Commandant

Fall of 2013 looks good for Pribyl, Nygren, Dietz, Archambault, and Kristo. Nystrom they might let sit in Sweden for 2 years. Collberg is a possibility in 2013 as well. Bennett could be 2013, but could also finish school and be 2014. Thrower is likely 2013, but could also do an overage season if there isn't room for him. Walsh, Cichy, and Macmillan are also possibles, or 2014s depending how they do.

Grant looks at a potential team Canada roster http://lastwordonspo...canada-in-2014/

The St. Louis Blues have a strong system to add to their good young team. http://lastwordonsports.com/2012/08/20/top-shelf-prospects-st-louis-blues/

Today's Top Shelf Prospects features the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have absolutely loaded up on defencemen http://lastwordonsports.com/2012/08/17/top-shelf-prospects-pittsburgh-penguins/

Next thing on the agenda should be beefing up the Euro scouts.

Great News..... DESERVES CAPS LOCK GREAT F'ING NEWS

The Phoenix Coyotes have been quietly building a very deep blueline http://lastwordonsports.com/2012/08/17/top-shelf-prospects-phoenix-coyotes/

By watching the kid closely from Belleville to Hamilton to Today. The kid is driven to win and be the best player on the ice.

CBA negotiations in nearly every industry (not just sports) rarely get settled before there is a hard deadline looming. Over 90% of these deals get done in the last week before a strike/lockout date, or after that date has past. Union and Management negotiators almost never want to be seen as making a deal too soon. Its almost always a waiting game, seeing who will give in and blink first to the demands on either side. It is only when the prospect of losing money is actually knocking on the door that these deals seem to get done. The key here is that this isnt a hockey specific problem, it isn't even a sports specific problem, it happens in almost all industries with a union and the need for a CBA.

Today’s Top Shelf Prospects features the Philadelphia Flyers, and the prospect who will be required to play big minutes for them after their defence has been decimated by injuries and the free agent defection of Matt Carle http://lastwordonsports.com/2012/08/16/top-shelf-prospects-philadelphia-flyers/

Division Rival the Ottawa Senators or should it be the New Stockholm Senators? http://lastwordonsports.com/2012/08/15/top-shelf-prospects-ottawa-senators/

Andy Sutton is a good comparison for McIlrath, as is a guy like John Erskine. I think he'll play in the NHL... but it was a stupid pick at 10th overall when their were other D available. Hey at least he's not Hugh Jessiman (Huge Specimen) Cam Fowler was there, and sure, Fowler's not the best defensive D man, so lets throw him out. but you could have had Brandon Gormley, and I'd be willing to bet anyone that Gormley turns out to be the better player.

Who is writing him off? I merely said he's lost defensively. And you compare him to a guy who was a 2nd round pick... vs a guy who was 5th overall?

A look at the New York Rangers, led by playoff sensation Chris Kreider http://lastwordonsports.com/2012/08/14/top-shelf-prospects-new-york-rangers/

"Best player in the draft" - (copyright Brian Burke) Morgan Rielly looks great offensively, but completely lost defensively.

AWESOME DEAL

Hudon is playing fantastic

No, he signed an ECHL contract. Any AHL team can steal him at any time by giving him an AHL deal. Any NHL team could do the same. Its the same when we signed a guy like DeSimone to the AHL deal last year, he was on the bulldogs but any NHL team could steal him cause its an AHL only deal. Same with Hagel this year, If some team wants to give him a 2 way contract he's gone. But the thing is they don't count against the 50 contract limit.

Aaron Dell has signed with the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL.

Detroit had a lot of those steals in an era where they quite simply spent more money on scouting europe than other teams did. There is a story that they were the only team that had a scout who saw Datsyuk play. Even earlier than that, at the 1989 draft the Wings got Lidstrom, Fedorov, and Konstantinov cause very few teams were paying attention to Europe. They did things by having a lot of people on the ground, and it worked for them, but then other clubs started paying attention and in the last decade have scouted europe more highly.

The cap has only gone up about 14 million since Price got that offer. If you wanted the exact same contract it would be about ~3.5 million per season for Subban given inflation.

Seeing PK Subban's personality, this is one kid who is motivated by many things.... the least of which is money.

The problem is that RED cup has used an extremely small sample size (40 guys) and an extremely small window. Anyone with a knowledge of stats knows that this just isn't going to be a reliable look. One or two players or one particularly large year can skew the results too much. A league wide look at all players finds that there is virtually no correlation... nothing meaningful anyway.

There have actually been people who have looked at statistics of contract years vs non-contract years. The idea that players play better in a contract year is mostly a media and fan driven phenomenon. It doesn't actually happen. Sure some guys have better years in their contract year, but just as many have their best years in the middle of the deal. look no further than the performances of Alex Semin, Dustin Penner, and Andrei Kostitsyn last season. Look no furhter than the way the entire 2009 Habs team blew up in smoke with so many players on contract years. Look at what Kovalev did in 2008 (not a contract year) and 2009 (a contract year) and see that explanation. Yes there are guys who do better in a contract year, but there is absolutely zero empirical evidence that this is something that regularly occurs. It is better explained as the fact that all players have a career years and down years... and that sometimes those career years will be contract years, and sometimes they won't. But as fans we get caught up in the hype.

The New Jersey Devils check in next, with controversial prospect Jon Merrill leading the way. http://lastwordonsports.com/2012/08/12/top-shelf-prospects-new-jersey-devils/