guys you say &lsquo;wow.&rsquo; He was dynamic.&rdquo;10. Tyler Toffoli, RW, 6-0. 181, Ottawa (OHL)Great hands and hockey sense&hellip;has been a solid contributor to the 67s in his rookie campaign.Scout Says &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got some skill and he&rsquo;s confident; he&rsquo;s not afraid (out there).&rdquo; &#9632;

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2010 NHL DRAFT PROJECTED TOP 10

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012188/9228587-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="693" height="696"></div>If you think everything&rsquo;s laid-back in sunny California, you obviously haven&rsquo;t stepped on the ice with Shane McColgan of the L.A. Jr. Kings.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very skilled player, but he&rsquo;s really intense,&rdquo; said Kelowna Rockets GM Bruce Hamilton, who has procured the youngster&rsquo;s services for the future.Added Jr. Kings coach Jack Bowkus: &ldquo;His competitiveness is second-to-none, he&rsquo;s a Jarome Iginla type of player.&rdquo;And like Iggy, McColgan is happy to put up stats of all kinds. Sure, the 15-year-old was a top-10 scorer in the under-18 Midwest Elite League this season, but the L.A. fireball can also rack up penalty minutes, as he proved at a United States League showcase before the season began.&ldquo;Yeah, I squared off and dropped the gloves,&rdquo; McColgan said. &ldquo;I won. And the kid I fought is on my team now. We&rsquo;re good buddies.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s all in the game for McColgan, now a highly touted center eligible for the 2011 NHL draft.With the Jr. Kings joining the new western hub of the Midwest Elite League &ndash; a circuit that already included traditional powerhouse prep programs such as Detroit&rsquo;s Honeybaked and Little Caesar&rsquo;s &ndash; McColgan is playing against a better class of opponent. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot better,&rdquo; McColgan said of his squad&rsquo;s new competition. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re all top-end teams.&rdquo;Spurned on by the &ldquo;Gretzky Effect,&rdquo; an entire West Coast generation has now grown up with hockey as a thriving pastime. California-raised prospects such as Calgary pick Mitch Wahl of the Spokane Chiefs and future Phoenix Coyote Colin Long are already on the NHL&rsquo;s radar.But tell that to the rivals back east who still picture sand and surf instead of sticks and pucks. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not about the beach,&rdquo; Mc-Colgan said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re at the rink pretty much every day.&rdquo;Hamilton estimates McColgan will be around 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds when he finishes developing, so it&rsquo;s no surprise the kid relies more on his skill than his size.During a brief call-up to the Western League&rsquo;s Rockets, McColgan looked very much at home, notching three points in four games.With a one-way ticket to the Dub next year, it&rsquo;s good to see McColgan is prepared. But is the WHL ready for him? &#9632;

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WEST COAST RISES WITH MCCOLGAN

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><h2>Shane McColgan&nbsp;RW, 5-11, 170 L.A. Jr. Kings (MWEHL)</h2>Scored three points in a four-game audition with WHL Kelowna&hellip;intense competitor not afraid to mix it up, but also puts up big numbers.Scout Says &ldquo;He is continuing a trend of highly skilled players coming out of California. Kelowna is expecting him to be a point producer.&rdquo;<h2>Ryan Nugent-Hopkins&nbsp;C, 6-0, 155 Vancouver NW Giants (B.C. AAA)</h2>Top pick in the WHL draft&hellip;tallied six points in five games as a 15-year-old in a call-up to Red Deer&hellip;great vision and all-around game.Scout Says &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so special in all tenets of the game, especially the way he manipulates the puck in traffic. Tremendous acceleration.&rdquo;<h2>Adam Larsson&nbsp;D, 6-2, 201 Skelleftea (Swe.)</h2>Big kid has already played a game in the Swedish Elite League&hellip;has put up impressive numbers at all levels, usually as an underager.Scout Says &ldquo;He&rsquo;s big and very strong. A defensive stay-at-home defenseman, but he has the skill to be an offensive player.&rdquo;<h2>Justin Sefton&nbsp;D, 6-2, 195 Notre Dame Hounds (Sask. AAA)</h2>Bruising blueliner likes to play a punishing Dion Phaneuf-style game&hellip; point-per-game player this year with Hounds.Scout Says &ldquo;Great combination of size/mobility/skill and strength. Has a bit of an edge.&rdquo;<h2>Daniel Catenacci&nbsp;C, 5-10, 180 York-Simcoe Express (OMHA)</h2>Touted as No. 1 pick in Ontario League&hellip;speed and vision with the puck sets him apart&hellip;plays all-around game and is captain of his team.Scout Says &ldquo;Premier offensive player, great speed and puck skills&hellip;pure finisher.&rdquo; &#9632;

2011 NHL DRAFT WATCH LIST

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GRIGG</div>What scouts have to say about the upcoming CHL drafts:<h2>OHL DRAFT 2009 FIVE TO WATCH</h2>Daniel Catenacci C, 5-10, 180 Injury problems this year haven&rsquo;t dropped his stock. &ldquo;An offensively gifted player who plays the game at top speed.&rdquo;Scott Harrington D, 6-1, 185 Can play any type of game. &ldquo;Very good puck-moving ability. A great mix of skill, mobility, edge and hockey smarts.&rdquo;Rocco Grimaldi C, 5-7, 150 WHL protected, so he may be ruled ineligible. &ldquo;He has the ability to go end to end.&rdquo;Matthew Puempel LW, 6-1, 190 Excels by making players around him better. Can finish and is a great passer.&rdquo;A pure goal-scorer.&rdquo;Ryan Murphy D, 5-9, 145 An offensive defenseman with speed to burn. &ldquo;A unique player. Has the ability to take over a game.&rdquo;<h2>QMJHL DRAFT 2009 FIVE TO WATCH</h2>Brent Andrews C, 6-1, 183 Very competitive with a great skill set. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the complete package. A power forward with pipes.&rdquo;Olivier Archambault C, 5-9, 156 Very aggressive, and doesn&rsquo;t shy away from contact.&rdquo;Probably the most offensively gifted player in the draft; great speed.&rdquo;Jean-Francois Leblanc C, 6-3, 175 Great mobility and agility. &ldquo;Probably more of a playmaker than a 1-on-1 player.&rdquo;Jean-Francois Plante C, 5-11, 180 A two-way threat with great hockey sense, and he sees the ice well. &ldquo;Works well on the power play, can dish and score.&rdquo;Raphael Bussieres LW, 5-10, 158 Extremely competitive and intense. &ldquo;Good skater, good skill set. He&rsquo;s a blue-collar player with skill.&rdquo;<h2>WHL DRAFT 2009 FIVE TO WATCH</h2>Morgan Reilly D, 5-10, 158 Multi-dimensional. &ldquo;An offensive defenseman who just puts up a ton of points and is reliable defensively, too.&rdquo;Tayler Balog LW, 5-11, 175 Has great skill, he can play at center or on the wing.&rdquo;The purest scorer available in the draft.&rdquo;Mike Winther C, 5-10, 155 The best prospect out of Alberta. &ldquo;Extremely explosive and a lot of fun to watch.&rdquo;Matthew Dumba D, 5-9, 155 From the Dion Phaneuf mold. &ldquo;Moves the puck well and skates well, but just hammers people all over the ice.&rdquo;Connor Rankin C, 6-0, 185 Unselfish, and the hardest worker in the draft. &ldquo;Makes a lot of really nice plays, really good player to have.&rdquo; &#9632;

<div class="byline">BY JORDAN SAMERY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012132/9228680-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nash + Bouwmeester (CRAIG MELVIN/GETTY IMAGES/NHLI)</figcaption></div>It normally takes years to find out if draft picks will pan out. But every year there are a few who collect $200 and move directly to Go. Here is a list of first round draft picks from the past 10 years whose Calder eligibility (26 games played) expired the first year after they were drafted. Clearly, 2008 was a bumper year for newly minted draft picks.<h2>2008 - 7</h2>Could become eight or nine. Is this the deepest draft class in years? Or are more and more teams rushing young prospects? The list: Steven Stamkos, Drew Doughty, Luke Schenn, Mikkel Boedker, Josh Bailey, Luca Sbisa, Viktor Tikhonov.<h2>2007 - 3</h2>First-and third-overall picks Patrick Kane and Sam Gagner were linemates in London (OHL) and went straight to the NHL. David Perron broke the ice in St. Louis, as well.<h2>2006 - 2</h2>Forget about suds in Pittsburgh, Jordan Staal wasn&rsquo;t even old enough to have a beer in Ontario during his teenaged rookie campaign. Phil Kessel suited up for Boston, too.<h2>2005 - 1</h2>Guess who? Sidney Crosby was the lone first-rounder to make the jump directly to the NHL.<h2>2004 - 4</h2>Even with the lockout year to develop, not many first-rounders managed to break through in 2005-06. Alex Ovechkin, Andrew Ladd, Rostislav Olesz, Andrej Meszaros did, though.<h2>2003 - 6</h2>Eric Staal made it, but didn&rsquo;t officially break out until his second season, scoring 100 points. Nathan Horton, Nikolai Zherdev, Dustin Brown, Brent Burns and Ryan Kesler also racked up immediate NHL experience.<h2>2002 - 3</h2>First and third picks, Rich Nash and Jay Bouwmeester made the cut, as did Pierre-Marc Bouchard. All three are either making, or on the verge of making, big pay-days.<h2>2001 - 2</h2>It&rsquo;s extremely rare to see a goaltender make it directly after being drafted, which is exactly what Dan Blackburn did. But injury unfortunately derailed him soon after. Ilya Kovalchuk has fared much better in Atlanta.<h2>2000 - 3</h2>Marian Gaborik hasn&rsquo;t slowed his torrid scoring pace since his rookie campaign&hellip;wait&hellip;what injuries&hellip;? Scott Hartnell and Justin Williams made names for themselves early.<h2>1999 - 3</h2>Patrik Stefan went No. 1 and made it, but is out of hockey already. David Tanabe and Tim Connolly also made the leap.<h2>1998 - 3</h2>Manny Malhotra and Scott Parker turned out to be role players. And has Vinny Lecavalier really been in the league for 10 years already?<h2>Are&nbsp;You to EVER GOING to make it? Jack Skille</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021668/9228673-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1051" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body">(ROSS DETTMAN)</figcaption></div>These 13 prospects have been part of the Future Watch family for at least three terms now.Goaltenders take longer to develop and it&rsquo;s not surprising to see them here four or more years. But come on, Jack Skille, it&rsquo;s getting late and the bus is leaving already.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-031074/9228666-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="852" height="616"></div> &#9632;

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MAKING THE JUMP IMMEDIATELY TO THE NHL

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021452/9228763-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Nothing against Nikita Filatov, but the way coach&nbsp;Stan Butler figures it, Filatov had better watch his back over the next couple of seasons.&ldquo;So he&rsquo;s No. 2, eh?&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;Well, if I know him, he&rsquo;s going to spend the next couple of years doing everything he can to move past (Filatov) and up to No. 1.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rdquo; is Cody Hodgson and Butler is a little biased here because Hodgson is a big reason why Butler&rsquo;s Brampton Battalion (OHL) was in the midst of a 16-game winning streak and holding down first place in its division in early February. Then again, Butler has had Hodgson in his program the past three seasons, so he probably knows a little bit about the young man. Butler would love to have Hodgson for another campaign next year, but since he didn&rsquo;t even expect to get him back from the Vancouver Canucks this season, he&rsquo;s not about to start making plans for 2009-10.Few prospects have seen their stock rise more dramatically this season than Hodgson, who has drawn comparisons to some of the game&rsquo;s great two-way centers. Many who watch his commitment to all facets of the game liken him to Chris Drury, but he might ultimately morph into another player who gained a little recognition over the years in Vancouver.Hodgson plays both sides of the puck in a manner that&rsquo;s reminiscent of Trevor Linden. He has Linden&rsquo;s offensive ability and his leadership skills are no less formidable. Linden grew up the son of a hard-working farmer in Alberta while Hodgson is the son of a former cabinet minister, but the two share an approach to the game that has, and will, continue to endear them to Canucks fans.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve matured as a player over the past couple of years and I definitely have a lot more confidence,&rdquo; said Hodgson, who turned 19 in mid-February. &ldquo;When you play a responsible game, the points usually follow.&rdquo;That has certainly been the case for Hodgson this season, although he&rsquo;ll never be confused with an offensive sniper. In the season he was Steven Stamkos&rsquo; teammate on the Markham (Ont.) Waxers before they both graduated to the OHL, Stamkos had 197 points, while Hodgson had just 51. Stamkos had 20 more points than Hodgson did last season as both prepared for the NHL draft, but Hodgson has started to show an apt scoring touch. With 31 goals and 66 points through 37 games this season, Hodgson was scoring at a clip of 1.78 points per game. That puts him third in the Canadian Hockey League behind only Yannick Riendeau of the Quebec League&rsquo;s Drummondville Voltigeurs (1.96) and OHL phenom John Tavares of the London Knights (1.81).But what makes Hodgson&rsquo;s play so impressive is his sense of responsibility on the ice. Hodgson has a grasp of two-way hockey that often takes players years in the NHL to figure out. His on-ice habits are very good and he has a conscientious approach to the game that belies his young age. That&rsquo;s what will almost certainly make him NHL-ready next season, even though he still has a year of junior eligibility remaining. Hodgson is the kind of player who can play on the first power play and the first penalty-killing units, as well as the top line. He more likely projects out as a second-line center in the NHL, but there&rsquo;s a versatility to his game that will allow him to play any number of roles.&ldquo;He may not be the best player in our league,&rdquo; Butler said, &ldquo;but he&rsquo;s the most complete player in our league. I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any question of that at all.&rdquo;Hodgson is the type of player who does everything well, but nothing spectacularly. Those who watch him play have knocked his skating, but while it certainly isn&rsquo;t his calling card, it is good enough to keep him in the NHL. His shot isn&rsquo;t overpowering, but there&rsquo;s time to work on that. His upper body and overall strength need improving, but that will also come. What excites scouts about Hodgson is his mind for the game and his ability to win faceoffs and angle puck-carriers into bad positions on the ice.Hodgson came on strong last season before being selected 10th overall by the Canucks, but the 2009 WJC represented a coming-out party for him. Not only did he lead the tournament in scoring with five goals and 16 points in six games for Canada &ndash; including a two-goal J. performance in the gold medal game &ndash; there were many who thought Hodgson, not Tavares, was the MVP in the tournament.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011661/9228756-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="962" height="1222"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cody Hodgson&rsquo;s play has been compared to Captain Canuck Trevor Linden. (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Those who were surprised by Hodgson&rsquo;s performance at the world juniors should not have been. He was Canada&rsquo;s best all-around player in their 2008 gold medal performance at the world under-18s and Hodgson has displayed a propensity to play better in big games.After sticking with the Canucks through all of camp, Hodgson was sent back to the OHL as one of the last cuts. The Canucks thought it would be best for the youngster to be in an environment where he would be playing a ton of minutes and be relied upon in all situations.And to his credit, Hodgson returned to the OHL without his lip dragging on the ground. Many players who have extended stays in NHL training camps often take time to get out of their funk upon their return, but Hodgson immediately embraced the leadership role the Battalion placed upon him and has been on a tear all season.Almost everyone &ndash; the Canucks included &ndash; is counting on Hodgson to make his stay in the NHL permanent next season.&ldquo;I loved the whole experience in Vancouver and it was a little disappointing they thought I should play another year in junior, but accepting their decision wasn&rsquo;t that tough,&rdquo; Hodgson said. &ldquo;Playing there is obviously the goal and that hasn&rsquo;t changed. I know I&rsquo;ll have a lot of confidence going in next year.&rdquo;<h2>BEST PROSPECT IN SYSTEM</h2>Nikita Filatov garnered the most first-place votes from our committee of 22 NHL scouts. Panelists ranked prospects 1 to 50 based on long-term (five to 10 years) upside in the NHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021281/9228749-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="927" height="327"></div> &#9632;

f0016-02

Cody Hodgson

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011762/9228801-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Colten Teubert is the Kings&rsquo; highest-rated defense prospect. (ANDRE RINGUETTE/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;When I took this job, I noticed there were some young players there, but&hellip;the thing that was severely lacking was no young defensemen and no young goalies. It&rsquo;s great to have the forwards, but we have some severe work to do at a couple of critical positions.&rdquo; &ndash; Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi, January 2008</blockquote>The Los Angeles Kings likely won&rsquo;t make the playoffs this season, but it&rsquo;s not as though their fans aren&rsquo;t accustomed to seeing the team disappear in the middle of April.But if the Kings have done their work right &ndash; and there are a number of people in the hockey industry who think they have &ndash; their years of being on the outside of the playoffs looking in will come to an end in the near future. And the reason for that is the Kings have stockpiled a group of young defensemen that have become the envy of the NHL.In fact, since Lombardi uttered those words to THN last year, he has been true to his word, adding six defensemen or potential defensemen to the Kings&rsquo; men, all of whom are 25 or under. The Kings have a group of 10 blueliners they believe could become full-time NHL players. They may not be right, but even if they hit on 60 percent of them, they&rsquo;ve basically stocked their back end for the next decade.When Lombardi took over as Kings GM in 2006, the organization had one of the oldest defense corps in the NHL. Since then, the Kings have procured one of the youngest and their depth on defense has gone from the weakest link in the organization to the strongest.&ldquo;I know the game has changed, but I still believe championship teams are built from the back end,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like good pitching, you can never have too much. And if you do have too much, those guys have a lot of value to help you fill holes in other places.&ldquo;Everyone asks, &lsquo;What the matter in Ottawa?&rsquo;&rdquo; Lombardi noted. &ldquo;Well, they had a group of five defensemen that were arguably the best in the league and they lost most of them. What&rsquo;s the big secret?&rdquo;The Kings are undoubtedly improving, but that&rsquo;s as it should be. When you&rsquo;re as bad as the Kings are for as long as they have been, you&rsquo;d better be knocking a few out of the park when it comes to drafting and developing. Drew Doughty, a legitimate candidate for the Calder Trophy, doesn&rsquo;t drop into the Kings&rsquo; lap at No. 2 in last year&rsquo;s draft if the team doesn&rsquo;t finish second-last in the NHL. They don&rsquo;t pick up the promising Kyle Quincey on waivers if they aren&rsquo;t one of the worst teams in the league when the Detroit Red Wings cut him loose.But there&rsquo;s a difference this time; Los Angeles actually has a plan. That hadn&rsquo;t been the case in years. Few teams have frittered away more draft picks or made more boneheaded moves in the draft than the Kings. But now when they tell their fans for the umpteenth time to be patient, at least the fans can point to their list of prospects and know there is an actual commitment to the rebuild this time.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011587/9228794-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="1031" height="687"><figcaption class="caption-body">Drew Doughty is the headliner on a Kings blueline that&rsquo;s packed with promise. (NOAH GRAHAM/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Obviously, a number of people in the NHL agree. The Kings finished as the NHL&rsquo;s top-ranked team in this year&rsquo;s THN Future Watch, which ranks each organization on the quality of its prospects and roster players under the age of 22. In order to come up with our ranking, we consulted a panel of 22 scouts and directors of player personnel from around the league. (See pg. 22 for team report cards.)In this issue, we also rank the top 75 NHL-affiliated prospects and the Kings have four in the top 60 in goalie Jonathan Bernier (No. 23) and defensemen Colten Teubert (No. 30), Thomas Hickey (No. 31) and Vyacheslav Voinov (No. 60). Add to that a blueline corps of NHL roster players Quincey, Doughty, Jack Johnson, Matt Greene and Peter Harrold and prospects Alec Martinez and Andrew Campbell &ndash; all of them 25 or under &ndash; and you have the makings of a formidable group of rearguards.The Kings also boast a quality group of young players already on their roster, which lends credence to Lombardi&rsquo;s claim that the future looks promising. It can often be a tough sell with fans who have seen enough snake-oil salesmen come through town claiming the same thing. But whenever he speaks with Kings fans, Lombardi asks them one important question: Can you point to me once in the Kings history when they&rsquo;ve actually built the organization from within?The answer is always no, which is what makes this rebuild a little different. That doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;s ultimately going to be successful, but at least the Kings are giving themselves a chance to have a winning future.Now comes the hard part &ndash; ensuring all that young talent develops properly. Drafting skilled players is only the first part of the equation. If they aren&rsquo;t put in the proper situation with the right kind of coaching and an opportunity to succeed, it often doesn&rsquo;t matter how well a team does at the draft table.Get back to us in a couple of years. If the Kings are still languishing as a bottom feeder, we&rsquo;ll know they failed miserably. If they&rsquo;re among the elite in the NHL, as we suspect they will be, Lombardi&rsquo;s pleas for patience will have been worth it. &#9632;

f0018-01

THE KINGS FINALLY FIGURE IT OUT

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div>The handicapping chart on the right provides an indication of how well NHL teams draft in relation to their draft position. Here&rsquo;s how it works:Teams are ranked in order of their average draft position the past four drafts since 2005 (first selection only). For example, Chicago&rsquo;s first pick in the past four drafts averages out to the No. 6 slot. That&rsquo;s the highest in the NHL. At the other end of the spectrum, the first pick for Dallas since 2005, on average, has come in at the No. 41 slot.Next, we get the team&rsquo;s 1-to-30 report card ranking (see chart below). This is based on each team&rsquo;s top 10 prospects and 21-and-under NHLers and is put together by a panel of 22 scouts, no more than one from each team. Los Angeles, with five 21-and-under NHLers and several strong prospects, is at the top of the pile. New Jersey comes in at No. 30.Now we compare the 1-to-30 ranking of average draft position with the 1-to-30 ranking of report cards. The difference between each team&rsquo;s two placements is very telling.Here are some things we learned:&bull; Teams with the highest average draft pick since 2005 naturally have solid Future Watch report card grades, so the difference between the two rankings isn&rsquo;t huge. For example, Los Angeles has the third-highest draft position (No. 7) and the top report card, so it&rsquo;s just plus-2 above the norm. Same for Phoenix: fourth-highest average draft position (No. 9) and second-best report card. St. Louis has the fifth-highest average draft position (No. 11) and appropriately the fifth-highest report card.&bull; Teams with the lowest average draft pick understandably finished lower down in the report card grades and they&rsquo;re not too far removed from the norm. For example, Colorado had the 26th-highest average draft position since 2005 (No. 29) and came in 27th in the Future Watch grade, which is just one spot (minus-1) from what we&rsquo;d expect. The much-criticized Toronto drafting system is 25th in average draft position (No. 28) and its report card comes in 29th, which isn&rsquo;t too much out of whack (minus-4).&bull; Strong scouting staffs in Detroit and Montreal really shine in this exercise. The Red Wings have the 27th-highest average draft position (No. 29), yet their report card grade comes in 13th place for a plus-14 above the norm. Montreal&rsquo;s average draft position ranks 19th (No. 23), yet it has the third-best report card for a plus-16.<h2>HANDICAPPING SYSTEM</h2>Teams are ranked according to Average Draft Position (ADP) since 2005. Rank (Rk.) is the team&rsquo;s placement in Future Watch grades. See story for chart explanation on +/-.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011408/9228884-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="716" height="1412"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-021041/9228877-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="2270" height="1117"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

