HOCK.ly - Future of Hockey Content June 25, 2013 | Page 67

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

When general manager Dave Nonis takes to the podium at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, it is unlikely he will call upon a defenseman to join the Toronto Maple Leafs. Morgan Rielly, Matt Finn, Jesse Blacker, and Stuart Percy all have potential NHL careers on the Leafs’ blue line.

What the Leafs lack, however, is top-end talent upfront. A skilled centre would be ideal as Joe Colborne is their top prospect down the middle, and it is likely he slots in on the third line moving forward. On the wings, they possess players such as Joshua Leivo and Carter Ashton but the Leafs would benefit from more upside in that department. Potential targets include Max Domi, Kerby Rychel, JT Compher, Zach Nastasiuk, Alexander Wennberg, Frederik Gauthier and Anthony Mantha, among others.

- Ron Guillet blogs over at TheCheckingline.com

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

By all accounts the Vancouver Canucks prospect system is relatively barren in terms of both depth and quality prospects. Rather than heading into the 2013 NHL entry draft with any particular "needs" in mind, it would behoove the organization to simply identify talent wherever possible and accumulate much needed assets regardless of the position they play.

The past few years the Canucks have played at some sort of angle in terms of drafting NCAA (or NCAA bound) players in later rounds, and focusing on older players more generally after round one. The jury is still out on whether or not this odd tactic is a fruitful one, but the early returns are inauspicious.

The Canucks do have a few quality young players in the pipeline - guys like Frank Corrado, Nicklas Jensen and Brendan Gaunce, for example - but the organization desperately needs to take advantage of the deep 2013 NHL draft class and bolster their prospect depth. It's a tall task, especially considering the club has a late first round pick, no second rounder, and only five picks overall....

- Thomas Drance is a contributor at The Sporting News, columnist at Vice Canada, and Managing Editor of CanucksArmy at The Nations Network

WASHINGTON CAPITOLS

The Washington Capitals will have a total of eight draft picks in the upcoming NHL Draft, to include the 23rd overall selection. One area that the Caps will not be focusing on heavily this year will be at the blueline where there are plenty of defensemen within the organization, such as Tomas Kundratek, Steve Oleksy, Dmitry Orlov, Cam Schilling, Chay Genoway, and Nate Schmidt. While general manager George McPhee may select one or two defensemen just to have them in the pipeline developing, this is not the Caps’ greatest need.

Look for Washington to go offense-heavy, especially players who can fit in the top six and could potentially jump in the lineup when Evgeny Kuznetsov comes to North America. One issue that Washington has year-in and year-out is the lack of pivots, so it would behoove McPhee to draft one or two with a top-six ceiling in the hopes they can become legitimate NHL centers. This draft is an important one for McPhee as the Capitals have fallen short in the playoffs each of the last few years. Picking up a few good prospects could ingratiate himself with the fans and give them hope of a bright future.

- Jeff Kleiman of Capitalsoutsider.com

POST-ISSUE TEAM WRITE-UPS TO COME. WHEN THEY DO, THEY WILL BE ADDED HERE

DALLAS STARS

The Dallas Stars have rebuilt their development system over the past four years under the tutelage of departed general manager Joe Nieuwendyk, He realized just how important having such assets are to a franchise and the lack of viable prospects is a very big reason for the struggles of this team when the payroll was forced to go down. During that span, Nieuwendyk focused on each position at different times and took a bit of a "shotgun" approach -- one year he went after power forwards, the next year it was all about defensemen or centers.

As a result, the Stars have a very solid group of prospects that are slowly starting to make their way to the NHL. Alex Chiasson, Reilly Smith, Jamie Oleksiak and Brenden Dillon are all expected to possibly have an impact on the NHL team this year, with many others (Brett Ritchie, Matej Stransky, Patrik Nemeth) expected to be a big part of the AHL team.

For the draft, the Stars need to focus on playmakers with high upside. The team has a solid group of very good prospects, but no true "elite" prospects with potential to become true stars in the NHL. At No. 10 in the draft, the Stars will certainly look to trade up to possibly grab a player like Elias Lindholm or Valery Nichushkin should they fall past No. 5 or so. There's still going to be great options available at their own spot, however, with players like Hunter Shinkaruk, Max Domi or Ryan Pulock all likely to still be on the board when the Stars pick comes up.

- Brandon Worley Managing Editor of DefendingBigD.com