World Junior Championship: Preview and Ultimate Guide

Rosters, Schedules, Previews, Predictions

 Sheesh, it's been a long time since I posted anything on here. But you don't want to read about how "busy" my life is. No, what you want is hockey, and there could not be a better event to get The Hart of Hockey back into the blogosphere than the IIHF World Junior Championship.

 The World Juniors are a gigantic annual tournament and a gold medal from this international showdown is one of the most celebrated accomplishments a player can earn in his career. However, since an overwhelming majority of players have never played a shift in the NHL, it can be a difficult competition to follow at first if one has not been keeping tabs on the junior ranks for most of the year. We make it easier for you, and have compiled a the roster of every team in this year's World Juniors, their playing schedule and a summary of what their team can do. Hopefully this will help in your preparation of the great tournament that is the World Junior Championship.

Cumulative 2013 Draft Rankings (November)

 We haven't posted anything in a while, but this is a good time to break the silence with the first edition of The Hart of Hockey's signature cumulative draft rankings for the upcoming 2013 NHL Entry Draft in Newark. It's still very early, so not a lot of rankings have been posted yet. This particular list only goes as low as 20, but it will surely expand as these cumulative rankings are updated several times leading up to the draft.
 As usual, these rankings are based on a player's average score taken from the rankings of TSN reporters Bob McKenzie and Craig Button, and then the International Scouting Services. Usually NHL Central Scouting is used as a tie-breaker between players, but at this point in the year, Central Scouting only has players graded from "A" through "C", and every one of these players are "A"-level prospects at this point.
 There should be drastic changes in these rankings come the next post since McKenzie's rankings only go to 10 with 10 honorable mentions, and Button has already alluded to several changes of heart regarding some players on the new TSN Draftcentre podcast. Nonetheless, this should serve as a good starting point for anyone to recognize who most of the premiere talent is going into the 2012 draft.

	Player	Pos.	Team	McKenzie	Button	ISS	Avg Score
1	Nathan MacKinnon	C	Halifax Mooseheads	1	2	1	1.33
2	Seth Jones	D	Portland Winterhawks	2	1	2	1.66
3	Aleksander Barkov	C	Tappara	6	3	3	4
4	Sean Monahan	C	Ottawa 67’s	3	6	4	4.33
5	Elias Lindholm	C	Brynäs	4	5	9	6.33
6	Curtis Lazar	C	Edmonton Oil Kings	9	10	5	8
7	Hunter Shinkaruk	LW	Medicine Hat Tigers	>10	11	8	10
8	Rasmus Ristolainen	D	TPS	5	19	7	10.33
9	Ryan Pulock	D	Brandon Wheat Kings	>10	9	13	11
10	Jonathan Drouin	LW	Halifax Mooseheads	>10	13	10	11.33
11	André Burakovsky	RW	Malmö J20	7	21	6	11.33
12	Nikita Zadorov	D	London Knights	>10	7	18	12
13	Valeri Nichushkin	LW	Chelyabinsk	>20	4	14	13
14	Josh Morrissey	D	Prince Albert Raiders	>10	8	22	13.33
15	Adam Erne	LW	Québec Remparts	>10	20	17	16
16	Kerby Rychel	LW	Windsor Spitfires	10	18	21	16.33
17	Darnell Nurse	D	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds	>10	23	16	16.66
18	Robert Hägg	D	MODO J20	>10	>30	11	17.66
19	Max Domi	C	London Knights	>10	12	>30	18
20	Jacob De la Rose	C	Leksands	8	>30	20	19.33

Nail Yakupov: International Ping-Pong Ball (Part 2- Volley)

Yakupov sporting the Neftekhimik
uniform (photo from photo.khl.ru)

 Nail Yakupov, the Edmonton Oilers' 1st overall selection at the most recent NHL Entry Draft, will be permitted to play with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, after all.

 A few days ago, the IIHF ruled that Yakupov's tranfer card was invalid, because as a player of major junior eligibility, Hockey Canada had never approved of said transer to send him overseas. Yakupov was thought to be headed back to play for the OHL's Sarnia Sting for the remainder of the NHL lockout as a result of the IIHF's ruling, but after some slight coaxing from his agent, legend Igor Larionov, Hockey Canada approved of Yakupov's transfer on Saturday, making him eligible for KHL competition.