GIVING MEANING TO THE GRADES

<div class="byline">BY DAN WOOD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02979/9228915-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="844" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jake Gardiner (DAVID STLUKA)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011356/9228922-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="128" height="77"></div>The Ducks are hopeful a concerted effort to load up on extra draft picks the past two years will reap rewards down the road.With the help of a series of trades, Anaheim made seven selections among the top 85 and 10 overall in the 2008 draft, after having come away from thse 2007 draft with eight picks. Seven of those players from the past two drafts rank among the team&rsquo;s top 10 prospects.&ldquo;The last two drafts have added a lot of depth,&rdquo; said Martin Madden, director of amateur scouting. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have too many complaints about this group of prospects.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 JAKE GARDINER, D, 18, Wisconsin (WCHA)</h2>6-2, 181, 27-2-13-15-10OVERALL 40Less than a year removed from Minnetonka High School in Minnesota, Gardiner has adapted well to the demands of college at Wisconsin.Playing in the top four and also seeing power play duty for a strong team, Gardiner is progressing nicely, continuing to display outstanding skating and offensive ability.Gardiner is working on defensive awareness and could also stand to add muscle. He figures to be a strong candidate to play for Team USA in next year&rsquo;s WJC.Acquired 2008 draft, 17th overall.<h2>2 ERIC TANGRADI, LW, 19, Belleville (OHL)</h2>6-3, 220, 43-31-38-69-49OVERALL 46A member of the U.S. entry in this year&rsquo;s world juniors, Tangradi is also excelling with one of the top teams in the Ontario League.Tangradi is strong on his skates and has proven to be more than most OHL defensemen can handle down low.With continued growth and consistency and added aggressiveness, the Ducks hope to see the Philadelphia native cultivate a power-forward style. He had one goal, three points and six penalty minutes in six games at the world juniors.Acquired 2007 draft, 42nd overall.<h2>3 MATT BELESKEY, LW, 20, Iowa (AHL)</h2>6-0, 208, 26-7-12-19-30After four years with Belleville in the OHL, Beleskey started the season strong in his first American League campaign with Iowa and in getting a two-game look with the Ducks in December.Among Beleskey&rsquo;s strong suits is an extremely competitive nature that has transferred well to the pro game and impressed Anaheim&rsquo;s coaches during his brief NHL stint.Beleskey possesses a good shot and is not shy about putting the puck on net. Depending on how Anaheim&rsquo;s season goes, he may get another shot with the Ducks.Acquired 2006 draft, 112th overall.<h2>4 MARK MITERA, D, 21, Michigan (CCHA)</h2>6-3, 213, 1-0-0-0-0Mitera&rsquo;s senior season at Michigan certainly hasn&rsquo;t gone the way he wanted.The team&rsquo;s captain, Mitera tore his anterior cruciate ligament and damaged his medial collateral ligament in his knee in the Wolverines&rsquo; regular season opener Oct. 10 against St. Lawrence.Mitera is recovering from the resulting knee surgery to the point he might even play for Michigan if it can make it deep into the playoffs.At worst, Anaheim expects him to be 100 percent in time for his first professional training camp in September.Acquired 2006 draft, 19th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;BRIAN SALCIDO, D, 23, Iowa (AHL)</h2>6-1, 208, 47-6-22-28-67Salcido got off to a slow start at Iowa before picking up his game.While Chops blueline teammates Brett Festerling and Brendan Mikkelson received callups when injuries hit the Ducks, Salcido had to wait for his first NHL game.A former Colorado College standout, Salcido is a rearguard who puts up points with regularity, but must improve on the defensive side and his play without the puck.He&rsquo;s a native of Hermosa Beach, Calif., bidding to become the first player born and trained in California to play for the Ducks.Acquired 2005 draft, 141st overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 NICOLAS DESCHAMPS C, 19, 6-1, 185Chicoutimi (QMJHL) 47-18-28-46-24Notorious for his slow starts to the season, he&rsquo;s already on a second-half surge.Acquired 2008 draft, 35th overall7 JOSH BRITTAIN LW, 19, 6-4, 216Barrie (OHL) 24-4-11-15-34Power forward has raised stock considerably after getting traded from Kingston.Acquired 2008 draft, 71st overall8 MATTIAS MODIG G, 21, 6-0, 180Lulea (Swe.) 32 GP, 2.20, .925Strong play has Ducks eager to bring him to North America next season.Acquired 2007, draft, 121st overall9 ERIC O&rsquo;DELL C, 18, 6-0 177Sudbury (OHL) 48-25-25-50-41Must add weight and strength to play at the professional level.Acquired 2008 draft, 39th overalls10 LOGAN MACMILLAN C, 19, 6-2, 200Rimouski (QMJHL) 13-4-8-12-20Had early season injury, but trade to Rimouski offers shot with Memorial Cup host.Acquired 2007 draft, 19th overall &#9632;

f0024-02

DUCKS ARE QUICK TO RELOAD ON FLY

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KNOBLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-011212/9228953-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="804" height="914"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ondrej Pavelec (ROSS DETTMAN)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02858/9228960-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="120" height="85"></div>Some of the Thrashers&rsquo; top prospects have experience doing what many of their future teammates in Atlanta have never done: Winning post-season games. No. 1 prospect goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who spent last summer celebrating with the Calder Cup, may be the stabilizing force that the big club is looking for.One star of that Chicago Wolves playoff run, Bryan Little, has already made a splash in Atlanta, as well as Boris Valabik, Joey Crabb and Nathan Oystrick who have also been called up. As many as four of their fellow AHL champions could join them within a year.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 ONDREJ PAVELEC, G, 21, Chicago (AHL)</h2>6-2, 215, 7-7-1, 2.31, .919OVERALL 18This looked to be the season Pavelec stayed in the NHL, but after being named the AHL goalie of the month for October, he was inconsistent in Atlanta while filling in for the injured Kari Lehtonen.&ldquo;We still truly believe he&rsquo;s going to be a No. 1 goalie,&rdquo; said Thrashers GM Don Waddell. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s certainly got all the tools.&rdquo;Pavelec&rsquo;s reflexes are solid and he&rsquo;s tough to beat on initial shots. A puck to the knee during a morning skate cost Pavelec a few weeks, but he&rsquo;s back in fine form.Acquired 2005 draft, 41st overall.<h2>2 ANGELO ESPOSITO, C, 19, Montreal (QMJHL)</h2>6-1, 180, 31-21-17-38-25OVERALL 58Once projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft, Esposito was on course to flaming out last summer. The Thrashers&rsquo; plan: Take the pressure off him, sign him, but return him to junior.Esposito took a huge step forward by making the Canadian national junior team after being cut in the three previous years. He played big minutes in the tournament and scored the winning goal in the gold-medal game.He needs to get stronger, but has a good chance to make the 2009-10 opening-day roster.Acquired Trade with Pittsburgh, Feb. 26, 2008.<h2>3 DAULTON LEVEILLE, C, 18, Michigan St. (CCHA)</h2>5-11, 165, 28-7-5-12-10After selecting NHL-ready Zach Bogosian, the Thrashers used their second first round pick on Leveille, who they knew needed more time.As a freshman, Leveille has had a difficult transition to college hockey from the Jr. B St. Catharines Falcons, where he had 29 goals in 45 games last season.He has great skill, vision and skating ability, but needs to develop an NHL body. The Thrashers expect him to play three more seasons with the Spartans before joining the pros. He aims to gain 20 pounds in that time.Acquired 2008 draft, 29th overall.<h2>4 SPENCER MACHACEK, RW, 20, Chicago (AHL)</h2>6-0, 185, 46-10-11-21-19&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the Colby Armstrong of the AHL,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;He makes things happen. He&rsquo;s always in the other team&rsquo;s face. He&rsquo;s never going to score big goals like he did in junior, but there is no reason why he can&rsquo;t be a 20-goal scorer here.&rdquo;This is his first pro season after scoring 33 goals and 78 points for Vancouver (WHL) in 2007-08. He also helped lead them to a Memorial Cup in 2007.Machacek has a chance to make the Thrashers next fall, but will need the rest of this season to prepare in the AHL in order to prove he&rsquo;s ready.Acquired 2007 draft, 67th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;RILEY HOLZAPFEL, C, 20, Chicago (AHL)</h2>6-0, 190, 48-7-13-20-20A more skilled player than Machacek, Holzapfel has still taken awhile to adjust to the AHL. He has now made the adjustment and the Thrashers think he will be able to jump to the NHL in time for next season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a top-two line guy (in the NHL),&rdquo; Waddell said.Like Machacek, Holzapfel was brought to the Wolves after his junior season in 2007-08, but didn&rsquo;t suit up during their Calder Cup playoff run.Holzapfel can play left wing as well as center and scored 39 goals for Moose Jaw (WHL) in 2006-07.Acquired 2006 draft, 43rd overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 ALEX KANGAS G, 21, 6-1, 175Minnesota (WCHA) 12-7-5, 2.83, .902Decent sophomore year. Set school record for GAA and SP as a freshman.Acquired 2006 draft, 135th overall7 GRANT LEWIS D, 24, 6-3, 205Chicago (AHL) 37-0-16-16-46Needs more pro experience. Missed time this season with a shoulder injury.Acquired 2004 draft, 40th overall8 PAUL POSTMA D, 19, 6-2, 175Calgary (WHL) 52-16-44-60-20Smooth skater leads Western League defensemen in production.Acquired 2007 draft, 205th overall9 DANICK PAQUETTE RW, 18, 6-0, 210Lewiston (QMJHL) 47-23-22-45-176Leads in penalty minutes among Thrashers prospects. Feisty, passionate, tough.Acquired 2008 draft, 64th overall10 ARTURS KULDA D, 20, 6-2, 210Chicago (AHL) 27-1-7-8-29Strong 2008 Calder Cup run. Injured knee early this season. Needs experience.Acquired 2006 draft, 200th overall &#9632;

f0025-01

SUCCESS ON FARM SPURS CONFIDENCE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE LOFTUS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011367/9228991-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="812" height="890"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tuukka Rask (COURTESY OF PROVIDENCE BRUINS)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02986/9228998-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="113" height="85"></div>After five seasons as coach Scott Gordon&rsquo;s righthand man in Providence, Rob Murray took over one of the most important jobs in the Bruins organization when Gordon was hired to coach the New York Islanders this season.Murray got off to a good start guiding Providence this year, sending well-prepared defenseman Matt Hunwick to Boston. Call-ups Matt Lashoff, Martin St-Pierre and Byron Bitz also helped. Four of Boston&rsquo;s top five prospects were Providence Bruins at the all-star break, so Murray is in charge of valuable property.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 TUUKKA RASK, G, 21, Providence (AHL)</h2>6-2, 171, 19-15-0, 2.46, .918OVERALL 11Rask is playing more and playing harder his second season in the American League.&ldquo;Our team in Providence isn&rsquo;t as strong as last year,&rdquo; said Jim Benning, Boston&rsquo;s assistant GM, &ldquo;so Tuukka has more of an opportunity to face more shots and take his game to the next level.&rdquo;Inconsistent as a rookie, Rask has now &ldquo;learned he&rsquo;s got to be in the game, right from the start,&rdquo; according to Benning. A strong regular season finish and playoff in Providence will force the Bruins to make room for him.Acquired Trade with Toronto, June 24, 2006.<h2>2 JOE COLBORNE, C, 19, Denver (WCHA)</h2>6-5, 196, 27-6-15-21-10OVERALL 34The highest ranked of three centers among Boston&rsquo;s top five prospects may be the last to reach the NHL. Colborne has jumped from the Alberta Junior League to NCAA Div. 1.Colborne, whom the Bruins figure will benefit from a light game schedule and more off-ice training, has had a solid freshman season. Most of the playmaker&rsquo;s points come from assists. &ldquo;We drafted him for the player he&rsquo;ll be four years down the road,&rdquo; Benning said.Acquired 2008 draft, 18th overall.<h2>3 BRAD MARCHAND, C, 20, Providence (AHL)</h2>5-9, 187, 49-10-22-32-38OVERALL 67They don&rsquo;t come tougher than Marchand, who started this season wearing a shield to protect facial injuries that could have required surgery.&ldquo;We talk with our scouts about what a Bruin is and Brad fits the mold perfectly,&rdquo; Benning said. &ldquo;He plays with passion, works hard. He&rsquo;s not a tall player, but plays big, takes the puck to the tough areas.&rdquo;Marchand can also produce: At the AHL&rsquo;s allstar break, he was fourth in team scoring. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a real positive first year for him,&rdquo; Benning said.Acquired 2006 draft, 71st overall.<h2>4 MATT LASHOFF, D, 22, Providence (AHL)</h2>6-2, 198, 22-4-13-17-25The road to the NHL hasn&rsquo;t been easy for Boston&rsquo;s 2005 first-rounder, but the Bruins still think Lashoff will arrive.&ldquo;We wanted Matt to work on (defensive) parts of his game and we&rsquo;re starting to see positive results,&rdquo; Benning said of Lashoff, a frequent call-up the past two seasons.&ldquo;He always could skate and handle the puck. We&rsquo;re working on getting him to be more assertive in our end and he&rsquo;s done what we&rsquo;ve asked.&rdquo;Opportunity this season has been limited by Hunwick&rsquo;s emergence.Acquired 2005 draft, 22nd overall.<h2>5&nbsp;ZACH HAMILL, C, 20, Providence (AHL)</h2>5-11, 175, 34-5-5-10-22The clever playmaker&rsquo;s first full pro season was delayed when a thumb injury in Boston&rsquo;s camp required surgery that kept him from playing until late November.Benning thinks Hamill is just now catching up. &ldquo;We think we&rsquo;re going to see more of what Zach is capable of in the second half and playoffs.&rdquo;Hamill, who is working on adding strength, projects as a playmaking center within a couple of years. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got the hands and the ability to find and hit the open man,&rdquo; Benning said.Acquired 2007 draft, 8th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 CARL SODERBERG C, 23, 6-3, 198Malmo (Swe.) 38-12-34-46-22Continues to display NHL-calibre skills, but still hasn&rsquo;t left native Sweden.Acquired From StL, July 23, 20077 ADAM MCQUAID D, 22, 6-4, 209Providence (AHL) 49-3-5-8-95Throwback, stay-at-home blueliner, working on skating and quickness.Acquired From Col, May 16, 20078 TOMMY CROSS D, 19, 6-3, 198Boston College (HE) 22-0-8-8-24Knee surgeries interrupted development; he&rsquo;s finding his niche at Boston College.Acquired 2007 draft, 35th overall9 MARTINS KARSUMS RW, 22, 5-10, 198Providence (AHL) 43-17-24-41-20Providence&rsquo;s top scorer showed well in brief stint with Boston.Acquired 2004 draft, 64th overall10 MAXIME SAUVE C, 19, 6-0, 182Val-d&rsquo;Or (QMJHL) 48-21-37-58-31Despite playing for QMJHL&rsquo;s weakest team, he&rsquo;s had the best of his three seasons.Acquired 2008 draft, 47th overall &#9632;

f0026-01

BOSTON STACKED DOWN THE MIDDLE

<div class="byline">BY JOHN VOGL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02908/9229029-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="806" height="919"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tyler Myers (TIM SWANKY)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011291/9229036-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="128" height="84"></div>The Sabres know the perception is still there. People think their scouting staff consists of DVD players and video cameras. The living, breathing scouts don&rsquo;t mind.&ldquo;We like to think we&rsquo;re doing the right thing,&rdquo; said Jon Christiano, director of pro scouting. The Sabres infamously integrated video as a primary means of scouting more than four years ago and many critics snickered. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the best of both worlds,&rdquo; Christiano said. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and the video bandwagon still has a lot of room.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 TYLER MYERS, D, 19, Kelowna (WHL)</h2>6-7, 215, 37-5-23-28-84OVERALL 9As soon as the tower gets more power, the Sabres&rsquo; blueline will receive a huge boost.Myers&rsquo; skill was showcased during the WJC, as the 6-foot-7 defenseman got better every game. The 19-year-old just needs to add more bulk to his 215-pound frame.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s coordinated and agile for a guy his size,&rdquo; Christiano said. &ldquo;At his age, he&rsquo;s ahead of Chara in the skating area; Chara at 18 was more of a project. We&rsquo;ve been happy with him.&rdquo; The smooth skater is very aware in the defensive zone and makes a contribution offensively.Acquired 2008 draft, 12th overall.<h2>2 NATHAN GERBE, C, 21, Portland (AHL)</h2>5-6, 165, 29-19-15-34-27OVERALL 56Gerbe has insatiable desire. He just needs his skills to show up as consistently as his determination.The 21-year-old got his first taste of the NHL in December and there were games he showed his speed belongs. There were also days he was hardly noticed. That&rsquo;s expected to change and he learns the AHL.&ldquo;He knows he has to bring it every night as a 5-foot, 6-inch player,&rdquo; Christiano said. &ldquo;He wants to play in the NHL very badly.&rdquo;Gerbe has one of the organization&rsquo;s quickest releases.Acquired 2005 draft, 142nd overall.<h2>3 CHRIS BUTLER, D, 22, Portland (AHL)</h2>6-1, 185, 17-0-2-2-4OVERALL 65First-year pros don&rsquo;t crack the Sabres&rsquo; lineup, especially blueliners. But Butler was called up because of injuries and the team found it impossible to send him back to the minors. The 22-year-old has fit in well and many nights he&rsquo;s among the top four defensemen.Butler has stuck by refusing to be flashy. It helps his quickness is NHL caliber. He moves to the right spot and does right things once he gets there.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s held himself really well,&rdquo; coach Lindy Ruff said. &ldquo;He plays a strong defensive game.&rdquo;Acquired 2005 draft, 96th overall.<h2>4 TYLER ENNIS, C, 19, Medicine Hat (WHL)</h2>5-9, 164, 43-25-30-55-12The 19-year-old made the Canadian junior team, but he couldn&rsquo;t find a starring role. He&rsquo;s got the flashy offensive skills, he just needs to discover exactly when to use them.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to see another gear speed, find when to wiggle and when to go straight,&rdquo; Christiano said of Ennis&rsquo; skating ability. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s creative and can find the open man.&rdquo;Meeting Gerbe at the team&rsquo;s rookie camp was a plus for Ennis. He took one look at Gerbe&rsquo;s muscular physique and asked what he had to do to mimic it. It will help if Ennis can come close.Acquired 2008 draft, 26th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;JHONAS ENROTH, G, 20, Portland (AHL)</h2>5-10, 174, 18-12-2, 2.45, .921When Enroth arrived from Sweden last summer, his biggest hurdle was adjusting to the North American game. Now he&rsquo;s learning what it takes to be a nightly cornerstone.Because of an injury to goalie cohort Adam Dennis, the Portland net has been given to the 20-year-old Enroth and the progression has been rapid.&ldquo;He gives the team a chance to win every night,&rdquo; Christiano said. &ldquo;He has composure, is poised and efficient, not acrobatic. He&rsquo;s played a ton as we&rsquo;ve been tapping him on the shoulder a lot and he&rsquo;s been very capable.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 46th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 MIKE WEBER D, 21, 6-2, 201Portland (AHL) 37-1-5-6-86Physical defenseman has battled injury problems after starting season in Buffalo.Acquired 2006 draft, 57th overall7 PHILIP GOGULLA RW, 21, 6-2, 176Cologne (Ger.) 41-16-19-35-44Sabres pushed to keep him in North America to monitor progress, but he balked.Acquired 2005 draft, 48th overall8 TIM KENNEDY C, 22, 5-9, 176Portland, (AHL) 42-5-28-33-16Collegiate winger learning new position (center) and is among rookie assist leaders.Acquired From Wsh, July 30, 20059 LUKE ADAM LW, 18, 6-2, 210Montreal (QMJHL) 43-22-22-44-55An offensive force in the Q; finishing third major junior season and still just 18.Acquired 2008 draft, 44th overall10 M-A GRAGNANI D, 21, 6-1, 180Portland (AHL) 44-4-26-30-34Back on blueline after failed experiment at forward. Offensive skill, but not tough.Acquired 2005 draft, 87th overall &#9632;

f0027-02

SCOUTING THROUGH THE EYE OF A LENS

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SPORTAK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02953/9229067-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="839" height="921"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mikael Backlund (TIM SWANKY)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011349/9229074-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="123" height="85"></div>Finally, the Calgary Flames are seeing prospects have an impact. After years of struggling to add homegrown talent to the mix &ndash; or simply not having enough &ndash; Calgary is benefiting from its patience.David Moss, Eric Nystrom, Dustin Boyd, Adam Pardy, Brandon Prust and Mark Giordano may not be household names, but all are contributing in Calgary this season.The Flames&rsquo; prospect pool isn&rsquo;t deep nor considered to be brimming with high-end talent, partly due to choosing so late in the draft. But at least it&rsquo;s receiving the benefits of rebuilding a system that was not producing results.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 MIKAEL BACKLUND, C, 19, Kelowna (WHL)</h2>6-0, 194, 9-3-7-10-8OVERALL 14After a tumultuous half-season with Vasteras in Sweden&rsquo;s second-highest league, amidst complaints he wasn&rsquo;t playing with enough determination and contentions he wasn&rsquo;t given enough ice time, Backlund had a strong WJC and bolted for the WHL&rsquo;s Kelowna Rockets.First, though, he had a one-game audition with the Flames. He showed skill, nearly scoring on his first shift, but he also needs time &ndash; perhaps a season in the AHL &ndash; to develop, become stronger and adjust to the North American game. For now, the WHL is a great test.Acquired 2007 draft, 24th overall.<h2>2 GREG NEMISZ, C, 18, Windsor (OHL)</h2>6-4, 201, 50-28-33-61-36OVERALL 59The Flames have been searching for a big, strapping, scoring center for what seems like an eternity. With luck, Nemisz will finally be the player to fit that mold.A top scorer on one of junior hockey&rsquo;s best teams, he&rsquo;s had a major impact in Windsor thanks to his slick hands and willingness to go to the front of the net.Nemisz must improve his skating and agility to have success in the NHL, but he&rsquo;s a budding top-six forward. A couple of seasons away from playing with the Flames, Nemisz will be a force for the Spits next year.Acquired 2008 draft, 25th overall.<h2>3 LELAND IRVING, G, 20, Quad City (AHL)</h2>6-1, 176, 9-10-1, 2.34, .906An injury prevented the team&rsquo;s top goalie prospect from showing his stuff during Calgary&rsquo;s camp and pre-season, which was followed by a slow start to his first pro campaign.After the first couple of months, the technically strong netminder rebounded and returned to the development path expected of him.With Miikka Kiprusoff in Calgary, there is no reason to push Irving to the NHL sooner than necessary, thus allowing him time to fine-tune his abilities in the minors and ultimately make good on his goalie-of-the future label.Acquired 2006 draft, 26th overall.<h2>4 MITCH WAHL, C, 19, Spokane (WHL)</h2>6-0, 185, 41-24-23-47-49It&rsquo;s hard to top last season for the skilled, hardworking center, but Wahl has done a few things to accomplish that feat.Last year with Spokane, he won a WHL title and Memorial Cup, where he was named a tournament all-star. This season Wahl is on a less powerful team, but he&rsquo;s still putting up good numbers and was solid for the United States at the WJC.His two-way determination will be the key for him to continue climbing up the ranks, but the Flames believe they have discovered a strong, unheralded player.Acquired 2008 draft, 48th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;KRIS CHUCKO, LW, 22, Quad City (AHL)</h2>6-2, 198, 43-16-17-33-40A first round pick who has become a bit of a project, Chucko is finally achieving the expectations of his draft season.In his third AHL campaign, Chucko was on pace to double his career bests in goals and points and that spike in offensive production has his stock on the rise.Always willing to play a hard-charging, physical game, Chucko never shies away from the front of the net. However, he must continue to improve his skating and defensive game, as it&rsquo;s getting closer to make-or-break time for this late-bloomer.Acquired 2004 draft, 24th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 JOHN NEGRIN D, 19, 6-2, 195Swift Current (WHL) 9-3-8-11-6Developing more offensive skills in final junior season; shown steady improvement.Acquired 2007 draft, 70th overall7 MATT PELECH D, 21, 6-5, 216Quad City (AHL) 46-2-5-7-104Above-average skater building towards a shot with the Flames next season.Acquired 2005 draft, 26th overall8 BRETT SUTTER LW, 21, 6-0, 192Quad City (AHL) 42-4-10-14-28Solid forechecker has risen up the ranks due to his smarts and strong defense.Acquired 2005 draft, 179th overall9 T.J. BRODIE D, 18, 6-1, 170Saginaw (OHL) 44-8-32-40-41Displaying excellent on-ice instincts and flourishing in a creative capacity.Acquired 2008 draft, 114th overall10 KEITH AULIE D, 19, 6-6, 222Brandon (WHL) 44-5-19-24-66Winning gold with Canada&rsquo;s junior team boosted the big rearguard&rsquo;s confidence.Acquired 2007 draft, 116th overall &#9632;

