The Hockey News

top 100 - hockey’s best players 21 and under #45-100

45. MARTIN NECAS POS: C AGE: 20 LAST YEAR: 44TEAM: CAROLINA (NHL) DRAFT: 12TH, 2017 (CAR) Grooming Necas conservatively paid dividends, as spending most of 2018-19 in the AHL yielded a Calder Cup title run with Charlotte. His great hands helped him pile up assists at that level. Finally sticking in the NHL, he’s toiled as a winger early, but he’s a natural center. 46. SAMUEL GIRARD POS: D AGE: 21 LAST YEAR: NRTEAM: COLORADO (NHL) DRAFT: 47TH, 2016 (NSH) The Avs have so many good young blueliners that Girard gets overshadowed. His mobility is excellent, and he can run a power play, but he’s also being entrusted with a top-pair assignment alongside shutdown man Erik Johnson. Girard can defend in the modern style. 47. ADAM BOQVIST POS: D AGE: 19 LAST YEAR: 58TEAM: ROCKFORD (AHL) DRAFT:…

cheap vets over young bucks

RECYCLING IS BIG THESE days. Even in the NHL. Don’t be surprised to see a multi-year low number of rookies break into the NHL this season. Strangely, in our annual Prospects Unlimited issue that trumpets the up-and-comers, the next wave, the fresh faces, this instead has become the season of the recycled veteran. Blame this one-year aberration on a salary cap that didn’t go up a whole lot from the previous season. And it’s many of the high-profile rookies who are feeling the squeeze. Most teams expected the NHL salary cap to rise from $79.5 million in 2018-19 to north of $83 million this year. That was the indication throughout last season. (After all, it did rise six percent from $75 million to $79.5 million the season before.) But the increase was…

the hockey news

Executive Chairman & Publisher, Roustan Media Ltd.W. Graeme Roustan Editor in Chief Jason Kay Creative DirectorErika Vanderveer Senior Editor Brian Costello Managing Editor Edward Fraser Senior Writers Ken CampbellRyan KennedyMatt Larkin Features Editor Sam McCaig Art Director Shea Berencsi Designer Samantha Fortomaris Web Editor Jared Clinton Digital Content ProducerSteven Ellis Editor At LargeRonnie Shuker InternsCole DonnachieAlan DownwardNick EmanuelliBradshaw FurlongDavid LynchStuart Miller-Davis Director of BusinessJamie Lavin Special AdvisorTo The PublisherCaroline Andrews, Ivy Draper Advertising: Contact Valerie Hall Daigle,Director of Sales416-847-8187advertise@thehockeynews.com Subscriptions:1-888-361-9768www.thehockeynews.com/mag One-year Subscription Price$39.95 + tax for print and digital$29.95 + tax for digital The Hockey News (ISSN 0018-3016) publishes 19 issues per year, including Money & Power, Pool Guide, Yearbook and Collector’s Edition.(Money & Power and Pool Guide are only included with Gold Membership for $49.95) Mail In CanadaThe Hockey News, PO Box 5300, STN Industrial Park, Markham, ON L3R 9Z9 Mail In the USThe Hockey News, PO Box 904,…

more info, fewer busts?

CRAIG BUTTON ISN’T buying it. Anecdotally, the theory makes sense, but he needs more. The idea posed to him: that NHL draft scouting has become more accurate in the past few decades and that we may never see another Alexandre Daigle, Patrik Stefan or Nail Yakupov again, because we simply have more information than ever at our disposal. “How is it more accurate?” Button challenges. “What’s your benchmark for defining a draft bust? Is it 400 games? Because if that’s your benchmark, it’s not true. The success rate hasn’t changed.” You know that lovely feeling when you have a theory, you crunch the numbers, and they reveal exactly what you hypothesized? This is not one of those times. The assumption was that scouting has become more accurate, but the numbers don’t support…

jersey hound

NEW MEXICO ICE WOLVES | 2019-20 EVER SINCE THE NORTH American League’s expansion New Mexico Ice Wolves unveiled their logo in April, we were waiting feverishly for the full jersey to come out. The results did not disappoint. The sweet crest is certainly the centerpiece, with a lot of details woven into the design. Red and yellow are the state flag colors, while turquoise is the state stone, hence the prominence in the wolf’s eyes and jersey’s stripes. The stripes on the wolf’s snout are based off the iconic Zia tribe sun logo (a full version of which is on the sweater’s back). Even the shadow on the wolf’s face is shaped like the Sandia mountains.…

in the cards

TRADING CARD COMPANIES SOMETIMES go a little too far when including a prospect in a set of hockey cards. Take Panini America, for instance, who really wanted to make cards of Oilers farmhand goalie Bryan Pitton. The young netminder was recalled by Edmonton in late 2009, but he only served as a backup and didn’t see any action. Panini didn’t have a good photo of Pitton, but that didn’t deter the company from creating not one but two terrible hockey cards. Pitton’s 2010-11 Donruss “Rated Rookie” card shows the goaltender stretching during warmups and gives a great view of the back of his helmet. Even worse was his 2010-11 Score “Hot Rookies” card, which shows another less-than-flattering look at the back of Pitton’s melon as he apparently stares into an explosion.…