The Hockey News Future Watch 2019

THE SCOUTING REPORT ON scouts these days is pretty simple: thick skin and lots of it. While they’re busy evaluating which speedy, young players have good hands, compete hard and have high hockey IQs, the pressure on these professional talent evaluators is greater than ever. In a salary-cap environment with soon to be 32 NHL franchises, the only way to truly build a contending team is through the draft. Remember back in the day when the New York Rangers or Toronto Maple Leafs would try and buy or trade their way out of trouble? You can’t sign your way or deal your way to the top anymore – though the Columbus Blue Jackets are giving it a shot. You have to do it by finding cheap, young talent, developing these prospects,…

Dear readers, If you’re a subscriber to the print version of The Hockey News, you’ve probably already received your renewal forms in the mail. In them, you’ll find that if you re-up, you’ll be automatically upgraded to the Silver Membership level where, in addition to the print issues that you have been receiving, you’ll also get the digital versions and All-Access to the Membership area at TheHockeyNews.com. We’ve also offered you the opportunity to upgrade to the Gold Membership level, which gets you everything in Silver plus all the Special Issues we produce. Among those premium editions are the Fantasy Pool Guide and Money and Power issues, publications that don’t come with the Silver Membership. The positive feedback I have received from the 2019 Money and Power issue has been overwhelming. Here are…

IF YOU CAN BELIEVE it, there used to be a time when NHL teams drafted goalies with top-three picks. It’s true. Marc-Andre Fleury was the last netminder to claim such a distinction when the Pittsburgh Penguins nabbed him with the No. 1 overall selection in 2003. Three years prior, Rick DiPietro was the first player off the board when the New York Islanders opened up the draft in 2000. But these days, you’re lucky to see a goalie taken in the first 31 selections – and you’re certainly not going to see one go in the top 10. So what happened? From the sounds of it, NHL teams were tired of getting burned. “DiPietro, Dan Blackburn, Jack Campbell, so many guys didn’t make it, and there are only two on a…

TIMING IS EVERYTHING for undrafted NCAA free agents. Sometimes it takes the full four years for a player to be ready for the jump to pro hockey. Sometimes it only takes a season or two. NHL teams are happy to wait for the free development, as long as they get their guy eventually. Some players will also wait until they get their degree or one final run at a national title. This spring, steady St. Cloud State D-man Jimmy Schuldt will definitely sign a contract after a couple years appearing on this list, because he’s a senior and his eligibility is up. Look for Schuldt and Clarkson’s Nico Sturm to be the top prizes amongst NCAA free agents. Listed below are the prominent “new” UFA names from U.S. college and…

THE WORLD JUNIOR Championship is the big stage, where recent first-round picks often play starring roles for their respective countries while NHL fans get an exciting glimpse of “what could be” in the near future for their favorite teams. This year, however, wasn’t quite like that. Detroit’s 2018 first-rounders Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno combined for only three assists at the WJC, while the New York Islanders’ top prospect, Noah Dobson, was limited to a single goal. Instead, it was players taken later in the draft who stole the show. Chicago’s 2018 fourth-rounder Philipp Kurashev tallied six goals in seven games for Switzerland. Columbus pick Emil Bemstrom, a fourth-rounder in 2017, had six points for Sweden. And Washington’s 2018 second-round pick Martin Fehervary was a point-per-game defenseman for Slovakia. None of…

AS A PLAYER, Red Kelly was everything Ted Lindsay was not. The former was big and graceful, never recording more than 39 penalty minutes in any season of his NHL career and winning the Lady Byng Trophy as the league’s most gentlemanly player four times. His elegance and tact got him elected into the Canadian parliament while he was still playing. The latter was a 5-foot-8 whirling dervish who literally punched way above his weight, used his stick as a scythe, earned a complexion that looked like a road map and thumbed his nose at the establishment at every turn. But from the time Kelly first met Lindsay, exactly 75 years ago when a 16-year-old Kelly was playing for the midget team and an 18-year-old Lindsay was skating for the Jr.…