The Decision: Justin Schultz Will Play For...

 University of Wisconsin star and highly sought after defenseman Justin Schultz has decided that he will begin his NHL career on the blue line of the Edmonton Oilers. Schultz, a UFA after going four years without signing a contract with the team that drafted him in '08, the Anaheim Ducks, had 29 teams interested in services, but he narrowed his options down to short list of reportedly six squads and then made his final decision today. The two-way defender generated so much interest from NHL teams because after three impressive years at Wisconsin, many scouts believe he is already jump into a pro roster and eat up top four defense pairing minutes. Some even think he's already top two material. Whether you believe the hype or not, the Oilers have certainly acquired a great hockey player and added a huge piece to their future.
 Schultz brings an instant injection of youth and promise to the Oilers' defense corps, an atrocious blue line once headlined by Ryan Whitney. Though Edmonton still has a lot of work to do shaping up their defense before they can consider making a run at the Stanley Cup, the addition of Schultz means they do not have to wait a whole year to draft a top defender in the draft. Basically, it puts them one more step ahead in terms of becoming an elite franchise in the NHL than they were a day ago. Now, Justin Schultz' decision does not necessarily indicate that he wants to win now, but it shows an interest and dedication to reviving one of the most historic clubs in hockey history.
 Some people scoffed at the fact that Edmonton drafted another forward #1 overall at this year's draft instead of targeting their shortcomings on the blue line and between the pipes. One can't help but wonder what those people saying how "mismanaged" the Oilers franchise is are saying now. Even though they were already stacked with young, offensive juggernauts like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Sam Gagner, and Nail Yakupov, now that Edmonton has added a premier defense prospect to their ranks, the Oilers can now truly be treated as "on the rise".

Welcome to OIL Country, Justin Schultz

The End of an Era?

 Approaching July 1st, the first day of free agency in the National Hockey League, everybody knew there would be some exciting storylines. Stars Zach Parise and Ryan Suter may find a new home, Justin Schultz' highly anticipated decision as to where he'll start his NHL career, who will bite on Islanders' emerging playamaker P.A. Parenteau, just to name a few. But nobody could have anticipated the end of an era for one of the most legendary players in hockey history.
 A few months ago, the possibility of Martin Brodeur playing his final year(s) in the NHL for someone other than the New Jersey Devils would have sounded perposterous. But due to limited talks with Devils GM Lou Lamoriello and lingering ownership issues, it may become a bizarre reality soon. Yesterday, Brodeur hired one of the best agents in the game, Pat Brisson, and TSN's hockey insider Darren Dreger reported Marty's interest in exploring the free agent market. There is no guarantee that Marty will opt out of the Garden State, but the fact that he is even considering donning a sweater other than the red and black sent shock waves throughout the hockey world and the twitterverse. The fact of the matter is, though, despite Marty's legendary status, he isn't exactly a perfect fit with all 30 teams in the NHL. In fact, there are very few possible clubs who can make a respectable proposal to Brodeur and have the move make sense...

2012 Entry Draft Blog LIVE from Pittsburgh

 This blog will be updated live from the 2012 NHL Entry Draft in Pittsburgh, Pensylvania. Every selection, trade, or any other big news coming out of the CONSOL Energy Center will be updated instantly as it is announced and posted to this page (draft-day transactions will be written in italics.) Every draft pick will also be accompanied by a breif description of each prospect, so you can have a better understanding of what your favorite team just added to its system.

2012 Cumulative Draft Rankings (June)

 Here is the June edition, and final edition , of The Hart of Hockey's cumulative draft rankings for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. To review, what these rankings show are every player's most recent individual ranking from the most reliable draft ranking services, then takes the average score based on those rankings, and then orders every player based on that average. For these cumulative rankings, The Hart of Hockey uses rankings from International Scouting Services, TSN's Bob McKenzie and Craig Button, and now in the June edition, The Hockey News has been added, too. Since NHL Central Scouting separates North American Skaters from European Skaters, its rankings are used for a tiebreaker between two or more prospects if the average score of their other four rankings are equal. This is not a mock draft, nor does it take any experts' mock drafts into account for these cumulative rankings, either. Look over these top 45 players and keep these rankings in mind when following the draft on the 22nd and 23rd!

