One To Watch: Winnipeg Jets

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I don't think I would suggest Winnipeg has the best crop of prospects but they might have my favourite group of young players. That opinion is largely influenced because of the number of WHL veterans the Jets have drafted and therefore, the number I have seen and dealt with the most. 

I really like the drafting by the Jets the last few years even though I wasn't sure they picked the best player available when they took Mark Scheifele, even that selection is panning out well. 

Eric Comrie, Josh Morrissey, Brendan Kichton, Nic Petan, Jimmy Lodge, JC Lipon - and that's just the class of 2013! Add to that mix Jacob Trouba, Scott Kosmachuk, Juho Olkinuora... there is a ton of talent in the system. 

2012 Choice: Jacob Trouba - Anyone who has heard The Pipeline Show probably knows I'm a massive Trouba booster. I said it before the 2012 draft that he was my top D-man of the class and I hold to that now. I thought he was terrific at the 2012 WJC in Edmonton as an underage player but he was on a completely different level in Russia last year. At Michigan he nearly led the team in scoring as a freshman and this year with the Jets he's already playing nearly 22 minutes a night. S-T-U-D.

My selection for One To Watch for 2013-14 with the Jets comes after the jump.

CHLPA Still A Big Mystery

“Within 10 days everything will come to light,” - Sandra Slater, CHLPA on August 20th.

The Canadian Hockey League Players Association has made a lot of noise over the last few weeks but very little is still known about who they are, what they want and how they hope to achieve their goals. 

It's also still unclear whether a CHLPA is actually needed or even supported by the players in the CHL.

Despite the declaration quoted above, 16 days later we're still left with more questions than we have answers.

Top 5 Tuesdays: Western Canadians for U18s

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The 2011 World U18 will be held in Dresden Germany beginning on April 9th. As always, that start time means Canada will be severely shorthanded as most of their best players will still be playing in the CHL playoffs. That will also affect some European teams as they may have two or three players overseas in the same situation.

Team USA, however, is hardly affected at all since the vast majority of the team that will head to Germany next month will consist of the U18/U17 program out of Ann Arbor. There may be a player added from outside that mix, perhaps two like last year when Austin Watson (Peterborough, OHL) and Connor Brickley (Des Moines, USHL) were added. It's not a coincidence that USA has had their way at the event over the last several years because of this.

Canada will enter a team made up of players who failed to reach the post season in the CHL or were eliminated quickly in the first round. They will be able to draw from some of Jr.A teams and NCAA clubs too. With the Frozen Four ending ending on April 9th, that may be cutting it too close for the two teams in the Finals but, for the purpose of today's list, let's assume it's not.

We'll also go by the WHL standings as of today - things may change but the team outside of the playoffs and therefore available for Hockey Canada are: Calgary, Regina, Swift Current, Lethbridge, Kamloops and Seattle. Also keeping in mind that players must be born in 1993 or more recently.

Here now are the top 5 players available to Hockey Canada that meet all the above terms and conditions...

Top 5 Tu... er, Sunday: WHL 2nd Round Forwards

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Our weekly Top 5 lists always come out on Tuesdays but this past week we missed it (Dean tied up at the Canadian Finals Rodeo for Global TV and me... sleeping) so you can consider this one a make up for 5 days ago. That, plus with NHL Central Scouting's list coming out on Monday, I wanted my thoughts to come out a bit before just for the sake of not following in their footsteps.

Today I'm looking at the Top 5 forwards out of the WHL that right now, aren't getting a lot of consideration as 1st round picks. Come June, one or two of these guys might have played their way into the top 30, but at this point in mid-November, no one has really been suggesting that they are 1st rounders.