f0028-02

BACKLUND’S LATEST SHIFT

<div class="byline">BY LUKE DECOCK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02820/9229105-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="802" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Zach Boychuk (JIM MCNALLY)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-011197/9229112-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="125" height="80"></div>In recent years, the Hurricanes have turned the first round of the draft into a pipeline to the NHL. The later rounds, however, have been a road to nowhere.On one hand, recent first rounds have brought in players such as Cam Ward, Eric Staal and Brandon Sutter.However, Ryan Bayda and Chad LaRose are the only Canes-drafted players on the roster who were selected after the first round. Since the appointment of Ron Francis to a player development post in 2006, the pattern is changing for the first time since Erik Cole and Josef Vasicek came out of the middle rounds in the &rsquo;98 draft.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 ZACH BOYCHUK, C, 19, Lethbridge (WHL)</h2>5-10, 180, 25-15-16-31-10OVERALL 16Off-season wrist surgery didn&rsquo;t slow down Boychuk. He was so impressive in training camp &ndash; even with only one good hand &ndash; the Hurricanes wanted to take a look at him in the NHL.Boychuk played two games before he was sent back to junior, but the short audition raised expectations. In his first NHL camp, he may have been the best pure scorer on the ice. He&rsquo;ll get a look at a roster spot next fall.Boychuk is on pace to improve his WHL numbers in what figures to be his last season in Lethbridge.Acquired 2008 draft, 14th overall.<h2>2 DRAYSON BOWMAN, C, 19, Spokane (WHL)</h2>6-1, 188, 40-25-27-52-74OVERALL 49Passed over by Team USA for the 2008 WJC, Bowman took out his disappointment on the WHL.He ultimately led Spokane to the Memorial Cup last season; USA Hockey took note and Bowman played a key role in Ottawa at the 2009 WJC.He was impressive in training camp with Carolina to the point where he argued he shouldn&rsquo;t be sent back to junior this season. He&rsquo;ll aim to make the jump next fall.With a great shot and an ability to make plays at any forward position, he has first-line NHL potential.Acquired 2007 draft, 72nd overall.<h2>3 JAMIE MCBAIN, D, 20, Wisconsin (WCHA)</h2>6-2, 200, 28-5-25-30-16OVERALL 66The Hurricanes and McBain never seriously discussed the possibility he&rsquo;d turn pro and try the NHL this season, but he paid his own way to Carolina&rsquo;s prospect camp, figuring that day was coming soon.It will be a bigger debate this spring when McBain finishes his junior year. McBain leads Wisconsin in scoring &ndash; not just defensemen, but the entire team.The Canes are enamored with his all-around game, particularly his steadiness with the puck and confidence in his end.Acquired 2006 draft, 63rd overall.<h2>4 ZAC DALPE, RW, 19, Ohio State (CCHA)</h2>6-1, 180, 24-12-5-17-21The Hurricanes considered drafting Dalpe in the first round, so they were delighted to find him still available in the second. He has a longer development curve than Boychuk, but shares similar potential.Passed over in the OHL draft before a six-inch growth spurt, he made a splash with 27 goals and 63 points in 46 BCHL games last season.Carolina wanted him to play for Plymouth (OHL) &ndash; the junior Whalers are also run by Canes owner Peter Karmanos &ndash; but Dalpe honored his commitment to Ohio State. He leads the Buckeyes in goals.Acquired 2008 draft, 45th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;JUSTIN PETERS, G, 22, Albany (AHL)</h2>6-1, 213, 9-17-2, 2.59, .919Peters started the season sharing time with Daniel Manzato in Albany before establishing himself as the regular starter.His numbers have been solid, but his record has suffered due to a lack of goal support. One of the best athletes the Hurricanes have ever drafted, Peters continues to improve his fundamentals in net.This is Peters&rsquo; third AHL season and he&rsquo;s at an age where his development will have to accelerate. There won&rsquo;t be an NHL opening in Carolina until 2010-11, so he still has time to work on his game.Acquired 2004 draft, 38th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 CHRIS TERRY LW, 19, 5-10, 195Plymouth (OHL) 36-26-28-54-51Late bloomer developed into a top scorer last season and is now a go-to leader.Acquired 2007 draft, 132nd overall7 MIKE MURPHY G, 20, 5-11, 161Belleville (OHL) 28-7-4, 2.00, .943OHL goalie of the year last season; leads league in GAA and save percentage.Acquired 2008 draft, 165th overall8 JUSTIN MCCRAE C, 20, 6-1, 185Spokane (WHL) 15-2-4-6-6Not a big scorer, but has solid fundamentals. Won Memorial Cup last year.Acquired 2007 draft, 102nd overall9 NICOLAS BLANCHARD C, 21, 6-3, 190Albany (AHL) 48-6-11-17-115Responsible defensively and willing to fight, he could be versatile fourth-line NHLer.Acquired 2005 draft, 192nd overall10 MICHAL JORDAN D, 18, 6-1, 184Plymouth (OHL) 41-6-20-26-22Member of Czech national junior team, he plays in all situations for Whalers.Acquired 2008 draft, 105th overall &#9632;

f0029-02

WINDS OF CHANGE IN FRANCIS’ WAKE

<div class="byline">BY TIM SASSONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02924/9229143-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="796" height="873"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack Skille (COURTESY OF ROCKFORD ICEHOGS)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011357/9229150-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="103" height="84"></div>This is Phase I in the rebuilding of the Blackhawks, who have nine draft choices either playing on the top three lines or among the top four on defense. Now it&rsquo;s on to Phase II: Keep them coming.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still a little ahead of schedule,&rdquo; said GM Dale Tallon. &ldquo;The guys we have here now like (Dave) Bolland, (Dustin) Byfuglien and (Troy) Brouwer, they&rsquo;re all getting better with on-the-job training.&rdquo;In terms of replenishing the system, Tallon sees potential gaps at center and on defense. &ldquo;Those are the two areas I think we need to address,&rdquo; he said.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 JACK SKILLE, RW, 21, Rockford (AHL)</h2>6-1, 205, 37-15-19-34-37OVERALL 36Skille made the Hawks roster out of camp, but the decision to send him back to the minors after six games has turned out the way Tallon hoped.&ldquo;We felt it was necessary for him to get some confidence offensively,&rdquo; Tallon said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a top-nine forward next year with a chance to move up into the top-six with his size, speed and shot.&rdquo;Skille has averaged almost a point per game in the AHL; plus, he plays a style that fits coach Joel Quenneville&lsquo;s plan to ice a team that goes hard and fast.Acquired 2005 draft, 7th overall.<h2>2 KYLE BEACH, LW, 19, Lethbridge (WHL)</h2>6-3, 210, 39-18-26-44-124OVERALL 39Beach almost made the team out of camp as an 18-year-old. But he needed to improve his skating, so the Hawks felt another year in junior was best. He was traded from Everett to Lethbridge in January.The Hawks see the rambunctious Beach as a guy who will someday be the perfect complement on a line with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Not only can he help protect them, he has the ability to play with them.&ldquo;He might be a better pro (than a junior),&rdquo; Tallon said. &ldquo;He can be an aggravating power forward.&rdquo;Acquired 2008 draft, 11th overall.<h2>3 NIKLAS HJALMARSSON, D, 21, Rockford (AHL)</h2>6-3, 194, 40-2-12-14-43Hjalmarsson&rsquo;s season began in Madison Square Garden as a member of the Hawks&rsquo; opening night roster, but a rib injury in that game found him working his way back from the minors.Hjalmarsson is Chicago&rsquo;s best defensive prospect and Tallon has been looking for ways to get him back with the Blackhawks.More steady than flashy, he has shown versatility at Rockford as a stay-at-home defender who can deliver hits in the open ice and move the puck. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of time with him,&rdquo; Tallon said.Acquired 2005 draft, 108th overall.<h2>4 COREY CRAWFORD, G, 24, Rockford (AHL)</h2>6-2, 188, 14-8-2, 2.65, .915Crawford was supposed to be Nikolai Khabibulin&rsquo;s backup, but the free agent signing of Cristobal Huet changed everything.Crawford has had another productive year in the minors, winning games and improving his fundamentals, particularly puckhandling.Crawford was disappointed not to be in Chicago, but gets high marks from the Hawks for how he handled the situation.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been very professional,&rdquo; Tallon said. &ldquo;He understood he&rsquo;s going to get his chance somewhere. He knows there are people watching him.&rdquo;Acquired 2003 draft, 52nd overall.<h2>5&nbsp;AKIM ALIU, RW, 19, Sudbury (OHL)</h2>6-3, 205, 28-13-14-27-64Aliu is a raw talent whom the Hawks see as a force down the road.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got tremendous tools,&rdquo; Tallon said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of consistency and getting the mental part down.&rdquo;Aliu is having an decent year following a trade from London to Sudbury. He is viewed in some circles as having behavioral issues, but Sudbury GM Mike Foligno was happy to re-acquire him.The Hawks like his skill, speed and versatility. Aliu can play all three forward positions, which is in his favor in an organization that&rsquo;s thin at center.Acquired 2007 draft, 56th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 SHAWN LALONDE D, 18, 6-1, 186Belleville (OHL) 51-17-22-39-59He has quick feet and puck-moving ability similar to Duncan Keith.Acquired 2008 draft, 68th overall7 BILL SWEATT LW, 20, 6-0, 190Colorado Col. (WCHA) 27-10-9-19-26Speed, speed and more speed describe this low-scoring third-year collegian.Acquired 2007 draft, 38th overall8 EVAN BROPHEY C, 22, 6-2, 197Rockford (AHL) 48-10-15-25-53He&rsquo;ll never be a big scorer, but his two-way ability is suited to the energy line.Acquired 2005 draft, 68th overall9 IGOR MAKAROV RW, 21, 6-1, 195St. Petersburg (Rus.) 36-7-6-13-55A goal-scorer with some jam, the Hawks think he has top-six potential.Acquired 2006 draft, 33rd overall10 JOE FALLON G, 23, 6-3, 202Gwinnett (ECHL) 12-6-2, 2.57, .917The Hawks love his size and see him replacing Crawford in the AHL next season.Acquired 2005 draft, 167th overall &#9632;

f0030-02

MORE ‘NEXT WAVES’ ON CHICAGO SHORE

<div class="byline">BY ADRIAN DATER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02834/9229181-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="672" height="771"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Shattenkirk (SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011247/9229188-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="122" height="84"></div>Rick Pracey took over the Avalanche&rsquo;s chief scouting duties full time this season. With a first child who is not even one yet, life is hectic for the Kingsville, Ont., resident, but he wouldn&rsquo;t have it any other way.&ldquo;I get to watch hockey for a living, can&rsquo;t complain too much about that,&rdquo; Pracey said.Pracey also didn&rsquo;t have a lot to complain about with the Avalanche&rsquo;s top-10 list of prospects. Every scout always tries to accentuate the positive, but Pracey believes there are at least three future top-four NHL defensemen on the list and at least one top-six forward.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 KEVIN SHATTENKIRK, D, 20, Boston University (HE)</h2>5-11, 193, 23-5-10-15-24OVERALL 29Bring up Colorado&rsquo;s first round pick of 2007 and Pracey&rsquo;s tone of voice changes noticeably from speaking about other prospects.&ldquo;We see him as a big-game player,&rdquo; Pracey said of the BU Terriers sophomore D-man. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got the kind of mindset and skill set where he&rsquo;s a game-changer.&rdquo;Shattenkirk was an alternate captain on the U.S. national junior team. Leadership is an attribute that will serve him well going forward.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely a top-four (D-man),&rdquo; Pracey said.Acquired 2007 draft, 14th overall.<h2>2 RYAN STOA, C, 21, Minnesota (WCHA)</h2>6-3, 220, 23-15-15-30-64OVERALL 62What Stoa did while he wasn&rsquo;t in uniform last season is almost as big as what he&rsquo;s done on the ice since, according to Pracey.&ldquo;He was hurt most of last year, but guys in their dressing room still looked to him as a leader,&rdquo; Pracey said. &ldquo;That says a lot about his character and leadership.&rdquo;Healthy again this year, Stoa had an outstanding senior year with Minnesota. He led the team in scoring and plus-minus and was the team captain.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got top-six (forward) ability,&rdquo; Pracey said.&rdquo;Acquired 2005 draft 35th overall.<h2>3 CAMERON GAUNCE, D, 18, Mississauga (OHL)</h2>6-1, 203, 49-14-32-46-89OVERALL 75Gaunce hasn&rsquo;t even been part of the Avalanche organization for a year yet, but has come far in a short amount of time.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a player we&rsquo;re very excited about,&rdquo; Pracey said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very competitive defenseman. He stands up for his teammates and is a high-character player.&rdquo;Gaunce surpassed last year&rsquo;s 63-game offensive output in 41 games this season with Mississauga St. Michael&rsquo;s. He has an offensive slant to his game, but it&rsquo;s his two-way ability that will eventually land him an NHL job.Acquired 2008 draft, 50th overall.<h2>4 MIKE CARMAN, C, 20, Minnesota (WCHA)</h2>6-0, 192, 21-7-7-14-28Last year was a bit of a write-off for this native of Augusta, Ga. Carman missed playing time with the Golden Gophers because of academic issues.The good news is Carman rebounded to not only keep his eligibility on the team, but also post 14 points through 21 games.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s still a good character guy and works hard,&rdquo; Pracey said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s represented the United States twice on the world stage. He&rsquo;s getting better.&rdquo;Carman will need quicker foot speed and defensive awareness to have a shot at a top-six role in the NHL.Acquired 2006 draft 81st overall.<h2>5&nbsp;NIGEL WILLIAMS, D, 20, Lake Erie (AHL)</h2>6-4, 226, 40-4-6-10-39He was projected by some scouts to be a first-rounder in 2006, but slipped to the second round. The main doubt with Williams is does he have the quickness to last longer than a cup of coffee in the NHL.Others think he will develop into a reliable, stay-at-home type.The Aurora, Ill., native is having a decent year at Lake Erie, in his first season of minor-pro hockey. He&rsquo;s certainly big enough and has a very hard shot from the point. Improving his skating and fine-tuning hockey sense will be keys to promotion.Acquired 2006 draft, 51st overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 COLBY COHEN D, 19, 6-2, 200Boston University (HE) 23-3-17-20-29Sophomore is having a boffo offensive year. He&rsquo;s learning the game defensively.Acquired 2007 draft, 45th overall7 TREVOR CANN G, 19, 5-11, 199London (OHL) 25-11-1, 2.71, .916Stats have been impressive this year. He still needs to play bigger in net.Acquired 2007 draft, 49th overall8 T.J. GALIARDI LW, 20, 6-2, 180Lake Erie (AHL) 44-4-11-15-12Injuries didn&rsquo;t help in his first year of minor pro. His skill set remains promising.Acquired 2007 draft, 55th overall9 JUSTIN MERCIER C, 21, 5-11, 175Miami (CCHA) 27-8-15-23-48High energy, heart and sound type of player; gets nose dirty in front of net.Acquired 2005 draft, 168th overall10 BRANDON YIP RW, 22, 6-1, 181Boston University (HE) 25-11-7-18-48Rebounding after sub-par junior season. The pro game will be a good test.Acquired 2004 draft, 239th overall &#9632;

f0031-02

BOSTON U’S BEST HEADED WEST

<div class="byline">BY AARON PORTZLINE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02889/9229219-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="860" height="940"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nikita Filatov (COURTESY OF SYRACUSE CRUNCH)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011330/9229226-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="104" height="85"></div>While other clubs shied away from drafting Russian players at the past two NHL drafts, Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson showed no such reluctance.The reward is Nikita Filatov and Maksim Mayorov, the top two rated prospects in the organization.The Blue Jackets put up with a lot of grief this summer &ndash; the KHL tried to claim the players had existing contracts &ndash; but the future now is clear and bright. Beyond difference-making skill, the Columbus has focused on stocking their system with defensemen.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 NIKITA FILATOV, LW, 18, Syracuse (AHL)</h2>6-0, 175, 23-7-10-17-10OVERALL 1Filatov scored a goal in his NHL debut and had a hat trick in his fourth NHL game, playing fewer than 10 minutes. Suffice it to say, despite worries he would be tough to get to North America, his skill level already is far above most NHLers. But there is work to be done.Filatov needs to add bulk to his frame and needs to be more aware of imposing danger on the ice. He&rsquo;s been sidelined twice this season with leg injuries &ndash; a hairline fracture in his leg and a sprained knee. But nothing, it seems, will impede his swift climb toward NHL stardom.Acquired 2008 draft, 6th overall.<h2>2 MAKSIM MAYOROV, RW, 19, Syracuse (AHL)</h2>6-2, 187, 41-9-10-19-20OVERALL 61The Jackets draft-day trade to acquire Mayorov &ndash; three fifth round picks to Dallas for an early fourth-rounder &ndash; now looks like a shrewd move. Mayorov fell into the Blue Jackets&rsquo; laps because of the lack of a transfer agreement with Russia.He&rsquo;s been very agreeable to North American hockey in his first season outside Russia. He&rsquo;s very skilled in tight spaces and is a very good skater. The hope is he can be a second-line forward when he matures. Some scouts doubt he&rsquo;ll score much at the NHL level.Acquired 2007 draft, 94th overall.<h2>3 TOM SESTITO, LW, 21, Syracuse (AHL)</h2>6-5, 226, 31-7-8-15-117Sestito&rsquo;s second pro season has been derailed by shoulder injuries, twice landing him on the shelf for more than a month. He is a large, immovable forward with very good hands down low, making him a future power-play candidate.Some see a young Todd Bertuzzi in Sestito, but that is a stretch. Sestito will need to dramatically improve his skating and durability to join that stratosphere.The other issue is that Sestito plays best when he&rsquo;s angry and the kindly lad isn&rsquo;t angry often enough.Acquired 2006 draft, 85th overall.<h2>4 NICK HOLDEN, D, 21, Syracuse (AHL)</h2>6-4, 208, 34-0-6-6-32So far, the offensive promise Holden showed during his junior career &ndash; he led Western League blueliners with 60 points in 2007-08 &ndash; has not revealed itself at the pro level.But this is Holden&rsquo;s first pro season, so he gets a temporary pass. He&rsquo;s out until mid- to late March because of a leg injury. In his defense, Holden hasn&rsquo;t drawn much power play time for Syracuse, keeping his numbers down.In an organization that lacks skill on the blueline, Holden gives hope to the future, which will need him sooner than later.Acquired Signed as free agent, March 28, 2008.<h2>5&nbsp;GRANT CLITSOME, D, 23, Syracuse (AHL)</h2>5-11, 212, 43-2-5-7-44It seems like eons since the Blue Jackets drafted Clitsome, but they expect a return on their four-plus season investment is right around the corner.What kind of defenseman is he? That&rsquo;s being hammered out now in his first pro season. He&rsquo;s more of a puck-mover than an offensive defenseman and he has a competitive streak that allows him to overcome the size disadvantage.Clitsome had a very good training camp, earning favor with the Columbus coaching staff. At 23, it&rsquo;s approaching moving day for him.Acquired 2004 draft, 271st overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 CODY GOLOUBEF D, 19, 6-0, 195Wisconsin (WCHA) 24-4-5-9-28A strapping, stay-at-home defenseman who keeps making big strides.Acquired 2008 draft, 37th overall7 TED RUTH D, 19, 6-0, 208Notre Dame (CCHA) 23-2-1-3-36A stout, rugged blueliner with captain qualities. Excellent leader.Acquired From Wsh, Feb. 26, 20088 STEFAN LEGEIN RW, 20, 5-10, 185Syracuse (AHL) 2-0-0-0-0Working his way back up ladder after temporarily quitting last summer.Acquired 2007 draft, 37th overall9 MIKE BLUNDEN RW, 22, 6-3, 207Syracuse (AHL) 45-4-9-13-68Budding power forward stagnated on the bench in Chicago&rsquo;s system.Acquired From Chi, Jan. 10, 200910 WILL WEBER D, 20 6-4, 210Miami (CCHA) 26-2-1-3-69He&rsquo;s a big, strong, willing defenseman with limited offensive skill.Acquired 2007 draft, 53rd overall &#9632;