	PLAYER	Pos.	Team	McKenzie	Button	ISS	THN	AvgScore	CS*
1	Nail Yakupov	RW	Sarnia Sting	1	1	1	1	1	1
2	Filip Forsberg	C	Leksand	3	3	4	2	3	1
3	Mathew Dumba	D	Red Deer Rebels	6	2	8	5	5.25	11
4	Morgan Rielly	D	Moose Jaw Warriors	8	3	7	6	6	5
5	Griffin Reinhart	D	Edmonton Oil Kings	4	6	6	8	6	10
6	Ryan Murray	D	Everett Silvertips	2	13	3	4	6.25	2
7	Alex Galchenyuk	C	Sarnia Sting	5	4	14	7	7.5	4
8	Teuvo Teräväinen	RW	Jokerit	7	5	9	12	8.25	2
9	Jacob Trouba	D	USNTDP	9	12	5	9	8.75	9
10	Mikhail Grigorenko	C	Québec Remparts	12	20	4	3	9.75	3
11	Cody Ceci	D	Ottawa 67's	14	11	10	10	11.25	6
12	Radek Faksa	C	Kitchener Rangers	11	17	16	11	13.75	7
13	Hampus Lindholm	D	Rögle	15	10	19	15	14.75	4
14	Matt Finn	D	Guelph Storm	21	9	18	18	16.5	16
15	Zemgus Girgensons	C	Dubuque Fighting Saints	13	16	24	16	17.25	18
16	Olli Määttä	D	London Knights	10	28	12	20	17.5	8
17	Derrick Pouliot	D	Portland Winterhawks	17	18	22	13	17.5	12
18	Andrei Vasilevski	G	Ufa Tolpar	24	15	n/a	21	20	1
19	Malcolm Subban	G	Belleville Bulls	25	8	n/a	48	20.25	1
20	Sebastian Collberg	RW	Frölunda	27	27	18	18	20.25	3
21	Thomas Wilson	RW	Plymouth Whalers	18	21	17	25	20.25	15
22	Brendan Gaunce	C	Belleville Bulls	20	38	11	17	21.5	13
23	Slater Koekkoek	D	Peterborough Petes	15	34	21	23	23.25	23
24	Tomas Hertl	C	Slavia Praha	19	22	32	24	24.25	5
25	Brady Skjei	D	USNTDP	22	26	26	26	25	19
26	Ludvig Byström	D	MODO	34	19	29	19	25.25	8
27	Oscar Dansk	G	Brynäs	35	31	n/a	44	27.5	2
28	Michael Matheson	D	Dubuque Fighting Saints	26	23	34	27	27.5	30
29	Pontus Åberg	LW	Djurgårdens	37	33	20	22	28	6
30	Scott Laughton	C	Oshawa Generals	28	24	23	42	29.25	28
31	Phillip DiGiuseppe	LW	University of Michigan	30	30	35	31	31.5	22
32	Stefan Matteau	LW	USNTDP	23	48	31	30	33	17
33	Nicolas Kerdiles	LW	USNTDP	40	51	15	33	34.75	29
34	Henrik Samuelsson	RW	Edmonton Oil Kings	36	27	29	50	35.5	75
35	Mark Jankowski	C	Stanstead Prep	41	14	55	49	36.75	43
36	Dalton Thrower	D	Saskatoon Blades	39	52	28	29	37	26
37	Adam Pelech	D	Erie Otters	49	35	30	41	38.75	120
38	Ville Pokka	D	Kärpät	31	>60	41	28	40.25	7
39	Mike Winther	C	Prince Albert Raiders	44	49	38	35	41.5	21
40	Jarrod Maidens	LW	Owen Sound Attack	48	36	30	58	43	35
41	Colton Sissons	RW	Kelowna Rockets	33	>60	40	40	43.5	14
42	Martin Frk	RW	Halifax Mooseheads	32	59	42	45	44.5	20
43	Jordan Schmaltz	D	Green Bay Gamblers	38	>60	45	34	44.5	34
44	Patrick Sieloff	D	USNTDP	42	42	44	53	45.25	31
45	Gemel Smith	LW	Owen Sound Attack	>60	25	>50	46	45.75	37

Note: The ISS ranks goalies separately from skaters.
* = CS rank used for tie-breaking when average score is tied between two or more prospects.

First Annual HARTY Awards

 The Stanley Cup has been awarded to the Los Angeles Kings, but the NHL isn't done handing out hardware just yet. The 2012 NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas is upon us, where the league's best hope to receive an individual awards to demonstrate their great seasons. Every player in attendance would exchange their scoring title or MVP to be in the Kings' position with Lord Stanley hoisted over his head in a heartbeat, but it still remains a fun event for all. Even though we didn't get a fancy opera hall, pretty girls to present trophies, or Nickelback to perform the whole time (you can thank us for that last one,) The Hart of Hockey is proud to present its first annual HARTY Awards.
 What is a HARTY you ask? It's a cheesy, generic name for what we're handing out to some of the NHL's best, awards that are probably more prized than some NHL award. HARTYs are based on the NHL's most prestigious awards, but then we've thrown in a few extra categories as well. The HARTYs are not supposed to reflect any kind of prediction for who will win in Vegas; in fact, you'll even notice some of our nominees are different than those of the NHL. These are just for fun, but rest assured, we will be adding these heralded accomplishments to the winners' Wikipedia pages. Well, even as the host I'm getting the "wrap it up" signal, so let's go on with the HARTY Awards!