Looks like a bad year for teams to go into the tank. In perhaps the weakest draft to come along in years, there is just one player considered a can't miss prospect. He is Moscow forward Alexandre Volchkov, 18, now playing for the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League. Some teams might even trade up for him.
"He's worth moving up for," said scouting director Craig Button of the Dallas Stars, one of the teams near the bottom. "But it would depend on what you'd have to give up."
The NHL's Central Scouting Service listed its mid-term rankings of the top 78 skaters in North America and its top 10 goaltenders. Of that list, 40 players will compete in the first-ever Top Prospects game Feb. 15 in Toronto. The game, not an All-Star game, will be highly competitive as draftable players in effect audition against the best talent in front of 4,000 scouts.
The game will help those scouts fine tune their own lists of the best players available in the upcoming draft.
"There is no clear cut Eric Lindros in this draft, no way," Button said. "We've got Volchkov No. 1 because he's a big left wing who can skate and score. But I'm sure some team with no defense would say Chris Phillips is the No. 1 pick in this draft."
Phillips, 17, is a 6-2, 200-pound defenseman playing at the Western Hockey League's Prince Albert. Phillips skates well both backwards and forwards, is considered a good passer and is not afraid of contact. Comparisons to NHLers are unfair to 17-year-olds, but if Phillips pans out, he'd be a Scott Stevens-type player.
The rest of the Central Scouting Top 5 has Moose Jaw forward Matt Higgins, a 6-2, 175 pound center, at No. 3; Josh Holden, a 6-0, 167 pound center from Regina, at No. 4; and defenseman Remi Royer, 6-2, 190, playing for St. Hyacinthe, at No. 5. Central Scouting releases its final list in April.
Button's top five differs from Central Scouting's.
BUTTON AND THE STARS have Volchkov at No. 1 and Phillips at No. 2. But they put Andrei Zyuzin of Russia, a 6-1, 187-pound defenseman playing for Ufa, No. 3 on their list. The Stars then have Boyd Devereaux, a 6-1, 175 pound center playing for Kitchener, as their No. 4, while Central Scouting has Devereaux at No. 6. And at No. 5 on the Stars' list is Chris Hajt (pronounced HYght), a 6-4, 206 pound defenseman now playing at Guelph. Hajt is No. 29 on the Central Scouting List.
Why do the Stars have him so high?
"There is a guy like him on every winning team," Button said. "He's so stable; he's a workhorse. He can play in any situation on the ice. He doesn't do one thing great, but he does a lot of things well."
Why does Central Scouting have Hajt so low?
"We can't figure that out," Button said. "But we're not worried about it. We have enough confidence in our scouting ability to trust ourselves. And, of course, that's where we have him today. If we have him too high, now we can watch him to see how he continues to develop."
And just because he's No. 29 on the Central Scouting list now doesn't mean he'll end up there. "Chris was tough to rank," said Frank Bonello, the NHL's director of scouting. "At the outset we thought he'd be a first-rounder. He might be by season's end.
"He can play more aggressive," Bonello said. "He could be meaner. He's got to finish his checks. Opposing forwards must realize they've been hit when he checks them."
Here is the Stars thinking in a draft:
Everyone agrees this draft is weak in goaltenders. Craig Hillier, playing for the Ottawa 67s, is the top ranked goalie, but it is doubtful he's a first-round pick.
"There are no goaltenders in this draft," Button said. "That's the one glaring weakness."
As it did last year, the NHL will use a weighted lottery system to decide who gets the top pick this year. The 10 teams who finish out of the playoffs will be in the lottery, but no team can move up more than three spots. Los Angeles, for example, won the drawing last year and moved from sixth to third in order of selection. The worst any team can do is fall back one slot. The draft is June 22 in St. Louis.
Shortly before Kevin Stevens was traded from the Bruins to Los Angeles for Rick Tocchet, Stevens was ready to sit down and rest for several games with a sore back.
"The last game (Monday in Pittsburgh) it was the worst it's been," Stevens told Boston reporters. "I've got some real tightness in my back now. I'm having trouble just bending over."
Stevens has a degenerating disk in his back. Tocchet, who has had a shoulder problem recently, has also had some back problems in his career.
He wants to go for all the marbles in a Feb. 5 home game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Roy had 296 career victories -- 289 of them with the Canadiens -- as of Thursday.
"All I wish is to win my next three and to win that 300th against them," Roy told the Rocky Mountain News. "Three hundred is a nice accomplishment because it's something not many goalies have done. But I hope I can even get to 400 some day."
Andy Moog is the only active goalie with more than 300 wins.
The top 10 list:
The Oilers, with a competitive team that has a shot at the playoffs, are drawing less than 11,500 per game. If that doesn't improve, the team is a good bet to move.
"I'm still getting six or seven mayors calling me once a week saying they'll give me their building for $1 (in rent)," Oilers owner Peter Pocklington said. He also said he doesn't want the team to leave Edmonton.
