Prospects Annex

Kleinendorst on the U18 tournament in Minsk

2010-05-01T14:56:00.005-04:00

I didn't intend to write this article. I intended to get some material to use in a couple features about NTDP guys who are eligible for the draft. But Kleinendorst talked so much about the tournament itself in answering the questions that this review just kind of wrote itself. Besides, the USA won and it was hugely undercovered, even in the prospects media. This team is so accessible and has a history of winning, yet they are largely ignored.

Kleinendorst himself seems destined for greatness. I suspect he'll be an NHL head coach in a year or two. He's already got AHL head coaching experience, and NHL assistant experience. Very professional, says all the right things and means them. I look forward to talking to him next year too.

I'll have a couple features and a ranking article before the draft.

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NHL/CHL agreement: Why juniors have to be 20 to play in the AHL

2010-04-13T19:13:00.004-04:00

Here's something I wrote up a couple years ago, but it's pertinent every year at this time, so I'll repost it.

There's a good bit of confusion about the rules surrounding junior players because they're not in the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement, something everyone can access. The rules are in a private agreement between the NHL and CHL (Canadian Hockey League, made up of the QMJHL, OHL and WHL). A lot of people think the AHL has a rule that someone has to be 20 to play there. Common misconception. It's not a rule made by the AHL. If it were up to them, they would take everyone over 18. Officially that's the AHL's policy in fact.

The NHL/CHL agreement states that a player with junior eligibility signed by an NHL team must be returned to his junior team if he's not playing in the NHL. It's part of a deal that provides CHL money for players produced (sort of like the IIHF agreement between the NHL and European countries). The NHL agrees to send the teenagers back because CHL needs these players - its top players -- to make money. If the CHL didn't make money, they couldn't produce players. You scratch my back, I scratch yours.

Specifically, the rule says that if a player played in junior before they were drafted by the NHL, then they have to either be 20 years old by Dec. 31 OR have played four years of junior in order to play in the minors . That second condition rarely comes into effect. It would only apply to players who began in the CHL at age 15.

Players who are not drafted from the CHL, like NCAA and European players, aren't held to these rules. Players who were drafted out of Europe and then play in the CHL later, can play in the minors under the age of 20. European players drafted out of the CHL are held to it. Nationality is not part of the equation -- it's where you were drafted from (which league developed you).

In the long run, it's probably helpful for the prospects' development as people to stay in junior a bit longer. Teenagers are better off living with billet families instead of on their own, far from home. One issue that keeps coming up is that some players are clearly ready to move on from the CHL, but not quite ready for the NHL. They end up playing junior, but it's hard to keep them challenged or motivated in that final year.

Normally this rule means that players play two more years of junior after being drafted before they turn pro. There are two exceptions - the really talented who make the NHL at 18 or 19, and those lucky enough to be born between Sept. 15 and Dec. 31. Those lucky fall birthday players were the oldest in their draft class (a player must be 18 by the year of their draft to be eligible), and are old enough that they only have to play one more year of junior after their selection, then can move to the minors.

And on a related topic, CHL players are eligible to play in the AHL once their junior season is over even if they don't yet meet the age criteria listed above. So you could see 18 and 19-year-old juniors in the AHL late in the season. They can and do return to junior the next year.

Also important to note: if a junior player is returned to the CHL before he plays 10 games in the NHL (or AHL) in a given season, the year does not count towards the player's entry-level contract and the contract itself does not count towards the team's 50-contract limit. The team has to make a decision to keep or return him before game 10 starts.
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Comments on Central Scouting's final ranks for 2010

2010-04-11T21:47:00.004-04:00

A few comments on the final rankings for the 2010 draft by Central Scouting.

First, it's so important to remember that a lot can happen between now and the draft that will raise and lower someone's stock. The junior leagues are still in their playoffs, and we have the U18 World Championships, a major scouting event. Then there's the Combine, with not just physical testing, but interviews. A player's drive means so much towards whether they will make it. So, with all that said, always remember that the final ranks are the April rankings and if they made another list in June, it would look different.

They have Riley Sheahan down at No. 22, from No. 5. I think this is too low. Yes, he didn't score up a storm this year, but he was on the third line, with Ryan Thang. Now, Thang is an OK player, but he'll max out at a third liner in the NHL because he just doesn't have the offense. Sheahan would send Thang and Ben Ryan beautiful passes, which went unconverted. Put Sheahan on a first line, and he'll shine.

This is a bad year for European goalies, and not a great year for Europe period. There are some Russians, but with question marks, as always.

They have Calvin Pickard over Jack Campbell among North American goalies. For my money, I take Campbell. He's a big-game goalie, a bit cocky and while that can be bad day to day, ultimately that's what you want.

I like that Justin Shugg and Greg McKegg moved up. Shugg had no business being next to Josh Shalla on the mid-terms. They are now more in their proper place.

In general the NTDP guys seem high, except for Forbort who is rightly very high. I would never take Jason Zucker over Shugg, as he doesn't have the scoring ability. Former NTDPer Jake Fallon seems way too high as well for as little as he produces.

Telegin is too high at No. 33. I saw him in February and don't get the hype. Sadikov seems too high at No. 12 among goalies as well.

Luke Moffatt is below Aaron Harstad at 95 and 94, and I would not just flip them, but get them far apart from one another. Moffatt impressed me when I saw him, and Harstad was a healthy scratch.

Missing from the rankings: Brian Billett, Adam Polasek, and Cab Morris. Polasek and Morris were both overlooked in 2009, but Polasek seems likely to be taken, and Morris is certainly better than Jared Coreau. I think a lot of teams will take goalies because they didn't last year, though I'm not certain this draft class is much better in the goalie department. Certainly at the top, but I'm not so sure it has depth.
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Comments on the 2010 NHL Combine list

2010-04-03T21:30:00.005-04:00

The list of the 100 invitees to the NHL Combine in Toronto came out a few days ago. A few comments on it.

I've watched OHL, USHL and NCAA games this season, and no one jumped out at me as missing from this list. I was mildly surprised that Philip Grubauer or Nick Mattson weren't on it. Mattson (Indiana) came on strong very late in the year, so he got off a lot of radars. Grubauer's draft potential has a lot to do with how he performs for Windsor in the OHL playoffs. So far so good. Josh Shalla wasn't on the list -- it looks like people are starting to see what I saw in February.

The list was light on USHLers, just four, which doesn't surprise me because I think this is a bad year for the USHL. Even the four who were invited are not exceptional.

Only two guys invited were eligible last year and went unselected - Brandon Davidson of Regina and Jonathan Johansson of Sweden. Johansson is a June birthday and Davidson is an August birthday.

Last year, eight guys who were invited to the Combine were not drafted. The highest drafted guys who didn't attend the Combine went 31st and 35th. The World Championships and the CHL playoffs can really affect someone's draft position, and this list comes out before either of them.
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Dalton feature

2010-03-29T17:51:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I finished a feature on Matt Dalton, a Boston prospect who's a very interesting guy. Self-taught goaltender/farmer, it doesn't get better than that. When he came out of the locker room to find me, he was still buttoning his shirt and getting on his shoes -- he said he didn't want to keep me waiting. We talked for about 14 minutes, and it didn't feel like I was keeping him. He was very relaxed for a goaltender too. All in all, very impressive off the ice. I'm surprised more features haven't been written about him.

I don't think Reading has a very good team this year, but if Dalton puts them on his back, who knows.

NTDP at Indiana

2010-03-21T20:01:00.013-04:00

A few photos from the USNTDP at Indiana last night. I'll have features on Johns and Moffatt in a few weeks.

Frank Simonelli with a high leg kick in warmups. I don't think this is in the textbook.

Luke Moffatt yakking it up on the faceoff. You might think he's just catching up with a former teammate in Mattson, but he seemed to chat up a lot of people on the faceoff. He's just a chatty kind of kid.

Jarred Tinordi vs. Brian Ferlin. Tinordi stood him up hard at the blue line, that's what brought this on. It was just a good defensive play.

Tyler Biggs vs. Chris Martin. I think Biggs grabbed him by the mouth here. He's someone I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. He looks like a great player for 2011 though.

This image cracks me up. Rather than smush into the end of the bench in a chair like most backups, Jack Campbell stood behind the bench with the coaches. Looks quite out of place. He got ice water dumped on him in the shower later and screamed quite loudly. A bunch of jokers these guys.
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Indiana vs. Green Bay (USHL)

2010-03-20T15:42:00.009-04:00

I came back to Indianapolis to catch the NTDP, but also caught the game against Green Bay last night. After bad experiences with poor lighting in the building last time, I was spurred to pull the trigger on the new camera purchase, which I'm very happy with. If they would only use all the lights during warmups.

Notes on players:

Mattson (IND) -- I was pleasantly surprised how he's come along. I didn't like him much at last year's U18 WCs, or the USHL All-Star Game. But he looks very good now. I'll put together a feature on him soon.

Morris (IND)-- He looked good during the game, beaten high only on a couple high shots. The shootout was a different story. More broadly, his glove placement looks too low. His coach acknowledged it was an issue.

Fallon (IND) -- I just don't see much here, other than hustle. I think he'll be a big dropper on the spring 2010 rankings.

Crane (Green Bay) -- He was benched after taking a roughing penalty that resulted in a goal. That was the first period, so good thing I was paying attention early. His game isn't pretty, but is effective. Spoke to him afterwards, an interesting guy. Late rounder, but I think he'll get picked. He's committed to OSU, and has been asked to come this fall (now that Dalpe etc are gone), but told me he might report to Windsor depending on what the NHL team who drafts him wants him to do.

Lee (GB) -- Islanders fans seem to think we overlooked Lee on the latest Top 20 list. I've looked at him twice this year, but I still can't get onboard. He has size and skates well, but ultimately is disappointing.

Max Cook (IND) -- He's a 1990, so he probably won't be drafted, but he should be. Late bloomer. Miami University is going to be happy with him.

Harstad (GB) -- Healthy scratch. That won't get you drafted.

Ferlin (IND) -- Poor skater. He's going to have to correct that.

A few photos.

Ref catches some unwanted air.

Coach Jeff Blashill draws on his white board with his back turned.

And now the reveal.

Green Bay won in a shootout. The funny part of this photo is Crane in the upper right corner hugging his teammate like they just won the championship. Note he hadn't been on the ice for 2+ periods at this point.
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College free agents 2010

2010-03-16T22:16:00.004-04:00

Some names that may be signed by NHL teams in the coming weeks, in no particular order.

Tom Gorowsky, F, Wisconsin, 23
Dion Knelsen, F, Alaska-Fairbanks, 21
Carter Hutton, G, UMass-Lowell, 24
Chay Genoway, F, North Dakota, 23
Darcy Zajac, F, North Dakota, 23

There doesn't seem to be a hot commodity out there, like there is occasionally. Generally college free agents get overrated though. They are already 23 or 24 when the come out, which is near the top of the development curve. They won't improve much once they are signed. What you see is pretty much what you get.

