A look at the next generation of players wouldn’t be complete without Iginla, Theodore (who, if you listen to some GMs was nearly traded by the Montreal Canadiens at one time or another since he was the 44th player selected in the 1994 Entry Draft), Pronger, Naslund, Bertuzzi, Jason Allison, Brewer and Luongo.

Throw in more recent top picks such as Ilya Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov, Rick Nash and Rusty Klesla, Jason Spezza and Martin Havlat, Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa, Daniel and Herik Sedin, Vinny Lecavalier and Brad Stuart. And I’m sitting here in St. Louis drooling over the prospects of young defensemen Barret Jackman and Mike Van Ryn.

If you listen to scouts, Jackson, Nash, Spezza and Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg figure to be the leading contenders for Rookie of the Year this year -- plus play key roles in the next generation of stars.

And you will also begin hearing a lot about Russian forward Nikolai Zherdev, who might be the first pick in next year’s NHL Entry Draft. He is said to be better than Kovalchuk. Czech forward Martin Michalek is another in that list of next-generation stars, according to scouts. He could be picked second to Zherdev.

So the litany of bright prospects continues to far exceed the need for talent since the NHL decided to expand from 21 to 26 teams in the 1990s and 26 to 30 teams more recently.

In fact, I’ve often confessed in recent years that the annual group of rookies that have come into the NHL in the last five or six years is better than I ever dreamed considering the expansion. But hockey, unlike baseball with its glut in pitching following expansion, displays tons of young talent at every position.

In keeping with the theme of this story, however, Spezza might be the best player to single in on since he was the second pick in the 2001 Entry Draft and was basically traded to the Ottawa Senators for Yashin on draft day last year. Spezza was generally considered the potential No. 1 overall pick in that draft for a couple of years before he was supplanted by Kovalchuk.

Though he didn’t make it immediately in Ottawa, even though the Senators had to fill the void of Yashin at center, there are those who say Spezza may turn out to be the best player in that draft after all.

"There's absolutely no doubt he'll be a star in the NHL," predicts Florida Panthers GM Rick Dudley. "I've seen things in him that you don't see in any other player. He's a potential scoring champion.

"If there was a knock on him a year ago, it was that his skating wasn’t anywhere near the level of his playmaking skills. The Senators showed the right kind of patience in him. You can see he wants to make it to the next level. You can see he’s improved his skating. I’d say if you put another step of speed on him and he’ll be scary."

Patience and development. These are key. We hear about Tampa Bay’s attempt to get Lecavalier back on track because the Lightning would not want to see Vinny become a star elsewhere. Ditto for Atlanta’s Patrik Stefan, the first pick in the 1999 draft. Same with Rick DiPietro, the first pick in the 2000 draft by the Islanders.

But in most cases all that is left for the top prospect is time to grow and play and contribute.

"You don’t want to make a mistake with one of these kids," says Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz. "You’ve tabbed them as the cornerstones of your franchise, spent countless hours scouting them and helping them grow. "You keep telling yourself that the scouts were right and it’s only a matter of time. ..."

But, that’s also the same time you start asking for more ... and more. That’s when I’d prefer to just sit back and enjoy the skill of a Spezza, Iginla, Theodore, Zetterberg.

Some, however, become impatience -- as we have seen so often in the past.