One To Watch: Boston Bruins

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The good news is you've been drafted by an original six team with legendary alumni, a ton of history and recent success as well. The bad news is that you somehow have to crack the roster of a club that has been to the Stanley Cup finals twice in the last three years. 

It's not impossible for a young player to do just that; Tyler Seguin, Brad Marchand and Dougie Hamilton are three examples of players that managed to do it but only undrafted Torey Krug managed to do it out of camp this year and he had last year's playoff performance to help his cause. 

Guys like Carter Camper, Ryan Spooner and Matt Bartkowski have seen spot duty with the Bruins but arguably would have played more had they been in another organization. It's a good problem to have though. 

2012 Choice: Carter Camper - The college standout appeared in 3 games for the Bruins the year previous and I wondered if he'd force his way into more NHL action last year. That didn't happen; he played 57 games in Providence instead, compiling nearly a point per game in that time. Camper is undersized but his numbers at Miami are pretty impressive with 183 points in 156 games. It just might be a case of a guy needing a better opportunity with a thinner organization. 

My selection as One To Watch for the Bruins comes after the jump. 

One To Watch: Pittsburgh Penguins

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Jay Heinbuck pulled a fast one on me. The Director of Amateur Scouting for the Pittsburgh Penguins was a guest on TPS in the weeks leading up to the 2012 NHL Draft and I made the mistake of believing his version of the Pens' strategy. 

According to the Heinbuck the Pens were deep with prospects on the blueline so probably shouldn't be expected to take any early in the draft. Then on draft day Pittsburgh acquires Carolina's 8th overall pick and selects Derrick Pouliot from Portland and then uses their own pick later in the same round on Olli Maatta from London - two defencemen. 

Lesson learned.

Problem was that it was an easy story to believe, Pittsburgh really does have a lot of quality on the back end. That list includes Simon Despres, Scott Harrington, Harrison Ruopp and Brian Dumoulin who they also added from the Hurricanes. 

The team is deep up front too starting with Beau Bennett, my initial pick for this series, who is coming off of injury plagued seasons at Denver but is expected to be an excellent pro. 

I like the goalie situation for the Penguins too with Brad Thiessen, Marty Murray and now Jeff Zatkoff as well. 

But the player who stands out to me is someone I recently got to know a bit better as he guested on The Pipeline Show just yesterday. He's arguably Pittsburgh's top prospect and he's headed for an uncertain pro debut this year.

Team Canada Camp Day 2

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The brass for Team Canada decided to give the players the morning off from on ice activities. Some are healing bumps and bruises while others aren't yet able to skate. Another reason is that most guys played Friday night before jetting to Calgary on Saturday. Here are some notes from the media availability before tonight's 2nd inter squad game.

Rielly Vs. Reinhart at Rexall Place

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The Edmonton Oil Kings pulled out a 2-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors tonight, dominating the tribe 42-18 on the shot clock and jumping into a 3 way tie for first in the central division.

It was a battle of 2012 first round draft prospects, and former D partners as Morgan Rielly went head to head with Griffin Reinhart in front of a ton of scouts. A number of teams sent their head scouts to watch the 2 rear guards.

Penguins Sign Morrow to Entry Level Deal

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The Pipeline Show has learned that the Pittsburgh Penguins have wasted no time inking their most recent first found pick to a contract. Sources tell TPS that the club will announce Wednesday that they have signed defenceman Joe Morrow to a 3-year, entry level contract.

The Penguins selected the Sherwood Park, Alberta native with the 23rd overall pick in this past June's 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Morrow had a strong campaign with the Portland Winterhawks picking up 9 goals and 49 points in 60 regular season games. He contributed 20 points in 21 playoff appearances as the Winterhawks went the distance, losing in the WHL's Championship series to Kootenay.

Morrow is a 6'1, 200 lbs blueliner currently taking part in Hockey Canada's U20 summer camp as he hopes to represent his country at the 2012 World Junior Championship. The event will be held in two Alberta cities; Calgary and in Morrow's own back yard, Edmonton.

(Photo: Bryan Heim / WHL.ca)

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...

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.

Pickin' Brains: Top WHL D-Man for 2011

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Part one of this series came out last week with an in-depth report of how the scouting community views Oil Kings forward Dylan Wruck. Continuing the "Pickin' Brains" series, this week I'm revealing the results of the informal poll of scouts when asked to name the top WHL blueliner available in the Class of 2011.

It was a fairly simple question but I was very surprised by the results of the straw poll. My expectations were that one player would be the clear favourite but that another would get a vote or two. What actually came my way had me shaking my head.

Question #2: Of the WHL defencemen eligible for the 2011 NHL Draft, who is at the top of your own personal list?

The results after the click...