Simon Gysbers and Casey Wellman already went to Toronto and Minnesota.
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Coaching prospect: Chuck Weber

2010-03-09T19:48:00.005-05:00

Usually I write about player prospects. But today I want to say a word or two about a coaching prospect, Chuck Weber.

I first encountered Weber when he was coaching his Cincinnati Cyclones in the 2008 ECHL Kelly Cup Finals. After the game, he came into the room where the press conference was set up, and instead of sitting down at the table and microphone, he stood. Here's a picture I took that day:

It was obvious that he had a lot of energy. He struck me as very intense, businesslike. And he got it done -- his team won the thing on the road in Las Vegas.

For the fourth straight year, Weber's got his Cyclones in playoff position, leading their division. The most impressive thing about it to me is that they're doing it this year with two 20-year-old rookie goaltenders -- one from the Predators, one from the Canadiens -- who are not top prospects. These are the kinds of goaltenders who most teams wouldn't want to have to rely on. But the Cyclones play such great team defense that it's working. Weber was himself a defenseman and he knows how to teach it, obviously. He never played pro hockey himself though.

I interviewed Weber about the goalies last night as his team came through town. I wanted to hear about them, but equally I wanted to know more about how he goes about things too.

He was again very professional, fully answering every question. It was after a loss, so this was a good test. Some coaches don't hold it together very well after losses. That's not the case with Weber. He made thoughtful comments and treated the little people (me) with respect.

He won't likely be in the league long. Or, if he is, it's the AHL's loss.
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Shugg vs. Shalla

2010-03-07T11:11:00.004-05:00

On paper, Justin Shugg and Josh Shalla look fairly similar. They're both offensive OHLers who tend a bit more towards goalscoring, both eligible for the 2010 draft, and have similar names. When I was planning my trip to see Windsor and Saginaw, I had some trouble keeping them separate.

Boy did that change. The thing that impressed me the most about Shugg was how hard he worked. Windsor was down by two goals (rare I know, but they had some guys out of the line-up), and Shugg played as if he thought they could quickly get it back. His hard work was rewarded with a goal, though they did still lose. I spoke to him and he's a stand-up guy. Here's the interview.

Shalla, who I saw the next night, did not impress at all. He was even benched in the second period. He seemed to just have one speed, and no intensity. I had questions prepared for him, but instead decided to head to the Erie locker room and talk to Robbie Ftorek about Greg McKegg. McKegg deserved the time, Shalla did not. After I was done with that though, I swung by the Saginaw locker room, wanting to speak to a coach about why Shalla was benched. I wanted to know how different this was than his normal play, so we know where to rank and rate him. I was treated so rudely by associate coach John Kisil, that I just had to laugh. Someone doesn't take losing well, and takes it out on everyone else. In any case, it will make me remember Shalla for sure. And not in a good way.
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Consensus and the NHL draft

2010-02-27T20:31:00.002-05:00

Fans of the NHL draft often speak as if there is a lot of consensus about who is likely to go where in the draft. They might follow the ISS lists that come out every month, not see a lot of movement, and think that this means consensus is building. That notion needs to be dispelled.

First, we only see the lists of scouting services, not of the teams. So we only see a small portion of the qualified lists out there. Second, it's only the very top guys which scouts can agree on, and here we're only talking say top three. Beyond that, as you move away from the top, there is more and more variance, to the point where someone who is very high on one NHL team's list may not even appear on another's. Teams vary in their draft philosophy and tastes. There are 30 NHL teams, and that means 30 very different-looking lists. Teams usually only rank 125 guys per year. They did this even when there were nine rounds of the draft (290 taken) because no one likes the same guys and all 125 would never be taken.

First rounders regularly bust and guys who went undrafted regularly make the NHL. Thus it shouldn't be surprising that at age 17, opinions about these players should vary. But leading into the draft, when someone voices an opinion about a player that is seen to go against a perceived consensus, they are too often thought a fool. The Phoenix Coyotes took Blake Wheeler at fifth overall in 2004 and it raised a lot of eyebrows. It shouldn't have. The only thing they did wrong there was fail to take advantage of how little other teams valued Wheeler by trading down.

Back to the lists. There is usually a lot of change over the course of the season as well. Players who were good at age 15 and 16 often will plateau (Angelo Esposito), while the late-developers start to shine (Calvin de Haan). Seventeen-year-olds are only halfway developed. And at 17, players will develop just from the beginning of their draft year to the end. Late risers get taken high in every draft -- guys who are thought to have a lot of upside because they are still developing rapidly.

The Combine is a big factor in teams' rankings, with the battery of tests and interviews that it has. Peter Holland fell in the eyes of many, with the exception of Anaheim, after last year's. The playoffs are key too. And the playoffs for the junior leagues are still in the thick of things when the Central final list comes out. There's still lots more to go. Plus the U-18s, don't forget those. They can make or break someone.

All of this variance means that trying to do a mock draft before about April is pretty much ludicrous. You're much better served simply learning the players early in the year rather than trying to match them up with teams. NHL teams don't make their final list until early June just after the Combine. This is when mock drafts should be done.

Some people find scouting service Red Line Report to be "out there" -- believing they have far-out opinions. I don't think they are any farther out than an NHL team is. Some things they get right, some things they get wrong.

Personally I find my opinions closest to those of Central Scouting. I think they overvalue size a bit, but if I know that going in I can mentally correct for it. Their goalie rankings are decent. They had A. J. Thelen lower in 2004 than some others did, and turned out to be correct.

In sum, scouts are paid to have strong opinions about players. And they do. And they vary -- widely.

If we knew which 40 or so guys from each draft were going to make the NHL, we could stop at two rounds. But it goes seven rounds, because no one is sure where the next player will come from.
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Why Greg McKegg is an underdog

2010-02-17T20:04:00.004-05:00

In my feature on Greg McKegg for Hockey's Future, I called him an underdog in the teaser. A reader asked why I used that term. He has good stats, how could he be an underdog?

Let me tell you how. Erie is one of three OHL teams that are on the American side of the border. Most NHL scouts live on the Canadian side. Right off the bat these teams gets scouted less. Are there still scouts at their home games? Yes, but only a few.

Second, Erie had some ownership, management and coaching issues in the recent past that soured a lot of people on the franchise. Former NHL coach Robbie Ftorek has been there for two and a half years now, and seems to really be whipping the team into shape. But the poor reputation is hard to shake.

These things lead to Erie's players being underrated. Happened last year with Ryan O'Reilly. You could also possibly include Jaroslav Janus in there, as he is now doing quite well as a 20-year-old in the AHL.

What about Andrew Yogan, you might ask. He's rated fairly high for the 2010 draft. Yes, he is, but he has been on scouts' radars for the 2010 draft for several years, long before he went to Erie in a trade last season. Yogan was the best player in the State of Florida and was going to go play in the USHL, when scouts intervened and steered him to the OHL. He ended up in Windsor, one of the rich teams, which wasn't a coincidence. But he disappointed there. He's got an NHL body and skates pretty well, so he'll probably go in the first three rounds just due to having the tools, but in my opinion he's a long shot to make it. He doesn't seem to have the desire. He seems to play like the game should just come to him.

McKegg on the other hand, hasn't had it easy. He sure is the apple of Ftorek's eye though. I went to Ftorek's post-game "press conference" (all three of us), and was a little nervous about asking him questions, knowing his penchant for yelling at people. But as soon as I said McKegg's name, his emotions changed, almost like a dad talking about his son. It's a high compliment when Ftorek likes you, so that speaks very well of McKegg. He seemed like a nice kid to me too, though he talks a little too fast for my taste. Makes it hard to transcribe.

Next year, for the 2011 draft, Erie will have David Broll. To me, he looks like he should be at least top 100. But I haven't seen anyone talking about him yet. What a surprise, given the team he plays on.
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Some USHL features

2010-02-01T22:44:00.004-05:00

Last week I went to Indianapolis for the USHL All-Star Game. It was very enlightening as far as the 2010-eligible pool goes. I'm probably making one more trip to see more games later in the year and then will write one big ranking article. So I'll hold comments until then.

Indianapolis is very easy to get around with good public transportation. I was able to take a city bus to the arena, which made me happy. Three-quarters of the bus/shuttle drivers I had were women, interestingly.

So far I've written features on Nate Condon, Jaden Schwartz and Cab Morris from that trip. I've got a few more to go, but they may have to wait until I get back from seeing some OHL games this weekend.

I enjoyed talking to Morris as he's an interesting guy, and Nate Condon was one of the few interviews when I wish I had my video camera going instead of a recorder. He has comic delivery that print just doesn't capture. He'll be a telecast favorite as he moves up. Schwartz I didn't get the feeling is a big talker.
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Charlotte to the AHL, how it could go down

2010-01-16T22:17:00.008-05:00

Dave Andrews, President of the AHL, was on XM Radio yesterday talking about Charlotte, NC coming into the AHL in the next year or two. This has been in the works for a long time, and I'm glad to hear it's coming along.

The logistics of this are interesting because unlike European leagues where there's relegation and promotion -- teams drop down a league if they come in last in the standings -- the minor leagues in North America don't work like that. Moving a city from one league to another is trickier and means buying and selling franchises.

The first thing that needs to happen for Charlotte to have an AHL team is to move the current ECHL Charlotte Checkers out of town. Who has the money and the interest do this? It's looking like the Checkers owner himself actually, with the understanding that they would affiliate with the Carolina Hurricans. It would be nice to have your top farm club nearby instead of in Albany, NY wouldn't it? And the Canes affiliation with the River Rats is up this year.

So now there's an ECHL team without a home. The owner could fold it up if he wanted, but how about moving it somewhere else, somewhere nearby that has a nice hockey arena...like say Greensboro? This city is strongly rumored to be getting an ECHL franchise next fall, and putting two and two together, I think it could be the former Charlotte franchise. The Canes could then have their NHL team and AHL and ECHL affiliates all in the same state. This makes for easy travel and good marketing. (Their ECHL affiliate is currently the Florida Everblades, but they don't send many players there.)

The investors in the Charlotte AHL team would need to purchase another AHL franchise to be able to move it to Charlotte. There are a number of struggling northeast teams, and the Iowa Chops franchise is also dormant. Any of these are candidates. The Edmonton Oilers own a dormant franchise too, but that's destined for Oklahoma City.

Could Charlotte to the AHL happen for fall 2010? It would be quicker than normal, but yes I think it could. There don't seem to be any big obstacles to overcome. I think the Charlotte fans would accept the new team. The arena can certainly accommodate what would likely be a somewhat bigger crowd; it is the NBA Charlotte Bobcats arena after all. It seats 14,100 for hockey.

Charlotte's closest AHL neighbor would be the Norfolk Admirals, located on the coast in Virginia, 327 miles away (5.5 hours). This would make Charlotte an outlier, but still much closer than Abbotsford, BC, whose closest team is in Winnipeg, Manitoba, half a continent away. Interestingly, Charlotte would not become Norfolk's closest neighbor, as Hershey is a hair closer at 318 miles away.

