One To Watch: Florida Panthers

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Another club with a lot of prospect depth is Florida who has chosen to add veterans to the roster meaning much of their youth will continue to develop in the minors. Recent additions of Tim Thomas, Scott Gomez, Brad Boyes, Ryan Whitney and Tom Gilbert mean the likes of Jacob Markstrom, Nick Bjugstad, Quinton Howden and Alex Petrovic won't be as much of a factor this year as expected just a month ago.

Tough break for those young players but down the road they may be the biggest beneficiaries of those signings.

2012 Choice: Rocco Grimaldi - Injured seriously and early in his freshman season, Grimaldi was given a do over and made good on it last year with North Dakota. His 36 points in 40 games was bested only by a pair of seniors so Grimaldi's year has to be considered a major one offensively. He was part of USA's gold medal at the 2013 WJC in Russia going from scape goat to hero over the course of the 10-day event. Grimaldi is poised to have a massive year as a sophomore at North Dakota.  

My 2013-14 selection as One To Watch for Florida comes after the jump. 

One To Watch: New York Islanders

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With the Islanders, how are you supposed to narrow it down to just one guy? Seriously, with a prospect pool bursting at the seams at every position, how can a person be expected to single out one guy as the most intriguing story to follow in 2012-13?

The sideshow that can come from Kirill Kabanov is certainly deserving of a mention. But so are Ryan Strome, Rhett Rakhshani, Casey Cizikas, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee. And that's just from the forwards!

You probably assumed I'd go with Griffin Reinhart because he plays in my backyard with the Edmonton Oil Kings but this series will have a few of his teammates and I wanted to spread it around. But Reinhart is definitely worthy of being the guy, as are fellow Islander defencemen Andrey Pedan, Adam Pelech, Brenden Kichton and Ville Pokka.

I think you'd agree that it's pretty tough to narrow it down to one guy but since I came up with the rule I can only blame myself. In the end, I settled on a defenceman from Missouri.

The Jesse Martin Story

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Saturday on TPS we'll be joined by Mike Chambers, a writer for the Denver Post who's 3 part series on Spruce Grove product and former Denver Pioneer Jesse Martin is a must read.

Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 and tune in starting at 10 am mst on the TEAM 1260 in Edmonton or online by clicking listen live here.

2 Players Confirm College Intentions

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This weekend two high profile players went on the record confirming that their planned path to the NHL still runs through the NCAA. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but in light of the "Summer of the CHL" and the recent comments from one very influential WHL General Manager, it's news certainly worth mentioning.

Saturday Morning Special - July 23rd

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Back from the 3rd annual TPS Invitational Golf Tournament in Jasper, we were happy to be joined by three live guests but also selected 3 highlight interviews from the first 6 seasons of The Pipeline Show. We spoke with a top prospect who was recently involved in a major NHL trade, we chatted with the voice of another CHL team and also heard from a new media contact south of the border about the ramifications of the NCHC.

We opened our vault and picked a trio of must-listen conversations we had in the past, two with Hall of Famers looking back at their junior days and another spotlighting an infamous moment during the 1987 World Junior Championship.

Denver Senior in 'Stable Condition' After Hit

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A scary incident in Saturday's Denver/North Dakota game saw Pioneers senior Jesse Martin, who hails from Edmonton, suffered 3 fractures to his vertebrae after being hit by North Dakota senior Brad Malone. Martin was airlifted from Grand Forks to Minneapolis where he is still in hospital.

An update and the video follows...

Colborne breaks finger

Not only did the Denver Pioneers lose to Ohio State University last night, but they also lost star forward Joe Colborne. Colborne broke his finger and underwent surgery after the game. He may require more surgery and his time out of hte line up isn't known.

The former Camrose Kodiak will be a guest on The Pipeline Show this coming Tuesday, we will call him as it may be hard for him to dial right now.