So as expected Taylor Hall beat out Tyler Segun for the first overall pick in the NHL this year as Hall was selected by the Edmonton Oilers to be their face of the future. An awful team last year, hampered in parts by injuries to their best players, came in dead last in the NHL standings and got the first overall pick. Hall was the big favorite to go number one but with a real need for a good young centre man there was rumors that the Oilers might yet go for Seguin. As it turns out they did what you’re supposed to do when drafting teenagers – go for the best available player and ignore the positional need.

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When I typed in the title above my spell checker highlighted the word ‘Pronger’, but when I clicked on it instead of hitting ignore, I hit ‘learn’ because in the coming year or so with Chris Pronger now a Philadelphia Flyers player I believe I’ll be writing quite a bit about him and I don’t want red lines all over my articles before I hit submit.

Last night during the NHL Entry Draft the Flyers made a big splash by giving up their pick late in the first round, their first round pick next year and two young players for veteran defenseman Chris Pronger. Why should I be so interested other than the fact that my team have picked up a marquee player who, even at 35, can still make a difference to the point that he could be the missing cog in a Stanley Cup challenge?

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Brian Burke confused a lot of people last night by revealing that young Nazem Kadri was the guy he wanted all along and not superstar in the making John Tavares, leaving the Toronto media scrambling on the Internet to find out just who exactly they would be writing about for this mornings papers when they seemed sure it would be John Tavares. For months we had been lead to believe that the dream was to move up in the draft to pick Tavares and for months leading into the draft, Leafs GM Brian Burke was saying that was exactly his plan, but when it came to the crunch he called Kadri to the stage as the Leafs new hot prospect. Burke of course was trying to make Kardi feel wanted but he would have saved himself from looking like a fool had he just kept quiet with the media back at the draft lottery all them months ago. I could see then that it would be a costly (in terms of players they would have to give up) mistake to try move up for one hot prospect in Tavares and one that was very unlikely to happen.

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About half an hour to go until the New York Islanders do one of two things: Take to the stage and announce who their number one pick is or trade down with the Toronto Maple Leafs and watch them take to the stage to announce John Tavares as their number one pick. The later is the certain bet if Brian Burke is to believed who just a few months ago promised he would do everything he could to move his team up to the top pick to get their dream player. But it isn’t crucial that the Leafs get Tavares, giving up too much just to get one player is never to wise, but it should be exciting to see what happens regardless.

Tavares is a gifted player, no doubt about it, but a lot of people are wondering if he is being built up to more than he is. Is he the next Sidney Crosby or the next Jason Spezza? Both great players but one a go-to elite superstar, the other just a superstar. Tavares will have a great career in the NHL but whether he could be the Leafs man to build a team around remains to be seen … We mightn’t even get the chance to find out if the Islanders do not bite.

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The last hockey article before playoff hockey articles begin! Tonight’s draft lottery will tell us finally where exactly number one pick elect John Tavares will end up. It’s live on TSN from 7 p.m. and I’ll be covering it live here. . . . Read More»