CPHL FUTURE WATCH 2008-2009
By: Joe Schum

Here is the future of the CPHL. The Minnesota Wild not only finished 1st overall in the regular standings but also captured the top spot in the 2008-2009 CPHL Future Watch as well. The Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, Anaheim Ducks came close with top notch young talent of their own but in the end it was the Wild on top. Here’s a look at the top prospect of each team. Some of the prospects have already moved on from each team so take these rankings with a grain of salt. I would also like to thank Curtis Sim who did one of the teams. Without further to do, the rankings. Enjoy!

1. Minnesota Wild

1. Steve Stamkos
2. Patrik Berglund
3. Alex Pietrangelo
4. James Van Reimsdyk
5. Luke Schenn
6. Cory Schneider
7. Ondrej Pavelac
8. Nikolai Kulyemin
9. T.J. Hensick
10. Jordan Eberle
The Wild have depth at all 3 positions led by Steven Stamkos the top pick from the 2008 CPHL draft. With number of more quality picks in the 2009 CPHL draft and GM Farhall’s strong scouting department and after winning the Fletcher, Farhall’s group will be hard to remove from the top spot.

2. Pittsburgh Penguins

1. Carey Price
2. Mikkel Boedker
3. Jonathan Quick
4. Mikhail Grabovsky
5. Ryan McDonagh
6. Mattias Tedenby
7. Aaron Palushaj
8. Ted Purcell
9. P.K. Subban
10. David Fischer
The Penguins themselves have some tremendous talent, especially in net with Carey Price and John Quick. This pool will also get stronger with GM Young holding the third overall selection and actively pursuing additional draft picks.

3. Philadelphia Flyers

1. Bobby Ryan
2. Derrick Brassard
3. Cody Hodgson
4. Cody Franson
5. Jordan eberle
6. Ty Wishart
7. Nick Ross
8. Wayne Simmonds
9. Daniel Larsson
10. Maxim Sauve
The Flyers have seen six of the top seven prospects already moved out but brought in similar talent in guys like Nikita Filatov. The Flyers hold five first round draft picks in the upcoming draft. The group will get an unneeded boost.

4. Anaheim Ducks

1. Nikita Filatov
2. Drew Doughty
3. Colin Wilson
4. Michael Backlund
5. Jonathan Bernier
6. Chet Pickard
7. Dustin Boyd
9. Adam Pardy
8. Matt Halischuk
10. Brandon Crombeen
The Ducks traded their top prospect for immediate help but rose from the bottoms of the league into the second round of the playoffs. The Ducks don’t have many picks but they are looking. Knowing GM Ravi he will be making few selection on June 20th.

5. Tampa Bay Lightning

1. Michael Frolik
2. Claude Giroux
3. Jhonas Enroth
4. Joe Colborne
5. Justin Abdelkader
6. Greg Nemisz
7. Andrea Nodl
8. Kyle Quincey
9. Keith Seabrook
10. Blake Kessel
The Bolts made the playoffs and hung onto their prized future stars in Michael Frolik and Calude Giroux. GM Siewert also has a first round selection he will be making on draft day and that prospect will likely sit in the system till his value increases.

6. Los Angeles Kings

1. Semen Varlamov
2. Kyle Turris
3. Peter Mueller
4. Kris Versteeg
5. Martin Hanzal
6. Darren Helm
7. James Sheppard
8. Justin Pogge
9. Kevin Porter
10. Alexandre Picard
The Kings saw the dismissal of their long-time GM, who had made plenty of shrewd deals, due to an obvious attempt of throwing games. The GM came and is gone. The once proud franchise will just look to gain stability this off-season.

7. Carolina Hurricanes

1. Karl Alzner
2. Zach Boychuk
3. Jiri Tlusty
4. Tyler Ennis
5. Bobby Sanguinetti
6. Keith Aulie
7. Maxime Tanguay
8. Jared Staal
9. Brett Sutter
10. Vladimir Sobotka
The Canes hold onto their prospects and hold onto them tightly. GM Whalen has assembled some top tier prospects that in time should be making some impact. The Canes do own their first round selection and likely will hit the WHL for their pick.

8. Buffalo Sabres

1. Josh Bailey
2. Tuuka Rask
3. Simon Hjalmarsson
4. Lars Eller
5. Dustin Tokarski
6. Brendan Smith
7. Jakub Kindl
8. Kamil Kreps
9. Carl Sneep
10. Radek Smolenak
Well the CPHL champions didn’t need any help after the show they put on in the playoffs, going 16-2. Remarkably, they hung onto their top prospects and will get few more goof youngsters with their first selection and other picks.

9. Nashville Predators

1. James Neal
2. Tyler Myers
3. Thomas Hickey
4. Logan Couture
5. Viktor Tikhonov
6. Chris Butler
7. Ted Ruth
8. Jamie McGinn
9. Mark Mancari
10. Sami Lepisto
The predators were cautious all season in making their trades. But when it came to pushing for the playoffs GM Lough traded couple of his top his prospects to bring in immediate help but held onto his first round selections. Preds will look to aquire some goaltending prospects.

10. Columbus Blue Jackets

1. Patrick Kane
2. Bryan Little
3. Zach Bogosian
4. Eric Fehr
5. Nigel Dawes
6. Colby Robak
7. Tyson Sexsmith
8. Christofer Lofberg
9. Fredrik Naslund
10. Ryan Carter
The Jackets will get a huge boost when Patrick Kane and Bryan Little graduate from the prospect list. After that it gets bleak. The Jackets do have their first rounder selection this year but have already moved the first round pick in next years draft.