 Neftekhimik and Russia Hockey were both threatened with hefty fines by the IIHF if Yakupov were to continue to play with the invalid transfer card, but all parties involved can now rest easy and not worry about repercussions of the offensively gifted Yakupov's participation in KHL competition.

 Yakupov is not expected to dress in Neftekhimik's next game on Monday against Dynamo Minsk.

Nail Yakupov: International Ping-Pong Ball

 Nail Yakupov better have a sweet frequent flyer agreement with his airline provider, because he has been getting bounced around between different countries far more than the average 18-year-old. Earlier today, the International Ice Hockey Federation ruled that because of Nail Yakupov's current major junior eligibility in North America, Hockey Canada never officially approving his departure, and several other technicalities, his transfer card to play for HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk of the Kontinental Hockey League is invalid. The IIHF subsequently fined Russia Hockey, a light slap on the wrists really, but then proceeded to threaten Neftekhimik and Hockey Russia with greater sanctions if Yakupov were to continue playing in the KHL. So what does this mean for the Edmonton Oilers' 1st overall selection in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft? It means he could end up being the first player in hockey history to play in the KHL, CHL, and NHL in one season.

CHL Games to Watch

The lockout doesn't mean you have to stop watching hockey

 With the NHL locked out for the foreseeable future, most fans are probably already sifting through YouTube highlight reels of their favorite players in an attempt to hold them over until the League and the Players' Association stop bickering and get back to playing puck. Though just about everyone can be endlessly entertained by Pavel Datsyuk shooutout highlights or Jonathan Toews making playoff heroics look easy, any hockey fan knows that the void left by an absence of live action ice hockey is not easily filled. Well, it turns out that just because the NHL has temporarily stopped its operations, doesn't mean hockey has stopped being played all over the world! The KHL regular season is already underway, and the top three major junior leagues in the world that make up the CHL will begin their seasons soon. Here's a list of match-ups in the OHL, QMJHL, and WHL that hockey fans will want to check out over the next month if they need to get their fix.

Shane Doan Deal DONE



(Getty Images)

 The summer-long saga of Shane Doan's stint in unrestricted free agency has reportedly come to an end, and it concludes with him sporting a familiar sweater. Sarah McLellan, sports writer for the Arizona Republic, reported today that the Coyotes' long-time captain has a deal in place that will keep him in the desert. The pen has not come to paper yet, though. Apparently, Doan will wait until Greg Jamison's purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes is finalized before he inks his new deal with the team. Jamison has spent the majority of the summer trying to convince the city of Glendale to hand over the reins to the franchise and securing the investors necessary to do so. The billionaire supposedly has these resources at his aid now, and Glendale City Council is expected to approve his purchase of the team. Very few details of the contract have been released thus far, but McLellan has also tweeted that Doan alluded to a "long term" deal, something the aging veteran was looking for from suitors attempting to lure him away from Phoenix. Doan was contacted by many teams interested in his services over the course of the free agency period, with the most notable squads being Vancouver, Los Angeles, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Buffalo.
 Though we can only speculate what digits will be printed on Shane Doan's paycheck at this point, we can feel safe in saying that this new contract will all but guarantee that he will retire a Coyote.

Follow Sarah McLellan on Twitter for updates as the details of

the Doan situation continue to unfold: @azc_mclellan

Brilliant Analysis of the "Real Losers" in a Lockout

 This is an excerpt from a much broader article from Yahoo!Sports' Trending Topics series from the popular Puck Daddy blog. Ryan Lambert aptly (and somehwat sarcastically towards the end) describes who the real losers would be in the event of another NHL lockout. In fact, his analysis would apply to a lockout in any major sport, not just hockey. Here's his work; definitely worth a read:

The Latest on Shane Doan

from coyotes.nhl.com / Getty Images

 35 year-old Shane Doan has been the greatest gem available on the free agent market for over two weeks now, and the Internet has gone rouge in regards to who is/isn't on his short list of teams that he will leave the desert for. Twitter accounts have been contradicting each other, reporters stationed in the suitors' cities have been putting spin on every rumor and report to make it seem like their hometown team has the upper-hand in landing the Coyotes' captain, Doan's agent Terry Bross has not been much of a help in sorting out the craziness, and most of TSN's Insiders have been on vacation. This frenzy certainly has been entertaining, but it has also left just about everyone confused as to what is really going on. With hopes that this update doesn't become antediluvian within the next few hours, here's the latest on everything known for sure about Shane Doan's status as a free agent.