Saturday Morning Special - June 4th

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Obviously the NHL Combine was front and center on TPS this morning but we also found time to head East and get the latest on the QMJHL Midget Draft and the Dispersal Draft of the now-defunct Lewiston Maineiacs. Then we talked to one of the NHL's super agents about the stable of players he's showcased in Toronto all week. We went in depth with another independent draft guide, talked to our NHL Insider about Game 2 between Boston and Vancouver plus we revisited a discussion with Brian Burke about the greatest draft day trade ever.


Neate Sager from Buzzing the Net on Yahoo! has been at the combine this week. We talked to him about who stood out, who didn't wow anyone and if the physical testing is maybe overrated for hockey compared to football. We also talked about the interviews and what stories have circulated after the players had gone through that portion of the week.

Up next was Kevin Forbes from Hockey's Future and Future Considerations. The Lewiston Maineiacs were shutdown by the league and on Friday the rest of the QMJHL picked over the carcass. Why didn't the QMJHL follow the example of the NHL and run the Maineiacs until they relocated to Sherbrooke in 2012-13? Will Kirill Kabanov be happy to report to Montréal next year? And what happened at the Midget draft while #1 overall pick Nathan MacKinnon skated in Omaha with the USHL's Lancers?

Adam Larsson, Dougie Hamilton, Ty Rattie, Oscar Klefbom... it's a pretty impressive list of players who share J.P. Barry as their agent. We talked with Barry about the preparation that players have for the combine these days, both physically and verbally. We also asked whether or not Larsson would play in North America next year, whether Tomas Jurco's outgoing personality would have to be toned down for the combine and whether Hamilton's stock could go higher after teams interviewed the well spoken defenceman.

At the top of the second hour it was Daren Millard joining us for a preview of Game 2 in the Stanley Cup finals. Will Dan Hamuis or Manny Malhotra play? Will Brad Marchand, Tyler Seguin or Cody Hodgson be the more noticeable rookie? We also touched on the Winnipeg situation and the comments by many this week that Commissioner Gary Bettman's demeanor at the press conference was an indication that he's reluctantly accepting the Manitoba city back into the NHL?

Aaron Vickers is the man at the top of Future Considerations and he joined us to talk about his publication's new 2011 Draft Guide. He explained his top 10, why Rocco Grimaldi is top 15 and why Sven Bartschi isn't (or even top 20). We discussed a 2nd round sleeper and touched on other key players who will be selected later this month in Minnesota.

Finally, we revisited a conversation that we had with Toronto GM Brian Burke about the 1999 Draft that saw him pull of clandestine trades and come away with the Sedin twins. With the Canuck duo in the Stanley Cup Final and possibly back-to-back league MVPs, we thought it very timely.

On the show today we also talked about the Edmonton Oil Kings hope to bring in buddies Riley Simpson, Cole Benson and Aaron Irving into their future roster and how Steve Hamilton can have an impact on that.

It was a jam packed show but if you missed any of the segments, have no fear. You can hear every interview from every show by hitting the media archive... HERE.