Hemsky, Smyth and Possible Returns

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The NHL Trade Deadline is exactly two weeks away. You'll be able to follow the day's events live as they happen in Edmonton on the TEAM 1260 as every on air guy at the station, including The Pipeline Show, will be a part of the festivities on February 27th.

The Edmonton Oilers are expected to be active and according to TPS weekly guest Daren Millard from Sportsnet, two forwards in particular are expected to move and both might be gone before the 27th.

We spoke with Daren on Saturday morning and in talking about Ales Hemsky and Ryan Smyth, the NHL Insider offered up possible destinations which opens the door to speculation on possible returns.

Tuesday Recap: August 23rd

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After one of the best episodes of The Pipeline Show last weekend the only way we could possibly follow it up was with another stellar line up of guests and that's what we were able to come up with for last night's show. A league commissioner made his TPS debut, we got the no-B.S. insight on the Plymouth Whalers and their off-season activities, one of last year's top NCAA freshmen joined us, a NHL GM kicked off hour 2, we hit Kelowna for a pre-season update and ended the show in the midst of a hot debate.

If you caught this edition of TPS, we know you were entertained.

Hakstol Preparing Sioux for 2011-12

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"The best team doesn't always win." - Red Berenson (head coach, Michigan Wolverines).

That about summed up the feelings of most people who watched the semi-final of the 2011 Frozen Four that saw Berenson's Wolverines upset North Dakota 2-0, abruptly ending the season for the Fighting Sioux.

At the time, UND head coach Dave Hakstol told me that it was a loss that was going to take a very long time to get over. The coach joined me on Tuesday evening's edition of TPS for a pretty candid discussion which I began by asking if he's yet gotten over that devastating defeat.

"It was one of those ends to a season, one of those losses, that I don't think you necessarily can just get over and bypass but yeah... we've turned that page and after a few days you have to turn that page and move on to the next order of business and for us that's obviously building our team and our program for this year."

I spoke at length with coach Hakstol about that process as he and the Sioux get ready for the coming year with a high turnover in player personnel, a good incoming freshmen class, the loss of one key recruit to the CHL (was he surprised?) and the hope that some former depth players will step to the fore in 2011-12.

As usual, coach Hakstol didn't hold much back.

Tuesday Recap: August 16th

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An absolutely loaded show tonight as we had a guest every segment to save me from solo tap dancing during Dean's absence. It started out, unintentionally, to be a coach's show as we brought in 3 bench men in the first hour alone to kick off the program. In hour 2 we spoke with our CHL Insider, an analyst who covered and could recap the Ivan Hlinka tournament and we closed the show with a former CJHL Player of the Year.

Did I mention that it was a kick ass, loaded show?

The Summer of the CHL

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It's been a banner off season for the Canadian Hockey League, and one of disappointment for their NCAA cousin. College hockey has seen teams jump from conference to conference and players leave schools or back out of commitments left right and center and join junior hockey north of the border.

J.T. Miller Heading to Plymouth

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The Pipeline Show has now confirmed with the player himself that New York Rangers prospect J. T. Miller is indeed detouring away from his NCAA commitment to North Dakota and will instead play for the Plymouth Whalers in the OHL.

The Ohio product was chosen 15th overall by the New York Rangers last month at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in Minnesota. His first appearance on The Pipeline Show was back in April and he confirmed to us back then that he would officially decide after the draft where he would play next year.

This is obviously a blow to the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota who have lost 6 of their top 7 scorers from last year to graduation or to pro hockey (Jason Gregoire).

We had asked Miller to appear on the show this weekend but after initially agreeing to do so, he opted to take a pass and join us at a date in the near future instead.

Head To Head: Miller Vs. McNeill

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The NHL draft is fast approaching and we’ve put together some head to head match ups featuring 20 different prospects. We’ve consulted 10 scouts from 10 different organizations to get their opinions in 5 different categories and ultimately, who they would take if they had the final say.

Enjoy these and tune into The Pipeline Show on Saturday June 25th from 10-Noon MST for a complete, in-depth recap of round one and coverage of day 2.

For now here’s H2H: Jonathan (J.T.) Miller vs. Mark McNeill

The Class of 2011 on TPS (Apr - May)

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The final two months of prospect hockey for the 2010-11 season is highlighted by the CHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup which is preceded by the NCAA's Frozen Four. By the end of May, full focus is on the NHL entry draft and the start of most mainstream media's draft coverage begins with the NHL combine in Tornoto at the start of June.

April on TPS saw two of the annual shows that we consider as our second and third "majors" in the season. April saw The Frozen Four was in Minnesota which meant the annual Coach's Show where all four bench bosses joined us to preview the event. The CHL version came in the days leading up to the Memorial Cup in Mississauga and 3 coaches and a General Manager were part of that big show.

But of course the focus of this blog post is on the players eligible for the 2011 NHL Draft and there was certainly no shortage of guests in that regard. Here's the recap...

Saturday Morning Special - May 7th

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With the CHL Playoffs, round 2 in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the RBC playoff round and the World U18s over, the WHL and OHL drafts, there was plenty to talk about on Saturday morning. Dean and I were joined by guests across the continent to cover all of the above plus we spoke with a top prospect of the Toronto Maple Leafs as well.

Tuesday Night In the Prospect World

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Tonight we had a 5 pack of guests and were heavily focused on the 2011 NHL draft as we will be from now until late June. We also spoke to the first ever head coach of Penn State's Division I hockey team and discussed how a head coach with a winning percentage of .414 gets promoted to the General Manager position.