The Hockey News Draft Preview 2019

THE ONE THING MORE challenging than picking the Stanley Cup finalists – we’re looking at you, Winnipeg and Tampa Bay – is projecting which draft-eligible goalies are going to turn into stars or even NHL regulars. It’s a risky proposition that has scouts, and by connection Draft Preview through the years, wrong a lot more often than right. Take a look at the goalies who made it through the first round of this year’s very strange NHL playoffs. We see a lot of late-round draft gems, which is a theme in our NHL team stories in Draft Preview (pgs. 54-69). Two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky was a late birthday available in the 2007 draft. He played just eight games that season for Metallurg in Russia, wasn’t on any scout’s radar…

Dear readers, Draft Preview, one of our signature products, is always a special issue, but this year it carries even more weight than usual. The edition you’re holding marks the launch of a new era as we return to our longtime Transcontinental printer, RBW. Why should you care? Because the reconnection with the Owen Sound, Ont.-based printer allows us to deliver to you perfect-bound editions (the spine is glued, not stapled), with more pages per issue and a thicker cover. At a time when most of the publishing world is shrinking, we’re growing, reaching new plateaus in terms of quality and quantity. The Hockey News has never been better. For those of you not familiar, we were part of the Transcontinental family for decades. We were the first English-language title purchased by Transcontinental’s…

ONE LOOK AT THE roster for USA Hockey’s under-17 development team for the 2019-20 season tells a pretty interesting story. First, it’s really, really good. At forward, you have Tyler Boucher, Redmond Savage, Ryan St-Louis, Caden Brown and Colby Saganiuk. See where we’re going here? What’s compelling is not that four of those five players descend from Canadian bloodlines, but that all five of them have a father or grandfather who played in the NHL. Which means the stands for their games will not only be chock full of NHL scouts scouring for 2021 draft talent, they’ll also be occupied by a group of former NHL players who combined for 3,142 games, scored 794 goals and 2,102 points, won a Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal and once had a…

2002 1. Eric Nystrom, 10th overall Father: Bob Nystrom, 900 NHL games 2. Alex Steen, 24th overall Father: Thomas Steen, 950 games 2003 1. Robert Nilsson, 15th overall Father: Kent Nilsson, 553 games 2. Zach Parise, 17th overall Father: Jean-Paul Parise, 890 games 3. Jeff Tambellini, 27th overall Father: Steve Tambellini, 553 games 4. Patrick Eaves, 29th overall Father: Mike Eaves, 324 games 5. Danny Richmond, 31st overall Father: Steve Richmond, 159 games 6. Colin McDonald, 51st overall Father: Gerry McDonald, 8 games 7. B.J. Crombeen, 54th overall Father: Mike Crombeen, 475 games 2004 1. Chris Bourque, 33rd overall Father: Ray Bourque, 1,612 games 2. Logan Stephenson, 35th overall Father: Bob Stephenson, 18 games 2005 1. Tyler Plante, 32nd overall Father: Cam Plante, 2 games 2. Brendan Mikkelson, 31st overall Father: Bill Mikkelson, 147 games 3. Taylor Chorney, 36th overall Father: Marc Chorney, 210 games 4. Paul Stastny, 44th overall Father: Peter Stastny, 977 games 2006 1. Nick Foligno, 28th overall Father: Mike Foligno, 1,018 games 2.…

EVERY NHL TEAM HAS good years and bad years at the draft, but not all good years are created equal. Some teams have repeatedly pulled epic groups of players in a single year, from Hall of Famers to long-term NHLers. Other teams have struggled so much they’ve been lucky to land one great player in a single draft. Paring down a list of every team’s greatest draft class was a difficult task. The Edmonton Oilers, for instance, picked Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson and Kevin Lowe in 1979 and Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri and Andy Moog in 1980. Their second-best draft might rank top-five in NHL history. Alas, every team only gets one nominee for this exercise (not every pick is listed – just a team’s notable selections). The rules are arbitrary,…

TWO MONTHS BEFORE THE NHL draft, Jack Hughes is sitting at the dining room table in his family’s home in Canton, Mich. A continuous loop of the NHL Network is playing on the big-screen TV in the family room just a few feet away, where his father Jim is relaxing in a recliner. “First five picks in 2013. Go!” Jim says. “OK. MacKinnon, Barkov, Drouin, Jones…” Jack replies, stuck on No. 5. “If you give me the team, I think I can get it,” he says. He’s told it’s Carolina. “Oh yeah, then it’s Lindholm. And Monahan sixth, right?” There are some people who were put on Earth to play hockey. Jack Hughes is one of them. One of the first photos of Hughes is of a chubby, bald, 12-day-old baby…