In case you missed it, Edmonton Oilers amateur scout Stu MacGregor offered plenty of interesting insight into his job and what it entails. Read it right here.

MacGregor is in his eighth season with the Edmonton Oilers scouting staff and fourth as the organization's head amateur scout.

He's responsible for the team's amateur scouting staff and is usually the one working the table at the NHL Entry Draft for the Oilers.

"When I'm not on the road, I'm usually completing and reading reports on the players that our scouts have filed and then following up with our scouts via email or phone," MacGregor told NHL.com. "I have to be cognizant that we have the proper coverage in all the leagues and where the players appear to be for that particular league. I also have to be conscious of our budget and work with it."

In addition to that administrative work, MacGregor is also one heck of an evaluator of future talent. Here's some advice he had for those draft-eligible players entering the 2011 Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minn.

NHL.com: What would be your advice to those high-end prospects in the 2011 Draft?

MacGregor: "I would just tell them to enjoy it, it's a great experience, and it should be a lot of fun -- the greatest time of your life. Just try to work as hard as you can and keep your head up. Keep trying to push forward. Don't worry about what people are saying. Do as you're told by your coach and work hard and, most importantly, enjoy the whole experience."

NHL.com: What's the best tip you can offer a player about to enter his first interview with an NHL team?

MacGregor: "I just think a player going into that just needs to be himself. Offer conversation and try to step forward as an individual. Show them that you're a good person and interested in the process, interested in the people you're talking to. Have your head up and look people square in the eye."

Hi everyone, back again with my second update.

October had a lot of up and downs. My team, the Youngstown Phantoms in the USHL, is currently 4-5-1.  We had a great start but are experiencing a little slump right now.

We spent three of our first four weeks on the road. Youngstown, being the furthest east team in the league, makes traveling a hassle.  In October, we have traveled over 7,000 miles by bus. Our longest trip was to Fargo, North Dakota on October 21.  All this traveling can be rough but roadies with the boys are one of my favorite things about hockey in the USHL.

We played in three home openers and won all three. We beat Des Moines and Lincoln in front of sold out and extremely loud crowds. Lincoln was nuts at the start of the game but quieted down in the first 30 seconds when Ty Loney scored. Lincoln battled till the end though, and we won by only one goal, so the crowd was really into it. In our home opener, we beat the defending USHL champs, the Green Bay Gamblers. We had a big crowd, too, and really appreciated the support. It was great to see a lot of people show up to our game because we usually don't get the same attendance as many other teams.

The two Minnesota high school rosters for the Bauer National Invitational Tournament scheduled Nov. 5-7 at New Hope Ice Arena in New Hope, Minn., have been confirmed.

Two teams -- Minnesota White and Minnesota Red -- were selected using players from seven regular-season Elite League squads. Players were notified of their selections on Oct. 31 -- Trick or Treat!

High schools in Edina, Benilde-St. Margaret's and Grand Forks Central (N.D.) are among the scholastic teams possessing three players in the annual event.

For a complete schedule, click here. In addition to the two Minnesota squads, six other teams will compete in the eight-team tournament, including prep powerhouse Shattuck-St. Mary's, Michigan U-18 White, Massachusetts All-Stars, Manitoba Prep, Northwood School (N.Y.) and an all star team from Dallas.

There are a few Minnesota kids competing in the event rated as 'B Players' by NHL's Central Scouting Service. Keep in mind, a 'B' rating represents a potential 2011 selection in the third-to-fifth round in the Entry Draft.

Those players include forwards Joe Labate (Holy Angels) and Tony Cameranesi (Wayzata) of Minnesota White and forwards Steven Fogarty (Edina) and Kyle Rau (Eden Prairie) of Minnesota Red. The Shattuck-St. Mary's roster will likely include 'B rated' forward Tanner Sorenson and defenseman Mike Reilly.

The only 'A' rated player from the Minnesota high school ranks, left wing Mario Lucia of Wayzata HS, is currently on loan to the U.S. Under-18 National Team Developmental Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. Lucia will not be participating in the NIT Tournament.

I'll have more information as it becomes available.

If you haven't already seen it, NHL.com's Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's 'players to watch' list is out. Get it here.

So if the NHL Entry Draft were held tomorrow, odds are Drummondville center Sean Couturier would be the No. 1 overall selection.