f0032-02

NOTHING VENTURED NOTHING GAINED

<div class="byline">BY MIKE HEIKA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02812/9229257-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="806" height="921"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jamie Benn (TIM SWANKY)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-011187/9229264-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="122" height="84"></div>The Dallas Stars have big plans for their new Tom Hicks-owned AHL affiliate in Cedar Park, Texas, which will help sell the game across the state.But in making the move next season, the Stars are without a designated affiliate this season. Instead, they are spreading their prospects among five AHL franchises and have no place to put their goalies.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not an ideal situation, but we&rsquo;re trying to make the best of it,&rdquo; said Stars co-GM Les Jackson. &ldquo;And I think once we get through this, we&rsquo;ll have a lot of opportunities to make our affiliate even better.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 JAMIE BENN, LW, 19, Kelowna (WHL)</h2>6-2, 203, 37-31-25-56-50OVERALL 33The most exciting offensive prospect the Stars have produced in a while, Benn is a pure goal-scorer. He began this season on nearly a goal-a-game pace after scoring five goals in four games for the Stars at the Traverse City prospects tournament.A lanky winger, he has a knack for getting to the net and a really smooth set of hands. He&rsquo;ll surely need a year in the AHL to fine-tune his game, but he received some good training at the world juniors when he played on the checking line of the gold medal-winning Canadian team.Acquired 2007 draft, 129th overall.<h2>2 IVAN VISHNEVSKIY, D, 20, Peoria (AHL)</h2>6-0, 180, 40-3-9-12-20OVERALL 64Vishnevskiy is a skilled skater who still is learning the intricacies of playing defense in the AHL.His chances of heading to the NHL next year will be hurt by the fact the Stars already have three young NHL defensemen in Matt Niskanen, Nicklas Grossman and Trevor Daley, while prospect Mark Fistric in ahead of him on the depth chart.That being said, if Sergei Zubov returns healthy next season from a hip injury, he is the perfect mentor for Vishnevskiy, who at 20 still has a lot to learn.Acquired 2006 draft, 27th overall.<h2>3 MARK FISTRIC, D, 22, Manitoba (AHL)</h2>6-2, 232, 30-0-7-7-24This season is a tremendous opportunity for Mark Fistric. The Stars&rsquo; slow start forced them to acquire two veteran defensemen and that pushed Fistric to the minors.However, the Stars have seen in recent years that an extra year of minor pro development does benefit players, specifically Nicklas Grossman and James Neal.Fistric is more than ready for the NHL and might make the step up down the stretch. A big, physical player who is also smart, he showed in the playoffs last season he can play at the highest level.Acquired 2004 draft, 28th overall.<h2>4 TOM WANDELL, C, 22, Timra (Swe.)</h2>6-1, 185, 43-14-23-37-22Wandell played last season in Iowa, but was forced back to Europe this year because of the Stars&rsquo; affiliate problem. Despite the relocation, Wandell has played great for Timra.He&rsquo;s a skilled two-way player who can fill any of the three forward positions. He even made the jump to the NHL for four games when the Stars were dealing with injury problems earlier this year and he looked ready for the full-time duty.Wandell is similar to a lot of players the Stars already have and he might end on the top line in Cedar Park next season.Acquired 2005 draft, 146th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;PHILIP LARSEN, D, 19, Frolunda (Swe.)</h2>5-11, 185, 45-1-8-9-10Skilled, fast and smart, Larsen is a long-term project the Stars believe is in good hands in Sweden. Former Stars assistant coach Ulf Dahlen, who now is coach of Frolunda, is helping Larson&rsquo;s development.The talented defenseman probably has at least one more season in Europe before he&rsquo;s ready for the advance to the AHL level.This is Dallas&rsquo; long-term ace card in the defense department, something that will be crucial as the rest of their blueliners are on the fast track to the NHL.Acquired 2008 draft, 149th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 RICHARD BACHMAN G, 21, 5-11, 172Colorado College (WCHA) 11-8-6, 2.60, .914Will be the starting goalie in Cedar Park next year if he forgoes final WCHA season.Acquired 2006 draft, 120th overall7 TYLER BESKOROWANY G, 18, 6-4, 203Owen Sound (OHL) 8-10-8, 3.65, .898Progress has slowed as he&rsquo;s not getting the ice time he hoped for this season.Acquired 2008 draft, 54th overall8 RAY SAWADA RW, 23, 6-2, 205Manitoba (AHL) 41-4-12-16-29Gritty winger. Best suited as an energy player for the fourth line.Acquired 2004 draft, 52nd overall9 COLTON SCEVIOUR RW, 18, 6-0, 201Lethbridge (WHL) 51-23-36-59-31Already signed his pro contract for next season and will surely play in AHL.Acquired 2007 draft, 112th overall10 ONDREJ ROMAN C, 19, 6-0, 173Spokane (WHL) 10-4-7-11-4Back in Spokane after a transfer issue from Czech. Republic. Has played well.Acquired 2007 draft, 136th overall &#9632;

f0033-02

ALL LACED UP… NOWHERE TO GO

<div class="byline">BY ANSAR KHAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02918/9229295-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="708" height="776"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darren Helm (MARK NEWMAN/GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011344/9229302-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="126" height="85"></div>The Red Wings&rsquo; depth and skill level has enabled them to remain among the NHL&rsquo;s elite for nearly two decades, affording them more time to develop their prospects, several of whom are ready to take the next step.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting a push from the drafts of three, four years ago,&rdquo; said assistant GM Jim Nill. &ldquo;For two, three years in a row, we had quite a few kids that turned out pretty well and now we&rsquo;ve got them coming up together.&rdquo; Four of their top five picks from the 2005 draft are among their top 10 prospects.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 DARREN HELM, C, 22, Grand Rapids (AHL)</h2>5-11, 185, 37-11-20-31-16OVERALL 25Helm earned a spot on the fourth line during the Red Wings&rsquo; playoff run and provided a spark with his blazing speed and tireless energy. They didn&rsquo;t have the salary cap space to carry him this season, but logging more ice time and playing in all situations in the minors is better for his development.Projected as a third-line forward in the mold of a Kris Draper, Helm has displayed more puck-handling skills and offensive potential this season. He likes to hit, but needs to add more muscle to his slight frame.Acquired 2005 draft, 132nd overall.<h2>2 JONATHAN ERICSSON, D, 24, Grand Rapids (AHL)</h2>6-5, 220, 37-2-12-14-42OVERALL 38After two strong seasons in the AHL, Ericsson was ready for the jump to the NHL, but the Wings couldn&rsquo;t squeeze him onto a crowded roster. His production is down, but he&rsquo;s been solid defensively.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing real steady, smart hockey,&rdquo; Nill said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a great attitude. He knew there were things he needed to work on.&rdquo;The late bloomer &ndash; he was the last player selected in the 2002 draft &ndash; has good mobility, moves the puck well and has a booming shot (100 mph).Acquired 2002 draft, 291st overall.<h2>3 JAKUB KINDL, D, 21, Grand Rapids (AHL)</h2>6-3, 206, 48-5-22-27-50OVERALL 47After a rough first season as a pro, Kindl has shown tremendous improvement defensively and earned a spot in the AHL All-Star Game. He has cut down on turnovers and is making better decisions with the puck.Kindl is an immensely skilled defenseman, as he skates and handles the puck well, makes a sharp first pass and has a hard, accurate point shot.He will compete for an NHL job next training camp, but might end up spending one more season in the minors due to the Wings&rsquo; logjam on defense.Acquired 2005 draft, 19th overall.<h2>4 JUSTIN ABDELKADER, C, 21, Grand Rapids (AHL)</h2>6-2, 215, 44-14-13-27-59OVERALL 55A rugged player with good size and skating ability, Abdelkader has produced more than anticipated his first pro season. Projected as a second- or third-liner, he provides both grit and skill.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got pretty good touch around the net,&rdquo; Nill said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a little physical edge to him. Much like (Tomas) Holmstrom and (Johan) Franzen, he gives us that element of a big body that goes to the net and is not afraid to hit.&rdquo;Like Helm, the Wings might bring up Abdelkader in the playoffs if the fourth line needs an upgrade.Acquired 2005 draft, 42nd overall.<h2>5&nbsp;THOMAS MCCOLLUM, G, 19, Brampton (OHL)</h2>6-2, 208, 8-1-0, 1.64, .939OVERALL 57McCollum has had an exceptional season, ranking near the top of the OHL leaderboard in both goals-against average and save percentage, but struggled for the U.S. near the end of the WJC.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to go through adversity at some point, how he responds is going to be important,&rdquo; Nill said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the top two goalies in the OHL. He&rsquo;s big in net and plays well positionally, square to the shooter.&rdquo;McCollum will turn pro after this season and play in Grand Rapids in 2009-10.Acquired 2008 draft, 30th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 BRENDAN SMITH D, 19, 6-2, 184Wisconsin (WCHA) 21-7-11-18-40OVERALL 73Skilled puck-mover joins rush and gets involved physically.Acquired 2007 draft, 27th overall7 JIMMY HOWARD G, 24, 6-1, 208Grand Rapids (AHL) 13-10-3, 2.39, .914Wings are out of options for him; either play him next year or let him go.Acquired 2003 draft, 64th overall8 CORY EMMERTON C, 20, 6-0, 185Grand Rapids (AHL) 41-3-17-20-18Good playmaker with second-line NHL potential, but needs time to develop.Acquired 2006 draft, 41st overall9 JOAKIM ANDERSSON C, 19, 6-2, 206Frolunda (Swe.) 41-3-6-9-20Defensive center with limited offensive upside is very strong on draws.Acquired 2007 draft, 88th overall10 MATTIAS RITOLA LW, 21, 6-0, 192Grand Rapids (AHL) 47-15-17-32-26Protects puck well, but needs to shoot and go to the net more often.Acquired 2005 draft, 103rd overall &#9632;

f0034-02

SPOKES IN WHEEL GETTING FILLED IN

<div class="byline">BY ROB TYCHKOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02886/9229333-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="541" height="616"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jordan Eberle (GREG JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011260/9229340-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="102" height="85"></div>After three years of raiding their own cupboard like never before &ndash; young players Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Tom Gilbert, Kyle Brodziak, Marc Pouliot, Zack Stortini and Jeff Deslauriers are all regulars in Edmonton &ndash; the Oilers can now allow their next wave of talent the necessary time to develop.With 11 Oilers aged 24 or less, Edmonton shouldn&rsquo;t have to hurry any of its prospects, who are already knocking on the door at every position. Giving them more time to mature in minor, junior and college leagues will leave them better prepared to make the jump.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 JORDAN EBERLE, C, 18, Regina (WHL)</h2>5-10, 174, 44-27-27-54-12OVERALL 17Eberle quickly became a household name in Canada and sent a jolt of anticipation through Edmonton with his last-second game-saving goal in the semifinal of the World Junior Championship.The kid can score, that much we know. But bringing the rest of his game to an NHL level will take some time. He still has some growing to do and he doesn&rsquo;t pay the proper attention to defense that he will have to in the NHL. That, of course, can be taught. What Eberle has, world class hands, can&rsquo;t.Acquired 2008 draft, 22nd overall.<h2>2 JEFF PETRY, D, 21, Michigan St. (CCHA)</h2>6-3, 176, 28-1-10-11-26OVERALL 63Petry is a talented player in a good program, which generally results in a solid pro.While his sophomore year at Michigan State hasn&rsquo;t been as productive as his rookie season, which saw him named to the conference all-freshman team on the strength of 24 points in 42 games, he still stands out.In the CCHA&rsquo;s annual captains&rsquo; poll, Petry finished second in three major categories: best 1-on-1 defender, hardest slapshot and best power-play quarterback.He still needs more strength and experience.Acquired 2006 draft, 45th overall.<h2>3 TAYLOR CHORNEY, D, 21, Springfield (AHL)</h2>6-0, 196, 41-3-9-12-14Chorney comes with an impressive resume. From Shattuck-St. Mary&rsquo;s, to captain of the U.S. under-18 team, to the world juniors, to helping North Dakota reach the Frozen Four, he has excelled in some of hockey&rsquo;s best environments.Therefore it comes as no surprise that Chorney is a mature, intelligent player who is already thinking about the game at an NHL level.That&rsquo;s part of the reason why Edmonton convinced him to come out of college a year early in order to hone his game in the AHL.Acquired 2005 draft, 36th overall.<h2>4 JEFF DESLAURIERS, G, 24, Springfield (AHL)</h2>6-4, 202, 1-4-0, 2.73, .906Deslauriers&rsquo; development has been stunted several times in his career &ndash; from being the odd-man out in a three-goalie AHL rotation in 2004-05, to playing a grand total of 19 games AHL and ECHL games in 2005-06, when Edmonton didn&rsquo;t have a farm team.He spent the first half of this year in the press box while Edmonton was sorting out its three-goalie situation. But he soldiered through, showing enough in his five starts that the Oilers traded Mathieu Garon and Deslauriers gained sole possession of the backup job.Acquired 2002 draft, 31st overall.<h2>5&nbsp;J-F JACQUES, LW, 23, Springfield (AHL)</h2>6-4, 217, inactiveJacques will be starting from scratch this season after missing almost a full calendar year with a back injury. He was cleared to skate again in January after having surgery in September.When healthy, he is a big, physical winger with decent hands, the kind of third or fourth-line player all teams covet. But he still has to get over his big league difficulties, which are a bit of a puzzle.He&rsquo;s a power forward in the AHL, a Cam Neely-type who plays at a 20-goal, 120 PIMs pace every year and yet hasn&rsquo;t one point to show for 53 NHL games.Acquired 2003 draft, 68th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 RILEY NASH C, 19, 6-1, 175Cornell (ECAC) 21-9-10-19-18A crafty two-way forward trying to live up to first-round expectations.Acquired 2007 draft, 21st overall7 DEVAN DUBNYK G, 22, 6-5, 208Springfield (AHL) 15-25-1, 2.84, .908Having a solid season on a weak Springfield team. Covers a huge amount of net.Acquired 2004 draft, 14th overall8 LINUS OMARK LW, 21, 5-9, 168Lulea (Swe.) 47-18-30-48-48A small player with highlight-reel caliber moves. Average defensive ability.Acquired 2007 draft, 97th overall9 THEO PECKHAM D, 21, 6-1, 216Springfield (AHL) 43-6-13-19-81A strong, physical player who is one of Springfield&rsquo;s top defensemen.Acquired 2006 draft, 75th overall10 ROB SCHREMP C, 22, 5-11, 200Springfield (AHL) 36-5-21-26-14Great hands and eyes, but experiencing a startling drop off in production.Acquired 2004 draft, 25th overall &#9632;

f0035-02

KNOCKING ON EDMONTON’S DOOR

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE RICHARDS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02823/9229371-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="844" height="923"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jacob Markstrom (IHA)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011242/9229378-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="96" height="85"></div>It&rsquo;s not hard to see the stamp Jacques Martin has put on the Panthers organization. A staunch believer in goaltending and defense, Martin has been in charge of two drafts as GM and has largely stayed on the back-end of the ice.In 2008, the Panthers made Swedish goalie Jacob Markstrom their first pick. Of Florida&rsquo;s final four picks in that draft, three were defensemen.In 2007, Martin made defenseman Keaton Ellerby his first pick. Florida has added a total of six defensemen to its ranks since Martin took the GM helm in 2006.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 JACOB MARKSTROM, G, 19, Brynas (Swe.)</h2>6-3, 178, 33 GP, 2.31, .921, 3 SOOVERALL 3The Panthers have high hopes for Markstrom and have him chalked up as their future in net. He led Sweden to the gold medal game at the World Junior Championship in Ottawa where he was named top goalie.He has played well in the Swedish Elite League the past two seasons and is under contract with Brynas for 2009-10. The succession planning goes as follows: Markstrom is expected to backup Tomas Vokoun as a 20-year-old rookie in 2010-11. Vokoun is signed through the end of that season, at which point he&rsquo;ll be 35.Acquired 2007 draft, 31st overall.<h2>2 SHAWN MATTHIAS, C, 20, Rochester (AHL)</h2>6-4, 225, 33-6-4-10-8OVERALL 20Matthias made his NHL debut last season, joining the Panthers on an emergency basis and playing four games, centering a line as Olli Jokinen slid over to wing. Matthias was expected to make the Panthers out of camp in 2008, but Florida felt he wasn&rsquo;t ready and sent him to Rochester where he struggled as a rookie.Matthias has been called up numerous times and is finding his way; the Panthers expect him to compete for and win a roster spot next season. He&rsquo;s earmarked as a No. 2 center.Acquired Trade with Detroit, Feb. 27, 2007.<h2>3 MICHAL REPIK, RW, 20, Rochester (AHL)</h2>5-10, 180, 42-8-14-22-36Repik made his NHL debut Dec. 8 and scored in his first game during a Florida 4-3 overtime win against Ottawa.The small Czech played in four games (one goal and 8:27 average ice time per game) before being sent down to the AHL.The Panthers say Repik is progressing with Rochester and expect him to put up a fight for an NHL roster spot next season.Repik is a small, but plays smartly and work hard. He needs to continue to get stronger and is being put in plenty of different situations with the Amerks.Acquired 2007 draft, 40th overall.<h2>4 KEATON ELLERBY, D, 20, Rochester (AHL)</h2>6-4, 186, 42-0-11-11-24The Panthers have high hopes for Ellerby, hoping a year in the minors makes him a tougher player who will compete for a roster spot in 2009-10.If Ellerby doesn&rsquo;t make the Panthers out of camp next season, expect him to be one of the first to be called up. The team has too much invested in the 10th overall pick of 2007.Ellerby is big and skates well. He had a good first camp with the Panthers before getting hurt in a pre-season game, delaying his start in the AHL by a month. Now finding his way, Martin would like to see Ellerby get stronger.Acquired 2007 draft, 10th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;COLBY ROBAK, D, 18, Brandon (WHL)</h2>6-3, 207, 46-9-19-28-45Robak is progressing with Brandon and Florida is impressed by the way he moves the puck and runs the power play.They&rsquo;re watching Robak closely, but fully expect him to return for his final year left of major junior. Florida would like to see Robak become more physical and increase his intensity, but it likes his offensive skill.Robak sees the ice very well and is becoming a better offensive player. The Panthers like the way he plays in the defensive zone and he was helped along last year by seeing a big increase in ice time.Acquired 2008 draft, 48th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 EVGENI DADONOV RW, 19, 5-10, 180Chelyabinsk Traktor (Rus.) 34-7-3-10-6Good penalty killer with good hands. Not very big; but is a smart player.Acquired 2007 draft, 71st overall7 KENNDAL MCARDLE LW, 22, 5-11, 200Rochester (AHL) 43-8-10-18-71Has good speed, but not producing. Earmarked as a third- or fourth-liner.Acquired 2005 draft, 20th overall8 ADAM COMRIE D, 18, 6-4, 200Saginaw (OHL) 42-9-17-26-59A big, physical presence. Has a good shot and is an efficient skater.Acquired 2008 draft, 80th overall9 MICHAEL CARUSO D, 20, 6-2, 191Rochester (AHL) 41-0-2-2-28Needs to improve skating. Needs added bulk to withstand rigors of long season.Acquired 2006 draft, 103rd overall10 JASON GARRISON D, 25, 6-1, 220Rochester (AHL) 45-3-19-22-28Strong and smart. At 25, he&rsquo;s among the first reserves to be recalled.Acquired Free agent, April 2, 2008 &#9632;

f0036-02

DEFENSE POLICY FIRST & FOREMOST

<div class="byline">BY RICH HAMMOND</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02765/9229409-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="823" height="939"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jonathan Bernier (STEVE BABINEAU)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-011109/9229416-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="101" height="85"></div>Two years ago, the Kings&rsquo; defense was weaker than a de-clawed cat. So GM Dean Lombardi adopted a &lsquo;build from the end&rsquo; strategy and defensive depth became the organization&rsquo;s first priority and draft mantra.L.A. spent first round picks on goalie Jonathan Bernier in 2006 and defensemen Thomas Hickey in 2007 and Drew Doughty and Colten Teubert in 2008.Doughty, Jack Johnson and Kyle Quincey are all under 23 and thriving as NHL blueliners. The cupboard is a bit bare on the offensive end, but some of these defensive prospects can be used as trait bait this summer.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 JONATHAN BERNIER, G, 20, Manchester (AHL)</h2>6-0, 194, 11-15-3, 2.68, .901OVERALL 23For the first two months of the AHL season, Bernier and prospect Jonathan Quick posted almost identical numbers, but when the Kings traded Jason LaBarbera to Vancouver in December, Quick got the call.Bernier&rsquo;s AHL numbers have been average at best and Quick has been thriving with the Kings. But Bernier, a hybrid stand-up and butterfly goalie, still remains the Kings&rsquo; goaltender of the future. Team management hasn&rsquo;t wanted to expose him to too much too early, but he will soon get a chance to sink or swim in the NHL.Acquired 2006 draft, 11th overall.<h2>2 COLTEN TEUBERT, D, 18, Regina (WHL)</h2>6-4, 181, 43-9-16-25-91OVERALL 30While 2007 top pick Hickey is quiet and smooth, Teubert is loud and aggressive. The two paired up, with great success, at the world juniors and it&rsquo;s easy to see them patrolling the Kings blueline together soon.Teubert has the size and strength to match his on-ice swagger and has shown more offense to his game.Teubert had nine goals through 46 games this year with the Pats, compared to a combined 10 his first two WHL seasons. If he can keep his aggressiveness under control, he will be an important cog in L.A.Acquired 2008 draft, 13th overall.<h2>3 THOMAS HICKEY, D, 19, Seattle (WHL)</h2>5-10, 182, 38-10-23-33-22OVERALL 31Hickey&rsquo;s chances of making the Kings this season were derailed last summer when he had reconstructive ankle surgery.While he was a late cut from training camp, his return to Seattle in the Western League was a good thing.Hickey served as team captain for Canada in its gold medal-winning effort at the World Junior Championship and the Kings are thrilled with his leadership ability and his maturity. Hickey isn&rsquo;t flashy, but he&rsquo;s consistent and plays a game that will translate well to the NHL.Acquired 2007 draft, 4th overall.<h2>4 VYACHESLAV VOINOV, D, 19, Manchester (AHL)</h2>6-0, 190, 29-4-8-12-20OVERALL 60Dean Lombardi has a knack for finding second round studs. In 2007, it was Oscar Moller and Wayne Simmonds, both of whom are already playing for the Kings.In 2008, the second round gem was Voinov at No. 32. He is a smooth skater with crafty puck-moving skills and good size. He impressed the Kings by volunteering to play junior if necessary this season, but has held his own in the AHL.Voinov also had a strong showing with Russia at the WJC in Ottawa this year.Acquired 2008 draft, 32nd overall.<h2>5&nbsp;TREVOR LEWIS, C, 22, Manchester (AHL)</h2>6-1, 192, 43-11-20-31-22Lewis might be the Kings&rsquo; minor league comeback player of the year, even though he really never went anywhere.In a head-scratching 2007-08 season, Lewis totaled just 28 points in 76 AHL games and wasn&rsquo;t even close to reaching his potential.But something clicked this season. Lewis&rsquo; two-way game has been strong, which earned him a brief call-up to the Kings and his first career NHL goal. L.A. has decent depth at center, but Lewis will get a chance to crack the lineup for good next season.Acquired 2006 draft, 17th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 ANDREI LOKTIONOV C, 18, 5-11, 187Windsor (OHL) 36-13-24-37-10The organization loves his work ethic and produce on a consistent basis.Acquired 2008 draft, 123rd overall7 JEFF ZATKOFF G, 21, 6-3, 170Ontario (ECHL) 9-6-1, 2.25, .936Bernier has been the golden boy, but Zatk off has torn-up ECHL; ready for promotion.Acquired 2006 draft, 74th overall8 MARTIN JONES G, 19, 6-4, 187Calgary (WHL) 34-3-4, 2.20, .910Training-camp surprise earned a contract and is the dark horse in goalie race.Acquired Free agent, Oct. 2, 20089 ANDREW CAMPBELL D, 20, 6-4, 187Manchester (AHL) 44-3-4-7-49Great size, quick study. Skills need to be refined, but can steadily be learned.Acquired 2008 draft, 74th overall10 LINDEN ROWAT G, 19, 6-1, 177Regina (WHL) 16-16-4, 2.92, .904Sixth on the Kings depth chart; destine to start out next season in ECHL.Acquired 2007 draft, 124th overall &#9632;