Brian Burke, when he was GM of the Anaheim Ducks, wanted to begin to move the AHL to the west coast. Maybe instead we'll see it move south, which has the advantage of keeping it closer to the existing teams. Travel costs can never be underestimated as a factor.

Charlotte has a metro population of about 1.8 million and is considered an up and coming city.

The last city to successfully move from the ECHL to the AHL was Peoria. They kept the moniker -- Rivermen -- which is rare.

Update (2/13/10): I'm hearing that rather than Greensboro, there's been some interest in moving the ECHL franchise to the midwest. But it's equally likely that it will just be folded.
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Sheahan feature article

2010-01-14T18:00:00.004-05:00

I finished my feature on Riley Sheahan last night. He's a better player than he is an interviewee, but that's fine. And he'd have to be a reeeeally good interviewee to accomplish that anyway. But I did get some interesting information out of him I thought.

Having interviewed Kevin Lind the night before (also 2010-eligible and coincidentally a Notre Dame recruit), it was striking how young Sheahan seems. Most of the draft-eligible guys are really smooth already when you talk to them, but he's still kind of rough around the edges. Kind of the way Calvin de Haan was when I talked to him before his draft stock rose.

Regarding the Rick Nash comparison, Thang and I both thought of Nash independently, each of us with our own reasons (which are stated within). But I don't want to overstate the comparison. I think Nash is more power forward than Sheahan. Sheahan doesn't try to go through people the way Nash does, or used to when he was young.

The Lind piece is still forthcoming. We talked for 15 whole minutes, so there's a lot of transcribing involved.
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Notes on Notre Dame

2010-01-09T14:21:00.008-05:00

I recently saw Notre Dame at the Shillelagh Tournament. Here are some notes on the prospects.

Kyle Lawson (CAR) -- I was surprised to see him listed at 5'11, because he doesn't look small on the ice. Defense is pretty good, he gets offensive chances. Usually plays D but was moved up due to shortage. Made a terrible giveaway trying to send the puck up the middle.

Riley Sheahan (2010) -- He's kind of boring to watch, actually. Not flashy, and in fact, doesn't look like he's doing much. But he really is, it's just so effortless for him that it fools you. Very good offensively and defensively. Spoke to him -- nice kid, but he's still really a kid. Not confident in himself yet. His game will probably take off even more when he is finally confident. The funniest part of the conversation was him saying it was a coincidence that he's Irish and ended up playing for the Irish. Said his family really liked the school. Yes, he said he is Catholic. Let's see, and Irish Catholic going to Notre Dame, gee I don't think it's a "coincidence."

Teddy Ruth (WAS) -- Very good defensively, smooth skater. It's surprising that he doesn't score more, given how well he skates and is in good position. He may just be cast in a role. But I think he's capable of more.

Ryan Thang (NAS) -- Typical third liner, effort but not slick. He's on a line with Sheahan so I asked Thang about him. He had some interesting things to say. We agreed that Sheahan reminds us of Rick Nash, but we each had different reasons for it.

Ben Ryan (NAS) -- Has good skill, shifty through traffic and protects the puck well, but has some real size issues that may hold him back.

Sean Lorenz (MIN) -- I cringed when he got near the puck. The Wild don't have great prospects and this is one more example.

Ian Cole (STL) -- Probably the best player on the ice, though Sheahan will rival him soon. Cole's strengths are well documented so I won't list them all. Nice kid too.
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Comments on Steel prospects for 2010

2010-01-05T19:21:00.004-05:00

I caught a USHL game when I was in Chicago for a college tournament last weekend. I can tell the league has improve just from a few years ago when I saw it the last time. Here are some observations on some 2010-eligible prospects from the Steel and one from Lincoln.

Kevin Lind (2010) -- I liked him quite a bit, more than expected given his rankings. Very good defense and skating. Physical. Adequate puckhandling and offense. He needs to mature on the ice, but he's 17 so that's normal. Spoke to him for 15 minutes afterward and was very impressed by him personally. Should be a mid-round pick.

Andrei Kuchin (2010) -- Very good playmaker, and fast. I don't see how he slips through the draft again. He's getting PK time, so that will help his defense. Coach was bullish on him.

Brendan Woods (2010) -- It was his first game of the year due to a broken leg. I thought he looked good given the situation, can dangle and stays with the play til the end. Would be a late rounder if he gets taken.

Safir Gill (2010) -- Went home for a family situation, coach does not expect him back this year. This won't help his slim draft chances.

Jared Coreau (2010) Lincoln Stars -- Tall goalie with decent lateral movement, but poor glove and blocker. He has his glove OK in his stance, but as soon as the shot is coming, he drops it with open part down, and you're never going to catch pucks like that. He would need a complete makeover to have a future.

Mark Adams (Buffalo draft pick) -- Good size and skating, but very poor positioning.

Here's a photo of the action with Lind (7) and Kuchin (91) included in white.

Funny images

2009-12-05T23:15:00.008-05:00

Last night I was waiting for the Caps prospect Jake Hauswirth to finish showering after the South Carolina Stingrays game, and was confronted with a very funny sight: Nikita Kashirsky in a giant foam cowboy hat. He turned right in front of me. "Nice hat," I said.

I asked around and found out this monstrosity gets passed around the Stingrays locker room as a reward for good play. I chuckle about what coach Cail MacLean said about the hat tradition: "I think it's sort of on the down low." Something that big and that funny won't stay on the down low long.

Kashirsky had scored the game winner that night, which was worthy of the hat. But since he's also a rookie, he had to carry bags to the bus. In the hat. Sadly I did not have my camera while he was doing this.

Here's a link to an ad for the hat. The Stingrays one looks just like this, but with yellow trim and numbers scribbled on the front brim. For more of MacLean's comments, read my HF article on the ECHL prospects.

And here are a couple of other funny sites from yesterday.

Jake Hauswirth projectile spitting.

Trevor Bruess with an uncontrollable tongue.
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Potluck

2009-11-29T23:28:00.003-05:00

Typically when I interview people, I know basically how I'm going to use the information, and I follow through and use it that way. That didn't happen with my latest article, an installment of Off the Radar. I was trying to find an ECHL rookie worthy of a full feature, but was not enamored enough with any of them to feature them alone. So I decided to just write a bit about all three. Prospect potluck I guess.

I think Mike Berube has the best chance of the three though. He's got so much going for him, with just a small skating issue. If he really keys on that, with some help he can fix it.
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Finley possessed

2009-11-14T11:16:00.005-05:00

I couldn't talk to Joe Finley last night because I was busy filling in for the paper, but I took some photos at warmups. Several came out with just white in his eyes. I've never seen anyone blink this way on film. Kind of creepy.

He played well though. Quite a good skater for his size and he's hard to get around. Accurate shot from the point. I'll probably talk to him in a few weeks.
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How you know when your team has sold out

2009-11-07T22:47:00.001-05:00

This.

The Kalamazoo Wings, in warm-ups. The helmet stickers went all game.
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NHL prospects in the ECHL for 2009-10

2009-10-15T20:27:00.004-04:00

Just finished my yearly "prospects to watch" in the ECHL for HF. It's a lot more work than it looks like. Not all the NHL prospects are mentioned, just the best ones -- the ones who will be there half a year and move up, not the guys who are just playing out the string.

The ECHL teams range from nine NHL-contracted prospects (Bakersfield) to none (Johnstown). Here's the full list, near as I could come up with. You can't use transaction logs because those are often misleading.

Alaska (STL): T.J. Fast, Ryan Turek, Anthony Peluso, Tomas Kana
Bakersfield (ANA): Maxime Macenauer, MacGregor Sharp, John de Gray, Stu Bickel, Timo Pielmeier, Justin Pogge, Bobby Bolt, Logan MacMillan, Shawn Weller.
Charlotte (NYR): Ryan Hillier, Chris Chappell. None from Colorado.
Cincinnati (NAS): Jeremy Smith. None from Montreal.
Elmira (OTT): Michael-Lee Teslak, from Philly
Florida (CAR): Rob Hennigar. None from the Panthers
Gwinnett (ATL): Chad Denny, Michael Forney. None from Columbus
Idaho (DAL): Guillame Monast, Michael Neal, Richard Bachman
Kalamazoo (PHI): Jeremy Duchesne. None from San Jose
Las Vegas (PHO): Nick Ross, Matt Watkins, Joe Gistedt
Ontario (LA): Dwight King
Reading (TOR and BOS): Kevin Regan and Stefano Giliati
South Carolina (WAS): Braden Holtby, Joe Finley, Josh Godfrey
Stockton (EDM): Jordan Bendfeld, Bryan Pitton
Toledo (CHI and DET): Alec Richards, Jordan Pearce, J.C. Sawyer
Trenton (NJ): Myles Stoesz
Utah Grizzlies (NYI): J.D. Watt (CAL)
Victoria (VAN): Dan Gendur
Wheeling (PIT): Alex Grant, Joey Haddad, Casey Pierro-Zabotel
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Head injuries, football and dogfighting

2009-10-12T18:53:00.003-04:00

This is probably the only football-related story I've read all year, and it's a good one. It compares football and dogfighting, for their destructiveness to the participant. It's by Malcolm Gladwell, one of today's best thinkers and writers.

From The New Yorker:

Much of the attention in the football world, in the past few years, has been on concussions—on diagnosing, managing, and preventing them—and on figuring out how many concussions a player can have before he should call it quits. But a football player’s real issue isn’t simply with repetitive concussive trauma. It is, as the concussion specialist Robert Cantu argues, with repetitive subconcussive trauma. It’s not just the handful of big hits that matter. It’s lots of little hits, too.

There is nothing else to be done, not so long as fans stand and cheer. We are in love with football players, with their courage and grit, and nothing else—neither considerations of science nor those of morality—can compete with the destructive power of that love.

Hockey is of course much more of a skill game than football. But it does raise the specter of head injuries and the responsibility of the league and the fans to spare the players.
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Takeaways from Traverse City tournament 2009

2009-09-16T17:57:00.005-04:00

Now that I've been back home for a few days, I have some perspective on the real takeaways from the 2009 Traverse City tournament.

First, four games each day is a lot of hockey. On the last day, an elder statesman scout sat down next to me and said "I'll just write down what you write down." I felt his pain. But if you want to see a lot of hockey in a short time, this is the place to go. And lots of scouts from other teams were there, so it's obviously meaningful hockey.

The stands were about 30% scouts, 50% parents and other family, and then miscellaneous, including agents. Not many simple fans. Not a lot of media either, except around the Red Wings. But the media who were there seemed to pick out their article topics before the tournament started, making for material that didn't seem to fit right.

There are no good camera angles in either rink. The one spot that isn't behind white netting cannot see the near boards. So I had to edit when the play reached the near boards. The video didn't work out as well as hoped. Better than nothing though I suppose.

