Saturday Morning Special - Dec 11th

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It was a fun edition of The Pipeline Show this morning as Dean and I welcomed 5 guests and covered a lot of territory in the NHL, NCAA and CHL. We looked ahead to the 2011 World Junior Championship in Buffalo and spent a lot of time debating the Linus/Lienus Omark shootout goal from Friday night.

Could The Lightning Be A Trading Partner For Edmonton?

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Tampa Bay finished the season strong this year...so strong they played themselves out of a lottery pick. They also played so bad this year that they finished 6th worst in the league and watched their head coach and GM get the axe. Now there's word that Martin St. Louis might want out...or atleast he wants to win now. You can read his comments in a story that Jonathan Willis wrote here. And click to read on about why Tbay might make a good trading partner for the Oil.

Seguin & Hall: How they compare to the past and future

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Tyler Seguin or Taylor Hall? Ask that question to an even number of scouts and you'll likely end up with a split, they're that even right now.

So I asked a number of scouts three questions about the top two picks for this year's draft. Some answered all of them while some are too close to picking one of them and didn't want to take part for fear of tipping their hand, and some chose to answer only one or 2 of my questions.

Here now, as the top two prospects get set to face each other in a 7 game series, are the questions and answers. All scouts involved requested anonymity and I will provide that.

Top 5 Tuesday: Young Defenceman

Only once in the last 4 draft classes has a defenceman not been taking either first or second overall. So it stands to reason that there are some blue chip blueliners in the NHL right now. But not all of them have come in the top 2, 5 or even 10 on draft day. Here are are the 5 best young blueliners in my opinion.

5. Michael Del Zotto-New York Rangers
The 19 year old has shot out of the gate in New York with 2 goals 3 assists in 5 games, putting him a tie for 3rd in scoring among defenceman. The 20th pick in the 2008 draft has exploded up the depth chart in New York and is getting regular power play time on the first unit, often times with forward Ales Kotalik manning the left side. Del Zotto has one power play goal and has set up Kotalik twice by faking a shot and feeding a one timer. He leads all Ranger d-men in points and is only playing 15 minutes a night.

4. Alex Goligoski-Pittsburgh Penguins

Taken in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft, Goligoski's route to the NHL may have taken a little longer than Pittsburgh expected, but now that he's arrived full time he's making his mark. In his second full season, Goligoski has 4 points in 6 games and a plus 5 rating so far this season. Goligoski's strong play last year (20 points, +5, 45 games) allowed the Penguins to deal Ryan Whitney and he hasn't made them regret their decision. The 24 year old was drafted out of high school, then spent a year with Sioux City of the USHL. After 3 years with the Minnesota Golden Gophers he played one full season with Wilkes-Barre. Last year he split time between the big club and the AHL, but looks to be a full time Penguin now.

3. Erik Johnson-St. Louis Blues

Johnson might have drifted from peoples minds after missing all of last year due to a knee injury suffered in a golf cart incident, but he's back with the Blues and reminding people why St. Louis took him first overall in 2006. He has size at 6.04 and 234 pounds, skates extremely smooth despite tearing his ACL and MCL last year, and has terrific instincts. As a rookie he played 18 minutes a night on a Blues team that missed the playoffs. St. Louis is one of the "it" teams this year, a club on the rise that made the playoffs without the services of Johnson last year and could do some real damage with him. He's likely not even 100 per cent recovered and is just in his sophomore season, but Johnson will anchor the Blues, and maybe team USA's blueline for years to come.

2. Viktor Hedman-Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa's blueline was atrocious last year, this season it's a reason the Lightning are tied for first with Washington in the Southeast division. Tampa's blueline is an overall +3 and Matthias Ohlund and Hedman have 4 points each. There were a lot of people (not me, but Guy Flaming was one of them) who thought Hedman should have been drafted first overall, now he's making his case. The 6.06 Swede has done everything for Tampa. His 4 assists are tied for the team lead, he's +2, has 8 penalty minutes and is playing 25:40 per game, putting him top ten in the NHL among all defenceman, not just rookies.

1. Drew Doughty-L.A. Kings

When Canada's Olympic summer orientation list came out and Drew Doughty was on it, most thought he was token young player invite. He started dispelling the theory that week, and has continued to prove he belongs so far this season. Doughty scored a beauty Tuesday night against the Islanders, and is second among blueline scorers with 2 goals and 4 assists in 5 games. The Kings like the Blues and Lightning are much improved this year with 8 points to lead the Pacific Division, and have won 4 straight. Just like with St. Louis and Tampa Bay, a young blueliner is a big reason why. Doughty led all defenceman in shots with 126 and was tied for points with 27 last year. He wasn't a finalist for the Calder trophy last year, but it won't be long before his name starts surfacing for the Norris.

