Coming Down the Pipe Tonight!!!

Who are the teams to watch in the WHL as they get set for the post season? Guy and I will discuss the eastern conference tonight and welcome Tri City G.M. Bob Tory to the show for the western conference perspective.

As Aaron Vickers from Future Considerations reported earlier, Mikael Tam has been suspended for a hit from behind by the QMJHL. Tam if you'll remember is the player who was knocked silly by Patrice Cormier who was benched by the league for the rest of the season. Does this prove that hockey players learn nothing from previous experience?

We also plan on touching on some of the top Russian prospects for the upcoming draft. Check back for Top 5 Tuesday later today.


As for our guest list, Kevin Marsh is an assistant coach with the Spruce Grove Saints - the top Junior A team in the country - as well as an instructor with Pipeline Show supporter The Hockey Program so we'll get his thoughts on the AJHL playoffs as well as some upcoming events at The Hockey Program.

Nick Bjugstad is the top rated high school hockey prospect for the 2010 draft, and he's a big boy. We'll introduce you to Nick, who should be graduating next year, but he'll be busy playing for the Minnesota Golden Gophers after accelerating his studies so he can graduate a year earlier.

Patrik Killeen is a name Penguin fans should start to get to know. He was a 6th round pick 2 years ago and his having a terrific year on an average team from Brampton of the OHL.

And finally, our first guest of the night will be Ken Schott, a writer who covers the ECAC conference of the NCAA. The playoffs are underway, were there any big upsets? Who should represent the conference in the Frozen Four?

The answers to these questions and more tonight on The Pipeline Show, where the future of hockey plays here...now.

Listen live on the TEAM 1260 in the Edmonton area, or online through www.thepipelineshow.com. If you have a thought or question for Guy, myself or any of our guests, you can pipe up by dropping us a line at pipeup@theteam1260.com.

Stars Prospect Snap Shot

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The Stars haven’t drafted a super star since taking Jarome Iginla 11th overall in 1995, and while he never helped them directly, Iginla did net them current G.M. Joe Nieuwendyk as a player who played a large role in Dallas winning the 1999 Stanley Cup. The franchise – going back to Minnesota – still has a first overall pick in the line up with Mike Modano, and guys like Brenden Morrow, James Neal and Jamie Benn are making the stars scouting staff look good.

Here’s who else Dallas scouts are counting on in the future.

This n' That

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I've been sick for the last handful of days and so I've been stuck at home (skipped a pretty entertaining Edmonton vs Saskatoon game yesterday) spending most of my time reading or watching things online. When that happens I find all sorts of things that get my mind going.

Here's a few thoughts that I've had bouncing around inside my cranium the last few days.

Islanders Prospect Snap Shot

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The Islanders joined the NHL in 1972 in what was a move by the league to keep the WHA from setting up stakes in the area. The team failed to reach the playoffs in its first two years which is to be expected, but success started to come in season three when the Islanders reached the semi-finals. They lost that year and again the next two seasons but 3 semi-final appearances in their first 5 years was tremendous.

As the 70's came to an end so did the domination of the Montréal Canadiens. The New York Islanders captured their first of four consecutive Stanley Cup Championships at the end of the 1979-80 with an overtime goal by tough guy Bob Nystrom. The club played in 5 straight finals losing the last to the Edmonton Oilers who would then go on to establish their own dynasty. Still, no team has captured 4 straight Stanley Cup titles since the Islanders of the early 80's.

Some of the modern era legends that have worn the Islanders sweater include Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Clake Gillies, Pat LaFonataine, Dennis Potvin, Billy Smith and Brent Sutter.

Here is a look at some of the top prospects Coming Down the Pipe for the New York Islanders...

Oilers Prospect Snap Shot

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Despite their late arrival into the NHL Edmonton has as many Stanley Cups as original 6 franchise Boston, one more then the rangers and their 5 titles are 2 more than Chicago. However their last cup win was 20 years ago and only once since then have they advanced to the cup final. The current scouting staff gets lambasted for bad picks like Jesse Niinimaki and Marc Pouliot while passing on players like Cam Ward and take your pick from 2003. However there have been some very good non first round picks and the cupboard is as stocked as well as it’s ever been right now.

Here’s a look as the Oilers prospect snap shot.

AHL Prez On Deck For Aircraft Carrier Game

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A couple of weeks ago the AHL held an outdoor game which featured the Syracuse Crunch and the Binghamton Senators. This past Tuesday evening on The Pipeline Show we had the opportunity to speak with AHL President Dave Andrews about that event as well as some other timely subjects. We touched on this year's version of the outdoor game and our conversation grew from there.

You'll recall that last year it was reported right here at Coming Down the Pipe that there was another proposal for an outdoor game which would have captured the imagination of hockey fans everywhere. Something so incredible that "it couldn't possibly be legitimate". An idea "too good to be true" "bordering somewhere between fantasy and ludicrous".

Right?

Penguins Prospect Snap Shot

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The Penguins have drafted inside the top five 14 different times, with 3 of those picks being number one overall. They have 3 Stanley Cups to show for their high draft picks with players like Mario Lemieux, Marc Andre Fleury and Sidney Crosby being the 3 number one picks. Players like Evgeni Malkin, Jaromir Jagr and Jordan Staal were other top 5 picks who helped with cups, while Craig Simpson who was drafted 2nd overall was packaged for defenceman Paul Coffey. Pittsburgh gave up picks and prospects a few years ago to get Marian Hossa at the deadline, but the well isn’t dry.

Here’s a look at the Penguins prospect snap shot.

QMJHL Update

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Lots of news from the QMJHL this week, and it isn’t all good.