I came away with an even lower opinion of agents, which seemed impossible. I stood next to a rather well-known one by the glass during warm-ups and he was trash-talking another agent and his recruits. Sports would be better without agents.

The Granato brothers take after their dad in their looks.

The Dallas Stars organization is not what I would call "serious." I used to think that Les Jackson must have been the heavy to balance out Brett Hull, but know better now. Joe Niewendyk seems to carry his new role well though.

The Wild dressing room was the best to hang out around, very friendly. Carolina was good too.

Players: Zach Boychuk should play in the NHL this year. It will be a shame, and a waste of money on an unnecessary vet, if he doesn't. I was also impressed by Evgeny Grachev, though more in potential than actual play. He's a horse. Matt Calvert certainly put himself on the radar. I had already interviewed him before he started scoring, which was great.

Ivan Vishnevskiy was a disappointment, and not just to me, I heard other people saying that too.

Tyler Beskorowany is a hoot to talk to, and Darcy Kuemper is very happy-go-lucky.
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Predators hire Niagara goalie coach Ben Vanderklok

2009-09-13T17:59:00.005-04:00

Ben Vanderklok will take over Mike Valley's duties with the Predators minor-league affiliates. Valley, who was recently hired by the Dallas Stars, had worked closely with Predators goalie coach Mitch Korn. Korn told me today that he got Vanderklok to replace Valley. Vanderklok had been Jeremy Smith's goalie coach in Niagara, and Korn had been impressed with his reports. He hired Vanderklok first to help with one of his summer camps in Buffalo as a get-to-know-you exercise, thinking that he might need him in a year. But Valley ended up getting picked up this summer.

Vanderklok will commute to Milwaukee 10 days a month, and Cincinnati five days a month. Korn will overlap in these cities as well. (Vanderklok's actual contract might be with Milwaukee, it's not clear, but in any case this is a Korn hire.)

Here's the only shot I have of him from today:

Handicapping the 2009 Traverse City tournament rosters

2009-08-24T22:12:00.010-04:00

We're less than two weeks away from the start of the 2009 Traverse City Prospects Tournament, and it's time to familiarize ourselves with the lay of the land. Typically the team who wins is the one who brings the most experienced roster -- that is to say the most guys who have played some pro hockey. That team this year is the Detroit Red Wings, the host team. They have five players who spent all of last year in the AHL. Put that together with good goaltending tandem in the form of Thomas McCollum and Jordan Pearce, and you have a winner. Note that it is important to have two good goaltenders for this tournament rather than one, as they usually take turns -- there's no reason to overuse a goaltender and pull a groin so early in the season.

At the other end of the spectrum you have the Columbus Blue Jackets, who were barely able to scrape together a roster. Only eight of their players are owned by the organization, and that's after flying in two Europeans! The rest were invitees, including both goaltenders. The only big name on the roster is John Moore.

Minnesota, similarly, has only nine players it owns. But, they are spread out a bit better among the positions and both goaltenders, Matt Hackett and Darcy Kuemper, are Minnesota property. They should be in slightly better shape.

The best roster from a pure prospects perspective is probably Carolina's. Between Zach Boychuk, Jamie McBain, and Mike Murphy, there's a lot of future NHLers there. And even one current one -- Brandon Sutter, who played 50 NHL games last year. He's one of five players with pro experience. That plus the talent level make Carolina a favorite as a new entrant, taking over Tampa's spot.

The St. Louis Blues also have some well-regarded prospects on their roster, including probably the highest of them all, Alex Pietrangelo. With Jake Allen, Brett Sonne, and new second rounder Brett Ponich, this will be a team to check out. They have three players who spent most of the season in the pros, although just one of them was in the AHL. Overall this is a young team.

The Thrashers entry is also very young, with six players having been drafted in 2009. Only five defensemen are listed so far, and there are pro spots still available, since only two have been filled with invitees out of the IHL and CHL. Another strong pro addition to the blue line would tip this entry strongly in one direction.

Defending tournament champion Dallas boasts a good goaltending tandem with Richard Backman and Tyler Beskorowany, and some bigger names in Scott Glennie and Ivan Vishnevskiy. It's apparent how far the pendulum has swung away from Europeans in that organization, as not one player drafted out of Europe appears on the roster (though three are originally from there). Three of the players were in the ECHL last season, and one -- Vishnevskiy -- played in the AHL.

Last but not least is the NY Rangers. They have compentent goaltending in Scott Stajcer and Chad Johnson. Two of their forwards and no defensemen played pro last year. This is probably not going to be their year again though.
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Up and coming goalie coach: Nick Petraglia of Miami

2009-08-22T13:14:00.002-04:00

This summer I attended Mitch Korn's goaltending camp because I was working on a feature on the Predators coach. I learned a lot while doing it, but the highlight for me intellectually was an off-ice session taught by Nick Petraglia, who is a coach and director of hockey operations at Miami University and also does some coaching for USA hockey. He had done research to determine the best way to position your goaltending glove, and it's not the way most goalies do it. Between these kinds of insights, learning from one of the best in Mitch Korn, and Petraglia's team attitude, I wouldn't be surprised if an NHL team picked him up in the next few years. And not just to coach goalies, he's got the right background to go far in any front office position. He played for Andy Murray at Shattuck, so he knows some of the right people. Here's his full bio from the Miami website.

Nick Petraglia at Korn camp in Nashville in 2009.

Side note: I've created a Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/HollyGunning. I'll post mostly when I travel.
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Hockey's Future will cover the 2009 Traverse City Tournament

2009-08-16T19:50:00.004-04:00

A lot of people are looking around for information on the upcoming Traverse City Prospects Tournament. There is generally very little coverage of this tournament. Hockey's Future will be there, and have daily updates on every game. Follow on Twitter for in-game score updates.

Last year, NHL Network showed some of the games on tape delay, but there has been no indication of the same this year. With all the issues on the NHL's plate, taking on the expense of doing that just doesn't seem likely.
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Page turns on another year in hockey

2009-08-10T22:33:00.002-04:00

We're going through our once a year age purge right now at Hockey's Future. I've been going through every page, player by player, weeding out the guys who no longer meet the criteria due to age. August 15th is our cutoff date because it's at a time that won't interfere with anything else and is in the middle of a Top 20 rerank. There's always mixed feelings when weeding, as I bump into guys I've met along the way. Some should have made it but didn't. Some were good people, but ultimately lacked the talent.

One guy it felt right to delete was Josh Hennessy. It seems like he's been kicking around forever. He's been ranked for like six years and I'm tired of seeing his name. Time to finally say goodbye. It doesn't look like he'll make it.

Later this week (Aug. 15) is the signing deadline for college guys and we'll say goodbye to a few more.

Meanwhile, I'm already preparing for a fall trip. Starting my research and making a notebook to take along. I can smell the ice if I close my eyes.
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Turnover in goalie coaches

2009-07-29T23:15:00.003-04:00

Hey look, I wrote something! Seems like a long time in between both articles and posting, but I've been busy doing Top 20 ranks for about four different teams and took a little vacation in there too. Tonight I finished something on all the goalie firings/hirings this summer.

The Panthers and Avalanche still have openings. It would seem reasonable that Melanson, Hackett, and Marcoux would be candidates. But then again, jobs don't seem to go to the obvious people. And a lot seems to be who you know.

I do think goaltending coaching is far more important than people realize. Which is why I'll be writing more about this in a few weeks.
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Portland Winterhawks are now one word in case you missed it

2009-07-14T17:31:00.003-04:00

Every so often teams adjust their names for no apparent reason. It happened again in May. I missed it then because I was focused on the entry draft.

The WHL Portland Winter Hawks became the Portland Winterhawks. They now join the Chicago Blackhawks, but not the the USHL Waterloo Black Hawks, on the one-word bandwagon. Copy editors around the world rejoice.

Here's their trying-hard-to-be-cute press release about it.
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Photos from Nashville conditioning camp

2009-07-12T18:20:00.011-04:00

Here's a photo gallery from Saturday's session of Nashville Predators conditioning camp. I've already put up a Q&A with Roman Josi and Chet Pickard at HF. I will have another with Nick Oliver coming. I really enjoyed talking to Pickard. And he's very even keel, which you want in a goalie.

Funny story. I was looking for Nick Oliver in the locker room afterwards, and couldn't find him. The PR guy pointed him out. I went over Oliver, who was visually heckling Blake Geoffrion during an on-camera interview. I tapped Oliver on the arm and his face was the look of someone caught red-handed. Guilty! Then he proceeded to talk my ear off. The kid is not shy.

Taylor Stefishen. When I went up to see Ohio State last November he was out of the lineup with mono so it was good to see him out there this time.

Charles-Oliver Roussel. He was the only defenseman who came out as a shooter for the goalie ice work. That's telling. Hopefully he got some sun before leaving the south.

Cameron Reid.

Jani Lajunen reacts to a puck going out over the glass. Patrick Wellman looks like John Cusack.

Milwaukee coach Lane Lambert.

Lambert at the board.

Taylor Beck and Ryan Ellis are towards the front of this group shot.

Bruce Lauer, assistant coach of the Admirals, helped out during the goalie session.

Mitch Korn poses with Chet Pickard, Anders Lindback and Jeremy Smith. Atte Engren didn't skate in the afternoon due to a groin pull. He toughed it through the morning but was held out later.
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Worthwhile prospect free agents

2009-07-01T21:49:00.003-04:00

There are a few names among the non-tendered RFA's that are worthwhile.

1. Travis Morin -- Washington was so deep at center through its system that Morin never got much of a chance at the AHL level and just kept racking up the points in the ECHL. It was a tragedy to see. Some AHL or NHL team will snatch him up this summer. Very good locker room guy.

2. Peter Mannino -- let go after one year with the Islanders mostly at the AHL level. He was a star at DU. Worth another look.

3. Lukas Kaspar, Taylor Dakers -- I don't know these prospects much, but San Jose cleaned house this summer and may be throwing some babies out with the bathwater.
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Plagiarism rampant even by pros

2009-06-30T18:21:00.003-04:00

There are a few things that are key to a civilized society. One of them is property law. It lets us be secure enough about our stuff to leave it behind while we do other things like drive to work, go on vacation, etc.

There's a parallel with intellectual property. Written things have a name attached, which lets us put the words out there, knowing they will remain ours.

That is until people copy, paste, and use them as their own.

This happens on message boards, which gets posters warnings and edits. Some of them just didn't know the rules. OK, they're learning.

But this draft season, my work for Hockey's Future was plagiarized by an NHL team and a Canadian Junior league team -- one of them in a press release! Putting it in a press release means they disseminated the information to other outlets to use (and of course they did, multiplying the problem). It's truly unbelievable that this would happen. Non-print media get a lot of crap thrown at them, but who's the professional here?

It's stuff like this that will eventually make me stop writing. Will it make others stop too?