At least that's the gut feeling. It seems scouts like his tough two-way acumen and the confidence within. It certainly doesn't hurt being ranked sixth in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 25 points, including 11 goals, in 19 games.

At this point in the season, Couturier's agent, former NHLer Gilles Lupien, would prefer not to have his client speaking with reporters. So, I spoke to Lupien about his budding prospect, who led the QMJHL in scoring in 2009-10 with 96 points (41 goals) in 68 games.

Lupien compared Couturier to a young Darryl Sittler, the former Toronto Maple Leaf, Philadelphia Flyer and Detroit Red Wing inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989.

"He's a bright kid, he gets 95's in school, he's a brainer and quiet guy and doesn't say much," Lupien said of Couturier. "He's the type of guy who sits in the room, like a Bob Gainey and doesn't say much but shows by example. He's like a Joe Thornton, that silent type, and Darryl Sittler. Sittler was like that. He's tall and appears slow-moving but then, all of a sudden, poof, he's out like a rocket like Sittler."

Lupien has limited Couturier's interview requests during the early stages of the season in order to minimize the pressure of his draft year.

"I just want him to concentrate on being the best player he can be right now," Lupien said.

If you haven't already checked out Adam Kimelman's report on the players to watch this season in the Western Hockey League, you can find that right here.

I recently had a great conversation with the head amateur scout for the Edmonton Oilers, Stu MacGregor. While the veteran talent-evaluator wasn't about to reveal any secrets, he did tell me that Ryan Strome of the Niagara IceDogs in the OHL is really opening some eyes. Strome has 8 goals, 24 points and a plus-3 rating in 14 games this season.

Strome, draft eligible next June, was a 'B List' player on the NHL's Central Scouting 'Futures List', but will undoubtedly be at or near the top by the time the preliminary rankings are released in mid-November. If you haven't yet seen Strome's highlight-reel goal against Plymouth, check it out here.

Gabriel Landeskog

MacGregor informed me how the most "interesting experience of his scouting career" took place last season when he was routinely reporting on Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin. As we know, the decision would ultimately be Hall, but it was only after countless meetings and viewings.

In other news, Gabriel Landeskog, who is also high on 2011 draft lists, was named team captain for the Kitchener Rangers on Oct. 24. Landeskog was Kitchener's Rookie of the Year in 2009-10 after notching 24 goals and 46 points in 61 games. He was the youngest player -- at 16 years and 90 days -- to play for  Djurgarden in the Swedish Elite League during the 2008-09 campaign.

"I play a lot like Jarome Iginla and Mike Richards," Landeskog told NHL.com. "They're kind of my role models. I look a lot at how they play and I kind of try to be like them. They're good leaders and good role models for me."

How tough is it at this point in the season to pinpoint one prospect capable of living up to all the hype as the first overall choice in the 2011 Entry Draft in June?

So tough that even E.J. McGuire, the Director of NHL's Central Scouting, admits there is no consensus No. 1 -- for now.

"In mid-November, (Central Scouting) will put out their (preliminary rankings) once we've had a chance to comb the major junior leagues and, from that, we'll usually get our top 1-2-3 guys," McGuire told NHL Live! on Thursday. "There are some top guys from each of the three leagues this year and there's probably one Swedish guy (defenseman Adam Larsson) who'll also be top 5 next year."

While no one player has taken the lead as top gun, McGuire certainly didn't hold back when asked his opinion of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of Red Deer in the Western Hockey League.

"Ryan is the type of player who goes through traffic -- he's not likeable in a china shop," McGuire said. "I had the pleasure to watch him at the Research, Development and Orientation Camp in Toronto in August and no one executed the long pass better than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He's a bring-the-fans-out-of-your-seat kind of player with all his offensive moves."

Nugent-Hopkins is more of a skilled forward as compared to those power types, according to McGuire. To get more insight into Nugent-Hopkins, check out his blog on NHL.com.

"Early in the season, Sean Couturier is that power-forward type playing with Drummondville in QMJHL," McGuire said. "He's a big, strapping center, tall and rangy, and he might go No. 1 overall."

Sean was born in Phoenix, Arizona, when his father Sylvain Couturier played for the IHL's Phoenix Roadrunners and moved to Bathurst after his dad's retirement. Couturier has drawn comparisons to a young Vincent Lecavalier, although he claims to model his game after Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin. Through 19 games this season, he's produced 11 goals and 25 points.

