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Scouts always are on the road to somewhere
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 5:00 PM / Off the Wall
By Evan Weiner  - NHL.com Correspondent

"The great thing about the scouting industry and different cities, towns, you end up finding the little local places, the little local eateries that people never hear about and people will go there and the guys (fellow scouts) will go there because there is more of that family relationship." -- Pete Mahovlich

One of the most overlooked front office jobs in hockey is that of a scout. The scout provides preliminary information on players, and his reports are the first to be analyzed by the personnel people.
 
There are different types of scouts. One might specialize in watching junior players and try to project what a 16- or 17-year old might become by the time he is 22, 23 or 24 years old. Other scouts, like Pete Mahovlich, ride around sections of North America looking at minor-league talent or taking in NHL games to evaluate players.
 
Mahovlich, now a pro scout for the Atlanta Thrashers, has been scouting talent for a long time after a very successful NHL career.

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U.S. team defensemen top CSS prelim rankings
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 4:19 PM / 2010 NHL Entry Draft
By Mike G. Morreale  - NHL.com Staff Writer
Did you really expect Kurt Kleinendorst to spend the previous nine seasons with the New Jersey Devils' organization and not know the value of defense?

Kleinendorst, in his first season as coach of the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 Team, not only spent the last three seasons as coach for the Devils' American Hockey League affiliate in Lowell, but as New Jersey's assistant coach in 2000-01.

It's no wonder five of the top seven players on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary ranking for United States Hockey League players happen to be defensemen playing for Kleinendorst -- No. 1 Derek Forbort, No. 3 Stephen Johns, No. 4 Justin Faulk, No. 5 Jarred Tinordi and No. 7 Jonathon Merrill. This year, the USNTDP is ranked alongside USHL players; the team is playing a mix of college, USHL and international competition.
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Hossa's fast-approaching return is exciting news
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 3:30 PM / Fantasy Games
By Rocky Bonanno  - NHL.com Staff Writer
Fantasy Forecast for Friday, November 20

The best fantasy coverage on the net isn't taking weekends off anymore. Every Saturday, Matt Cubeta will provide a comprehensive recap of the night's action from a fantasy perspective, highlighting the top performers and providing news and notes to guide your entry. Check out Matt's report Saturday.

THURSDAY'S ROUNDUP:

The countdown to Marian Hossa's Blackhawks debut is less than a week away, according to the Chicago Tribune -- the target date is Nov. 25 at San Jose. "There are going to be a lot of options for a coach to have," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "He's going to get a lot of ice time. We're looking forward to him being useful in a lot of ways." At Wednesday's practice, Hossa participated in line drills with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. "I still don't know who he's going to play with, but I think everybody's hoping they're going to be on that line," Quenneville said.
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Free Shipping in November
Fantasic freshmen, super sophs and amazing finishes highlight the NHL's first quarter
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 3:25 PM / Quarterly Report
NHL.com
NEW YORK -- Fewer than five months after hearing their names called as first-round selections at the National Hockey League Entry Draft, John Tavares of the New York Islanders, Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche and Evander Kane of the Atlanta Thrashers have helped key turnaround performances by their teams in the first quarter of the NHL season.

As the 1,230-game schedule passes the quarter mark with tonight's games, seven clubs that did not qualify for the 2008-09 Stanley Cup Playoffs currently hold a top-eight Conference position – four in the Western Conference (#2 Colorado, #4 Los Angeles, #7 Phoenix and #8 Dallas) and three in the East (#3 Buffalo, #6 Ottawa and #7 Tampa Bay). The Islanders and Thrashers are a whisker behind the Eastern pack through a first quarter-season that saw outstanding individual and team performances along with stunning last-minute, game-changing dramatics. 
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20 questions -- and answers -- 20 games in
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 12:33 PM / Ice Age
By Phil Coffey  - NHL.com Sr. Editorial Director
Here we are at the end of November. Where does the time go? Already a quarter of the 2009-10 season is in the books -- give or take a game here or there.

But even with the season still relatively in its infancy, there still are plenty of questions, so let's get to the answers now.

1. How come there have been no coaching changes? -- A number of teams made their changes over the summer, and some teams that have gotten off to disappointing starts, like Carolina and St. Louis, are coming off playoff seasons, so there hasn't been as much impetus to make a move. With this being an Olympic year, the guess is any changes will come prior to the Winter Games, so teams can hit the ice hard for the sprint to the playoffs in February.