At the very least, we'll call in the chits that these two teams owe us this year. But that won't make up for it.
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Reflections on the 2009 draft

2009-06-29T17:27:00.003-04:00

Going into this draft, I knew more about the prospects than ever before, having covered both the U18 championships, seen a couple 2009-dense OHL games, plus asking any player I talked to about guys they knew who were eligible. In all, I had seen maybe a third of those likely to be taken and written features on a dozen.

The night before the draft, I added about 5-6 profiles to HF of guys who were late risers, sleepers, etc. I added Ben Sexton, for example. I seem to do this every year, out of paranoia that critical guys won't be there. I thought about adding goalie Jaroslav Janus, but I had seen him play in Erie and did not like him at all so even though I thought someone would take a chance on him due to his WJC performance, I just couldn't bring myself to add him. He was eventually taken by Tampa.

After the first round, the draft seemed like chaos. There were a lot of teams who made reaches for guys who weren't really on the radar for the major scouting services. And there didn't seem to be a lot of justice in the picks. Fighters were taken above skill guys. Bloodlines had guys going above where their skill level warranted too, like Philip Samuelsson.

Of the 12 draft-eligibles I had written features on, 10 were drafted, seven of them in the first two rounds. It was satisfying to see them valued highly, but they didn't seem to go to the teams that would be the best fit for them, except perhaps with Ryan O'Reilly going to Colorado, who will need young leadership and that's something he can bring. Simon Bertilsson to Philly seems like a good fit as long as they don't expect him to talk much. The others led to a lot of head scratching.

Now we get to know the players better, and the second most important year begins for them. We will learn more about who had a good 2009 draft and a bad 2009 draft in the next season than over the next four combined, since players change the most at younger ages.
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Combine invitations no guarantee of selection

2009-06-27T19:32:00.004-04:00

106 prospects were invited to the NHL combine this year, ahead of a 210-player draft. Eight of the players invited to the combine were not selected:

Anton Burdasov
Burke Gallimore
Gabriel Lemieux
Cassidy Mappin
Danny Mattson
David Valek
Alex Vazzano
Brennan Yadlowski

I saw just one of them play this year, David Valek (USNTDP), and I wasn't impressed by him, so the fact that he wasn't drafted seemed justified. Mappin is widely thought to be talented but not very hard-working.

There were a few guys who went very high and didn't go to the combine:
31 Mikko Koskinen
35 Kyle Clifford
56 Kevin Lynch
62 Anders Nilsson
64 Reilly Smith
76 Igor Bobkov

When the combine list came out, I wrote on it "No Lynch!" so obviously that one was surprising at the time. A couple others are explainable: Koskinen is an overager and I believe came to the combine last year or the year before. Bobkov was drafted largely on the strength of his performance in the U18 tournament, which was going on at the same time the invite list came out. Clifford I guess teams were trying to keep quiet on him.

The takeaway is that the combine list is a generally good predictor of who the top prospects are, but isn't foolproof.
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2009s who may be overrated due to birthdate

2009-06-23T21:58:00.004-04:00

The cutoff date for each draft class is Sept. 15 -- you must be 18 by this date in a given draft year to be eligible. Players born in late September and October have an advantage of being almost a full year older than some of their cohort. They are naturally further ahead in development and are often unintentionally overrated.

Here's a list of early birthdates for 2009, the potentially overrated in the 2009 draft class:
John Tavares 9/20/1990. Yes, that John Tavares.
Stepan Novotny 9/21/1990
Gabriel Bourque 9/23/1990
Dan DeLisle 9/24/1990
Jordan Schroeder 9/29/1990
Alex Chiasson 10/1/1990
Mike Lee 10/5/1990
Nazem Kadri 10/6/1990
David Rundblad 10/8/1990
Seth Helgeson 10/8/1990
Jakob Silfvrberg 10/13/1990
Matt Clark 10/17/1990
Ben Hanowski 10/18/1990
Dmitri Kulikov 10/29/1990
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2009s who may be underrated due to birthdate

2009-06-23T21:34:00.003-04:00

The cutoff date for each draft class is Sept. 15 -- you must be 18 by this date in a given draft year to be eligible. Since the draft is held in June though, there are several players taken who are still 17 when taken. They will turn 18 in July, August or early September. These players are almost a full year behind some of their cohort. They are naturally further behind in development and are often unintentionally underrated.

Here's a list of late birthdates for 2009, the potentially underrated in the 2009 draft class:
Charles-Olivier Roussel 9/13/1991
Bryan Dumoulin 9/6/1991
Marek Hrivik 8/28/1991
Brayden Schenn 8/22/1991
Marcus Foligno 8/10/1991
Landon Ferraro 8/8/1991
Evander Kane 8/2/1991
Chris McCarthy 7/30/1991
Simon Despres 7/27/1991
Tyson Barrie 7/26/1991
Dmitri Orlov 7/23/1991
Oliver Ekman-Larsson 7/17/1991
Linden Vey 7/17/1991
Nate Schmidt 7/16/1991
Rasmus Rissanen 7/13/1991
Adam Polasek 7/12/1991 (a personal favorite)
Oliver Bellavance-Roy 7/12/1991
Kenny Ryan 7/10/1991
Ryan Howse 7/6/1991
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Who will be Mr. Irrelevant in the 2009 NHL draft?

2009-06-23T20:46:00.004-04:00

"Mr. Irrelevant" is not a tag dreamed up just for the NHL draft. It comes from some other sport, baseball probably. A sport whose draft is more predictable. Hockey drafts are not predictable though. The guy taken 210th can turn out to be a regular player - very relevant. Nevertheless, a fun little game among draftniks is to try to guess who will be the last player taken without going over (into the untaken).

Last year I won among the HF Staff with a pick of Mark Olver, 140th to Colorado out of NMU. That's not terribly close to the end of the draft, but it won because most of the guesses were so obscure that they weren't taken at all.

This year I'm going with Roman Horak out of the Czech Junior league. Talented but lazy, he's good enough that someone will take a flyer, but not put too much on the line. I personally don't like this player much, but I'm trying to win here, not pick favorites. I think a European is generally a better strategy in this game since they tend to go later in the draft.

Here are some other staff guesses. Most of them picked from leagues they know well.
Oleg Yashin from Atlant-2 Mystichi (Rus) - Mike Farkas
Benjamin Casavant, PEI Rocket, QMJHL - Kevin Forbes
Chase Schaber - Calgary, WHL - Glen Erickson
Casey Cizikas - Mississauga OHL - Leslie Treff
Beau Schmitz - Plymouth, OHL - Kyle Kujawa

By all means, add your own guess in the comments.
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Off to camp this weekend

2009-06-05T20:00:00.002-04:00

It's the time of year for hockey camps. I'm headed to one out of town for a story I'm going to do. I'll be observing all day from the bench at a youth camp. It's not the players I'm concerned with -- I'm writing about the guy running it. I want to see him in action to see what he does that's so special. He's worked miracles at the NHL level.

Ideally I'd go see him in August, when there's not much else going on, but this is when the camp is closest to me, so I have to go now. It should be fun though. I just hope we have time for the bizillion questions I have.
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Wading through entry draft preparations

2009-05-22T00:37:00.005-04:00

I'm knee-deep in draft-related stuff now. The HF servers got moved today, far enough in advance of the draft that I hope this means that we'll be able to handle the enormous spike in traffic on draft weekend. I think so.

I'm getting much closer to finishing the features I'm writing on draft-eligibles. I have only Rajala and Bertilsson left. I'm very close to finishing Rajala and then Bertilsson will be tough because of his lack of English. It will probably be mostly his coach talking.

A few years ago when I had covered the draft, but no players leading up to it, I came away with the impression that 18-year-olds have much less to say than other players because they just haven't has as many experiences to put things in perspective. But I found working on them this year more interesting than I had anticipated. The biggest drawback was having to deal with parents. That's not fun. Luckily it's not often.

I found out that it's a myth that all Swedes speak English. They understand English, but they can't all respond.

Another thing I came away with was that there's much less consensus about where someone should or will be taken than fans like to think. Opinions vary widely on guys. Who's to say who's right at this point. We won't know for a few years.

Oh and the combine is critical. It's not until then that teams really decide who they are going to take with their picks. So to me it's pretty worthless to do a mock draft until after the combine, after some scuttlebutt actually comes out. Looking forward to that happening next week!
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South Carolina Stingrays on to conference finals

2009-05-05T22:35:00.003-04:00

The South Carolina Stingrays took down the Florida Everblades in the ECHL South Division finals tonight. I picked them in preseason, and they came through, despite a ton of roster changes. No reason they can't beat Cincinnati in the conference finals as well. Goaltending wins championships, and the Stingrays have it with James Reimer. I hope they win another series so I can goto the Kelly Cup Finals again this year. Last year I went to Cincinnati for them, and that was an enjoyable little trip. I'm rooting for an Alaska Aces/Stingrays final, one that doesn't interfere with another hockey trip I am doing in early June.
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Ekman-Larsson story done

2009-05-03T21:11:00.003-04:00

Whew. This one was a tad difficult, because I didn't get much out of the player himself. When I introduced myself, OEL said his English wasn't very good, and almost got a translator to help. I wish now that he would have. Thank god for Kevin Doell, who I contacted later. He helped out a ton. Doeller went above and beyond what was asked of him, as is his usual.

Here's a link to the finished OEL story. And here are the ones on Robin Lehner, Adam Polasek, Erik Haula, and John Henrion as well. I still have a few more coming.
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The internet is cool

2009-05-01T18:55:00.002-04:00

I just Facebooked someone in Sweden I needed to finish a story, and they wrote me back within five minutes. All of this while sitting out on the patio at Panera Bread, enjoying the lovely spring weather. Some days I can't believe they pay me for this.

Well, then there's those days where I'm stuck inside transcribing for hours, or fixing up some poorly-written copy. That's not fun. But today is.
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Bobkov likes the Blue Jackets, or just a hat?

2009-04-27T23:00:00.004-04:00

I was going through some photos from the U18s and came across one of Russian goalie Igor Bobkov in a Columbus Blue Jackets hat. This was the game against Norway where he backed up.

So the question is, does he like the team, or just the logo? And does his affection for the Blue Jackets make it more likely that they would draft him this June? Is he hinting to scouts that he would like to go to the team, or just a Filatov fan? Often the big question for Russians isn't their skill but their desire to play in the NHL. This couldn't be a bad sign.

Notebook cleanout from the U18s

2009-04-26T12:43:00.008-04:00

Most of the information I gathered at the U18s went straight into prospects' profiles and feature stories at HF. That process is still going on. But here's a few leftovers.