f0037-02

THIN DEFENSE CAST THING OF PAST

<div class="byline">BY MICHAEL RUSSO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02811/9229447-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="844" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tyler Cuma (ICELEVEL.COM)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011197/9229454-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="135" height="84"></div>Following its philosophy since Day 1, the Wild continues to build from within. The biggest challenge moving forward is a lack of top-notch prospects.&ldquo;Because we&rsquo;ve done (what&rsquo;s been best for the NHL team) and traded picks, we haven&rsquo;t had the quantity,&rdquo; said Wild assistant GM Tom Thompson.James Sheppard, 20, Colton Gillies, 19 and Cal Clutterbuck, 21, have already secured NHL jobs, while 22-year-old Benoit Pouliot, the fourth overall pick in 2005, continues to disappoint and was shipped to the minors after being handed a spot in training camp.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 TYLER CUMA, D, 19, Ottawa (OHL)</h2>6-1, 189, 20-1-8-9-27OVERALL 24The Wild was told at the World Junior Championship that Cuma would have made Team Canada if not for a sprained MCL during selection camp.His standing grew after last year&rsquo;s world under-18 tournament, where Canada won gold and coach Pat Quinn gave Cuma tons of ice time and played him in all situations.&ldquo;This guy could be a really good matchup defenseman,&rdquo; Thompson said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not really big, but he&rsquo;s really quick. He&rsquo;s a tremendous backwards skater.&rdquo;Acquired 2008 draft, 23rd overall.<h2>2 MORTEN MADSEN, C, 22, Houston (AHL)</h2>6-2, 185, 40-4-13-17-23The Denmark native had a difficult time adjusting to the AHL last year after scoring 100 points with Victoriaville in his only QMJHL season. Acclimating to the physicality and defensive nature of the pro game proved difficult, but he&rsquo;s had a solid second season and is gaining confidence under Aeros coach Kevin Constantine.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s taken a lot of steps,&rdquo; said Wild assistant GM Tom Lynn. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a lot of all-around ability. He&rsquo;s not just a shooter. He&rsquo;s a big guy, skates pretty well and has pretty good vision.&rdquo;Acquired 2005 draft, 122nd overall.<h2>3 PETR KALUS, RW, 21, Balashikha (KHL)</h2>6-1, 202, 17-0-1-1-106The skilled forward quit the Houston Aeros in October, but the Wild plans to retain his rights in hopes he will return to North America.Lynn called the dilemma &ldquo;a collision of views.&rdquo; Kalus came to defense-first Houston from Providence, one of the AHL&rsquo;s most uptempo teams.&ldquo;Two things we know about Petr Kalus,&rdquo; Thompson said. &ldquo;He wants to play in the NHL and he thinks he should be in the NHL.&rdquo;Added Lynn: &ldquo;Yeah, he doesn&rsquo;t go to bed thinking, &lsquo;I want to play in Russia next year.&rsquo; So we think he&rsquo;ll be back.&rdquo;Acquired Trade with Boston, June 1, 2007.<h2>4 JUSTIN FALK, D, 20, Houston (AHL)</h2>6-5, 213, 36-0-1-1-32The pride of Snowflake, Man., earns rave reviews in every one of Constantine&rsquo;s reports.&ldquo;The coaches love him,&rdquo; Lynn said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s dedicated and wants to get better.&rdquo;After a slow start last season with Spokane of the WHL, Falk had what Wild GM Doug Risebrough called &ldquo;a monster year&rdquo; en route to a Memorial Cup.&ldquo;Confidence is a huge factor and I came into camp with a lot of it,&rdquo; Falk said. &ldquo;I hope to be a shutdown guy. I try to be physical in our end, gap up and deny their rush. The two-way play will come with more experience.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 110th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;ANTON KHUDOBIN, G, 22, Florida (ECHL)</h2>5-10, 187, 15-6-1, 2.51, .913The goalie of the year last season in the ECHL was totally unschooled when he first came to the Wild; the Kazakhstan native never had a goalie coach.&ldquo;He started out as a guesser who relied on reflexes,&rdquo; Thompson said. &ldquo;Now he&rsquo;s all about fundamentals.&rdquo;Unfortunately, because the Aeros have Barry Brust and Nolan Schaefer, Khudobin has yet to get his AHL shot. That will happen next year because Schaefer&rsquo;s deal expires.&ldquo;(Khudobin&rsquo;s) ready to make an imprint,&rdquo; Lynn said. &ldquo;We just have to find a place to help him do it.&rdquo;Acquired 2004 draft, 206th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 PETER OLVECKY LW, 23, 6-2, 214Houston (AHL) 41-6-17-23-31Strong two-way winger made his NHL debut in late January.Acquired 2004 draft, 78th overall7 CLAYTON STONER D, 23, 6-4, 203Houston (AHL) 35-2-15-17-41When healthy, a physical presence. Plays the power play and kills penalties.Acquired 2004 draft, 79th overall8 DANNY IRMEN RW, 24, 6-0, 190Houston (AHL) 48-4-5-9-30Top penalty-killer and energy guy. Bothersome to the other team.Acquired 2003 draft, 78th overall9 ROMAN VOLOSHENKO LW, 22, 6-1, 205Balahikha (KHL) 8-1-2-3-0Quit the Wild in 2007. Thompson: &ldquo;None of our guys have seen him.&rdquo;Acquired 2004 draft, 42nd overall10 MARCO SCANDELLA D, 18, 6-3, 208Val-D&rsquo;Or (QMJHL) 42-6-24-30-46Scandella is filling out, doing more things with the puck and getting points.Acquired 2008 draft, 55th overall &#9632;

f0038-02

WILD COURSE STILL STEADY

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02716/9229485-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="806" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Max Pacioretty (BRANDON TAYLOR/HAMILTON BULLDOGS)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011103/9229492-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="128" height="85"></div>The Canadiens might not win it all this season, but never let it be said the organization&rsquo;s not deep.The Montreal was without six regulars to injuries at one stretch, including Carey Price along with the Koivu-Tanguay-Higgins line. The Habs relied heavily on the farm team for Max Pacioretty, Matt D&rsquo;Agostini, Kyle Chipchura and Ben Maxwell. (They remain as prospects because of their expected temporary duty in the NHL.)&ldquo;It shows the strength of our system,&rdquo; said Trevor Timmins, director recruitment and development. &ldquo;The players are ready to play on a regular basis.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 MAX PACIORETTY, LW, 20, Hamilton (AHL)</h2>6-2, 202, 31-5-17-22-31OVERALL 10Pacioretty hasn&rsquo;t looked out of place since being recalled from Hamilton of the American League and provides the Canadiens with a dimension they have in short supply &ndash; a power forward with size and strength.Pacioretty makes room for his teammates when on the ice. He&rsquo;s a north-south player who is physical, drives to the net and is willing to pay the price in front of it.All he&rsquo;s lacking is experience at the NHL level and some work on the finer points of the pro game, such as his play without the puck.Acquired 2007 draft, 22nd overall.<h2>2 P.K. SUBBAN, D, 19, Belleville (OHL)</h2>5-11, 206, 40-8-43-51-60OVERALL 15Everybody knows about Subban now, after his strong WJC performance for Canada. In the tournament, he was determined to make a difference, moving the puck effectively with a good first pass and making things happen in the offensive zone.The Canadiens brass like his consistency without the puck. He sometimes tries to do too much on the ice, but he has energy, passion and competitiveness. Subban still needs to polish his skating, but nothing unworkable.Acquired 2007 draft, 43rd overall.<h2>3 RYAN MCDONAGH, D, 19, Wisconsin (WCHA)</h2>6-1, 211, 24-4-7-11-39OVERALL 37After suffering from the sophomore jinx this season, McDonagh&rsquo;s play has improved and he&rsquo;s looked upon as a leader by his teammates and coach. He is a strong skater and represented the U.S. at the WJC.The Habs would like to see him open up and rely on his natural instincts, but McDonagh&rsquo;s considered physically ready to turn pro as soon as he learns the fundamentals of the pro game. He&rsquo;ll surely turn pro before finishing his final two years at Wisconsin.Acquired 2007 draft, 12th overall.<h2>4 MATT D&rsquo;AGOSTINI, RW, 22, Hamilton (NHL)</h2>6-0, 200, 20-14-11-25-16OVERALL 41Another player called up when the Canadiens sustained injuries, D&rsquo;Agostini proved to be a natural scorer in the AHL. Indeed, he was leading Hamilton in goals when recalled.D&rsquo;Agostini started strong with Montreal before his production slipped, but he proved at camp he could play at the NHL level and drew comparisons to former Hab Michael Ryder.D&rsquo;Agostini&rsquo;s play without the puck isn&rsquo;t the strongest part of his game. Montreal injuries will keep him in the NHL indefinitelyAcquired 2005 draft, 190th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;BEN MAXWELL, C, 20, Hamilton (AHL)</h2>6-1, 187, 41-13-22-35-20Maxwell had a seven-game stint with the Canadiens this season, but failed to register a point. Nonetheless, the coaching staff in both Montreal and Hamilton like his potential.He&rsquo;s a smart, two-way center and a smooth skater, but often hangs onto the puck too long for his own good. He has worked hard at improving his strength after missing time the past two seasons with an elbow injury and thigh contusion.Average on faceoffs, Maxwell nonetheless showed he could play at the NHL level.Acquired 2006 draft, 49th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 KYLE CHIPCHURA C, 22, 6-2, 204Hamilton (AHL) 29-11-13-24-24He would surely be on the Canadiens now if not for Maxim Lapierre.Acquired 2004 draft, 18th overall7 YANNICK WEBER D, 20, 5-11, 203Hamilton (AHL) 40-10-15-25-22Has cannon for shot and will eventually quarterback Montreal&rsquo;s power play.Acquired 2007 draft, 73rd overall8 DANNY KRISTO RW, 18, 5-9, 180Omaha (USHL) 28-11-18-29-10Displayed speed, strength and passion for U.S. team at the world juniors.Acquired 2008 draft, 56th overall9 DAVID FISCHER D, 20, 6-4, 190Minnesota (WCHA) 18-1-11-12-10A good skater and puckhandler who is finally becoming stronger.Acquired 2006 draft, 20th overall10 STEVE QUAILER RW, 20, 6-4, 180Northeastern (HE) 26-7-10-17-10Has size, range, intelligence and is a strong skating two-way player.Acquired 2008 draft, 86th overall &#9632;

f0039-02

STEPPING IN AND STEPPING UP

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GLENNON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02482/9229523-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="708" height="777"><figcaption class="caption-body">Colin Wilson (SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01795/9229530-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="126" height="84"></div>In their efforts to achieve playoff success over the past four seasons, the Predators surrendered a boat-load of picks and prospects to acquire Steve Sullivan, Brendan Witt and Peter Forsberg.But there is a sense now the organization is re-stocking its prospect system. This season alone, seven rookies have hit the ice for the Predators.Nashville&rsquo;s prospect strength lies on the blueline. Alexander Sulzer is likely to be an NHL regular before the season&rsquo;s end, Jonathan Blum is a year away and Cody Franson&rsquo;s offensive skills project to the NHL as well.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 COLIN WILSON, C, 19, Boston University (HE)</h2>6-1, 213, 24-9-23-32-34OVERALL 4There was some thought Wilson would turn pro after his freshman season at Boston U. However he&rsquo;s used this season to progress nicely, evidenced by the fact he&rsquo;s averaging more than a point per game and by his productive showing for the U.S. at the world juniors.The Preds have never really drafted a player like Wilson &ndash; a big, strong, talented center. He&rsquo;s not a great skater, but he doesn&rsquo;t necessarily need to be to play his style of game. He&rsquo;ll surely be playing professional hockey next season, either in Milwaukee or Nashville.Acquired 2008 draft, 7th overall.<h2>2 CHET PICKARD, G, 19, Tri-City (WHL)</h2>6-2, 220, 25-10-3, 2.43, .916OVERALL 22One of the things that impressed the Predators most about Pickard was his physical transformation between the team&rsquo;s rookie camp and the organization&rsquo;s full training camp.Pickard didn&rsquo;t get the nod from Team Canada as the No. 1 goalie at the world juniors, but the Preds are hoping he&rsquo;ll be able to have another good post-season run on the junior level. Pickard has all the tools to be a No. 1 goalie in the NHL down the line.Acquired 2008 draft, 18th overall.<h2>3 JONATHAN BLUM, D, 20, Vancouver (WHL)</h2>6-1, 177, 40-16-41-57-20OVERALL 28Blum won&rsquo;t wow you when he walks past you, but he does just about everything right on the ice.The California native runs power plays, sets ups teammates and displays a smooth maturity that had Predators coaches singing his praises at training camp. He was plus-45 through 40 games so far with Vancouver.Blum surely needs another year of physical maturity before challenging for an NHL spot. Look for him to play next season in Milwaukee and then make the jump.Acquired 2007 draft, 23rd overall.<h2>4 CODY FRANSON, D, 21, Milwaukee (AHL)</h2>6-5, 227, 43-6-22-28-22OVERALL 50Franson was a disappointment in camp as coaches thought he&rsquo;d come closer to earning an NHL roster spot. He has strong offensive skills, highlighted by his ability to hit the open man coming out of his own zone. He&rsquo;s also very adept on the power play.His defensive game, however, is still a work in progress. He still needs to learn to use his size more effectively. The Preds dream of having him one day in the same pairing with his childhood friend, Shea Weber.Acquired 2005 draft, 75th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;ALEXANDER SULZER D, 24, Milwaukee (AHL)</h2>6-1, 207, 43-8-23-31-36Sulzer made a strong impression last year in his first North American season and he&rsquo;s been even better so far this season.He&rsquo;s done just about everything the Admirals could ask for &ndash; putting up big numbers and shutting down top opponents as well. He won&rsquo;t necessarily pile up huge offensive stats in the NHL, but he does everything pretty well.He made a good NHL debut in January and, despite being sent back down afterward, will surely return to the Predators before the season is over.Acquired 2003 draft, 92nd overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 RYAN JONES RW, 24, 6-2, 215Milwaukee (AHL) 25-13-9-22-30Solid finishing skills around the net. Working on shoring-up his all-round skills.Acquired Trade with Min, July 1, 20087 PATRIC HORNQVIST RW, 22, 5-11, 194Milwaukee (AHL) 33-9-14-23-28Has ability to create chances for himself and teammates. Now needs to finish.Acquired 2005 draft, 230th overall8 MIKE SANTORELLI C, 23, 6-0, 196Milwaukee (AHL) 41-14-31-45-18Showed speed and creativity in NHL stint and is scoring regularly in Milwaukee.Acquired 2004 draft, 178th overall9 TEEMU LAAKSO D, 21, 6-1, 200Milwaukee (AHL) 42-2-7-9-50Offers potential as reliable two-way player. Has shown some edge as well.Acquired 2005 draft, 78th overall10 NICK SPALING C, 20, 6-1, 185Milwaukee (AHL) 47-9-14-23-14A valuable, versatile forward. Will get better as he matures physically.Acquired 2007 draft, 58th overall &#9632;

f0040-02

BLUELINE STACKED WITH STALWARTS

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02426/9229561-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="838" height="952"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mattias Tedenby (IHA)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01684/9229568-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="108" height="85"></div>The Devils&rsquo; cupboard was never actually bare. But the organization that prided itself on building from within was forced to rely more heavily on trades and free agency in recent years after a series of low draft picks, free agent departures and retirements. The Devils&rsquo; future, however, looks a lot like the team&rsquo;s past.&ldquo;The depth we have in the minors this year is the most depth we&rsquo;ve had since the middle 1990s,&rdquo; said GM Lou Lamoriello. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re extremely happy. We have no less than six to eight Lowell players who will be in the NHL over the next three years.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 MATTIAS TEDENBY, LW, 18, HV-71 (Swe.)</h2>5-10, 171, 24-3-1-4-2OVERALL 43Playing in the Swedish Elite League, the speedy winger&rsquo;s scoring skills make him a YouTube favorite. He is a Brian Gionta-type player, which means his size remains an issue. But the word which appears most on the Devils&rsquo; scouting reports is &ldquo;courageous.&rdquo;&ldquo;He is one of the most dynamic and explosive players we&rsquo;ve drafted,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not big, but he knows the game.&rdquo;Playing against men, Tedenby remains a boy who needs to mature before he making a push for the NHL.Acquired 2008 draft, 24th overall.<h2>2 NICKLAS BERGFORS, RW, 21, Lowell (AHL)</h2>5-11, 195, 33-8-19-27-6After an impressive training camp with the Devils, the Swedish-born forward was given his first real shot in the NHL, but after eight games Bergfors was sent back to the AHL because Petr Vrana was more versatile.At that level, he remains a player who often dominates games even though his stats belie that claim.&ldquo;I saw him play in the NHL and clearly he&rsquo;s an NHL player,&rdquo; said director of scouting David Conte.Staying healthy remains the team&rsquo;s biggest concern about Bergfors, who is knocking at the door.Acquired 2005 draft, 23rd overall.<h2>3 MATT CORRENTE, D, 20, Lowell (AHL)</h2>6-0, 200, 40-4-8-12-97This kid is doubly tough. Not only does he play with grit and poise, but when opponents challenge his physical style, he is more than willing to take them down.Corrente is the best of the Devils&rsquo; three big &lsquo;D&rsquo; prospects (with Tyler Eckford and Anssi Salmela).&ldquo;Kids get very impatient with themselves, but he&rsquo;s starting to relax and play, instead of worrying,&rdquo; Conte said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good, tough player who uses his strengths at a tough position to play. No matter how much you want to be a doctor, you still have to do the seven years.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 30th overall.<h2>4 JEFF FRAZEE, G, 21, Lowell (AHL)</h2>6-0, 195, 17-9-2, 2.53, .926A year ago, the Devils had no successor to Martin Brodeur on the horizon. Thanks to Brodeur&rsquo;s injury, now they do.Frazee, who lost his starting spot in college last year, began 2008-09 in Trenton (ECHL). When Scott Clemmensen was called up, Frazee was promoted and ended up in the AHL All-Star Game.Goalie coach Jacques Caron calls him a definite NHL goalie. &ldquo;Incredible,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;He came in on his own this summer and had to pay his own way. We knew of his talent. We just had to make sure of his work ethic.&rdquo;Acquired 2005 draft, 38th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;PETR VRANA, C, 23, Lowell (AHL)</h2>5-10, 190, 14-5-4-9-6This has been a very unlucky season for the Czech-born forward. Given an opportunity to stick with the Devils, his ability to play center or either wing made coach Brent Sutter take notice.After 16 NHL games, Vrana&rsquo;s play dropped off and he was sent back to Lowell. On Jan. 14 against Providence, Vrana sustained a broken leg that required surgery and ended his season.There is always a concern about coming back from an injury that severe, but the Devils remain optimistic. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s still a prospect,&rdquo; Lamoriello said.Acquired 2003 draft, 42nd overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 PATRICE CORMIER C, 18, 6-2, 200Rimouski (QMJHL) 38-16-17-33-82Powerful forward who hits without taking many penalties. Great passing skills.Acquired 2008 draft, 54th overall7 MATT HALISCHUK RW, 20, 5-11, 180Lowell (AHL) 16-6-4-10-6He&rsquo;s back after a midseason knee surgery. Nice hockey sense, work ethic.Acquired 2007 draft, 171st overall8 MIKE HOEFFEL LW, 19, 6-2, 185Minnesota (WCHA) 22-7-5-12-26Aggressive, Devils-style player. Bouncing back from a broken leg two years ago.Acquired 2007 draft, 57th overall9 ALEX VASYUNOV LW, 20, 6-0, 190Lowell (AHL) 39-9-7-16-4Making up for lost time in Russia last season. Big, strong and talented.Acquired 2006 draft, 58th overall10 ANNSI SALMELA D, 24, 6-1, 200Lowell (AHL) 31-6-12-18-41Fifteen games with Devils as power play point man. Needs to reduce mistakes.Acquired Free agent, May 30, 2008 &#9632;

f0041-02

WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN

<div class="byline">BY PETER BOTTE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02445/9229599-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="729" height="798"><figcaption class="caption-body">Aaron Ness (COURTESY OF MINNESOTA GOPHERS)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01718/9229606-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="99" height="85"></div>Islanders GM Garth Snow has been accumulating draft picks like a squirrel hordes nuts for the winter.This finally looks to be the right plan for the perpetually mediocre (and often, far worse) Isles, especially considering their dead-last standing at the all-star break had them in running for John Tavares or another top prize in the 2009 draft.Playmaking center Josh Bailey, the Isles first pick last June was rushed to the NHL this season to join 2006 first round pick Kyle Okposo as the early lynchpins of Snow&rsquo;s rebuilding plan.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 AARON NESS, D, 18, Minnesota (WCHA)</h2>5-10, 170, 24-2-12-14-10OVERALL 71The Isles have big plans for this smallish defenseman who has drawn comparisons to another former collegian, Brian Rafalski. Ness slipped to the second round in the draft last summer due to concerns over his size, but the speedy blueliner has excelled for the Gophers both at even strength and on the power play.He was twice named his league&rsquo;s top defensive player of the week by mid-January, although assistant GM Ryan Jankowski acknowledged Ness still needs to bulk up and improve his shot to have an impact at the NHL level.Acquired 2008 draft, 40th overall.<h2>2 COREY TRIVINO, C, 19, Boston University (HE)</h2>6-1, 175, 18-2-5-7-8Hit the weight room, kid. Clearly talented, but Trivino is as thin as the Isles&rsquo; win total. Jankowski said the first of three second round picks in 2008 has been working diligently with the training staff at BU to add poundage.Trivino has made a weighty contribution to the Terriers&rsquo; run at a national championship in his first year removed from the Ontario Provincial Junior League. He was playing regularly on an all-freshman line after missing several weeks earlier in the season with a knee injury and can man the point on the power play.Acquired 2008 draft, 36th overall.<h2>3 KIRILL PETROV, RW, 18, Kazan (KHL)</h2>6-3, 200, 6-1-0-1-2Having already stockpiled four of the first 53 picks last June, the Isles were in position to take a flier on a highly skilled enigma.Petrov&rsquo;s stock plummeted because of concerns about his desire and willingness to leave Russia, but he is considered to have first-line scoring potential with the ability to bring a physical presence as well.Still, much of his early season in the KHL, as well as a sub-par showing at the recent world juniors, were hampered by a broken collarbone that he has been slow to recover from.Acquired 2008 draft, 73rd overall.<h2>4 TRAVIS HAMONIC, D, 18, Moose Jaw (WHL)</h2>6-0, 195, 40-9-22-31-92Despite dramatically improved offensive numbers this year in Moose Jaw, the Isanders drafted Hamonic more for his defensive shutdown ability and toughness.And he&rsquo;s offered plenty of examples of those aspects of what has become a fairly well-rounded game, including one game this season in which he drew three fighting majors.Hamonic was one of the final cuts from the Ca-nadian entry for the World Junior Championship in Ottawa, but will get another crack at the roster for next winter&rsquo;s tournament.Acquired 2008 draft, 53rd overall.<h2>5&nbsp;JESSE JOENSUU, LW, 21, Bridgeport (AHL)</h2>6-4, 207, 42-13-7-20-29After making his pro debut at 15 and a couple of pro seasons for Assat in SM Liiga in Finland, the Islanders wanted this budding power winger to acclimate to the North American game this season.Jankowski insists the organization is pleased with Joensuu&rsquo;s development and the steady adjustments he has made despite several of his teammates getting opportunities at the NHL before him. He&rsquo;s been posting modest offensive numbers and having trouble finishing off plays on the farm in Bridgeport.Acquired 2006 draft, 60th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 TREVOR SMITH C, 23, 6-1, 195Bridgeport (AHL) 43-23-14-37-26Proven finisher netted first goal in brief NHL stint; needs added toughness.Acquired Free agent, April 2, 20077 JACK HILLEN D, 23, 5-11, 195Bridgeport (AHL) 33-4-13-17-31Evident offensive skills at lower levels make him a candidate for promotion.Acquired Free agent, April 1, 20088 MATT MARTIN LW, 19, 6-2, 192Sarnia (OHL) 45-24-25-49-95Former fighter has blossomed into a point-per-game player.Acquired 2008 draft, 148th overall9 MARK KATIC D, 19, 5-10, 180Sarnia (OHL) 45-8-25-33-28Nothing spectacular, but small rearguard showing steady progression.Acquired 2007 draft, 61st overall10 RHETT RAKHSHANI RW, 20, 5-10, 170Denver (WCHA) 26-11-14-25-32Islanders will consider signing third-year collegian to a pro contract.Acquired 2006 draft, 100th overall &#9632;