BUT THE FACT REMAINS THAT in order to qualify for a $5 million handout from the NHL, the Oilers have to sell 13,000 season tickets (they've sold 6,000 full season-ticket plans and some partial plans), they must sell all of their dasherboard advertising space (27 of 38 dasherboards have been sold), and they must sell out all of their luxury boxes (15 are left).
For his part, Bettman is on record wanting the Oilers to remain in Edmonton. But he knows a problem when he sees one.
"Look, I'm not here to issue threats or talk about deadlines," Bettman told the Edmonton Journal. "I look at a lot of games on satellite, and I'm not always looking at the game or the score. I'm looking at the seats and the dasherboards. If there's only going to be 9,000 people at the games ..."
Pocklington, if he decides to move the Oilers, would have to first offer it for sale locally at the price of $70 million (U.S.).
Florida Panthers: When Florida went on a three-game losing streak, people wondered if the Panthers had finally hit the wall. Well, they went 4-1-3 after that and are right in the thick of it in the East. ... The Panthers finally had someone on their roster record a hat trick. Johan Garpenlov did it in a win Tuesday over Washington.
New Jersey Devils: As much as the Devils love Neal Broten, and they do love Neal Broten, whenever a player stands up to New Jersey management, he is usually dealt. Kirk Muller held out and was traded to Montreal. Claude Lemieux challenged his contract and was traded, eventually landing in Colorado. Broten skipped a practice, and it's a good bet that Lou Lamoriello will move Broten. But where? Dallas would like to have him back to finish his career with the Stars, but Dallas doesn't need a checking center. Lamoriello isn't likely to trade Broten within the Eastern Conference if he can avoid it. Lots of scouts have been at Devils games lately.
New York Rangers: The Rangers, 17-0-5 in their past 22 at home, are two games away from tying their franchise record home unbeaten streak. The 1970-71 Rangers went 24 games without a loss at Madison Square Garden. This season's Rangers, who haven't lost at home since Oct. 22, face the New York Islanders, Feb. 8, and Montreal, Feb. 15, to try to tie the streak. They could break the record Feb. 22, against the Islanders.
Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers had seven ties in their last 12 games as of Friday. ... Mikael Renberg was on injured reserve and will miss at least a week with a pulled lower abdominal muscle.
Edmonton Oilers : Goalie Curtis Joseph will soon shed his familar mask of fangs for a new mask with an oil drop and other elements. ... The Oilers sent Jason Bonsignore to Cape Breton, where he had just one assist in his first four games. ... The Oilers, bowing to pressure from fans, erected a smoking tent just outside Northlands Coliseum for those who smoke. The first night it was open it was full, despite being 32-below outside.
Los Angeles Kings: The Kings were 1-13-2 in their past 16 road games ... Kings coach Larry Robinson played polo in Florida during the All-Star break.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Kirk Muller, traded to Toronto, joins Doug Gilmour, both of whom are from Kingston, Ontario. Muller's parents lived next door to Gilmour's sister in Kingston. Gilmour played for a team managed by Muller's dad. They both became captains of Canada's two most storied NHL franchises, Gilmour with Toronto, Muller with Montreal ... Goalie Damian Rhodes, who went to Ottawa in the three-way deal that brought Muller to Toronto, cried when he was leaving Maple Leaf Gardens.
Vancouver Canucks: Vancouver signed Glenn Anderson to a $400,000 contract to play the rest of this season in his native city. But because he played in Europe, he had to clear waivers first. Edmonton grabbed him. It was not initially clear whether Anderson would report to that team. ... The Canucks, as of Friday, had one less home win than the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies, who had seven in their inaugural year.
Winnipeg Jets: Those Jets who did not go to Boston for the All-Star game spent the break in Phoenix on a junket to see their new city. Coach Terry Simpson said they all received a clear message: it will be easier to sell the NHL in what is now a four-sport market if the Jets make the playoffs.
"He certainly doesn't look happy. It's a tough environment for him right now. It's obviously been a tough two weeks since the story broke, and I'm sure he's tired of all the questions. To see him not happy is tough. He realizes there's not a lot of time, years left." -- Mark Messier, on his friend Wayne Gretzky and the trade rumors surrounding The Great One.
"There are songs I like that he's never heard of and songs he likes that I can't understand." -- Ray Bourque, 35, on rooming with 18-year-old Kyle McLaren and who controls the radio in the hotel room.
"The fans loved me when I made $200,000. Now that I've signed the contract, it's changed the way Winnipeg people look at me. They just say I've changed because I've signed that contract, because the business side took over this story. People are having trouble with the reality. The deal was done, and it was for $6 million. It's tough for people to understand, but I know I'm going to be ridiculed because of my salary. I'm not just Keith Tkachuk. I'm $6 million man Keith Tkachuk, and that irks me, too." -- Keith Tkachuk, on the pressure of having signed a $17.2 million five-year contract with a first-year salary of $6 million.
In addition to writing this exclusive column for SportsLine USA, Terry Egan covers the NHL for the Dallas Morning News.
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