As for tonight's show, we'll be joined by Tampa Bay prospect Dustin Tokarski. The goaltender has started his pro career with Norfolk, this after winning a Memorial Cup and WJC title during his junior career. Our ICU Video Focus of the Week will be the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Memorial Cup hosts recently stopped in Edmonton and skated away with a 4-1 win so we'll speak with some key players and head coach Kelly McCrimmon. The NCAA season is underway and we'll continue our season previews with Hockey East, which produced the Frozen Four champion last year. Finally, we welcome the first of many scouts to the program as Mark Seidel from North American Scouting will be our guest. 7-9 PM MST on the TEAM 1260 in Edmonton or online http://www.thepipelineshow.com/. Have a question for us or one of our guests? Drop us a line pipeup@theteam1260.com.

Wednesday Re-Set

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For many people, June means weekends at the lake or afternoons basking in the sun on the patio. To us, June means the NHL Entry Draft is right around the corner so it's time to amp up our draft coverage even higher.

We take a lot of pride in that almost every week over the course of the year we've be bringing you interviews with some of the big name players eligible for the 2009 Draft in Montreal. If you're a regular follower of the show then you've heard from players Like John Tavares, Matt Duchene, Evander Kane, Scott Glennie, Jordan Schroeder and Nazem Kadri.


Last night on the show we brought in 3 more players expected to go in the 1st round including someone who might actually go 1st overall - Swedish defenceman Victor Hedman. Hedman joined us from Pittsburgh where he was in town to take in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. He talked to us about the year, his performance at the WJC in Ottawa, his opinion on how he was mis-used by coach Par Marts and we also chatted about the NHL combine and the draft itself.

Jared Cowen of the Spokane Chiefs was part of the show last night for a shorter interview (thanks to some phone tag). We were able to get Jared's opinion on the combine and the Top Prospects game considering he was inactive for the second half of the season and couldn't impress on the ice. The 6'5 blueliner is destined to go in the top 10 later this month.


We had a 3rd player join us last night as high school player Chris Kreider (pronounced Cry-Durr) told us about his experience at the intimidating NHL Combine, how he feels about the draft and his remarkable attempt to qualify for NCAA this coming season, a full year ahead of his original plan to join Boston College. Kreider is a well spoken kid, someone who is seeing his stock rise as the draft gets closer and we can only assume he impressed during his combine interviews because he did with us last night.

We also presented our first team preview with Tod Button, the head scout of the Calgary Flames. We were able to get a sense of what Calgary's drafting philosophy might be which really isn't much different than what you hear most teams talk about. We got updates on several key Flames prospects including Mikael Backlund, Greg Nemisz, Keith Aulie and John Negrin.

If you missed any of those 4 interviews you can click the archive HERE.

KHL draft, big Vic on TPS, and the Flames opt into the first round

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Here's a few interesting notes from the world of prospect hockey. The KHL held it's entry draft and a few players who were selected stood out for me. Jonathan Willis has a nice write up on this here at copper and blue.com. The complete list can be found courtesy of Nathan Fournier with World Of Junior Hockey
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Most of the players grabbed were European who are playing overseas, there were some Euros who are skating with CHL and AHL teams, and even an NHL team in the case of Juri Tlusty. But a few Canadian juniors were grabbed in Taylor Hall and Zach Kassian. Would Hall head to the KHL next year? He'd play against better competition and make some cash, and if he was able to sign a one year deal could come back and play in the NHL after getting selected first or second overall in 2010. But why would the KHL only sign him to a one year deal. I don't see whichever NHL team drafts Kassian advising him to play in the KHL, but it could be an interesting bargaining chip for the player Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson is another high end draft pick for the NHL selection in June. He was taken 19th overall by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, and he's a player I could see suiting up for a year in Russia if he doesn't get a suitable contract offer by whichever NHL team grabs him.

Speaking of talented Swedes. Guy and I just got off the phone with Victor Hedman. You'll be able to hear that interview Tuesday night on TPS We discussed everything from the combine to how he wasn't used properly at the WJC and how he's cheering for team Sweden in the Stanley Cup finals.

We also pre taped an interview with Flames Director of Scouting Tod Button about how Calgary will approach the draft now that they have a first round pick again. The Flames had the option of keeping this year's first rounder and giving Phoenix next year's pick as part of the Olli Jokinen deal. That will also alter our draft preview as we'll be including the Flames now.