f0042-02

IN TAVARES TERRITORY

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BROOKS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02478/9229637-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="592" height="674"><figcaption class="caption-body">Evgeny Grachev (DOUG BALL)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01708/9229644-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="108" height="85"></div>Skill is the common denominator that links the most recent string of Rangers&rsquo; draft selections.This represents a change of pace and good thinking from the front office. The Rangers have no one but themselves to blame for the 2003 debacle in which they chose Hugh Jessiman 12th overall when Zach Parise, Dustin Brown, Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards and Brent Seabrook (among others) were still on the board.But the organization was struck by tragedy when 19-year-old Alexei Cherepanov, their blue-chip 2007 selection, succumbed to a heart condition last October.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 EVGENY GRACHEV, C, 18, Brampton (OHL)</h2>6-4, 220, 42-28-27-55-14OVERALL 19An eye-opening NHL camp has provided the foundation for a season that Rangers assistant GM Jim Schoenfeld believes marks Grachev as, &ldquo;the most improved player in the organization from the fall until now.&rdquo;Originally projected as a size-and-strength center, Grachev has added to his repertoire.&ldquo;Evgeny has dramatically refined his game,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s much more creative than we had thought and he can score. He&rsquo;s improving so rapidly that our projections have been changing for him.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 75th overall.<h2>2 MICHAEL DEL ZOTTO, D, 18, London (OHL)</h2>6-0, 188, 45-10-34-44-54OVERALL 32Del Zotto&rsquo;s trade to London should bring out the best in this skilled defenseman, who inexplicably did not get an invitation to the Canadian national junior team evaluation camp.&ldquo;Michael didn&rsquo;t miss a beat because of that,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;He said his goal was to become a New York Ranger, not play in the world junior tournament.&rdquo;He has an array of offensive skills and has had an outstanding two-way season. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s been no downside. He sees, he distributes, he defends,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said.Acquired 2008 draft, 20th overall.<h2>3 ARTEM ANISIMOV, C, 20, Hartford (AHL)</h2>6-4, 195, 49-21-30-51-38OVERALL 48Anisimov made his NHL debut Feb. 3 following a strong first half for the AHL&rsquo;s Wolf Pack.A smart end-to-end player who, according to Schoenfeld, &ldquo;has a great attitude that enhances the physical package.&rdquo;A point-per-game player in the AHL, Anisimov contended for a spot out of camp, but the Rangers decided he&rsquo;d thrive with more responsibility and ice time in Hartford.&ldquo;He needs to improve his shot, but he&rsquo;s a gung-ho player with a very mature approach,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said.Acquired 2006 draft, 54th overall.<h2>4 BOBBY SANGUINETTI, D, 20, Hartford (AHL)</h2>6-3, 190 46-4-22-26-26OVERALL 52Sanguinetti is having a exceptional first pro year and is contending for a promotion to the Rangers.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s made the greatest strides of any our pro players,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;The knock on Bobby has always been his defense, but he&rsquo;s been fine in that area. He&rsquo;s shown a willingness to get physically involved. He still needs to become stronger physically, but it&rsquo;s a process.&rdquo;Rangers have a desperate need for a big blast on the power play, but Sanguinetti will need to improve his shot to fill that role.Acquired 2006 draft, 21st overall.<h2>5&nbsp;DEREK STEPAN, C, 18, Wisconsin (CCHA)</h2>6-0, 172, 28-5-16-21-6Stepan is a puckmoving pivot who, said Schoenfeld, &ldquo;Is a very intelligent player with great quickness and vision who excels at distributing the puck.&rdquo;Stepan is a long-term investment for the Blueshirts.&ldquo;Derek has to work on adding grinding to his game and becoming more adept on the board battles, because no one can make it in the NHL on offensive instincts alone,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s learning, he&rsquo;s growing and he just has to add some more components to his game.&rdquo;Acquired 2008 draft, 51st overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 DANE BYERS LW, 22, 6-3, 195Hartford (AHL) 9-4-3-7-18Grinding winger sustained season-ending injury nine games into year.Acquired 2004 draft, 48th overall7 IVAN BARANKA D, 23, 6-3, 205Spartak Moscow (KHL) 42-2-5-7-44Multi-skilled defenseman chose KHL over minor league contract.Acquired 2003 draft, 50th overall8 COREY POTTER D, 25, 6-3, 200Hartford (AHL) 40-4-13-17-58A physical presence who is difficult to play against. Outstanding work ethic.Acquired 2003 draft, 122nd overall9 MICHAEL SAUER D, 21, 6-3, 220Hartford (AHL) 35-2-7-9-29Making progress after 2007-08 knee injury. Smart player, hard shot, physical.Acquired 2005 draft, 40th overall10 DAVID KVETON RW, 21, 6-0, 200Trinec (Czech.) 41-22-22-44-20Showing good hands and excellent speed; competes in traffic.Acquired 2006 draft, 104th overall &#9632;

f0043-02

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE GARRIOCH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02374/9229675-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="844" height="926"><figcaption class="caption-body">Erik Karlsson (IHA)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01610/9229682-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="101" height="85"></div>The Ottawa Senators used to be a winner at the NHL&rsquo;s draft table.That hasn&rsquo;t been the case the past few years. So when Senators GM Bryan Murray took over from the fired John Muckler in June, 2007, one of his top priorities was to win back the strong tradition of drafting well.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been on the job for 18 months, what we&rsquo;re trying to do here is get this organization back to having good prospects,&rdquo; said Murray, who has brought in assistant GM Tim Murray along with top scouts Brent Flahr and Pierre Dorion to help run the draft.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 ERIK KARLSSON, D, 18, Frolunda (Swe.)</h2>5-11, 165, 37-2-4-6-10OVERALL 7On a world-class Swedish team at the WJC, Karlsson was that nation&rsquo;s best player. The undersized defenseman cut his teeth playing in a men&rsquo;s league this season and it showed in his poise and maturity.With two goals and nine points in six games, Karlsson outshone the likes of teammates Mikael Backlund, Victor Hedman, Mattias Tedenby and Oscar Moller. A highly skilled puck-moving rearguard, Karlsson translates into a No. 1 defenseman at the NHL level someday. He still needs work on his strength and defensive play.Acquired 2008 draft, 15th overall.<h2>2 BRIAN ELLIOTT, G, 23, Binghamton (AHL)</h2>6-2, 199, 18-8-1, 2.31, .926OVERALL 35He is getting his baptism by fire in the NHL this season. The Senators only planned to use Elliott in four games in the big leagues just to give him a taste. Upset with the play of Martin Gerber and Alex Auld, Elliott was called up right away. He needs work on his rebound control, but forced the organization&rsquo;s hand to at least give him a chance to play in Ottawa.Elliott&rsquo;s biggest issue is consistency and if he can find that he&rsquo;ll be an NHL goalie full time. With Gerber on his way out, Elliott will finish the season with the Senators.Acquired 2003 draft, 291st overall.<h2>3 PATRICK WIERCIOCH, D, 19, Denver (WCHA)</h2>6-4, 185, 23-9-12-21-18OVERALL 74A freshman at Denver, Wiercioch needs to mature physically and will benefit from two more years at that level before testing himself in pro.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got to step up a bit defensively and take the man,&rdquo; Tim Murray said.Wiercioch does a tremendous job handling the puck in college and is an efficient power play quarterback.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not going to be a guy that rushes the puck from end-to-end,&rdquo; Tim Murray said. &ldquo;He moves the puck well, follows the play and runs the power play.&rdquo;Acquired 2008 draft, 79th overall.<h2>4 ILYA ZUBOV, C, 21, Binghamton (AHL)</h2>6-0, 200, 32-13-23-36-18Zubov has shown a lot of maturity the past 12 months and been rewarded with a couple of call-ups to the Senators.What most impressed the brass was Zubov showing up in fabulous shape at camp after spending the summer working with his personal trainer in Ottawa.The biggest concern with Zubov is his speed and quickness and how quickly he&rsquo;s adjusting to the North American game. He tends to over-handle the puck rather than move it ahead efficiently. He was Ottawa&rsquo;s No. 8 prospect a year ago.Acquired 2005 draft, 98th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;CODY BASS, C, 21, Binghamton (AHL)</h2>6-0, 211, 18-1-1-2-41It hasn&rsquo;t been a banner season for beleaguered Cody Bass.Bass sustained a shoulder injury during an early-season recall and underwent season-ending surgery.The Senators like the competitiveness, energy and skating Bass brings to the game. He&rsquo;s a natural to replace Dean McAmmond on a checking or energy line next season.Bass will never be a big scorer at the NHL level, but his willingness to get involved and play the corners is something the Sens could have used this season.Acquired 2003 draft, 95th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 ZACK SMITH C, 20, 6-2, 199Binghamton (AHL) 46-12-17-29-70This late bloomer has grown a lot physically, but needs more muscle to compete.Acquired 2008 draft, 79th overall7 JIM O&rsquo;BRIEN C, 20, 6-3, 202Seattle (WHL) 44-18-24-42-39Ex-collegian more productive in WHL, but needs to work on his strength.Acquired 2007 draft, 29th overall8 PETER REGIN C, 22, 6-2, 198Binghamton (AHL) 32-8-13-21-24Smart player who has good hands and can make crafty plays in traffic.Acquired 2004 draft, 87th overall9 MATTIAS KARLSSON D, 23, 6-2, 228Binghamton (AHL) 41-4-21-25-26Struggled with the North American style, but has improved in second half.Acquired 2003 draft, 135th overall10 COLIN GREENING LW, 22, 6-2, 211Cornell (ECAC) 21-7-11-18-6Plays on a defense-minded team, but he is one of the club&rsquo;s top producers.Acquired 2005 draft, 204th overall &#9632;

f0044-02

GETTING BACK TO THE BASICS

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE FISH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01522/9229720-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="255" height="171"></div>When injuries and salary cap issues create a perfect storm for an NHL team like Philadelphia, there&rsquo;s only one solution &ndash; call for the kids.Fortunately for the Flyers, young discount players such as Claude Giroux and Luca Sbisa have not only sufficed, but excelled. This demonstrates how the Flyers development staff have not only done a good job picking talent, but also nurturing. (Both players were termed prospects because of their status with the NHL team).&ldquo;I believe we&rsquo;ve developed some long-term players for the Flyers,&rdquo; said GM Paul Holmgren.<h2>1 JAMES VAN RIEMSDYK, LW, 19, N. Hampshire (HE)</h2>6-3, 205, 23-9-18-27OVERALL 6The New Jersey native raised eyebrows by asking the Flyers permission to play a second year of college. Although he was an offensive force at the WJC, the Flyers want him to turn pro to get to the next level.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got tremendous size and skates well for a big guy,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;James has a lot of skill, but I feel like he should go into the pro game to move on with his hockey career.&rdquo;Many scouts agree van Riemsdyk&rsquo;s development plateaued considerably this season.Acquired 2007 draft, 2nd overall.<h2>2 CLAUDE GIROUX, RW, 21, Philadelphia (AHL)</h2>5-11, 172, 32-17-17-34-22OVERALL 8Giroux, who began the season with the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms, has overcome a concussion (courtesy of an elbow from Anaheim&rsquo;s Corey Perry Jan. 2) to maintain a spot on one of the Flyers top three lines.Philadelphia&rsquo;s coaching staff is most impressed with his &ldquo;elite vision&rdquo; and playmaking skills. &ldquo;Claude&rsquo;s a smart player with outstanding hockey sense, not only with the puck but without it,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;Once he kind of gets the pace of the NHL game, I think he&rsquo;ll just blossom.&rdquo;Acquired 2006 draft, 22nd overall.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02333/9229713-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="797" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">James van Riemsdyk (MIKE SILVERWOOD/UNH ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS)</figcaption></div><h2>3 LUCA SBISA, D, 19, Philadelphia (NHL)</h2>6-2, 190, 39-0-7-7-36OVERALL 13Sbisa has shown remarkable poise and maturity for a player his age.He can take a hit and deliver them as well. His skills are versatile enough to allow him to play forward, an option which coach John Stevens utilized when injuries struck.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s exceeded expectations by leaps and bounds,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;Making an NHL team as an 18-year-old out of training camp was incredible.&rdquo;Sbisa was termed a prospect (and not an NHLer) because of his January return to junior.Acquired 2008 draft, 19th overall.<h2>4 RYAN PARENT, D, 21, Philadelphia (AHL)</h2>6-3, 183, 14-0-1-1-18OVERALL 53Pre-season shoulder surgery halted the momentum Parent built up in playing 22 games for the Flyers last season.Holmgren is giving Parent time to regain his skills and conditioning in the minor leagues, but it&rsquo;s only a matter of time until he&rsquo;s back in the NHL. Parent&rsquo;s exceptional skating has led Holmgren to call him a &ldquo;shut-down defenseman.&rdquo;According to Holmgren: &ldquo;the injury set him back physically and emotionally. Since he&rsquo;s been healthy, he&rsquo;s played very well. He has a bright future.&rsquo;&rsquo;Acquired Trade with Nashville, Feb. 15, 2007.<h2>5&nbsp;JONATHAN KALINSKI, C, 21, Philadelphia (AHL)</h2>6-1, 175, 23-3-7-10-24Kalinski&rsquo;s had to battle through a bizarre thigh injury from which blood had to be drained during a week-long hospital stay.Prior to that, Kalinski showed promise, making his first NHL goal a game-winner in Vancouver. He has lots of playmaking ability, but few thought he would earn a spot with the Flyers this season.&ldquo;To have guessed that he would play in the NHL this year would have been a long shot,&rsquo;&rsquo; Holmgren remarked. &ldquo;I think the hard work he put in at training camp really paid off for him.&rsquo;&rsquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 152nd overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 MICHAEL RATCHUK D, 20, 5-11, 177Philadelphia (AHL) 46-3-9-12-34He&rsquo;s an excellent skater with keen awareness, playing a lot of minutes.Acquired 2006 draft, 42nd overall7 M-A BOURDON D, 19, 6-0, 206Rimouski (QMJHL) 11-5-10-15-17Improved his hands and skating after overcoming a nagging back injury.Acquired 2008 draft, 67th overall8 OSKARS BARTULIS D, 22, 6-1, 184Philadelphia (AHL) 48-0-5-5-40Makes few mistakes; Holmgren says he will be in the NHL soon.Acquired 2005 draft, 91st overall9 KEVIN MARSHALL D, 19, 6-1, 207Quebec (QMJHL) 45-7-16-23-80Wants to be the next Chris Chelios and tries to play a style similar to him.Acquired 2007 draft, 41st overall10 PATRICK MAROON LW, 20, 6-4, 225Philadelphia (AHL) 48-16-15-31-40Needs to focus on conditioning, but a 20-goal season is in the works.Acquired 2007 draft, 161st overall &#9632;

f0045-01

YOUNG BLOOD ON BROAD STREET

<div class="byline">BY ROB ROSSI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02321/9229789-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="807" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Luca Caputi (AFC MEDIA)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01484/9229796-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="114" height="85"></div>The prospect philosophy in Pittsburgh is to draft talent and allow that talent to mature at its own pace.There is no better example than 20-year-old center Jordan Staal, who was selected second overall in 2006 and never played a minor-league game. In January, Staal, signed a four-year extension that will pay him $16 million through 2012-13 to play for a team that employs the two best young pivots in the NHL &ndash; Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.For other young centers in the system, competition will be tough in coming years to make it to the NHL.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 LUCA CAPUTI, LW, 20, Wilkes-Barre (AHL)</h2>6-2, 184, 36-13-22-35-35OVERALL 70Seen as a good complementary player for a high-end skilled center, Caputi has impressed with his work ethic since his professional debut late last season. His best asset is puck-protection skill below the goal line in the offensive zone. But he must improve his skating.&ldquo;He goes to the hard areas of the ice to make plays,&rdquo; said director of player personnel Tom Fitzgerald. &ldquo;His skating has improved by playing with quicker players in the AHL, but it&rsquo;s something he&rsquo;s going to have to continue to work on.&rdquo;Acquired 2007 draft, 111th overall.<h2>2 ALEX GRANT, D, 19, Shawinigan (QMJHL)</h2>6-2, 185, 11-1-7-8-2Another in a growing list of home-grown defensemen with considerable offensive talent (Ryan Whitney, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski), Grant has grown more comfortable playing to his strengths this season &ndash; specifi-cally, advanced vision and soft hands.&ldquo;He can really zip a pass, which allows him to make a good (outlet) out of his own end,&rdquo; Fitzgerald said. &ldquo;He also shoots the puck well from the point.&rdquo; He has shown improved positional play without the puck, which must continue to improve. He must also get stronger.Acquired 2007 draft, 118th overall.<h2>3 DUSTIN JEFFREY, C, 20, Wilkes-Barre (AHL)</h2>6-1, 205, 34-5-15-20-18Injuries have allowed Jeffery to log more than a dozen games in the NHL a year before the Penguins thought he could compete for a roster spot.Assistant GM Chuck Fletcher lauded Jeffery&rsquo;s attention to detail.&ldquo;That and his on-ice awareness have gained the confidence of our coaches,&rdquo; Fletcher said.Another detail is his responsible two-way play. &ldquo;He has some of his (Jordan Staal&rsquo;s) qualities &ndash; the natural defensive game,&rdquo; said Penguins coach Michel Therrien. Jeffrey must work on confidence in the offensive zone.Acquired 2007 draft, 171st overall.<h2>4 BEN LOVEJOY, D, 24, Wilkes-Barre (AHL)</h2>6-2, 215, 46-7-17-24-62As with Grant, the development of Lovejoy this season has the Penguins in position to absorb defensive losses &ndash; they have three unrestricted free agent defensemen on the NHL roster &ndash; and could decide to trade a skilled player such as Whitney or Sergei Gonchar for offensive help up front this summer.Lovejoy is a top AHL defenseman on the strength of his skating and penalty-killing. &ldquo;He makes a good first pass and is effective moving the puck in transition,&rdquo; Fletcher said. He will push for an NHL roster spot next year.Acquired Signed as free agent, July 7, 2008.<h2>5&nbsp;JOHN CURRY, G, 24, Wilkes-Barre (AHL)</h2>5-11, 185, 2.54, .915Curry&rsquo;s long-term mission is to continue his trek toward ultimately serving as Marc-Andre Fleury&rsquo;s NHL backup by displaying never-ending competiveness and a calm on-ice demeanor.&ldquo;He has qualities you like in a goalie,&rdquo; Fletcher said. &ldquo;He moves well laterally, has a good glove and doesn&rsquo;t quit on the puck.&rdquo;Curry&rsquo;s positioning must improve, as must his puckhandling. He did not look out of place in a few NHL spot appearances this season and with no obvious No. 2 for next season, the cap-strapped Penguins could look to Curry.Acquired Signed as free agent, July 13, 2007.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 KEVEN VEILLEUX C, 19, 6-5, 202Rimouski (QMJHL) 17-8-12-20-27Hard shot, quick release; can play any forward position.Acquired 2007 draft, 51st overall7 CARL SNEEP D, 21, 6-4, 210Boston College (HE) 21-1-8-9-18Penchant for simple plays. Must work on stick play, positioning and physicality.Acquired 2006 draft, 32nd overall8 BRIAN STRAIT D, 21, 6-1, 200Boston University (HE) 25-1-2-3-40Solid stick on defense, good shot-blocker and physical. A defensive defenseman.Acquired 2006 draft, 65th overall9 JOE VITALE C, 23, 6-0, 205Northeastern (HE) 25-4-15-19-44Plays physical; seen as an energy player as offensive upside is limited.Acquired 2005 draft, 195th overall10 CASEY PIERRO-ZABOTEL C, 20, 6-1, 205Vancouver (WHL)51-27-62-89-32Great passer with superb vision. Urgency is not always there, but hockey sense is.Acquired 2007 draft, 80th overall &#9632;

f0047-02

BUDDING CENTERS FACE BIG LOGJAM

<div class="byline">BY DAVID POLLAK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-02223/9229865-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg" title="f0049-02" width="806" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Logan Couture (ICELEVEL.COM)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01312/9229872-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="123" height="86"></div>The Sharks tried something new this year, leaving open an NHL roster spot into which they rotate players from their Worcester development team as needed. So far, six rookie skaters have had a crack at the big-time and while each has played credibly, none immediately turned the audition into something permanent.Sharks assistant GM Wayne Thomas isn&rsquo;t discouraged by how things are playing out.&ldquo;We see where they&rsquo;re at, we see what&rsquo;s missing,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;They come back, you build your foundation and next time, hopefully it&rsquo;s enough.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 LOGAN COUTURE, C, 19, OTTAWA (OHL)</h2>6-1, 195, 44-21-33-54-28OVERALL 68One of the last players San Jose cut in camp, Couture continues to be held in high regard as he is averaging more than a point per game for a third season.A Team Canada try-out, Couture was disappointed in not making the roster for the World Junior Championship in the city where he plays, but has been advised to use that experience for motivation.&ldquo;I just told him he has to outplay the players invited instead of him every night now,&rdquo; said his agent, John Thornton.Acquired 2007 draft, 9th overall.<h2>2 NICK PETRECKI, D, 19, Boston College (HE)</h2>6-3, 215, 22-0-5-5-112Everything Petrecki has done to this point only reinforces the Sharks&rsquo; belief he may have the whole package. He has shown to be a physical player with puck-moving ability and has shown he can deliver in high-pressure situations.His second-period goal, for example, helped Boston College upset Miami in last spring&rsquo;s NCAA tournament that the Eagles went on to win. On the physical side, he spent more time in the penalty box than anyone else in the lineup since arriving at B.C.Acquired 2007 draft, 28th overall.<h2>3 THOMAS GREISS, G, 23, Worcester (AHL)</h2>6-1, 210, 16-12-2, 2.65, .897Greiss has had to overcome a slow start to this season that Thomas attributed to the fact the goalie was &ldquo;trying out a couple of new things to help his game.&rdquo; Apparently, it&rsquo;s worked.His January GAA was nearly a full point below that of October. And once again he was living up to the expectations the Sharks had for him when they decided Greiss had a long-term future in the organization.&ldquo;The team went 7-2 in January and that was a reflection of him,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s heading in the right direction for sure.&rdquo;Acquired 2004 draft, 94th overall.<h2>4 JAMIE MCGINN, LW, 20, Worcester (AHL)</h2>6-0, 200, 36-12-10-22-46Considered both a scorer and a high-energy banger, McGinn&rsquo;s first two shots in the NHL found the back of the net last fall. Then he failed to get a point in his next eight games.McLellan was talking in general terms, but what he said about AHL prospects overall certainly applies to McGinn.&ldquo;What happens a little bit with the Worcester players is after they&rsquo;re here for a little while, youthful energy and excitement wears off and it becomes an every day thing,&rdquo; the San Jose coach said.Acquired 2006 draft, 36th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;DEREK JOSLIN, D, 21, Worcester (AHL)</h2>6-1, 210, 36-7-13-20-26A January injury to Sharks defenseman Brad Lukowich created a regular spot in the San Jose lineup for Joslin and the coaching staff was very pleased with his first 10 games.&ldquo;He brought a little life and energy to the team,&rdquo; McLellan said after one early outing. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s obviously maybe a faster game than he&rsquo;s used to playing, but he&rsquo;s going to adjust.&rdquo;Joslin said the only feedback he was getting directly were &ldquo;pats on the back here and there after a good shift. I think the biggest compliment is just being in the lineup.&rdquo;Acquired 2005 draft, 149th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 TIMO PIELMEIER G, 19, 6-0, 175Shawinigan (QMJHL) 24-6-2, 2.64, .918Shawinigan coaches like his competitiveness, leadership and puckhandling skills.Acquired 2007 draft, 83rd overall7 TYSON SEXSMITH G, 19, 5-11, 210Vancouver (WHL) 30-4-2, 2.11, .902Holds WHL record for career shutouts and his GAA is among the league&rsquo;s best.Acquired 2007 draft, 91st overall8 STEVEN ZALEWSKI LW, 22, 6-0, 195Worcester, (AHL) 48-11-19-30-18Two-way player who will make a solid pro; strong presence on special teams.Acquired 2004 draft, 153rd overall9 TAYLOR DAKERS G, 22, 6-1, 175Worcester (AHL) 9-5-0, 2.87, .892Missed first part of season because of injury and death of his father.Acquired 2005 draft, 140th overall10 LUKAS KASPAR LW, 23, 6-2, 225Worcester (AHL) 41-11-20-31-22Game-winning goal vs. Los Angeles not enough to earn regular spot in San Jose.Acquired 2004 draft, 22nd overall &#9632;

