Commandant

Drouin has been unbelievable in the playoffs.

The media wants to talk about french refs, and latvian goalies as reasons the Habs won. My rant on why its time to give the Habs credit for earning this win. http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/23/time-give-habs-credit/

#22 on the draft board is Jakub Vrana http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/23/2014-nhl-draft-profile-22-jakub-vrana/

At #21 I have Adrian Kempe. http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/22/2014-nhl-draft-profile-21-adrian-kempe/

#20 is Nikolay Goldobin of the Sarnia Sting. (Who was a linemate of Galchenyuk at the start of last season, before the Sting put together the Boucher/Sarault/Galchenyuk line) http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/21/2014-nhl-draft-profile-20-nikolay-goldobin/

Montreal has just announced the 10 players recalled from the Bulldogs. http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/20/canadiens-recall-10-bulldogs/

#19 is Sonny Milano of the US National Team Development Program http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/20/2014-nhl-draft-profile-19-sonny-milano/

Bulldogs Team Awards (Official team press release) http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/19/bulldogs-team-awards/

#18 is Roland McKeown from Kingston. http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/19/2014-nhl-draft-profile-18-roland-mckeown/

#17 is Alex Tuch http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/18/2014-nhl-draft-profile-17-alex-tuch/

Rumors are that de la Rose's contract is that if he's not in the NHL, he is sent to sweden next year.

#16 on the list is David Pastrnak http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/17/2014-nhl-draft-profile-16-david-pastrnak/

#15 on the draft board is Ivan Barbashev out of Moncton http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/16/2014-nhl-draft-profile-15-ivan-barbashev/

Central Scouting is done without euros included (they are a separate list)... so you have to knock him down a few notches just based on that. Any slippage and he could fall to us. As for my list... here's a euro. #14 on my list is Kasperi Kapanen. http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/15/2014-nhl-draft-profile-14-kasperi-kapanen/

#13 in the rankings, Julius Honka of the Swift Current Broncos. http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/14/2014-nhl-draft-profile-13-julius-honka/

#12 on the draft chart is Jared McCann of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/13/2014-nhl-draft-profile-12-jared-mccann/ Yeah its unlikely, just a great fit though..... I think Alex tuch is more likely for that type of player and our spot. Or they could go defence this year since we've been forward heavy two drafts in a row.

Jake Virtanen is #11 on the list. I hope he slips to Montreal, would be a perfect pick for us. http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/12/2014-nhl-draft-profile-11-jake-virtanen/

#10 is Haydn Fleury of the Red Deer Rebels http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/11/2014-nhl-draft-profile-10-haydn-fleury/

There are tons of those, and no forward who made an NHL impact scored as low as McCarron. Again None. The USNTDP is a very good program. They play ~90 games a year against top competition (International Tourneys, Exhibition games vs College Teams, and USHL regular season games). The level of competition and length of schedule isn't a huge difference between the NTDP and CHL. He played two years for the NTDP. Nevins assigned to Hamilton. http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/10/jack-nevins-assigned-hamilton-bulldogs/

Tyler Biggs has already been told by Steve Spott, Marlies head coach, to develop his physical and defensive game because if he ever wants to make the NHL its as a fourth liner. Still go back through the thread..... With the exception of 3 players.... every player drafted since 1997, who played in the CHL post-draft and goes on to scored 60 points or 30 goals in the NHL is at 1.2 PPG in their post draft year. The three exceptions.... Jeff Carter (1.15 PPG), Milan Lucic (0.9 PPG), James Neal (0.9 PPG). If you look at third and fourth liners.... if we throw out the John Scotts, and the Colton Orrs... almost everyone who plays in the CHL is at 1.0 PPG in their post draft year. Even Max Lapierre, Ryan White, Gabriel Dumont, Ben Maxwell, Kyle Chipchura, Brandon Prust, Travis Moen, Daniel Paille, etc.... all these guys are go-to scorers for the junior teams at the age of 18. Michael McCarron is barely over 0.5 (and is now at 0.5 in the playoffs). I hope he can defy the odds.... but the fact is that the odds are long. There is almost no forwards who become productive and useful NHL players and who showed that low a level of scoring in the CHL at 18. I haven't found one yet, and I've looked back almost 15 years of drafts. If you have the skills to go pro, you should be dominating junior. Add to this the fact that McCarron's biggest asset is his size. And the fact he is 6'5 and 240 lbs already, he is literally a man amongst boys in junior. His size advantage will never be as big as it is right now. He's playing third line and facing 16 and 17 year olds who are small and need to put on weight, and with his size he's not dominating them?? How is he going to do in the AHL and NHL against defencemen who have a lot more size, and while they still may not be as big as him, they will be a lot closer than these juniors.

#9 on the draft list is Brendan Perlini http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/10/2014-nhl-draft-profile-9-brendan-perlini/

#8 on the list is the first QMJHL Player, Nikolaj Ehlers of the Halifax Mooseheads. http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/09/2014-nhl-draft-profile-8-nikolaj-ehlers/

In an absolute MUST WIN for the Washington Capitals (a loss and they are eliminated)… Jaroslav Halak has told coach Adam Oates that he is not comfortable facing his former team, the St. Louis Blues, and doesn’t want to start.

#7 on the list is William Nylander http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/04/08/nhl-draft-profile-7-william-nylander/

he's at 4 points in 6 playoff games. Is that really much better than his regular season.... slightly over 0.5 PPG? or is it just a small sample size and 4 games against a weak opponent in Windsor who had major defensive issues. London was scoring 6-10 goals a night and he'd get one point. I'm still not convinced on him. Most (even third/fourth line) NHLers are at a PPG in junior in the season after they are drafted.... Almost all top 6 guys are at 1.2 PPG in that season. McCarron isn't getting half of that. He's huge, he has a bigger size advantage now, against teens, than he'll ever have in his pro career, and is doing nothing. His numbers are worse than Tyler Biggs... ask leaf fans how Tyler Biggs (a USNTDP player with the exact same profile as McCarron) is working out in the AHL. Alex Tuch is good.... He is what McCarron should be. I wouldn't be against taking Tuch who has the hands to actually score.