One final note, Gregg Drinnan had this up at Taking Note and one of my WHL sources just let me know as well, that Marc Habscheid is about to be named head coach in Chilliwack. Habscheid's name has come up for just about every WHL job in the last few years, so we can finally stop speculating where he might land. He's been out of work (but still getting paid) since being fired as an assistant coach with Boston.

Canada wins rematch and other random thoughts from TPS

Okay so they weren't facing Sweden's #1 pipeman Jakob Markstrom, but still it was an impressive pre tournament win from Canada over the country they knocked off in overtime for last year's gold medal win. The Canadians came out physical - I'll venture a guess Victor Hedman has never been knocked harder by a 5'9.5" than when Dana Tyrell knocked the top prospect on his butt early in this one - and they peppered Mark Owuya with 43, including 20 in the 2nd period on route to a 4-2 victory. An official scoresheet can be found here.

Canada did a great job of keeping the pressure on the Swedes with a relentless forecheck and were able to escape their own zone easily. The line of Zach Boychuk, and Jordan Eberle centred by Cody Hodgson (a trio Guy predicted would be together before the camp invites were sent out) was especially creative (6 points combined) and as I mentioned to Guy Tuesday on The Pipeline Show, I think they could be Canada's most effective line. Simply put Hodgson and Boychuk had great chemistry at the top prospects game in Edmonton a year ago while Hodgson and Eberle worked great together with the Under 18 last spring. I also think they'll thrive because they won't face the tough match ups that John Tavares and company will. I chuckled when I heard Pierre McGuire (other than Peter Loubardias of Rogers Sportsnet the most enthusiastic national TV broadcaster when it comes to junior hockey) refer to Colton Teubert as "this year's version of the human eraser, taking over from Luke Schenn" as I had predicted to my Global Sports colleagues John Sexmith and Kevin Karius that PM would latch on to the LA Kings 2007 first round draft pick. John Tavares had a wack of jump tonight and I loved how Stephan Della Rovere was on body check hunt all game long. Sweden was an interesting study. They had just arrived in Canada mid week, started their back up tender and might have been playing possum. As for the big man Victor Hedman while the flight from Sweden and the jarring hit from Tyrell may have affected him, he looked poised in his own end breaking up Canadian rushes with ease and jumped into the play, as noted by his 3rd period goal. The TSN crew quoted Peter Forsberg as saying Hedman is the best blueliner to come out of Sweden since Nick Lidstrom. We spoke to the Red Wings all star recently about Hedman, you cna here that conversation here.

It's interesting that Canada took 8 D-men because they were worried about Ryan Ellis' size and age, but Ellis looked okay to me, hopefully this won't be a decision Hockey Canada regrets if a forward goes down like Dana Tyrell in the 2nd period of this game. Of note the TSN crew did mention that Canada can add a player to the roster before December 24th if a player is injured, so Evander Kane, Brayden Schenn and Taylor Hall keep your cell phones on.

Meanwhile the top prospect roster was released recently, the complete list can be found courtesy the WHL here. This game was huge for current world junior member Cody Hodgson last year in Edmonton. Edmonton Oil King Tomas Vincour leads 15 WHL products into the game this year in Oshawa, look for hulking Spokane D-man Jared Cowan (how did he not get invited to Canada's camp?) to make a massive impression in this game. And keep your eye on Carter Ashton of Lethbridge to make his mark in this contest.

(Photos courtesy www.kuklaskorner.com, www.eurohockey.net, www.canada.com)

Wednesday Re-Set

Last night on The Pipeline Show we had another wide variety of guests from the world of hockey prospects. As always, you can find the archived interviews, convenietly cut up into the 6 segments of the show, by hitting our website and checking out the media archives section. Here's last night's archive.

First up Dean and I spoke about the current situation the Edmonton Oil Kings find themselves in - the playoffs! Will it last though?

Also in that first segment we talked about the story that Jonathan Willis commented at Oilers Nation on about the Oilers and Oklahoma City. We offered up our thoughts on it too.

The CHL Top 10 list came out, we debated the rankings for a while then moved onto some NCAA notes as well like undefeated Air Force.

Flaming Hot / Flaming Not and Dean's Fantasy Pick Up of the Week rounded out the opening segment of the show.

The 2009 Draft Prospect Performers of the Week were unveiled in segment #2 and then we went out to Brampton and spoke with highly touted Battalion forward Matt Duchene. Duchene talked about the ADT Challenge, his injury, Michigan State, John Tavares and a lot more.