I think Nashville will try to take Ryan O'Reilly. They already have his brother Cal and I was chatting with a scout in the stands and when I said I was originally from Erie, he brought up O'Reilly and said how much he liked him. I later found out he worked for Nashville.
Jerry D'Amigo put up a lot of points. But I kept thinking "all he can do is score goals." While that sounds great, being one-dimensional doesn't get you to the NHL.
Adam Murray made some big motions in net for the USA, like a windmill and a couple statues of liberty. Good goalies make the hard saves look easy by being in position for them to hit in the stomach. But what he was doing was making normal saves look hard. I see why he is ranked so low.
Team USA captain William Wrenn had the misfortune of being paired with Nick Mattson, who was not impressive. I wanted to see Wrenn separately.
David Valek (USA) was invisible. I looked for him a few times, just to fill something in for him, and still had nothing to say.
Simon Bertilsson looks a lot like Jimmy Slater in the face. And they are both poor interviews, but for different reasons. Bertilsson only speaks Swedish. Slater only speaks cliche.

Russian warmups was pure chaos. There didn't seem to be much of a plan, and by the end it deteriorated into individuals roaming on their own, doing trick shots. You can see a lot of a people's culture in their warmup I think.
Tarasenko, 2010-eligible, really likes attention. Really really likes attention. Not only does he talk when the questions aren't posed to him, he saw me with a camera and was posing. Much like Angelo Esposito has done in the past.
Czech Roman Horak has talent, but he's a hot dog who only skates hard when he has the puck. He stood around most of the warmup. I got a photo of him scratching his backside in warmup and that kind of epitomized things.

If Sweden had had a little better goaltending, things might have been different. It was the weakest position on a top-notch squad. Using their skill instead of their force would have played more to their advantage as well.

Comments on Central Scouting's final ranks for 2009

2009-04-18T14:36:00.012-04:00

I've seen more of the draft-eligible prospects this year than ever before, so I actually have opinions about Central Scouting's list. In general, I like the final list much better than the mid-terms, though there were some guys who fell who maybe shouldn't have.

The North American skaters list thins out at about No. 100. I noticed that they added a few NCAA players who were eligible last year.

OHL
Peter Holland fell from 9 to 19, but he probably should have fallen farther. They had him way overrated before, and have only corrected it part way. Ethan Werek is kind of an awkward skater to be listed at No. 32. Bjorn Krupp at 108 (down from 88) is probably still too high given his skill level.

WHL
Landon Ferraro at 18 seems high. Cass Mappin fell from 27 to 73, but I think his rank was better before, at least based on what James Reimer told me. Tommi Kivisto took a plunge from 46 to 119 but that seems extreme given his attributes. Unless there is a character issue, he's too low now.

QMJHL
Michal Hlinka at 90 (previously 39) is too low. He was one of the best players for the Czechs at the U18s.

USNTDP
Morin and Shore seem overrated on not just Central Scouting's lists, but everyone's. They are 33 and 28 on the CS final, but they just aren't that far ahead of their teammates. On the other hand, Kevin Lynch at 100 seems low. He has good offensive skills and really stood out at the U18s.

Europe
Ekman Larsson is the fourth-rated European skater by CS, but he'll probably be taken as the second. He impressed me more than Paajarvi and Josefson at the U18s as well. I'll have a story done on him soon.

The European skaters list really thins out at about No. 50. And the European goaltenders list is thin, period. I saw a lot of goalies I wouldn't take, like Conz, Holly, Mazanec. But Russian Igor Bobkov did himself a lot of favors at the U18s (if you throw out the first game against Finland), and it would not shock me if he was the first European goalie taken.
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Scouts at work at the U18s

2009-04-18T14:05:00.008-04:00

Scouts outnumbered fans at many of the U18 World Championship games. All 30 NHL teams were there, along with many of the CHL teams, who have an import draft coming up in a couple months. I saw the Rimouski Oceanic and Portland Winterhawks for example.

Here's some photos of scouts in their natural habitat. If anyone knows what teams they are from, let me know.

There's a lot of looking for not much writing down.

Bob Owen of the Thrashers turns back to talk to guys from another team behind him. Norman Poisson, who scouts the Q for Atlanta, is next to him.

A familiar sight: scouts huddle up between periods. One team had a pizza delivered between periods. That's smart use of the cell phone.

Some smiles on faces, a rare sight. Scouts are a dour bunch. The lifestyle is not at all appealing either. Constant travel, cold arenas. I like seeing some of the top guys, but one or two trips a year is plenty for me.

Most of them stuck around to watch the USHL playoff game between the Fargo Force and Omaha Lancers. I'm sure all of the players were aware that they were being heavily scouted.

This group was so interested in a Russian that they attended a Team Russia practice, as did another NHL team.
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Team USA's extra white stripe at the U18's

2009-04-15T02:09:00.004-04:00

The whole purpose of the US National Team Development Program is to build a team that can represent the US in international tournaments. So it comes as no surprise that virtually all the US players at the U18 and U20 championships have gone through the program. That said, right now there's a few players on the regular-season U18 team that didn't make the cut for the U18 championships (some U17 players went instead). Forward John Henrion told me that the players who are there are remembering those who aren't by putting and extra white stripe of tape on their right legs.

Above, Kevin Lynch prepares to take a faceoff.

Photos from the U18s in Fargo/Moorhead

2009-04-13T12:54:00.016-04:00

A few photos from the U18 Championships. These are roughly in chronological order.

Team Czech Republic. At the top of the stands you can see all the NHL scouts in black.

Filip Gunnarson (SWE)
Sweden during warmups.

Sweden during a game.

USA goaltender Adam Murray checks out the Finns.

Finnish captain Sami Vatanen gets into a scuffle against USA. I mentioned it to a Finnish official later and he said he didn't see it. Uh-huh.

Team USA celebrates victory over Finland.

USA and Finland during the anthem at the Urban Plains Center.

Vladimir Tarasenko chats up some girls in the stands during the USHL game that followed theirs.

Team Sweden watching the USHL game. Bertilsson and Ekman-Larsson are sitting together in the top row.

Russian goalie Emil Garipov.

Nikita Dvurechensky and Sergei Chvanov.

Adventures in interviewing at the U18s

2009-04-10T23:51:00.012-04:00

I had what had to be the most challenging day of interviewing ever today. I'm at the U18 World Championships and interviewed three Europeans with low levels of English ability. Some interviewees are so easy that you just give them a topic and they do a monologue. Brett Sterling is this way. Not today. Today was painstaking.

Typically Swedes and Germans speak good English, however, I managed to pick out some that barely did. Then the Czech I talked to came out with a teammate as an interpreter, which is usually kind of awkward but the teammate was very easy-going, while at the same time doing a good job, so we three had a fine time. That one was actually the most successful by any measure.

Here's a ranking of the English skills of players/coaches I've talked to at the tournament, from best to worse:
Erik Haula (FIN) - so good he could pass for a native, mannerisms and all.
Coach Stephan Lundh (SWE) - searched for just a few words
Robin Lehner (SWE) - about the level of most Europeans who play in the NHL in that he can express his thoughts and just gets a few grammatical things wrong.
Mikael Granlund (FIN) - his English was surprisingly good
Tomas Rachunek (CZE) - he played in NA last year so he can say everything he wants to. Not an outgoing person though.
Kirill Kabanov (RUS) -- he tried to say somewhat complex things, but I had to ask for clarification a couple times.
Thomas Brandt (GER) - conversational, but not in a complex way.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson (SWE) - warned that his English wasn't good. He almost got a translator.
Finnish coach Mika Marttila -- hard to tell because while he understood some things, he used interpreter to respond.
Toni Rajala (FIN) - answered some questions himself, some via teammate Haula.
Vladimir Tarasenko (RUS) - like Rajala, answered some himself, some via Kabanov.
Simon Bertilsson (SWE) - struggled to give more than 3-4 word answers. We needed an interpreter, but didn't have one.
Adam Polasek (CZE) - full-on interpreter (Robin Soudek).

And here's a photo of the Finns tossing a football around in the parking lot. Erik Haula's dad used to coach football, he told me. Interesting.
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A strange first day at the Under 18s

2009-04-10T01:44:00.009-04:00

I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening at the Under-18 World Championships. I'm not ready to talk about particular players yet, but here are a few observations.

1. Everyone loves beating the Russians. The Swedish coaches in the stands nearby actually applauded when the Finns took the lead over Russia. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, apparently. There was quite a big celebratory noise coming out of the Finnish locker room after the game as well. When I told two Finnish players that the Swedes clapped for their goal, they looked at each other with a sort of befuddlement. How bizarre indeed.
2. The Finnish team looks very small compared to the Russians. They have skill to make up for it.
3. The Finnish coach used an interpreter, probably to make sure his meaning was precise. I was surprised he wasn't comfortable in English though, virtually all European coaches are.
4. I found the Swedish coach in the stands and talked to him about a particular player. Very nice man.
5. There was virtually no press at the rink we were at (the secondary one). It was quite bizarre to be at a very important tournament and have to be the lead question-asker towards a coach. Shouldn't someone else, someone writing a game story, be doing this? But on the other hand, I could get any player I wanted and no time limit. That was good. So far it has sort of a high school tournament feel to it -- well, if there weren't so many scouts here.
6. I'd say there were about 100 NHL scouts, virtually all dressed in black, on the top ring on all four sides. I think they might have outnumbered the fans.
7. Several guys are listed on the roster as 5'12. Hmm. That makes me wonder what how tall the guys who are 6'0 are. Maybe I should use the centimeters and convert on my own.
8. The rink was freezing, an 'I had long underwear but I still need gloves' kind of cold. I thought it wouldn't feel cold outside after so many hours in the cold rink, but I was wrong. The windchill out there is brutal.
9. Erik Haula's English is so good, you would think he was native. Amazing. You want to blurt out 'are you really Finnish?' but then he talks to someone else in Finnish and, well, nevermind.
10. This place really is just like the movie Fargo. Stopped and asked someone directions today, and they didn't know how to get to the arena, but they called three people on their cell phone to find out. "Near the high school, you're figuring?" he said. That one made me giggle on the spot. That's where it was alright, behind the "Home of the Spuds," but unmarked.
11. The flood danger has not passed. They are building a secondary sand dyke right outside the hotel here. I anticipate that the work will go on all night.
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Off to Fargo

2009-04-08T18:45:00.003-04:00

Just a note to say I’m off to Fargo tomorrow for the U-18 World Championships. I will post things as they warrant, and if time is available. I anticipate being busy, but having some down time too. It’s not like the happenin' nightlife of Moorhead, Minnesota will be as distracting as say, Nashville.

The highs will only be in the 40’s, but given that I had to use the ice scraper on my windshield this morning – in Atlanta – it won’t be a big change.
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Reimer's future may not be just in playing

2009-04-07T21:06:00.007-04:00

Every so often you meet someone who you know is going somewhere and you think to yourself, 'I'll be able to say I knew them on the way up.' I said that about one of my students once. I said it again after meeting James Reimer last weekend.

Reimer is a goaltending prospect for the Maple Leafs. He's quite a good goalie and has a bright future on the ice. But that's not the end of it. He has that special something that will draw people to him, inspire them. The kind of quality you find in a great coach.