2. Pick one -- Chris Pronger or Dany Heatley? -- No disrespect to Heatley, but I build from the goal out, so I'll take Pronger, who as legendary Scottish announcer Hamish MacPherson once described Cam Neely, is "a beast of a man." Any time you can add a proven defenseman who is playing over 26 minutes per game, you do it.
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Wigge: Sizing up the new-look Sharks
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 12:00 PM / Columns
By Larry Wigge  - NHL.com Columnist

"You want to build a foundation, a model of consistency, a way of playing that makes you hard to beat in April, May and June." -- Joe Thornton

At first blush, we can't see the forest from the trees when looking at the San Jose Sharks.

* Joe Thornton's still putting up points.
* Even though Patrick Marleau is no longer captain, he's more of a leader now than before.
* Dan Boyle, the new captain, is still the straw that stirs the drink in San Jose.
* And Evgeni Nabokov continues to stops nearly everything.

But GM Doug Wilson's makeover of the Sharks roster is more than just trading key second-tier scorers Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek to Ottawa for Dany Heatley.

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Campbell's play has made him a top prospect
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 11:24 AM / 2010 NHL Entry Draft
By Adam Kimelman  - NHL.com Staff Writer

"He's got good size, doesn't beat himself, his positioning is very good, great butterfly style -- a blocking-style goalie. Good quickness in recovery, but he's not all over the place. He'll make the saves." -- Central Scouting's Al Jensen on Jack Campbell

Jack Campbell is a goaltender, and no one is going to talk him into playing a different position.

"I actually got talked out of playing goalie by one of my coaches, my uncle and my dad, but I just stormed out of the meeting and said I was going to be a goalie and I'm glad I did," Campbell told NHL.com. He was 7-years-old at the time.

"I just always wanted to be a goalie," he said. "I played out a few years, but my passion was always stopping pucks."

It seems like he's made the right call, as it's earned him a spot with the U.S. National Team Development Program, a gold medal at last spring's World Under-18 Championship, and probably a spot on the U.S. team for the 2010 World Junior Championship.
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Southeast: Sutter fuels Carolina's hot streak
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 11:04 AM / Division Notebooks
By Mike G. Morreale  - NHL.com Staff Writer

"The team was kind of struggling. There was an injury and a suspension, so there was room for me on the roster. I just wanted to make the most of it. I wanted to prove that I could play here and, so far, I think I've done alright."
-- Brandon Sutter

After notching points in each of their past four games heading into Saturday's showdown with the Tampa Bay Lightning, it appears the Carolina Hurricanes are turning the corner and second-year center Brandon Sutter has played a big part.

Sutter, recalled from Albany in the American Hockey League on Oct. 24, already has more goals (5) and points (9) than his rookie season of 2008-09 in 38 fewer games. At the time of his call-up, the Hurricanes were short two forwards as Erik Cole had been placed on Injured Reserve and Tuomo Ruutu was about to serve a three-game suspension.

"To be honest with you, I wasn't too sure what to expect," Sutter told NHL.com. "The team was kind of struggling. There was an injury and a suspension, so there was room for me on the roster. I just wanted to make the most of it. I wanted to prove that I could play here and, so far, I think I've done alright."
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Hawks' Bickell relishes spot with Toews, Kane
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 10:29 AM / NHL Insider
By Todd Kimberley  - NHL.com Correspondent

"It's kind of funny. I'm soaking it up, but I've just got to keep working hard. To play with those two guys, two of the biggest names in the game? Just to get a chance to be on a line with them ... yeah, quite exciting." -- Bryan Bickell

CALGARY -- Bryan Bickell must have felt as though he won the lottery.
 
The winning numbers? 19-29-88.
 
Bickell, who has spent the majority of the past three seasons in the minor leagues, earned an opportunity most hockey players can only dream about during the Chicago Blackhawks' 7-1 win against the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
 
When it was time for the 23-year-old from Bowmanville, Ont., to hop over the boards, he did it flanking two of the game's biggest stars -- captain Jonathan Toews (No. 19), and 2008 Calder Trophy winner Patrick Kane (No. 88).
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A look at some numbers at the quarter mark
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 10:17 AM / Inside the Numbers
By John Kreiser  - NHL.com Columnist
It may seem like the NHL season started a couple of days ago, but we reach the one-quarter mark during tonight's six-game schedule. Many teams already have passed the one-quarter mark of their schedule; the rest will reach it in the next few days.

Here's a look at some of the key numbers from the first few weeks of the season:

0 -- Home losses in regulation by the Tampa Bay Lightning (5-0-4) and San Jose Sharks (6-0-2) -- the only teams that haven't dropped a home game in 60 minutes so far this season.

1 -- Shots on goal by Alex Ovechkin against the Rangers on Nov. 17, his first game back after being injured Nov. 1 and missing six games. It's his lowest shot total in a full game this season. Of course, being Ovi, he scored on that lone shot, giving him a share of the NHL lead (with the Rangers' Marian Gaborik) in goals with 15.
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