In the third segment of the show we caught up with former Coming Down the Pipe! guest blogger Joe Colborne (pictured above) who is now a freshman with the Denver Pioneers. The former Kodiak talked about making the jump to the NCAA, the rumors of his eyeing Tri-City in the WHL and much more.


Sam Cosentino from Rogers Sportsnet joined us at the top of hour #2 to talk about the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge. His passion for junior hockey definitely came through and made for a great interview. I got to try out my ADT solution theory on him, he offered his comments on that but also why the current system might not be as bad as I think it is.

Bad Ass Trivia was, as always, entertaining in its own way but we FINALLY got a correct answer to the $30 question that was carried over from last week.

Lastly, Tim Sestito from the Springfield Falcons / Edmonton Oilers was on to talk about the recent recall from the farm but also touched on his time in Stockton, Plymouth and of course the current year in the AHL.

We also archived some recent audio that Dean picked up from Rexall Place after he had a chance to speak with some members of the Detroit Red Wings. Nick Lidstrom chimes in on top rated Victor Hedman, Kris Draper talks about his extremely unusual road to the NHL (you'll have to hear it to believe it!) plus young Jiri Hudler describes the patience that he and other Detroit prospects have to have being a part of the franchise.

Again, those Detroit clips did not air last night but can be heard by hitting the archive of last night's show.

(Photos credits: Colborne - Denver Pioneers, Cosentino - Rogers Sportsnet)

Top 5 Tuesdays: 2009 WJC Swedes

On Monday afternoon Sweden released their 21-player roster for the 2009 World Junior Championship in Ottawa and with that in mind here are 5 players I'll be watching with varying degrees of interest.

5. Victor Hedman (D)
6'6, 220 lbs - Modo (SEL)
He's ranked #1 by both ISS and Redline Report for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He's 17-years-old and is already in his second season with Modo in Sweden's top men's league. Pundits and publications are saying he's the next Chris Pronger; a guaranteed franchise player. So why is he 5th on my list?

It's certainly not because I think he's any less than the budding superstar that those in the know have been envisioning for the last couple of years. I will be watching him for sure, but how much debate can there be on a player so roundly applauded? I have yet to have a single scout tell me that they have any concerns about him. Not one.

I'll be watching but I don't think there's much left to discover with Hedman - he's already the next big blueliner.

4. Erik Karlsson (D)
5.11, 163 lbs - Frölunda (SEL)

He's not big but he garnered so much hype in the weeks leading up to the draft (post U18) that quite frankly, I want to see if he lives up to the billing he was given. He's in the SEL but his stats suggest he's either struggling or not playing much of a role (3 points in 22 games) but the Senators drafted him 15th overall in 2008 because of his supposed offensive upside. He did have 7 points in 6 games at last year's WJC in Prague but I'm interested in seeing if he can rediscover that offensive flair after being held off the scoresheet so much with the men. I bet he can.

3. Jacob Markström (G)
6'4, 185 lbs - Brynäs (SEL)

I'm really intrigued by this goalie. He's got terrific size, his 2.37 GAA and .918 save percentage in 19 Elite League games this year suggest an 18-year-old worth paying a great deal of attention to. The Florida Panthers drafted him 31st overall in 2008 and I know for a fact that the Edmonton Oilers had him ranked much higher than that on their list.

On a strictly immature and personal level... I drafted him in my fantasy league with the 31st pick as well so call this a scouting mission of my own.

2. Magnus Svensson-Pääjärvi (LW)
6'1, 198 lbs - Timrå (SEL)

He's the second highest rated Swede for the 2009 NHL Draft but I think there is some debate about how high he will end up in the rankings. Most I've spoken with so far consider Hedman-Tavares then Cowan-Duchene the almost automatic top 4 but others suggest that a strong performance in Ottawa could get MSP some attention.

Like Hedman, Svensson-Pääjärvi was a 16-year-old playing in the U20 WJC for Sweden in Prague. He only had a couple of points there but he also had three in the SEL (as a 16-year-old) last year as well. How's he doing? Let's just say that dude has some skills. Here's a clip from this past September:



1. Mikael Backlund (F)
6', 198 lbs - Västerås (SEL)
He got a long look from the Calgary Flames at training camp but didn't do enough in pre-season to stick with the NHL club. Back in Sweden, Backlund plays for Västerås in the Allsvenskan, the league below the SEL where his club team was relegated to a couple of years ago. There he has 7 points in 14 games, slightly ahead of the pace he set last year when he scored 13 points in 37 games at the same level.