I’m going to start with the good stuff, and if you want controversy, dirt, and gossip you’ll have to click through for more!

Goalie Jake Allen of the defending champion Drummondville Voltigeurs is red hot right now. The league named him defensive player of the month Tuesday after he went 11-1 with a 1.59 goals-against average and .945 save percentage. After back-to-back shutouts, he finally allowed a goal Sunday, stopping his shutout streak at 188 minutes, 47 seconds, second-longest in league history.

It’s nice to see the St. Louis Blues prospect hasn’t hung his head since Canada’s disappointing loss in the gold-medal game at the world junior championship. Allen leads the league with a 2.30 GAA and .920 SP.

In other good news, top NHL draft prospect Kirill Kabanov of the Moncton Wildcats is back in action after missing most of the season with a wrist injury.

The 17-year-old from Moscow scored in his first two games back, and had four points in four games heading into Tuesday’s action. While he’s played just 15 games thanks to the injury and transfer problems from Russia, he’s tallied 18 points and sits No. 7 on the International Scouting Services ranking of eligible draft prospects.

“He’s played pretty solid hockey considering that he missed almost 40 games,” said Moncton coach and director of hockey operations Danny Flynn, who thought he might lose Kabanov for the season at one point.

Top 5 Tuesday: Projected 2nd Rounders

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With the NHL trade deadline on the immediate horizon and the recent flurry of activity that has included 2nd round picks, it's probably time to look at the list of names projected to still be available with the 30-60th picks this June.

The Florida Panthers have acquired a pair of 2nd rounders in the last month, the first coming from Montréal for Dominic Moore and the second coming back from the Penguins in exchange for defenceman Jordan Leopold. New Jersey and Atlanta swapped second rounders this year in the multi-asset deal that featured Ilya Kovalchuk. In early February the Carolina Hurricanes sent Niclas Wallin to San Jose and got the Sabres' 2nd rounder (acquired by San Jose in 2008) and then also picked up Ottawa's for Matt Cullen. Yesterday the Edmonton Oilers collected the 2nd rounder that the Nashville Predators had in exchange for Denis Grebeshkov. Today the Islanders sent Andy Sutton to Ottawa for the pick the Senators got from the Sharks in the Dany Heatley deal.

Boston currently holds Toronto's and Tampa Bay's 2nd rounder as well as their own as well.

By no means do we think those teams are certain to be using those picks to select players, it's as likely that they'll try and use them as trade fodder to move even higher. Still, should efforts to do that fail, plan B is still pretty good as there are players in the Class of 2010 who will be available in round 2 that teams will be happy to draft. Is there a Ryan O'Reilly among them? Only time will tell.

Here are 5 guys who have peaked my interest who are currently listed outside the top 20 in North America/top 5 in Europe by NHL Central Scouting including goalies not named Calvin Pickard and Jack Campbell.

Contests, Polls, Guest List, and Youth Being Served at Olympic Games

We gave away the first of our 3 monthly Sports Performance Analyzer-coaches drill package today. If you want to get your hands on one you need to enter here.

Don't forget to head to our main site and vote on our weekly poll about who will represent the QMJHL at the Memorial Cup.

It's a topic we'll be talking about tonight with our Q insider Nathan White. We'll also speak with Oilers head amateur scout Stu MacGregor who recently took in the Windsor/Plymouth game featuring the top 3 picks for this June's draft. AHL commish David Andrews will lead off our guest list tonight, there's been team movement in the minor leagues and we'll find out what rule changes the NHL might be in store for as the AHL is the test pattern for that. Paula Weston from USCHO.com will preview the CCHA playoffs in the college game, and our 2010 draft prospect is Erik Gudbranson of the Kingston Frontenacs, who's a big mobile blueliner.

Listen online at www.thepipelineshow.com, from 7-9 PM MST, and if you want to get involved drop us a comment or question for one of our guests, pipeup@thepipelineshow.com.

One topic Guy and I will be discussing is how youth was served recently at the Olympics. Check out this breakdown of guys who not that long ago were playing in junior or college.

2005 WJC – 25 total players

Canada (7) – Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Getzlaf, Cory Perry, Mike Richards, Shea Weber, Brent Seabrook
Russia (3) – Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Radulov
Belarus (3) – Kostytsin bros, Andrei Karev
Czech Republic (3) – David Krejci, Roman Cervenka, Roman Polak,
Finland – O
Germany (3)- Tomas Greiss, Kai Hospelt, Andre Rankel
SWitzerland (3) – Rafael Riaz, Roman Wick, Julien sprunger
USA (2) – Ryan Suter, Phil Kessel
SWE (1) – Loui Erikkson

Drafted in last 7 years - 37 players total

2009 – 0
2008 – 2 – Doughty-Can, Sbisa-SUI
2007 – 1 – Kane-USA,
2006 – 5 - Johnson-USA, Toews-Can, Backstrom-Swe, Kessel-USA, Varlamov-Rus,
2005 – 3 -Crosby-Can, Ryan-USA, Jack Johnson-USA,
2004 – 3 - Radulov-Rus, Malkin-Rus, Ovechkin-Rus
2003 – 20 - (12 first rounders) Fleury-Can, Staal-Can, Michalek-CZE, Suter-USA,
A Kostystsin-Bel, Brown-USA, Seabrook-Can, Parise-USA, Getzlaf-Can, Kesler-USA, Richards – Can, Perry-Can, Weber-Can, Eriksson-Swe, Bergeron-Can, Backes-USA, Enstrom-Swe, Pavelski-USA, Hejda-CZE, Kukkonen-Fin

How many guys from the 2003 draft would not have played in the 2005 WJC if the lock out didn't happen?