Here's the Q&A I did with him for Hockey's Future. If he didn't have to catch a bus, I could have talked to him for an hour.

I'll go on record as saying that in 25 years, Reimer is coaching in the NHL. Most likely a goalie coach, but very possibly more than that. And he'll be an excellent one.

Photo of the back of Reimer's mask, featuring Ramona's Courage and an accompanying bible verse.

Real locker room drama welcome

2009-04-04T00:51:00.003-04:00

When we hear the term "locker room drama," it's almost always a bad thing: someone is acting like a prima donna, or teammates aren't getting along. But the playoffs mean a good kind of drama, the win or go home kind. The kind that brings things out of people they didn't know they had. I was in a losing locker room after a deciding game in the finals once, and it was a very powerful thing. Like walking into a movie.

I raised my hand to go to Charlotte tomorrow to cover the Gwinnett Gladiators last game of the season, the one that decides whether they make it to the playoffs or not. It's a powerful storyline, and there will be strong emotions. We just don't know which way they will go.

I have a feeling that 95% of the words I turn in will be written after the second intermission. This one will be all about the emotions, not really about how the goals were scored.
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Della Rovere turns pro (photos)

2009-04-04T00:21:00.010-04:00

Tonight was Stefan Della Rovere's second game as a pro, having joined the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays from the OHL Barrie Colts. He looked about as I expected, having seen him in the WJC. He's an agitator and played like most agitators do. Like a lot of guys fresh out of junior, he ran around a lot, sometimes from one side of the ice to the other just to make a hit. He always finished his checks -- to a fault. His physicality seemed to turn up the tempo on the game though, which worked to South Carolina's advantage. Della Rovere had several failed hits, as his timing was a bit off. Also cherry picked and had a roughing penalty for putting a guy in a headlock along the boards after the whistle.

Della Rovere played left wing on a line with Pierre-Luc O'Brien and Jeff Corey and had one assist. Also had a good tip in front for a chance, and made a nice centering pass.

Here are some photos.

At warmups.

Listening to the older and wiser Maxime Lacroix explain what to do during warmup.

Crashing the net -- par for the course for him.

Chirping all the way back to the net. Also par for the course.
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AHL may return to dressing 17 skaters a game

2009-04-02T18:00:00.004-04:00

Prior to this season, the AHL had dressed 17 skaters a game, one fewer than the NHL. For this season, they increased the number to 18. But the economy may push it back down to 17, as everyone tightens their belts.

From the Patriot-News (Hershey):

Economics played the prime role in the AHL's traditional use of 17 skaters. Adding a player to the lineup adds to costs (contract, health care, equipment).

The economic downturn ultimately could mean a return to 17. It's a topic that likely will be addressed at upcoming AHL meetings.

"There could be contraction and reducing it to a less number for next year," [Hershey Bears president-GM Doug] Yingst said. "My sense right now is that the vote would be to reduce the number.

It sounds like Hershey rolls four lines regularly, which is good for the rookies, who do get the experience they need. But not all teams use all four lines regularly, which means that a lot of rookies don't get much playing time. Some would be better off in the ECHL where they would see more situations.

It's interesting that the ECHL just broke its own record for number of players graduating to the NHL in a season (49 players) during a year in which the number of prospects sent by NHL teams went down. Surely there's a delay effect -- the guys who played in the NHL this year largely played in the ECHL last year or the year before. If the 18-skater rule doesn't change in the AHL though, that record will probably stand because fewer prospects will have seen time in the ECHL,
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City takes on stake in Utah Grizzlies to keep them going

2009-03-29T23:03:00.004-04:00

Two ECHL teams have folded this season, but that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of teams in trouble. The Utah Grizzlies turned money owed for rent into a new owner -- West Valley City. They'll be one of the lucky ones when it's all said and done.

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

The minor league hockey team now has a partner and the city now owns part of a professional sports franchise. It's not an ideal situation for either party, but the fact is they need each other.

The Grizzlies need a partner to shore up mounting financial losses. The city needs its biggest E Center tenant to keep filling dates and bringing in the crowds.

West Valley City laid out $600,000 to buy a stake in the team, a figure that essentially wiped out what the Grizzlies owed the E Center in rent.

Football draft to become earlier like hockey

2009-03-22T11:28:00.003-04:00

I found this interesting -- football wants to move their draft to be before veteran free agency (as hockey has long had it). This would increase the ability of teams to plan around their rookies. One difference between the two sports is that you expect many fewer hockey players to step right into the lineup. Only about 10 do so every year lately, a number that has grown since the new CBA and salary cap increased the importance of rookies. The same age pressure seems to be happening in football in These Economic Times -- having more rookies on the roster is cheaper, therefore more desirable.

Multiple inside sources throughout the league have told PFW that the economic climate, coupled with the uncertainty of the next Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players in addition to the potential for an uncapped year in 2010 and a potential lockout in ’11, have made cost-cutting measures a top priority...

One other key factor in holding the draft earlier is that it is likely to limit the amount of input from the head coach and his assistants. It will force teams to rely more on their scouting staffs and personnel departments. The earlier draft will reward well-organized and talented scouting departments and expose less-talented, less-informed scouts...

The earlier draft would allow teams to select for need with younger players first, then see what they’ve got in minicamps before deciding whom to pursue in free agency. The system currently encourages teams to fill roster needs with veteran free agents before the draft.

Bowling Green may eliminate hockey

2009-03-16T19:02:00.004-04:00

I'm a little late on this one, but wanted to mention it. The economy has taken out two ECHL teams so far, and now may claim a college team.

From the Sentinel-Tribune:

All university departments have been asked to develop a variety of scenarios regarding budgets and programs.
The school believes it is looking at a funding shortfall of between $6 million and $10 million when the new state budget begins July 1. University president Carol Cartwright has said that if that figure worsens, cuts in programs will be need to be made.
Rumors suggest the decision to cut hockey could be made final during a special meeting of the BGSU Board of Trustees sometime during the next week to 10 days.

Many former NHLers have come out of Bowling Green.

The only silver lining I see here is that maybe the CCHA could take in one or more CHA teams so they aren't left hanging.

Red is the new blond in hockey playoff hair

2009-03-06T18:36:00.003-05:00

Beards, mohawks, shaved heads, blonde dye-jobs, mustaches. It's all been done by hockey teams as a way of bonding for the playoffs.

The Ohio State hockey team has gone red this year, which is appropriate given their school colors. College teams usually set the trend each year, as their playoffs come earlier in the season.

From The Lantern:

With playoff beards just beginning to blossom and mullets requiring months of planning and infrequent barber shop visits, the scarlet dye found little serious competition in the spur-of-the-moment locker room debate.

"It's just to bring the team together, something that we're doing together," senior co-captain Zach Pelletier said. "We're pretty tight right now but this should take us to the next level so we can go into this weekend prepared."

More casualties of teams in minor league hockey

2009-03-01T14:01:00.007-05:00

ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna was unusually candid in this AP story, saying the league could lose more teams during this economic downturn.

"The teams that struggle in a good time, they're going to struggle even more when the economy's bad," McKenna said. "I wouldn't be surprised if we have a couple more casualties. Hopefully we're better positioned for growth in the future. Our league having lost some struggling teams may in fact make us stronger overall."

It's almost a given that Wheeling will be one of those lost this offseason. It's implied by one of the comments by the owner in the same article.

"We want to do our best to keep some type of hockey team here in Wheeling because we love the community," said Jim Brooks, who bought the team with his brother in 2003. "But we need the community's help to do that."

Wheeling's facilities are very outdated, and do not attract players, to say the least. That franchise may fold or be sold. Mississippi is another team that due to travel costs, is on the edge. Johnstown has been hanging on by a thread for several years. They are averaging just 2100 in attendance. If they don't get the lease renegotiated favorably enough, they could move.

Abbottsford, British Columbia is a possible new location for a team if they do not get an AHL club.

The article points out that while other minor leagues have had a decline in attendance, the ECHL is actually up 2.2 percent this season.

Attendance at minor league hockey games is down nationwide. The only exception is in the ECHL, which has seen a 2.2 percent increase in per-game attendance after losing four of its seven lowest-performing franchises since the end of last season.

USNTDP to rejoin USHL

2009-02-26T19:44:00.004-05:00

I always thought it was weird that they weren't there to begin with. Seems very logical as far as level and geography go.

From USHL.com:

The United States Hockey League in conjunction with USA Hockey is pleased to announce that the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP) will become full-time members of America's Tier I league, effective the 2009-10 season. This will mark the second foray for Team USA into the United States' top league as a full-time member. They were previously a part of the USHL in the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons.
"The re-association of America's only Tier I program with the national program in place in Ann Arbor will yield a powerhouse league second to none in the United States – and the strongest opportunity ever developed for the world'selite 17, 18, 19 and 20-year-old hockey players to develop their skills on their way to college and professional distinction," USHL Commissioner Skip Prince said.

On a related note, it's a long shot, but the USHL may be coming to Youngstown, Ohio too.

Puck Prospectus launched

2009-02-25T21:37:00.003-05:00

After a long delay, Puck Prospectus, the hockey-sibling of Baseball Prospectus, has launched.

From the welcome post:

I've been waiting a long time to say this: Welcome to Puck Prospectus.
You know me if you've been following Baseball Prospectus over the years, but in this endeavor, you won't see me out front too much. Instead, I have the pleasure of working with a team of analysts, statisticians, and writers that will change how you see the game of hockey. Everyone I talk to raves about watching hockey in high-definition, that they can follow the puck and see the game in a whole new way. The Prospectus style applied to our amazing game is going to change things in much the same way, opening you up to new ideas, changing your mind about certain things, and reminding you of others.

It was going to be named Hockey Prospectus, but they lost the domain name. Not many people know about it as they haven't started advertising yet, just sent out links to the teams. So I hear.

Stat-lovers, dig in.
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Going to Fargo

2009-02-20T17:30:00.002-05:00

In a couple months, Hockey's Future is sending me to Fargo, North Dakota, a place that most Americans, especially those from warm climates, know just enough about to avoid. Actually, I volunteered to go. The World Under-18 Championships are being held there. It's a tournament that is virtually always in Europe, so it's an opportunity to see a truckload of the best prospects for the 2009 draft across many countries. I'm prepared for information overload.

I was thinking about the most far-flung place I've been to watch hockey in the past. I thought of four candidates. One would be Waterloo, Iowa, where I saw a USHL game. A small arena with a metal roof, it was the loudest building I've ever been in. But Iowa is quite civilized and this wasn't far from other cities so I'm going to say this wasn't the most far-flung. Another candidate would be Green Bay, Wisconsin. Despite having an NFL team, Green Bay is tiny, and far from anything else. I drove up there from Chicago to see Alex Kangas play when he was still in the USHL. When I got out of the car -- at the mall mind you -- the air smelled like cows. That's insane.