The Oilers took some flak for taking Riley Nash when they traded up in 2007, some of that criticism at the time was from me; I'm 3 for 4 with Oiler 1st round picks in the last couple of years during the TEAM 1260's draft coverage... but I predicted Backlund when the Oilers made their move up in 2007. Since then I've kept waiting for Backlund to prove me right and the Oilers wrong but frankly his stats don't scream 'NHL stud' like yoou would expect a player of his hype to have.

He had 7 points in Prague at the 2008 WJC and he should be Sweden's top guy in Ottawa this time around. He turns 20 next March and if Västerås appears headed for another Allsvenskan seeding in 2009-10, I would assume this is a player that the Flames would like to add to their organization at either the NHL or AHL level. I'm looking at this tournament as a way to gauge whether he should be Calgary bound or headed to Quad City.

The Swedes will have a strong team, there is little doubt of that. Peter Loubardias, a good friend of The Pipeline Show, suggested to me that Sweden will be exceptional in Ottawa but perhaps even better in 2010. Aside from the five names I have already mentioned, the 2009 roster is packed with players of interest; Mattias Tedenby (NYR), Simon Hjalmarsson (STL), David Ullstrom (NYI) and Joakim Andersson (DET) included.

Canadians are proud of our hockey history and tradition but sometimes I think we get a little caught up with being the dominant nation on the planet when it comes to sticks and pucks. Sweden has a pretty established record of its own with some individual hi-lights that still stand the test of time today; Markus Naslund still holds the record for most goals scored by a single player in the tournament with 13 back in 1993 while Peter Forsberg is the king when it comes to most assists (24) and points (31) done that same year. Defenceman Peter Andersson holds the record for defensive scoring in a single tournament with 14, set in 1985.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Swedes will be worth watching as they look to get revenge on Canada for the result of the 2008 Final game.

Final Note: It eluded me when I looked over the roster last night but... Oilers prospect Johan Motin is not on the list. He's in his 3rd year in the SEL but apparently isn't good enough for the WJC. That's not a good thing.

Washington 1st rounder, Anton Gustafsson is also a noticeable absentee. He was taken 21st overall in 2008 but has 4 points in 10 games in the Allsvenskan league. I assume he's either hurt or just really, really struggling.

(photos courtesy http://eliteprospects.com/index.php)
(WJC record stats courtesy TSN.ca)

Czech Please!!!!!

As the World Junior Championship inches closer, I am really looking forward to a few player match ups. One is, Jakub Voracek of the Czech Republic vs. Kyle Turris of Canada. To me, Voracek is, and I think will be the best player in the tournament. Will he turn out to be the best player of all time, when compared to those who will lace them up starting Boxing Day? Probably not. But for this tournament, I consider him the best right now. Sure he was drafted 4 spots behind Turris, but he was still taken 7th overall, and very easily could have went 6th to the Oilers. What I think gives the Halifax Moosehead forward the edge over Turris right now, is where he's playing. Voracek, in my opinion is facing better competition than Turris is in Wisconsin of the NCAA. He's playing in a more physical league, and playing more often. He has a ridiculous 50 points in 25 games, compared to Turris' totals of 19 points in 16 games, of which 11 came in 3 early season games. Don't get me wrong, Turris is a phenomenal talent, but I think he missed the boat by not taking the offer from the Vancouver Giants last year or this season. Now, I'm not saying by playing NCAA that Turris won't develop into a great player (I still see him in a Coyote uniform next year) but I think he would have been farther ahead of the game playing under Don Hay in Vancouver. I also think Voracek will get a boost from playing at home and could lead the Czechs to a podium finish.

The other match up I'm drooling over is Victor Hedmen Vs. John Tavares. For so long we've heard about Tavares and his buckets of talent. Sure inside the offensive zone he's like Jimmy Walker from Good Times used to say, Dynamite. But to be that good you have to get there, and Tavares isn't a great skater, which might hurt him on the big ice. There are some inside the hockey world who have told me, if they had the first overall pick in 2 years, Victor Hedman would be their selection and not Tavares. Hedman is 6 foot 5 and 210 pounds, and playing a regular shift in the Swedish Elite league right now. I have been told by one hockey insider that he's better than Chris Pronger was at the same age. If that's the case, than I can't see many teams taking Tavares instead of the Swede first overall.

When Canada takes on Sweden, this will be a match up that will get plenty of attention, so you'll be able to judge for yourself.

Enjoy the tournament...it really is the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy Holidays to all.

Deano