Marian Hossa

CAREER STATISTICS

GOALS: 434 | ASST: 501 | PTS: 935
S: 3,383 | +/-: 183

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first NHL Draft, NHL.com assembled a 13-member panel to select the best first-round picks of all time, based on selection number. NHL.com will feature one of the top first-round picks each day, beginning with the best No. 30 pick on June 1 and culminating with the all-time No. 1 pick on June 30, the day of the 2013 NHL Draft.

Today: The best No. 12 pick: Marian Hossa, Ottawa Senators, 1997

During the 1996-97 season, 17-year-old Marian Hossa made his debut in the top professional league in his native Slovakia, scoring at a point-per-game clip while playing against older, more physically developed men.

If the Colorado Avalanche hang on to the top pick at the 2013 NHL Draft on June 30, it appears unlikely they will use it on Seth Jones.

Joe Sakic, executive vice president of hockey operations for the Avalanche, told The Denver Post on Tuesday night they will pass on the top-rated defenseman and instead choose between forwards Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin or Alexander Barkov.

"If we do pick first, we're leaning more toward one of those three forwards," Sakic told the newspaper. "We feel those three forwards are just too good to pass up."

BOSTON -- As one Western Conference coach was saying during a telephone conversation Tuesday afternoon, power plays are an interesting science because there are times when you feel confident and the puck just goes in, but there are other times when the harder you try the worse it looks.

"To me, that's where the Chicago Blackhawks are at right now," the Western Conference coach told NHL.com. "They've gone from probably talking about it to death to trying different things. Now they look flustered on it and it shows in the poise with which they play."

The Blackhawks are 0-for-11 on the power play in the Stanley Cup Final and they trail the best-of-7 series to the Boston Bruins, 2-1. They are 0-for-20 on the power play dating back to Bryan Bickell's goal in the second period of Game 2 of the Western Conference Final.

Chicago Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell has become a prominent figure during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, taking on a key offensive role for a team seeking to win its second championship in four seasons.

Bickell, 27, scored eight goals over the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- one fewer than he had in 48 regular season games. In the Western Conference Final, Bickell scored goals in three consecutive games, then added a pair of assists in the clinching Game 5 win against the Los Angeles Kings.

Bickell has been shut out through three games in the Stanley Cup Final.

He has been gracious enough to agree to keep a player blog that will appear on NHL.com throughout the series against the Boston Bruins.

In his fifth entry, Bickell writes about the Blackhawks tradition of playing Mario Kart on the road. He goes over the history and even ranks some of the players:

BOSTON -- I'm sure a lot of you have heard about how some of us on the team like to unwind when we're on the road by playing Mario Kart. I figured we'd lighten the mood today -- an off day between Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final -- and I'd let you in on how it all started, what it's like for us and why we do it.

BOSTON -- It is a simple plan, but not the easiest to execute: Teams in most sports want to be strong in the middle of the playing surface.

For baseball teams, it is about defense up the middle -- catcher, shortstop, center field. In soccer, successful clubs look for strength in central defense and central midfield, and build out from there. A basketball team with an elite center is almost by default a playoff contender.

This idea works in hockey as well, and the past two Stanley Cup champions have adhered to a similar blueprint. Find a goalie. Find an elite defenseman (or two). Find an elite center (or two). Figure the rest out.

The 2013 Boston Bruins look a lot like the 2011 edition that won the Cup. They have replaced Tim Thomas with Tuukka Rask, but otherwise the key components to the backbone of their stifling defense -- center Patrice Bergeron and defensemen Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg -- remain the same.

Smith, who had last suited up for Chicago on April 27 and hadn't played in a Stanley Cup Playoff game since April 26, 2011, skated with the team's extras Monday morning. Not expecting to play, he didn't dress for team warm-ups and was preparing to ride a stationary bike during the opening period.

That's when the announcement came that star forward Marian Hossa would be scratched due to an upper-body injury. And just like that, Smith got the call for Game 3, enjoying a return to TD Garden that was almost as glorious as it was unexpected.

BOSTON -- The Chicago Blackhawks haven't scored a goal in more than 122 minutes and they trail the Boston Bruins, 2-1 in the best-of-7 series, heading into Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday at TD Garden (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, RDS).

The Blackhawks have to make adjustments. They need to be better in several different areas if they want to break out of this death grip that the Bruins have them in and even the series before it shifts back to United Center for Game 5 on Saturday.

Chicago coach Joel Quenneville is no doubt dissecting Game 3, poring over video to find where his team can improve and what advantages it can look for in Game 4.

Here are five changes the Blackhawks will likely be exploring as they devise a game plan to win Game 4:

Fresh off winning the 2012-13 Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award, Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson faces an uncertain hockey future.

Meanwhile, his general manager waits for the news of whether the long-time captain plans to return for another season.

"We have talked, I've talked to Alfie in the past couple of days," Senators GM Bryan Murray said at a press conference Tuesday announcing the renaming of the team's arena as the Canadian Tire Centre. "I told him to take whatever time he needs and come back to me when you can -- as early as you can, that would help me -- but do whatever you have to do to satisfy your family to make sure you're ready to play."

Alfredsson, 40, has played 1,178 games for the Senators, scoring 426 goals and recording 682 assists for 1,108 points. In the 2012-13 season, Alfredsson recorded 10 goals and 16 assists in 47 regular season games, and added another four goals and six assists in 10 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Boston Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid is already a veteran of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including winning a Stanley Cup title with the Bruins in 2011 and approaching 50 postseason games for his career before his 27th birthday.

This postseason, McQuaid, 26, has been a staple of Boston's third defensive pairing, providing a shut-down presence for Claude Julien. In the Eastern Conference Final, McQuaid scored the series-winning goal in a stunning four-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

McQuaid has been gracious enough to agree to keep a player blog that will appear on NHL.com throughout the Stanley Cup Final.

In his latest installment, McQuaid talks about the city he has called home for the past three years, discussing the city's history, sports landscape and the indelible marks left on the city by the Boston Marathon bombing two months ago.

BOSTON -- I've been in Boston for a few years now, and I love it. It was a bit of an adjustment coming to a bigger city from Prince Edward Island. But I think the great thing about Boston is it is a big city that has a small-town feel to it. For the most part, if I am getting out, I'm walking or taking the T or something. It's pretty easy getting around. I really do feel there couldn't be a better place to be.

Marian Hossa

Right Wing - CHI

GOALS: 7 | ASST: 8 | PTS: 15
SOG: 65 | +/-: 8

Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Tuesday that injured forward Marian Hossa was "likely" to play in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, RDS).

Hossa was a late scratch in Game 3, pulled from the lineup after taking part of the pre-game warmup. The Blackhawks said Monday night that Hossa had an upper-body injury and was "day-to-day." He was replaced by Ben Smith, who hadn't played in a Stanley Cup Playoff game this season and just one regular-season game.

Smith, who did not take part in the warm-up, said he rushed to get warm and ready for the game.

Tuesday, Quenneville said Smith was ready and he did not take part in the pregame skate for strategic purposes.