f0049-02

REGULAR AUDITIONS A NICE CARROT

<div class="byline">BY DAMIAN CRISTODERO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02203/9229903-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg" title="f0050-02" width="844" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Downie (JOHN WRIGHT)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01296/9229910-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="107" height="86"></div>Thanks to injuries, the Lightning got a pretty good look at some of what&rsquo;s in their system. After years of poor drafting, they need an infusion of talent, but there have been some nice surprises. Defenseman Matt Smaby is pressing for a spot on the big club and fellow blueliner Kevin Quick looks a lot more prepared for the NHL than anticipated during a short look.Still, the strength of the system is in goaltending with Europeans Karri Ramo and Riku Helenius, and Dustin Tokarski, who helped lead Canada to the World Junior Championship.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 STEVE DOWNIE, RW, 21, Norfolk (AHL)</h2>5-11, 200, 19-8-17-25-95OVERALL 51The Lightning made it clear they acquired Downie from the Flyers to get him to the NHL as soon as possible.Other than one blip with his infamous temper, he has channeled his energy in the right direction, which made him an AHL all-star and gave him a ticket to the NHL.Due to Downie&rsquo;s grit, passion and untapped offensive upside, the Bolts kept him out of the AHL All-Star Game to get him back to Tampa after the NHL&rsquo;s all-star break. He&rsquo;ll finish the season an an NHL regular.Acquired Trade with Philadelphia, Nov. 7, 2008.<h2>2 TY WISHART, D, 20, Norfolk (AHL)</h2>6-4, 205, 40-1-3-4-15OVERALL 69There are great hopes for Wishart, who was part of the deal that sent Dan Boyle to San Jose for since-traded Matt Carle.The Lightning likes his size and the 16th overall pick in 2006 will get stronger as he fills out. The hope is he will use his size more than he has shown in the minors.Wishart is a quick learner. After a weak first NHL game, the smooth-skater returned on a second call-up and looked steadier, especially with his defensive zone coverage. His potential is as a shutdown defenderAcquired Trade with San Jose, July 4, 2008.<h2>3 DUSTIN TOKARSKI, G, 19, Spokane (WHL)</h2>5-11, 185, 24-9-2, 1.75, .944After stories of how the undersized goalkeeper tried out for six midget teams and two WHL teams before finally landing in Spokane, Tokarski&rsquo;s legend continued to grow when he back-stopped Canada to world junior gold.Tokarski overcomes his size limitations with what Spokane coach Hardy Sauter calls &ldquo;anticipation better than he has ever seen.&rdquo; All Tokarski does is win, from a Canadian midget title with Prince Albert to the Memorial Cup to the world juniors. His biggest issue will be Tampa&rsquo;s glut of young goalies in the system.Acquired 2008 draft, 122nd overall.<h2>4 DANA TYRELL, C, 19, Prince George (WHL)</h2>5-10, 185, 30-19-21-40-27The Lightning&rsquo;s top 2007 draft pick was having his best junior season with 19 goals and 40 points in 30 games and earned a spot on Canada&rsquo;s national junior team when a knee injury ended his season.Tyrell, while showing good offensive instincts, is coveted more for his leadership ability. A tireless worker, Tyrell is Prince George&rsquo;s unquestioned leader. He also showed he can play as a pro in 2007-08, getting a goal and six points in 11 games with Norfolk.Tyrell&rsquo;s future depends on how his knee responds to rehab.Acquired 2007 draft, 47th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;KARRI RAMO, G, 22, Norfolk (AHL)</h2>6-2, 192, 7-14-4, 3.78, .884He was under-performing in the minors this season, but Olaf Kolzig&rsquo;s injury means Ramo&rsquo;s time to perform is now. He said he was putting too much pressure on himself when in Norfolk because of a belief he had to be perfect in order to get to the show.Ramo improved as the season progressed. While his athleticism and reflexes are unquestioned, Ramo still needs work on his positioning (he tends to slide too far back in the net) and his aggressiveness which sometimes takes him out of position.Ramo will be pushed by the other goalie prospects.Acquired 2004 draft, 191st overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 VLADIMIR MIHALIK D, 22, 6-7, 222Norfolk (AHL) 39-2-9-11-44Has grown into his size, but must be better at positioning and using his wingspan.Acquired 2005 draft, 30th overall7 MATT SMABY D, 24, 6-5, 227Norfolk (AHL) 25-2-4-6-30Getting a chance with injured Lightning. Works hard, needs consistency.Acquired 2003 draft, 41st overall8 RADEK SMOLENAK LW, 22, 6-3, 204Norfolk (AHL) 39-15-14-29-112Having best minor-pro season; physical player doesn&rsquo;t back down.Acquired 2005 draft, 73rd overall9 RIKU HELENIUS G, 20, 6-3, 202Mississippi (ECHL) 4-5-2, 3.80, .892Mixed reviews for Finn in ECHL; real test in coming in the AHL.Acquired 2006 draft, 15th overall10 KEVIN QUICK D, 20, 6-0, 175Norfolk (AHL) 19-0-1-1-4Showed decision-making and strong skating in a quick recall to Tampa Bay.Acquired 2006 draft, 78th overall &#9632;

f0050-02

RAMO NOT BUILT IN A SINGLE DAY

<div class="byline">BY MIKE ZEISBERGER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-02202/9229941-1-eng-US/f0051-022.jpg" title="f0051-02" width="803" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body">Justin Pogge (GRAIG ABEL)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-01278/9229948-1-eng-US/f0051-012.jpg" title="f0051-01" width="108" height="85"></div>It took rookie defenseman Luke Schenn just half a season at the NHL level to develop a cult following in Toronto, so much so that his fans now refer to themselves as &ldquo;Schenn Nation.&rdquo;Indeed, the Leafs appear to have hit the jackpot with Schenn, the fifth overall pick in the 2008 draft.Unfortunately, Schenn&rsquo;s meteoric rise to promise has been the exception to the rule when it comes to the development of Leaf prospects.Leafs GM Brian Burke and his assistant, Dave Nonis, still have a long, long rebuilding process ahead.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 JUSTIN POGGE, G, 22, Toronto (AHL)</h2>6-3, 204, 16-14-4, 2.63, .898OVERALL 54Goalie of the future? Or just another potential blue-chip prospect who is struggling to turn out, a common theme throughout the Leaf system over the years?Burke is wasting no time attempting to come up with an answer to these questions.&ldquo;He will get some playing time at the NHL level,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;Not because he&rsquo;s earned it, but because we have to see what we have in him.&rdquo;In this, his third year in the minors, some scouts feel he should have developed further by now.Acquired 2004 draft, 90th overall.<h2>2 JIMMY HAYES, RW, 19, Boston College (HE)</h2>6-5, 210, 23-6-4-10-10Hayes is a boom-or-bust power forward whose predraft ranking slipped after a sluggish year with Lincoln of the USHL. This season, as a member of Boston College, he had just 10 points through 23 games, raising the issue of inconsistency.Given his large frame and natural skating ability, there is plenty for the organization to be excited about with Hayes. But, in the words of one scout, &ldquo;unless he learns to consistently use what he has, there is always the danger of being known as an underachiever.&rdquo;Acquired 2008 draft, 60th overall.<h2>3 CHRIS DIDOMENICO, C, 19, Drummondville (QMJHL)</h2>6-1, 170, 34-15-30-45-40Burke likes his teams big and beefy, a description DiDomenico doesn&rsquo;t really fall into.But the Woodbridge, Ont., native quickly is making people in the Leaf organization take notice.Averaging more than a point per game, he has shown the type of natural offensive flair not usually seen from such a late pick.A member of Canada&rsquo;s gold-medal winning squad at the 2009 World Junior Championship in Ottawa, DiDomenico registered seven points in six games. He also finished plus-4, a sign he can be responsible in his own end.Acquired 2007 draft, 164th overall.<h2>4 MIKHAIL STEFANOVICH, C, 19, Quebec (QMJHL)</h2>6-2, 202, 40-29-20-49-10Skill is not the question here. Work ethic is.That is the reputation that has dogged the gifted Stefanovich, a one-time projected first rounder who dropped all the way to the fourth where the Leafs could not pass up taking a shot at him.Stefanovich is a friend of the Habs&rsquo; Sergei Kostitsyn. If he can develop into the type of player his buddy is, the Leafs will be happy.Stefanovich turned in an impressive performance at the world juniors in Ottawa, registering six points in five games and going plus-5.Acquired 2008 draft, 98th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;DARRYL BOYCE, C, 24, Toronto (AHL)</h2>6-0, 200, 48-10-10-20-106The fact Boyce is ranked even this high among Leaf prospects is an indication of the lack of depth in the system. One scout said Boyce would be nothing more than a fourth liner at the NHL level &ndash; maybe spot duty on the third line under a best case scenario.What Boyce lacks in pure talent he makes up for in heart. He can grind it out when need be and is most effective when he is playing a north-south type of game.Boyce is seen as an energy player and a guy destined for a checkingline role.Acquired Signed as free agent, Jan. 1, 2008.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 VIKTOR STALBERG LW, 23, 6-3, 210Vermont (HE) 24-15-11-26-18Seasoned Swede added much-needed muscle and showing nice finish.Acquired 2006 draft, 161st overall7 DALE MITCHELL RW, 19, 5-9, 200Windsor (OHL) 49-24-28-52-47Diminutive size will always be an issue. Signed to entry-level contract last May.Acquired 2007 draft, 74th overall8 CHAD RAU C, 22, 5-11, 178Colorado College (WCHA) 28-11-17-28-2A natural goal-scorer tearing it up this year. Must overcome size to succeed.Acquired 2005 draft, 228th overall9 JAMES REIMER G, 20, 6-2, 206Reading (ECHL) 7-5-1, 3.55, .895Lack of any goalie depth in the organization could be a break for him.Acquired 2006 draft, 99th overall10 TYLER RUEGSEGGER C, 21, 5-11, 195Denver (WCHA) 26-9-7-16-30Working on skating. 2008-09 numbers not nearly as lofty as expected.Acquired 2006 draft, 166th overall &#9632;

f0051-02

BURKE GIVEN BARREN CANVAS

<div class="byline">BY ELLIOTT PAP</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-01273/9229986-1-eng-US/f0052-012.jpg" title="f0052-01" width="252" height="171"></div>There is a cap on player salaries, but not cap on player development, which is why the Canucks are doing things differently under Mike Gillis. The new GM has convinced ownership that he can improve the big team by spending more on the Canucks system.Without divulging the increased budget for new development director Dave Gagner, Gillis said &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve allowed Dave to basically create his own staff with a sports psychologist, two trainers and an evaluation system regarding muscle mass, balance and different things. We&rsquo;re hoping to have a payoff earlier than three to four years.&rdquo;<h2>1 CODY HODGSON, C, 18, Brampton (OHL)</h2>6-0, 188, 35-31-32-63-31OVERALL 2Hodgson is having a dominant season in the OHL, which is exactly what the Canuck brass hoped for.&ldquo;Cody was disappointed when he didn&rsquo;t make our team, but he went right back to Brampton and worked on the things (such as skating stride) we both felt were important,&rdquo; Gillis said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s now considered to be one of the top players in junior hockey.&rdquo;The Battalion captain played in every situation for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship and was the tournament&rsquo;s top scorer.Acquired 2008 draft, 10th overall.<h2>2 CORY SCHNEIDER, G, 22, Manitoba (AHL)</h2>6-2, 202, 17-3-0, 1.65, .937OVERALL 26Schneider went 10-1-0 in the AHL this season before a late November call up due to Roberto Luongo&rsquo;s groin injury. He won twice, but struggled overall (2-4-1, 3.38 GAA, .877 save percentage) and was returned to Manitoba in early January.&ldquo;It probably takes a little bit of time to get relaxed at the NHL level and you saw that with Cory, but he also put in some really good minutes,&rdquo; Gillis said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re extremely pleased with his development. He looks like he is moving in the right direction.&rdquo;Acquired 2004 draft, 26th overall.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-02168/9229979-1-eng-US/f0052-022.jpg" title="f0052-02" width="689" height="749"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cody Hodgson (DOUG BALL)</figcaption></div><h2>3 MICHAEL GRABNER, RW, 21, Manitoba (AHL)</h2>6-1, 187, 39-9-19-28-12The Austrian winger had a mediocre start in Manitoba, but picked it up in January after returning from a concussion.A pure goal-scorer, Grabner has found some consistency in his game by getting into the &lsquo;dirty regions&rsquo; around the opposing net. The Canucks were hoping to see more of a competitive spark from Grabner.&ldquo;Michael&rsquo;s speed is outstanding and he can finish, but to be a consistent player in the NHL, he needs to work on getting into position to score by playing in the tougher areas,&rdquo; Gillis said.Acquired 2006 draft, 14th overall.<h2>4 YANN SAUVE, D, 18, Saint John (QMJHL)</h2>6-3, 214, 48-4-24-28-50The Canucks like his size and mobility, but the fact he wasn&rsquo;t invited to Canada&rsquo;s final camp for the national junior team in December says something about his season.Vancouver desperately needs some young defensemen in its system, especially after the tragic death of top prospect Luc Bourdon, so Sauve will be receiving a lot of hands-on attention.&ldquo;Yann has great physical attributes and he&rsquo;s going to benefit from more responsibility, which we&rsquo;re starting to see,&rdquo; Gillis said. &ldquo;He is playing in all situations in Saint John.&rdquo;Acquired 2008 draft, 41st overall.<h2>5&nbsp;PATRICK WHITE, C, 20, Minnesota (WCHA)</h2>6-1, 190, 23-5-3-8-12White is not having a great sophomore season at the University of Minnesota. His freshman season wasn&rsquo;t great either.&ldquo;Patrick is a work in progress,&rdquo; Gillis said. &ldquo;He has been slowed down by not having a tremendous amount of ice time. Although we have seen some improvement over the course of the year.&rdquo;According to Gillis, Gagner is working extremely hard with White, who was drafted one spot ahead of David Perron in 2007.&ldquo;He needs to get stronger and really needs to define his game,&rdquo; Gillis said.Acquired 2007 draft, 25th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 TAYLOR ELLINGTON D, 20, 6-0, 205Everett (WHL) 49-2-19-21-87Started slowly, but began to play more aggressively in December.Acquired 2007 draft, 33rd overall7 PRAB RAI C, 19, 5-11, 191Seattle (WHL) 47-18-27-45-25Swift-skating forward needs to get stronger and more consistent.Acquired 2008 draft, 131st overall8 TAYLOR MATSON C, 20, 5-11, 185Minnesota (WCHA) 13-1-0-1-2Penalty killing specialist tore his ACL and had seasonending knee surgery.Acquired 2007 draft, 176th overall9 MATT BUTCHER C, 22, 6-2, 205Northern Michigan (CCHA) 13-2-3-5-16Third season in NCAA has been hampered by a major hip injury.Acquired 2005 draft, 138th overall10 DANIEL RAHIMI D, 21, 6-2, 220Manitoba (AHL) 39-1-4-5-32Defensive defenseman competes hard, but needs to improve skating.Acquired 2006 draft, 82nd overall &#9632;

f0052-01

MOURNING AND MOVING AHEAD

<div class="byline">BY PETER KERZEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-02172/9230017-1-eng-US/f0053-022.jpg" title="f0053-02" width="649" height="750"><figcaption class="caption-body">Simeon Varlamov (JUST SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-01258/9230024-1-eng-US/f0053-012.jpg" title="f0053-01" width="126" height="86"></div>Washington has been pinched by the salary cap and the most promising talent has remained in the development system, while journeymen have plugged holes caused by injury. Even so, the Capitals&rsquo; strength lies in home-grown talent.GM George McPhee will eventually need to offset the expensive deals given to Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green (and soon Alexander Semin). Rookies will be affordable so expect the Capitals to keep getting younger.&ldquo;Our best players, they&rsquo;re the youngest,&rdquo; Ovechkin said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s good for the future.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>1 SIMEON VARLAMOV, G, 20, Hershey (AHL)</h2>6-1, 183, 16-5-0, 2.43, .913OVERALL 12The first of two goalies chosen by the Capitals in 2006 was the first to make it to the NHL, winning a pair of starts in December. He&rsquo;s a promising butterfly specialist with good hands, quick reflexes and confidence. But Varlamov has to better defend low shots, check his ego and accept the occasional off game.Washington signed him to a three-year deal in 2007, but that doesn&rsquo;t guarantee Varlamov the upper hand over Michal Neuvirth. But right now, he&rsquo;s the more refined of the two.Acquired 2006 draft, 23rd overall.<h2>2 JOHN CARLSON, D, 19, London (OHL)</h2>6-3, 218, 43-13-40-53-49OVERALL 27Those who wondered whether a turn in the USHL hindered his draft day position can&rsquo;t quibble with Carlson&rsquo;s potential. He&rsquo;s big, strong and uses his physicality, He projects as a sturdy, two-way defender who can create offense as well as control his own zone.Carlson can also quarterback the power play or solidify the penalty kill, which gives him the opportunity to display his speed and intuition.He&rsquo;s a smart player who reacts appropriately before the play occurs.Acquired 2008 draft, 27th overall.<h2>3 ANTON GUSTAFSON, C, 18, Bofurs (Swe.)</h2>6-2, 194, 22-5-4-9-20Like his father, former Capitals star Bengt, Anton Gustafsson is a skilled two-way pivot, blessed with hockey smarts and an appreciation for physical playGustafsson controls the puck, passes well and is comfortable as a playmaker, but he needs to work on his acceleration and shooting.His defensive responsibility fits well with Washington&rsquo;s current system. Gustafsson recovered from the back injuries that slowed his development and he&rsquo;s been lauded for mature play. He&rsquo;s still a year or two awayAcquired 2008 draft, 21st overall.<h2>4 OSKAR OSALA, LW, 21, Hershey (AHL)</h2>6-4, 225, 46-19-12-31-24Osala has finally adjusted to the speed and style of the North American game and is now able to use his size, strength and quick left-handed shot to cement himself as a legitimate power forward.Unlike some lean and lanky wingers, he&rsquo;s not a defensive liability, using his skating ability and huge wingspan to his advantage, but he&rsquo;s still learning to make the most of his large frame.For someone so large, Osala could be more assertive with the puck; sometimes, a big guy&rsquo;s deadliest weapon is the mere threat of a shot.Acquired 2006 draft, 96th overall.<h2>5&nbsp;MICHAL NEUVIRTH, G, 20, Hershey (AHL)</h2>6-1, 197, 4-2-2, 3.03, .890Washington&rsquo;s had trouble finding a place for Neuvirth to develop this season. He was a scratch in Hershey, then played in South Carolina and the Czech Republic before going back to Hershey.When playing, Neuvirth displays a calm demeanor and big-save heroics that ratchet up his confidence. But he&rsquo;s prone to sluggish starts and gives up too many rebounds, problems that need to be corrected.His biggest battle lies ahead: how he&rsquo;ll fare head-to-head to determine whether he or Varlamov is Washington&rsquo;s stopper of the future.Acquired 2006 draft, 34th overall.<h2>On the HORIZON The NEXT Five</h2>6 FRANCOIS BOUCHARD RW, 20, 6-1, 188Hershey (AHL) 41-12-13-25-20Scoring winger plays position Washington needs. Still growing and learning.Acquired 2006 draft, 36th overall7 BRADEN HOLTBY G, 19, 6-1, 202Saskatoon (WHL) 29-10-3, 2.55, .912Workhorse shot-blocker will need a refined game to beat top netminding prospects.Acquired 2008 draft, 93rd overall8 JOSH GODFREY D, 21, 6-1, 210Hershey (AHL) 13-0-6-6-21Unable to step-up due to injury and inconsistent play; spent time in ECHL.Acquired 2007 draft, 34th overall9 S. DELLA ROVERE LW, 18, 5-11, 200Barrie (OHL) 40-20-18-38-113Seventh-round steal leads by example, represented Canada in world juniors.Acquired 2008 draft, 204th overall10 JOE FINLEY D, 21, 6-7, 240North Dakota (WCHA) 14-2-6-8-26Injuries have stalled huge defender&rsquo;s progress. An intimidating presence.Acquired 2005 draft, 27th overall &#9632;

f0053-02

CAPS NOT AFRAID OF THE CAP

<div class="byline">BY RORY BOYLEN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0054-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-01263/9230055-1-eng-US/f0054-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JOHN QUACKENBOS/BU ATHLETICS)</figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;A fifth round pick who&rsquo;s got holes in his game and something to work on &ndash; maybe his size, strength or whatever &ndash; he has until the age of 23 in the NCAA and that can make all the difference in the world.&rdquo; &ndash; Philadelphia Flyers scout</blockquote>Aside&nbsp;from all of the off-ice pros and cons when deciding between major junior and the NCAA, there&rsquo;s an on-ice component that forces prospects set out their career goals and weigh the reality on whether they&rsquo;ll reach them.Certain players would be wise to choose the major junior programs in Canada, while others would look like geniuses down the road for deciding on the United States League or the NCAA. So how do you know which route is more astute?&ldquo;High-end guys probably benefit more from major junior because it&rsquo;s more of a pro-like atmosphere,&rdquo; said one scout, who focuses on the United States before crossing over to Canada in the second half of the season. &ldquo;Any kid will benefit more from the junior program as far as his personal development. That being said, if you go to junior, you&rsquo;re done by age 20.&rdquo;And that&rsquo;s the main drawback of the Canadian Hockey League. Once you play your overage &ndash; or 20-year-old &ndash; season, you&rsquo;re done. If the NHL team that drafted you isn&rsquo;t comfortable enough with your development to invest in your future, you&rsquo;ll become a free agent, while your counterparts in the NCAA, who may not have developed as quickly, are still playing and improving.&ldquo;A 20-year-old may not have put on all his weight yet, there could be some more development coming,&rdquo; the scout said. &ldquo;And you don&rsquo;t know that, so you&rsquo;re forced to make a decision.&rdquo;That decision is a binding professional contract, of which a pro team only has a limited supply of 50. While a junior player will finish his tenure at an age where he could still be developing, an NCAA player can still play a few more years until he is done school, which makes college players much safer wild-card picks in the late rounds of the draft.&ldquo;If you go to college, there&rsquo;s a better chance someone will take a chance on you,&rdquo; the scout said. &ldquo;If I see a kid who is 5-foot-10 and he has decent skills and smarts, but is only 175 pounds, that&rsquo;s just not big enough. That&rsquo;s the kind of kid that I would say would need an extra year to develop. If he was in the CHL, I wouldn&rsquo;t want to draft him because I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s going to be ready at 20 for me to throw a contract at him.&rdquo;Of course, the playing styles of the two circuits are very different and certain players are much more suited for one over the other. In college, players play against competition that could be as much as seven years older, so it&rsquo;s the closest non-professional thing to playing against mature men. On the other hand, the major junior leagues have a longer schedule that resembles a pro season and a much more in-your-face attitude that will better prepare a player for professional life.&ldquo;In high school, college and even the U.S. under-18 program, it&rsquo;s tough to tell who&rsquo;s tough and who&rsquo;s not because you can knock people around and run the goalie and you&rsquo;re not going to get what&rsquo;s coming to you because there&rsquo;s no fighting,&rdquo; the scout said.&ldquo;In the Canadian juniors and even the USHL, if you&rsquo;re going to play like that you&rsquo;re going to have to face the music.&rdquo;For NCAA prospects, the increasingly popular and amateur USHL &ndash; the red-white-and-blue answer to the CHL &ndash; provides a sip of the other half and a taste of the realities they&rsquo;ll face down the road, while maintaining NCAA eligibility. In that league, unlike the NCAA, fighting is accepted, the schedule is 60 games and, once a player turns 18, the masks are replaced with visors.When comparing players from the USHL or NCAA to major junior for scouting purposes, it&rsquo;s not easy. The games are much different in style and substance and there is no formula to bring equilibrium to the stats.For a player having to decide which career path to take, it&rsquo;s convoluted enough without worrying about any education consequences. For aspiring NHLers, it&rsquo;s time to be completely objective in self-evaluation and seek counseling from those who understand what both options offer. &#9632;