McGuire also touched on a few players generating a buzz throughout Central Scouting headquarters. Three of the five players he mentioned -- Adam Clendening of Boston University, Shane McColgan of Kelowna in the WHL and Seth Ambroz of the Omaha Lancers in the USHL -- have already been featured on NHL.com.

McGuire also recognized U.S. National Team Development Program member Connor Murphy, a defenseman who is currently sidelined with an ailing back, and David Musil of the Vancouver Giants in the WHL. Musil, also a defenseman, has 2 goals, 10 points and 24 penalty minutes in 16 games with Vancouver this season. He produced 7 goals, 32 points and 67 PIM in 71 contests last season.

In case you missed it, the rosters for the six-team 2010 World Junior 'A' Challenge in Penticton, B.C., slated Nov. 8-14 have been established. Several players on each roster will likely be selected in the 2011 Entry Draft, so check them out when you have the chance.

Group A
Team USA (gold medalist 2009, '08)
Sweden
Canada East

Group B
Canada West (gold medalist 2006, '07)
Russia
Switzerland

Round-robin play runs through Nov. 10. The semifinal round takes place Nov. 13 and the gold-medal game, shown nationally on TSN and RDS, is scheduled Nov. 14 at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Also, 2011 draft-eligible prospect Seth Ambroz of the Omaha Lancers in the United States Hockey League has filed his initial blog on NHL.com. Check it out here.

Hi, my name is Seth Ambroz and I'm currently in my third season with the Omaha Lancers in the USHL.

I guess I'll start at the beginning. Growing up in New Prague, Minn., our family wasn't very much into hockey at the start. My brother (Matt) picked it up at a young age from uncles and I just followed along and starting skating when I was 2-years-old. When I turned 4, I got into hockey and, since then, our family has been really into it. My sister (Kacey) ended up joining a team when she turned 12 and picked up on it really quick. We all got scholarships for hockey and it's kind of a big deal now.
 
I played bantam hockey in Minnesota about two years early and then ended up playing on the varsity team as a eighth grader and that's when I kind of thought this would be a neat thing for me. My brother and my family have supported me the whole way.

I've really enjoyed my three seasons with Omaha. I'm aware of my reputation as a power-forward and it doesn't bother me. That's just the type of player I am and I accept that. I can't try to be someone I'm not. I can't try and be a big skilled forward because that's not my game. I get in front of the net and just battle, be that first man in on the forecheck and put a body on someone and I just have to be a physical presence out there as well.

I'm happy I have a coach like Bliss (Littler), who has definitely helped me a lot. He brought me in as a 15-year-old and even put me in situations such as the power-play and he trusted me with all that stuff. He's really developed me a ton and coming into my third year with him is great. He's still teaching me as well and I think he's felt he's been a really big impact on my success so far.

I've definitely grown as a player and a person in my three years in the USHL. Now I'm that guy that people look up to and it's nice to kind of pass on that knowledge to the younger players coming into the league while getting to know the league better.

I really enjoyed my experience at the NHL Research and Development Camp in August. There were a lot of great players there and high-paced games. It was definitely a lot of fun and having an opportunity to room with Scott Mayfield (of the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms) was a good time. We got to know each other well and he's a great player too.

Coming into this year, I didn't try to set a points standard for myself or anything. I'd like to have a successful season but I want to keep developing as a player every day. My main goal is to get better every single day. I really hope I can help our team get to the Clark Cup final and be successful.

We're currently 3-3. There are a lot of young guys and it'll take some time. But we have a lot of talent on this roster so, by Christmas, when everyone learns to play together, we'll have much better chemistry and will know the systems without thinking about it. There's a lot of learning, but we've had a pretty good start.

During the first few weeks, I played right wing and with Justin Crandall and Stefan Demopoulos but that'll change throughout the season many times. I'm not real focused on lines right now. We'll find what works. Lines are scrambled up early in the year, but they'll eventually start settling down.

Finally, I'm definitely excited about the draft coming to Minnesota. I just hope it all works out well. I realize there's pressure but you just hope to play well in front of the scouts who are watching. It's something that you can't really think about too much because you know you're not going to be able to have your best game every single night. You can't let the pressure get to you because that's when you kind of start grabbing your stick a little harder or not making the simple plays you should be making, so just got to think of it as just another game. Just do what you do best.

Thanks for reading and check back next month.