Another candidate would be Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. A real industrial place with interesting geography, there was an awesome storm that rolled in as the Chicago Wolves got ready to play Game 4 of the Calder Cup finals against the Penguins. I watched it develop behind Larry Simmons' head as we chatted. As AHL cities go, WBS is separated by distance and geography, but since it's relatively populated itself, doesn't quite qualify as far-flung. It feels really far from life in Atlanta though.

The last candidate would be Columbus, Georgia, which used to have an ECHL team. This city is close to Atlanta on a map, but off the hockey grid. They used to be affiliated with the Montreal Canadiens, a place you could argue is in the center of hockey. It was a very strange connection. When I would interview the players, it was as if the words were beamed out and read in an entirely different universe.

Fargo in April. It couldn't be that cold, could it? Nevermind. I know better than to say that.
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This is why I'm not in the medical field

2009-02-14T22:51:00.004-05:00

I've known all my life that I don't like to deal with blood and guts. I once fainted after receiving a particularly nasty gash, and another time got so grossed out listening to a story on NPR that I had almost had to pull the car over to avoid passing out. I'm tough in a lot of ways, but this ain't one of them.

Normally I can avoid blood and guts pretty well in my jobs, but sometimes I'm told to talk to a player while they are getting treatment from the trainer after the game. Most hockey injuries are internal, but not all. Tonight I talked to Capitals prospect Josh Godfrey, who's playing for South Carolina, and he has a very nasty cut on his ankle from a skate blade. This thing is two weeks old, puffy, multiple colors, with stitches hanging out. As bad as you can imagine such a cut looking, it looked.

I was distracted enough by how bad it looked that I had trouble keeping track of my questions. Then when I talked (coach) Jared Bednar afterward, he said that he thought Godfrey has been playing a little tentative because he's afraid it will pop open. Nice visual, thanks.

I have a sister who's an ER nurse. I often question if we're really related.
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Concussions more serious than most realize

2009-02-08T11:25:00.004-05:00

I try to keep up on the research surrounding concussions, because I've long believed they are more serious injuries than the sports world wants to admit. I've had my own bell rung a few times playing hockey, so it's a subject that is near and dear to my heart.

Last weekend I talked to three 2009-eligible players, and was sure to ask about their concussion histories, because it's important to know before betting on them long-term. Calvin de Haan's response shows how lightly concussions are taken by athletes.

HF: What kind of injuries have you had in your career?
CdH: I haven't really had injuries, knock on wood. Stitches a few times, that's it.

HF: No concussions?
CdH: A concussion here or there. Nothing like a busted femur. Mine wasn't that bad, just a minor one.

Some may be familiar with Sasha Pokulok, a Capitals former first rounder who has been with the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays the past couple years. He missed almost an entire season with two concussions in 2006-07, and he had another one a couple weeks ago. To my surprise, Pokulok is now back skating. At what point are the doctors going to tell him he should stop playing hockey for good? It should be soon. Sasha has a brother Nik Pokulok who is eligible for this year's draft, but given the hereditary nature of brain makeup, teams should be cautious taking him given his family concussion history.

The latest research shows that even one or two concussions have long-term effects, and repeated ones are debilitating later in life.

From The Star:

A single head blow during their playing days can leave athletes with significant physical and mental problems three decades after they've hung up their equipment, a new Canadian study says.
In the longest-term look ever at concussions in sports, University of Montreal researchers showed that athletes who had suffered even one minor bell ringing on the ice or football field had measurable brain and body reflex impairments 30 years later.

From the LA Times:

The headbanging collisions that thrill sports fans have lifelong effects on the athletes, with impairments in movement and thinking skills showing up 30 years or more after the concussions, researchers reported Tuesday.

Canada.com:

Scientists are beginning to build stronger links between the injury and some of its long-term impacts, such as depression, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and other quality of life issues.

Baseball Prospectus interviews hockey player

2009-02-03T21:10:00.003-05:00

Q&A with Blake Wheeler.

Interesting isn't it? :)

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Phantoms sale imminent, AHL on the move

2009-02-03T20:28:00.005-05:00

From the Delaware County Times:

... soon enough it should be known where the Philadelphia Phantoms will play next season.

What seems to be clear is wherever the Phantoms land, they no longer will be married to the Flyers.

Philadelphia’s little hockey brother, born in the mid-1990s under the Comcast-Spectacor banner and which grew into a two-time Calder Cup champion of the American Hockey League, could be sold by the end of the week, according to two sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

Possible new locations include Austin, Texas, where the Dallas Stars will be starting up a team that will serve as its affiliate (and previously had no franchise to actually do it with), or Abbotsford, BC, which has been courting the AHL. Look for Philly to affiliate with a nearby AHL team, as they got used to the convenience over the years.
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Notes on OHL guys for the '09 draft

2009-02-02T22:40:00.005-05:00

This past weekend I took in a couple OHL games. Here are some notes on what I saw. I'll be writing Q&A's or features on three of them in the next week or so.

Oshawa

Calvin de Haan (09) -- Skates beautifully and is extremely patient with the puck, carrying it through two or three forecheckers like it's nothing. Doesn't look like he's putting out that much effort, but guys who are better than everyone else often look that way in junior (thought the same of Rick Nash). I would've liked to see more grittiness out of de Haan, but he doesn't have the body for it yet. He's confident that he's still growing though, since he grew a lot in the past year. Nice kid, though quite naive about the whole draft process still.

Kory Nagy (NJ) -- Loved him. Turns on a dime, scrappy as all heck. Has a decent wrist shot. He's like Derek Dorsett (CLB) maybe. Good pick by New Jersey. Can definitely picture him in the NHL on a fourth line.

James DeLory (FLA) -- He was sent back to junior to learn to play F, but is back playing D right now since the Tavares trade. He's bigger than most juniors, but not necessarily more effective. Pinched up a lot when they were down. Was in bad mood after the game when I asked him about the F/D thing.

Michael Zador (09) -- DND due to them still carrying three goalies since the trade.

Erie

Ryan O'Reilly (09) - He seemed to play as hard as the game necessitated. In the 8-2 win, he wandered around avoiding traffic (which is his brother Cal's downfall as well). But the next game when it was tied, he was digging in the corners, making things happen. Seemed nice when I talked to him before the second game.

Brett Cook (09) - He's not rated very high, but I thought he was solid defensively. Gets pucks on net and hits people. May be worth a late pick.

Mitch Gaulton (NYR) - Good defensively, but passing skills and shot placement are lacking.

Tyler Hostetter (09) -- He has a very hard shot. That's probably his best asset.

Jaroslav Janus (09) -- He made a lot of stops, but not with the best form. He was leaning to one side when he should have been square to the shooter for example. Was beaten by bad-angle shots a couple times.

Zach Torquato (DET) -- His game doesn't seem likely to carry over to the pros. He seems to cut corners.

Luke Gazdic (DAL) -- Has a pro body but didn't stand out even as a good checker.

Guelph

Peter Holland (09) -- a disappointment for someone rated so high. He has nice size and vision, but doesn't have a good all-around package. Almost never saw him carry puck, and he's a center. Stickhandling overall seemed to be lacking as he bobbled the puck several times.

Michael Latta (09) -- Another disappointment. Only saw him when looking for him. His stickhandling is too deliberate and he's not strong on the puck.

Taylor Beck (09) -- I liked him much more as a player, maybe the most of anyone except O'Reilly. Creative without being a puckhog, hard on the forecheck, backchecks hard. He's very developed for his age, as far as his body and game go.

Ben Chiarot (09) - He's strong and his skating isn't horrible, but he's bad defensively and doesn't score.

Corey Syvret (FLA) - So good defensively, he really slowed down the game. Underrated player.
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Two Canadian schools to join NCAA?

2009-01-27T23:57:00.003-05:00

And you know what sport they would play for sure, right?

From USA Today:

Two years after the NCAA opened its doors to Canadian schools, at least one — Simon Fraser in Burnaby, British Columbia — is poised to walk in.

The University of British Columbia likewise is weighing a move to join its rival as the NCAA's first international members. Both would join Division II.

The annual NCAA membership application deadline is June 1. Schools can be full members in as little as three years.

The perfect draft

2009-01-25T16:34:00.003-05:00

Joe Posnanski does a thought experiment on what if a team had a perfect draft -- picked all the best available talent at their spots. He goes through what was and what might have been for the Kansas City Royals. If you like baseball especially you might enjoy it. He takes long asides, but he's good enough you'd read him to Peru and back.

We’re going to use the Kansas City Royals as an example, but you can obviously do the following with any team. The Royals are just a good example because they have been lousy for fifteen years.

Regan Q&A up

2009-01-18T15:00:00.001-05:00

I chatted with Kevin Regan last night and the Q&A is up at HF. It's important to read it in a South Boston accent for flavor.

One note is that Pyle did not rule out Nastiuk returning to Gwinnett. It sounded like that wasn't the plan now, but "if something happens" he would. I guess something happening would be a trade by the Boston system.
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Regan to debut for ECHL Gladiators tonight

2009-01-17T12:45:00.000-05:00

Bruins prospect Kevin Regan was assigned to the ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators yesterday, and will make his debut for the team tonight. The rookie pro out of UNH will wear #31.

Regan at morning skate today. That bright yellow Bruins mask is going to clash badly with the Gladiators sand and mauve third jerseys.

Coach Jeff Pyle seemed to take special care to make Regan feel welcome. Tonight's an important game against division leader the Florida Everblades. Anton Khudobin (MIN) will start for the Blades. Jeff Mason, normally a defenseman for the Gladiators, will play wing. Brad Schell, still out with a back injury (2-3 more weeks), will debut a new white shirt as he runs the defensive pairs. He has to expand his wardrobe now that he's behind the bench.
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Otters to have outdoor scrimmage

2009-01-15T21:13:00.000-05:00

This looks like fun, the OHL Erie Otters are holding an outdoor intra-squad scrimmage at Presque Isle State Park, which if you're not familiar, is a finger-shaped peninsula on Lake Erie. I wondered if they were playing on the bay, which does freeze over in the winter, but it looks like a pond instead. Safer, but less romantic.

From the Erie Daily News:

The Erie Otters will hold their own Winter Classic – with an added bonus.
Through the inaugural Pucks on Presque Isle event Feb. 8 at Presque Isle State Park’s Rotary Pavilion, fans can watch an intra-squad scrimmage on a frozen pond while enjoying different winter activities.

And the Otters flyer.

Central Scouting 2009 Mid-terms

2009-01-12T19:32:00.000-05:00

Here's a link to the Central Scouting Mid-term rankings for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

When quoting Central Scouting, it's always important to specify whether it's the North American or the European list because the two have to be combined with the goalies in the draft, so a player's rank on Central Scouting is usually going to be significantly better than where they go in the draft.

Hello world again

2009-01-12T17:56:00.000-05:00

As I transition to more generalized hockey prospects coverage, I thought I would get this domain name tacked down. Welcome.