f0054-01

CAREER CROSSROADS

<div class="byline">BY DENIS GIBBONS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0056-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-01201/9230100-1-eng-US/f0056-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tomas Plekanec learned the ropes in Kladno before arriving in Montreal. (ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>As the major military team in the country, Moscow&rsquo;s Central Army club had the advantage of being able to conscript the best hockey prospects in the Soviet Union. Past editions of the team have developed stars such as Slava Fetisov and Vladislav Tretiak and the club has dominated Soviet hockey for more than three decades.Robert Lang, Robert Reichel, Martin Rucinsky and Jiri Slegr were not only on the same Litvinov junior club in the former Czechoslovakia, they all studied together in the same school classrooms.But in the 21st century, centrally controlled national programs have taken a back seat to club programs, meaning Europe is home to new hockey factories.&ldquo;Eighty percent of European club teams are now working seriously to produce their own players through junior programs,&rdquo; said Goran Stubb, head of European scouting for the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Service. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re putting a lot of money into their junior systems.&rdquo;Here are the 10 best European prospect-producing programs:<h2>1. Lokomotiv (Yaroslavl, Russia)</h2>In the past 10 NHL drafts, the Russian Railways-owned club has had four players selected in the first round &ndash; Artem Kryukov (Buffalo, 15th in 2000), Alexei Mikhnov (Edmonton, 17th in 2000), Denis Grebeshkov (Los Angeles, 18th in 2002) and Simeon Varlamov (Washington, 23rd in 2006). Two others &ndash; Artem Anisimov (New York Rangers, 54th in 2006) and Alexander Vasyunov (New Jersey, 58th in 2006) &ndash; have been second round picks.Lokomotiv spends about $1 million annually grooming players. In 2007-08, its youth teams won the Russian championship in both the 15- and 16-year-old age groups and placed second in the 13-year-old category.Sergei Mozyakin, a Columbus draft pick in 2002 (263rd overall) and currently the Kontinental League&rsquo;s leading scorer, is a Lokomotiv product and there are more on the way. Nikita Klyukin (draft eligible in 2009, undrafted in 2008) centered the first line on Russia&rsquo;s squad at the World Junior Championship this year.After retiring as an NHL player, former Toronto Maple Leafs winger Nikolai Borschevsky opened a hockey school in Mississauga, Ont. He then accepted a coaching job in the Russian Superleague with Lokomotiv and has since moved on to Lokomotiv&rsquo;s farm team, where he has been responsible for developing some excellent young talent.<h2>2. Vastra Frolunda (Goteborg, Sweden)</h2>Daniel Alfredsson&rsquo;s NHL success sparked a renewed interest in youth hockey in Goteborg, where Swedish national junior team members Erik Karlsson, Joakim Andersson and Nicklas Lasu all play.Karlsson &ndash; Ottawa&rsquo;s first round pick in 2008 (15th overall) &ndash; was spectacular at the this year&rsquo;s world juniors and was named the tournament&rsquo;s best defenseman. Andersson (88th in 2007) and Lasu (124th in 2008) were drafted by Detroit and Atlanta. The club also boasts the top-rated European goalie for the 2009 draft, Robin Lehner.Vastra Frolunda alumni include budding NHL sniper Loui Eriksson (Dallas, 33rd in 2003), Jens Karlsson (Los Angeles, 18th in 2001), second-generation NHLers Alex Steen (Toronto, 24th in 2002) and Anton Gustafsson (Washington, 21st in 2008), son of former Washington Capitals forward Bengt-Ake Gustafsson.The organization&rsquo;s top-ranked prospect for the 2009 NHL draft is 6-foot-3, 210-pound left winger Carl Klingberg, International Scouting Services&rsquo; 25th-ranked skater.<h2>3. HC Geus Okna (Kladno, Czech Republic)</h2>Karel Beran is famous for coaching Jaromir Jagr as a youth. But a lot more talent has come out of Kladno, an industrial town 25 miles northwest of Prague, since the five-time NHL scoring champ was growing up.The Kaberle brothers, Tomas and Frantisek, learned the game in Kladno, as did Montreal Canadiens center Tomas Plekanec.This decade, three NHL teams have drafted Kladno grads in the first round. Petr Taticek (ninth in 2002) and Michael Frolik (10th in 2006) both went to Florida and Jiri Tlusty (13th in 2006) was picked by Toronto. In 2007, Jakub Voracek was snapped up by Columbus at No. 7 after proving his worth with the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL.Tomas Knotek, currently with Halifax, and defenseman Jan Piskacek of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles were also both groomed in the Kladno system.<h2>4. Traktor (Chelyabinsk, Russia)</h2>The most famous player to come out of this Siberian city of one million-plus people is Sergei Makarov, who won nine Soviet Elite League scoring titles with the Central Red Army team before moving on to play over 400 NHL games.But it&rsquo;s not all about the past; the Traktor club continues to churnout top-notch hockey talent. Vyacheslav Voinov (Los Angeles, 32nd in 2008), the captain of Russia&rsquo;s national junior team, is a Traktor product. Only 19, he is already playing for the Manchester Monarchs in the AHL. And Evgeny Dadonov (71st in 2007), a first-line winger with Russia&rsquo;s junior team, was drafted by Florida.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-01187/9230093-1-eng-US/f0057-012.jpg" title="f0057-01" width="1073" height="537"><figcaption class="caption-body">(ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Perhaps the best pure-talent player to come from Chelyabinsk was Stanislav Chistov. The fifth overall selection in the 2001 draft by Anaheim, Chistov now plays for the KHL&rsquo;s Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Veteran Pittsburgh defenseman Sergei Gonchar, Rangers blueliner Dmitri Kalinin and Ottawa prospect Ilya Zubov (98th in 2005) also cut their hockey teeth in Chelyabinsk.<h2>5. MoDo (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden)</h2>A decade ago this town of 30,000, home to Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, Niklas Sundstrom, Sami Pahlsson and the Sedin twins, would have been a runaway winner in any poll. During the 2002-03 season, there were 13 NHL players with MoDo connections. An economist once suggested that to develop that many NHL players Ornskoldsvik would need a citizenry of about 12 million, 400 times its population. &ldquo;When you went to high school you practised every single morning,&rdquo; Henrik Sedin said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d practise again in the afternoon. That&rsquo;s twice a day, every day, for three or four years.&rdquo;Recently, the stream of talent coming from the shores of the Baltic Sea has slowed somewhat.The exception to that trend is 2009 draft darling Victor Hedman. The 6-foot-7, 220-pound, offensively gifted defensemen is in his second Swedish Elite League season and is THN&rsquo;s No. 2-ranked NHL draft prospect this year.<h2>6. Dukla (Trencin, Slovakia)</h2>Originally established in 1962 as a military team similar to Moscow&rsquo;s Red Army, Dukla Trencin is a special hockey school that allows budding prospects to practise and play on school time.Its list of alumni includes Marian Hossa, Zdeno Chara, Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra, Miroslav Satan and Ziggy Palffy, all of whom have distinguished themselves in the NHL and all of whom give back in some way.Gaborik, for example, has financed construction of the MG ice rink in Trencin and started up a foundation to support hockey players from poorer families.Prospects on the way include Juraj Mikus (Toronto, 134th in 2007) and Mario Bliznak, chosen 205th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 2005.<h2>7. KalPa (Kuopio, Finland)</h2>There are four ski jump sites in and around Kuopio and for many years ski jumping monopolized sports fans in this city of 90,000. But hockey is gaining in popularity thanks, in large part, to the examples set by current and former NHLers Olli Jokinen, Kimmo Timonen and Sami and Niko Kapanen.Sami Kapanen is the majority owner of KalPa, a Finnish League team, while Timonen is a minority owner. And during the off-season, Jokinen runs a popular &ndash; and free &ndash; hockey school in the city.At 6-foot-1, 198 pounds, Teemu Hartikainen (Edmonton, 163rd in 2008) has the size to play at the NHL level. He graduated from a Kuopio junior program that in 2007-08 won the Finnish under-20 title and received an award for having the best junior system in the country. On the heels of its successes, the KalPa program has become so famous it attracts players from countries as far away as Spain.<h2>8. Vitkovice (Ostrava, Czech Republic)</h2>Steel is the main industry in this city near the Polish border. So it&rsquo;s no surprise that hard-hitting defensemen grow up here. Vitkovice is home to NHL blueliners such as Pavel Kubina, Filip Kuba and Marek Malik.Vitkovice alumnus Rostislav Olesz was Columbus&rsquo; first pick, seventh overall in 2004. And when the world junior championship was held in Ottawa this year, the Czech team had no fewer than six Vitkovice products in its lineup. Jan Kana was the team&rsquo;s leading scorer; others included Radim Valchar of the WHL&rsquo;s Portland Winter Hawks, goalie Tomas Vosvrda, Petr Strapac, Roman Szturc and Ondrej Roman (Dallas, 136th in 2007), a member of the Spokane Chiefs&rsquo; 2008 Memorial Cup championship team. This season, Vitkovice teams are leading both the Czech junior league and Czech under-18 loop.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-01199/9230086-1-eng-US/f0058-012.jpg" title="f0058-01" width="514" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body">Djurgarden center Jacob Josefson is a top prospect in the 2009 NHL draft. (RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>9. Blues (Espoo, Finland)</h2>With a population of 240,000, Espoo is the second-largest city in Finland, but is just a few miles from Finland&rsquo;s capital city, Helsinki. As such, many of the boys who begin playing in Espoo wind up with either the Jokerit or IFK clubs in the capital.But the Blues organization deserves &ndash; and receives &ndash; a lot of credit for developing those players as youngsters. Three-time Selke Trophy winner Jere Lehtinen got his start with the Espoo Blues, as did Nashville Predators prospect Antti Pihlstrom and national star Tony Samelainen, the Finnish League&rsquo;s 2005-06 most valuable player.Finnish national junior team captain Tomi Sallinen is eligible for the 2009 NHL draft, along with Espoo teammate Joonas Nattinen, the 23rd-ranked skater by ISS. Espoo also developed Mikko Koskinen, the second-ranked draft-eligible European goalie.<h2>10. Djurgarden (Stockholm, Sweden)</h2>Mats Sundin&rsquo;s alma mater has been attracting the majority of top-flight youngsters in the Swedish capital since crosstown rival AIK was relegated from Sweden&rsquo;s Elite League to the second division.Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall is the club&rsquo;s latest pride, while Nashville rookie Patric Hornqvist (230th in 2005) could be the next.Sweden&rsquo;s silver medal-winning team at the 2009 World Junior Championship had four Djurgarden products, including Oscar Moller (52nd in 2007) of the Los Angeles Kings, Carl Gustafsson, goalie Mark Owuya and Jacob Josefson, ISS&rsquo;s 10th-rated skater for the 2009 draft. &#9632;

f0056-01

EURO FACTORIES: 10 CLUB TEAMS PRODUCING TALENT

<div class="byline">BY RYAN DIXON</div>Few things will end a job interview quicker than the candidate for employment declaring their intentions, upon being hired, to steer the company into the ground.The rules of life don&rsquo;t always apply to sports, but in this case, there is overlap. Take, for instance, when Peter Chiarelli submitted his resume to be the next GM of Boston in May of 2006. The Bruins had just completed a season in which they finished last in the Northeast Division and 26th overall following former GM Mike O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s decision to trade Joe Thornton to San Jose earlier in the year.Given the tumultuous state of the team, you might have expected prospective GMs to show up to interviews with dynamite in hand. Not Chiarelli. He knew the way to get himself hired and it wasn&rsquo;t by telling the higher-ups the losing had to continue while other sports franchises in the New England market kept winning championships.&ldquo;I evaluated the roster, their drafts and told them the players I thought we should go after,&rdquo; said Chiarelli of the conversation leading up to his appointment as Bruins GM. &ldquo;But really, the rebuild wasn&rsquo;t an option. With the success of the other franchises there, there&rsquo;s only so much of the sporting entertainment dollar to go around, you couldn&rsquo;t rebuild and in fact I said we were re-tooling, not rebuilding, because you simply couldn&rsquo;t rebuild. There wouldn&rsquo;t be the patience for it.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s a commonly held belief that for a team to get good, it first needs to acquire a series of high draft picks to form a corps. But Chiarelli&rsquo;s Bruins &ndash; along with league powers such as Detroit and San Jose &ndash; have shown the path to honor doesn&rsquo;t have to begin with foul odor.According to Chiarelli, no team should be torn down before a thorough evaluation of existing assets is executed.&ldquo;What is important is that there are already some pieces there,&rdquo; said the GM, whose Bruins missed the playoffs in the first year, but have developed into a league power. &ldquo;If the cupboard is full, or three-quarters full or half full, then you can build and develop on those guys.&ldquo;We had (David) Krejci (from the &rsquo;04 draft), then we got (Milan) Lucic (in Chiarelli&rsquo;s first draft) and (Blake) Wheeler (as a free agent in 2008) and young guys to energize the franchise.&rdquo;For another example of how a team can turn the corner without enduring a long down cycle, look no further than the Philadelphia Flyers. Paul Holmgren took over as Flyers GM roughly one month into their last overall, 56-point finish in 2006-07.It would have been easy to ride the futility train for a while, but Holmgren instead solidified a long-time organizational need by acquiring goalie Martin Biron, flipping veterans for prospects, dipping into the free agent market and counting on the development of youngsters already in the system such as Mike Richards and Jeff Carter.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0060-01164/9230131-1-eng-US/f0060-012.jpg" title="f0060-01" width="678" height="539"><figcaption class="caption-body">(STEVE BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a perfect example of someone not drafting high &ndash; they got (James) van Reimsdyk by virtue of finishing last, but he&rsquo;s not stepping in (yet),&rdquo; Chiarelli said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the other guys they got by trades or previous mid-level drafting.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s no denying a series of high picks can jolt a team forward. The Colorado Avalanche won two Stanley Cups only after acquiring numerous lofty selections as the lowly Quebec Nordiques. Patrick Kane, the first overall pick in 2007, and Jonathan Toews, No. 3 in &rsquo;06, are leading the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; renaissance.Trevor Timmins is director of player recruitment and development for Montreal, a team that&rsquo;s drafted very astutely the past several years. Despite a penchant for plucking gems in later rounds, Timmins admits the best way to land a franchise player is with a top-five selection.&ldquo;It varies year to year, but if you&rsquo;re going to get a guy like Ovechkin who can help take a team up over the hump &ndash; Ovechkin, Malkin, Crosby, we got Carey Price at No. 5 &ndash; those types of players are pretty hard to get if you&rsquo;re not picking in the top five,&rdquo; Timmins said.Chiarelli believes if your organization is bereft of prospects, finishing low in an attempt to re-stock with top-level talent can be a necessity. Still, acquiring a slew of super kids is great, but the key to sustainability is finding quality players where others don&rsquo;t. Three players driving the Bruins right now &ndash; Krejci, Lucic and Patrice Bergeron &ndash; were second round selections.&ldquo;You should hit on your first- and second-rounder; I know you don&rsquo;t always, but you should,&rdquo; Chiarelli said. &ldquo;And then if you can get guys after that, that&rsquo;s great.&rdquo;Added Timmins: &ldquo;It seems like later on, in the second half of the first round, there&rsquo;s always one or two, maybe three, players who end up being as good as any of the players, say from five to 15.&rdquo;Chiarelli spent seven seasons with Ottawa before joining Boston. When he landed with the Sens they represented the best of both worlds, having surrounded a team of top selections with gems from the mid-to-late first round.&ldquo;I joined them in &rsquo;99 at kind of the top of where they (were benefiting) from very high picks, but they also got the (Martin) Havlats and the (Marian) Hossas and the (Anton) Volchenkovs lower down,&rdquo; Chiarelli said.Ottawa hasn&rsquo;t been nearly as shrewd in recent seasons and it has shown &ndash; it simply doesn&rsquo;t have enough quality depth players to augment its stars. Ditto for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who wouldn&rsquo;t have to hand out free agent contracts to the likes of Petr Sykora, Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko had they done a better job of identifying quality prospects outside the top five draft slots. &#9632;

f0060-01

BLOW LIFE INTO IT OR BLOW IT ALL UP?

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div>People in the hockey industry often laud a player&rsquo;s willingness to &ldquo;pay the price.&rdquo; So it should come as no surprise that just about every team in the NHL is interested in the services of Boston University defenseman Matt Gilroy.Gilroy has paid the price, both literally and figuratively, through much of the first 24-plus years of his life. But his perseverance in the face of on-ice obstacles and personal tragedy will pay off shortly after BU&rsquo;s season ends and Gilroy signs with an NHL team as a free agent. The most sought-after college free agent of 2009 and leading candidate for the Hobey Baker Award as the top U.S. college player has become a magnet for NHL scouts &ndash; the Toronto Maple Leafs had six scouts at BU&rsquo;s opening game of the Beanpot Tournament in early February and Leafs GM Brian Burke has made no secret of his desire to sign Gilroy.Last year in his junior season with BU, Gilroy had 24 NHL offers, but turned each of them down. That was news to Terriers coach Jack Parker, who was so certain Gilroy would turn pro that he gave his scholarship to another player. But, determined to get his business management degree and graduate with his peers, Gilroy and his parents decided to have him return to BU on their own dime.&ldquo;I put down on paper all of the pluses and minuses of coming back,&rdquo; Gilroy said. &ldquo;I just think we have something special here and it didn&rsquo;t end right last year. This year, I want it to end with something special.&rdquo;The Terriers are the top-ranked college team in the nation and a favorite to go to the NCAA&rsquo;s annual Frozen Four tournament, which doesn&rsquo;t end until April 11. Should the Terriers go to the final, Gilroy would not be able to play any regular season games in the NHL this season. By going to his senior year, Gilroy stands to make himself a very rich man because he&rsquo;s too old to be subject to the NHL&rsquo;s entry level rules and will be subject to a bidding war.&ldquo;I remember last year he had all this interest and his dad said, &lsquo;I know teams like Matt, but how much do they like him?&rsquo;&rdquo; Parker said. &ldquo;I guess we&rsquo;ll find out now.&rdquo;Gilroy credits much of his success to Parker, even though if the coach had his way, Gilroy would never have played for the Terriers. If he had listened to Parker, Gilroy would have turned pro after his sophomore and junior seasons. But it was Parker who made Gilroy a defenseman, even though all of it came about by accident.Gilroy grew up two miles from the Nassau Memorial Coliseum in Long Island and showed up at BU as a 21-year-old freshman four years ago. It was no surprise that he had gone unnoticed through several NHL drafts, since he was just 5-foot-7 and 145 pounds as an 18-year-old and had played low levels of hockey. Since then, he has added about 60 pounds and five inches and has become a much better player.He was a walk-on with the team and Parker told him he would be better served going to another school because his team was stocked with forwards. He told Gilroy he could practise with the team&rsquo;s defensemen that season, but he wouldn&rsquo;t play.&ldquo;In our fourth game of the year, we played a game against the U.S. under-18 team and I played all the kids who usually didn&rsquo;t dress,&rdquo; Parker said. &ldquo;I put him in the lineup for that game and he hasn&rsquo;t come out since.&rdquo;That Gilroy has persevered comes as no surprise to those who know him. The second-oldest of eight children, Gilroy will wear the No. 97 with whichever team signs him, a tribute to his younger brother Timmy, who wore that number as a young hockey player before his death at the age of seven. In a rush to get to a kickball game, Timmy fell off his bike and succumbed to head injuries a few days later. As the 9-year-old Matt grieved that night, he vowed to honor his brother by wearing his number.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0061-01160/9230162-1-eng-US/f0061-012.jpg" title="f0061-01" width="510" height="779"><figcaption class="caption-body">Matt Gilroy (SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;When that happens, a lot of people let it define them, but Matt let it define his life in a better way,&rdquo; said Gilroy&rsquo;s mother, Peggy. &ldquo;He thinks Timmy would have done great things and by wearing his number, he&rsquo;s going to take Timmy to some of those places.&rdquo;As a player, Gilroy is a strong-skating puck-mover who makes a good first pass and has a high panic threshold. His leadership capabilities prompted Parker to make him a co-captain this season. The fact that signing Gilroy would not cost a team anything off its roster has made him very appealing to NHL clubs and even though he&rsquo;ll be 25 by the time next season begins, he has just begun to scratch the surface of his potential.Gilroy is by far the crown jewel of this year&rsquo;s college free agent class, but there are a couple of others to consider:&bull; Steve Bozak, a 22-year-old center with the University of Denver, a player many scouts think can step into the NHL immediately. He has been injured for a chunk of this season, but had seven goals and 21 points in 18 games.&bull; Christian Hanson, a 22-year-old center at Notre Dame, whose father Dave played 10 years of pro hockey and gained fame as one of the Hanson Brothers in Slap Shot. Hanson had 14 goals and 26 points in 27 games. &#9632;

f0061-01

NCAA FREE AGENT FEEDING FRENZY

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-01164/9230200-1-eng-US/f0062-012.jpg" title="f0062-01" width="508" height="762"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cammalleri (GERRY THOMAS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Looking back at our rankings from 2004, you would think NHL scouts had ESP. Thomas Vanek, Jeff Carter, Zach Parise and Ryan Getzlaf all made the top 10 on our list of top 50 drafted prospects outside the NHL. All are bonafide stars and scoring gurus today.The scouting obsession with Kari Lehtonen is the only relative blemish in a top 10 that also includes Flames&rsquo; defensive leader Dion Phaneuf and Buffalo&rsquo;s work horse No. 1 goalie Ryan Miller.Only Igor Grigorenko and Hugh Jessiman haven&rsquo;t played in the NHL while 41 of the 50 are sure to play 200 or more games. The GP leader and biggest steal is No. 44 Mike Cammalleri at 331 games.Going back a decade, the top 10 from 1999 shows all-star talent still envied around the league today. Simon Gagne is on pace for his first 100-plus point season.However, just 32 of the 50 have or will reach the 200-game benchmark. The leader of the field is Martin Skoula at 691 games.All 50 have made an NHL appearance, including Mathieu Chouinard, whose two saves in three minutes for Los Angeles give him a perfect career SP of 1.000.Here are THN&rsquo;s top 50 prospects from Future Watch 2004 (left) and 1999 (right). Players are listed with current team and NHL games played as of Feb. 2, 2009<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0292/9230193-1-eng-US/f0062-022.jpg" title="f0062-02" width="1500" height="2498"></div> &#9632;

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Future Watch 2009

FINDING OASIS IN THE DESERT

Nikita Filatov

The Hockey News TOP 50

HOPING FOR HELP BETWEEN THE PIPES