No better time to fire up the 2011 Entry Draft blog than right after Central Scouting's initial 'Players to Watch' release for high schools, Canadian provincials and international skaters.

It's the first step in attempting to pinpoint the crème de la crème among draft eligible prospects for 2011. While it's certainly no easy process, it's something the NHL's Central Scouting Service takes great pride in. So with eight months to go before draft day, in St. Paul, Minn., it's time to get informed.

In case you missed it, here are the high school and Canadian provincial players to keep an eye on.

Here are the international players to watch. Of course, Adam Larsson, a defenseman from Sweden, is being touted as the next Victor Hedman (or better).

NHL.com has already featured several future stars, including a few players from the United States Hockey League in Scott Mayfield of Youngstown and Seth Ambroz of Omaha and two from the Western Hockey League in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Red Deer) and Shane McColgan (Kelowna). Adam Kimelman has written reports on goalie prospect Christopher Gibson of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Adam Clendening of Boston University.

In case you missed it, NHL.com's list of the top draft-eligible prospects from the USHL also hit the front page of the web site. Get it here!

Four players have also offered to provide NHL.com with a monthly blog that will chronicle their season, start to finish. You can check out a new blog each Wednesday every month leading up the Entry Draft at Xcel Energy Center in June.

Scott Mayfield's blog

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' blog

Shane McColgan's blog

Seth Ambroz's blog

The Draft blog will be updated as often as possible with player updates and information as it becomes available, so check back often.

Hi everyone. My name is Shane McColgan and I play for the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League. I started playing when I was 2 1/2 years-old on the roller rinks in California because there aren't many ice rinks there. The first ice rink opened up when I was 6 in El Segundo (Calif.) where the Kings and Lakers practice. It's a nice facility and it was great to go there.
 
Every kid has a dream of playing in the NHL and getting drafted, but not until I was a about 12 did I feel I could make a living playing hockey. That's when I started producing and helping my bantam team win while being one of the top three guys on the team. It was around that same time when my coach at the time, Sandy Gasseau, moved me to forward from defense. If he didn't switch me, I'd probably be playing defense right now so I'm grateful he had the foresight to do that -- it's a move I don't regret.
 
My coach for the LA Junior Kings, Jack Bowkus, also helped me a lot along the way.
 
A lot of people ask me about hockey in California and how popular it's becoming. When Wayne Gretzky got traded to the Kings, it was huge for California hockey. You'll see some kids who will come out of there as top notch kids born in 1995 and '96. I'm hearing about some good ones waiting in the wings already … I don't know them well but have heard good things. We're competing with Canada and are proving to be pretty good at hockey too. Some people just think we're all surfing and chillin', going on the beach and things like that, but hockey in California has grown for sure.
 
My first season in Kelowna was great experience. Kelowna is a top-notch organization that treats you like a professional, and they expect you to be professional on and off the ice and that's what has really helped me. The coaching staff has given me a chance to play as a really young guy as a 16 year old. Most players wouldn't get the chance to play at that age but they believed in me and I believed in them.
 
I had a rough start to this season as I had to have my tonsils removed and missed a few games. I was out three weeks with an abscess in the right tonsil and they had to get them out right away so I flew back to Manhattan Beach to have the procedure taken care of. Everything went as planned and I'm just trying to get my step back now and getting back into game shape.
 
It was kind of hard coming back because we played three games in three nights and two were on the road and those were my first three games back so it was pretty tough. But there was a break between games after that and I think I'll be fine the rest of the way.
 
I had a great experience at the Research, Development and Orientation Camp over the summer. Going up there with all the top prospects who could potentially go in the first round, seeing Brendan Shanahan and Commissioner Gary Bettman, was all very cool. Just getting a taste of the NHL like that was great experience.
 
Most of my goals are really team-oriented. I want to win a championship in Kelowna and have a successful season. My individual goals are just to produce offensively and be a good defensive player as well. I'll stick up for my teammates whenever I can; I don't shy away from the physical side of the game.

I'm pretty excited about the draft. There's always a little pressure and I think about it in the back of my mind but obviously I did something that worked last year and I'm not going to change it up. I have a year of experience under my belt and I think that'll really help me this season.
 
We got off to a pretty slow start but I'm confident we'll get the points back. I'm confident we'll have a good season. I appreciate you reading my first blog and check back next month with a new update.