The 2010 NHL Draft is headed to Los Angeles this June. To get ready, all 30 NHL teams will have scouts at the CHL Prospects Game in Windsor, Ontario tonight.Luckily for you, you can watch the game on the NHL Network at 4pm PST. Get a good look at some of the players that will be taken in the first round of this year's NHL Draft.
Case in point - all 16 Canadian Junior players that were selected in the first round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft played in last year's game. Alumni of this game include first overall picks John Tavares, Chris Phillips, Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier, Rick Nash, Marc-Andre Fleury, Patrick Kane, and Steven Stamkos. Like the World Junior Championships, this is a must-see event for scouts and draft-heads.
Last night they held a skills competition to showcase some of the guys that will play in today's Prospects Game. Swiss superstar-to-be Nino Nierderreiter (expected to be a first round pick) had the highlight goal of the skills event - click here to see the video.
The above goal earned Niederreiter a perfect 10 score from three of the judges in the Skills Competition - Windsor Spitfires defenseman and 2009 first-round Entry Draft pick Ryan Ellis; former NHL player (including with the LA Kings) and Windsor GM/owner Warren Rychel; and Rogers SportsNet's Rob Faulds. The toughest judge was former NHL enforcer and Windsor native Bob Probert, who gave Niederreiter a 9.
The CHL Top Prospects Game will feature two teams full of future NHL Draft picks, all taken from the three CHL leagues. The teams are coached by Don Cherry and Bobby Orr and are thus called Team Cherry and Team Orr.
Team Orr won last night's skills competition, topping Team Cherry by a 23-17 margin.
The 20-man rosters were selected by NHL General Managers along with NHL Central Scouting and include 18 players from the Ontario Hockey League, 13 players from the Western Hockey League, and nine players from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Windsor Spitfires (OHL) players LW Taylor Hall (ranked first) and D Cam Fowler (ranked third) will suit up for Team Cherry and C Tyler Seguin (ranked second) from the OHL's Plymouth Whalers will play for Team Orr.
Click here to view the full rosters for the CHL Top Prospects Game.
Watch the game later this afternoon and form your own opinions on who should be taken first overall. See who you think looks like an NHL star in the making. Playing scout and GM can be fun. Just remember, these are kids...and their future upside is highly debatable, even by the guys that do this for a living.
Enjoy.
The Mayor
www.twitter.com/Mayor119
note: some information in the above article was taken from the NHL.com coverage of the Prospects Game
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