11. Phoenix Coyotes

1. Cam Barker
2. Blake Wheeler
3. Dave Bolland
4. Colton Gillies
5. Kevin Klein
6. Thomas McCollum
7. Joakim Lindstrom
8. Kyle Chipchura
9. Gilbert Brule
10. Dan Bertram
The Coyotes have some high-end talent but not much at the CPHL and no first round pick as it was traded to the Penguins while back. The Coyotes need a well drawn plan this off-season to kick start this re-build. First they need to fire head coach Gretzky and remove anything associated with the NHL Coilers. I guess they would remove the GM too, forget that plan.

12. Dallas Stars

1. Joe Blum
2. Jonathan Ericsson
3. Fabian Brunnstrom
4. Jacob Markstrom
5. Tyler Bozak
6. Mark Mitera
7. Anton Gustafsson
8. Ryan Duncan
9. Jack Hillen
10. Jesse Winchester
The Stars have gone to rebuilding their team through the draft and looks like they’re sticking to it. They have done a solid job or signing UFA prospects and hope these youngsters can bring them to respectability sooner than later. With multiple picks in the upcoming draft they’ll be looking to move up these rankings next year.

13. New York Rangers

1. Steve Mason
2. Alexander Vasyunov
3. Cal Clutterbuck
4. Patric Hornqvist
5. Jake Allen
6. Robbie Schremp
7. Lauri Korpikoski
8. Logan Pyett
9. Bill Sweatt
10. John Armstrong
The Rangers had and than traded away their top prospect in Steve Mason. They have some secondary prospects after that but none that are top tier prospects. In the upcoming draft they do not pick until the third round so barring a trade the group will not get a major prospect.

14. Florida Panthers

1. Leland Irving
2. Michael Del Zotto
3. Cody Goloubef
4. Chris Stewart
5. Casey Pierro-Zabotel
6. Chris Summers
7. Mike Weber
8. Chris Bourque
9. Taylor Chorney
10. Alexander Sulzer
The Panthers have gone through endless general managers since the firing of CPHL’s bad boy mjk. The Panthers have just hired a new GM and like the Kings, they are looking for stability as well. They do have number of under rated prospects though.

15. New Jersey Devils

1. Brandon Sutter
2. Trevor Lewis
3. Christopher Didomenico
4. Eric Tangardi
5. Michael Stone
6. Johnny Boychuk
7. Niko Hoivunen
8. Andrei Plekhanov
9. Alex Bourret
10. Dmitri Patzold


Some of these prospects have been moved and more have been brought in, GM Steve did a good job of flipping soon to be UFAs for some decent prospects. The prospect pool will only get better as the Devils have the 2nd overall pick and another top 14 pick.


16. Chicago Black Hawks

1. Erik Karlsson
2. Jake Gardiner
3. Patrick Wiercoch
4. Zach Hamill
5. Derek Meech
6. Michael Neuwirth
7. Luke Adam
8. Pierre-Luc Lessard
9. Marek Zagrapan
10. Brett Carson


The Hawks traded away some of these prospects already but still have few good ones. As well the Hawks have a good collection of draft picks. Look for them to get stronger as the core at the CPHL will be receiving additional help in coming years.

17. Ottawa Senators

1. Kyle Beach
2. Enver Lisin
3. Jack Skille
4. Dana Tyrell
5. Mathieu Carle
6. Mitch Wahl
7. Ilja Zubov
8. Marc Methot
9. Cal O Reilly
10. Justin Peters

The Senators have a great future. With little more patience, the playoffs will be back in sight. However, they do not have their first round draft pick this year but do have other picks and with good drafting they will find more keepers.

18. Edmonton Oilers

1. T.J. Oshie
2. Kyle Okposo
3. Angelo Esposito
4. Kirill Petrov.
5. Ryan White
6. Andrew Ebbett
7. Nick Bonino
8. Pier-Olivier Pelletier
9. Kevin Veilleux
10. James Delory


The Oilers have traded the top 2 guys but have replaced him with others like Cody Hodgson. The Oilers still have a good future with the pro roster they have, better development and they will be a powerhouse again.

19. Montreal Canadiens

1. Shawn Matthias
2. John Carlson
3. Daniel Rahimi
4. Kyle Greentree
5. Stefan Della Rovere
6. Aaron Ness
7. Adam Pineault
8. Nathan McIver
9. Joseph Fallon
10. Kristoffer Berglund

The Habs have added new faces since this list developed, from all accounts; the current crop looks better than shown here. Also with a top ten pick, the front loaded Habs will likely be picking a defenseman to anchor their blueline for years.

20. St. Louis Blues

1. Brendan Mikkelson
2. Matt Hunwick
3. Michal Repik
4. Michael Caruso
5. Simon Danis-Pepin
6. Brandon Prust
7. Liam Reddox
8. John Curry
9. Bryan Cameron
10. Ryan McGinnis

The Blues want to make the playoffs and will sacrifice more youth in order to obtain more immediate help. Couple players from this list have already been moved in Hunwick and Caruso. At least Punk didn’t enter the Risebrough Award race this year.

21. Toronto Maple Leafs

1. Oscar Moller
2. Nick Petrecki
3. Travis Hamonic
4. Maxim Gratchev
5. Cody Bass
6. Dennis Persson
7. Nick Spaling
8. Eric Doyle
9. Stefan Legein
10. Ondrej Fiala
 

So far the Leafs have put a untouchable tag on Moller and for good reasons, he has the ability to be a top line player in couple of years. Otherwise the team has good talent at the CPHL level, which allows them to sustain development of their top prospects. They have given up their 09 first rounder but have the 10, but that could be moved to upgrade the Leafs right a way.

22. Detroit Red Wings

1. Jeff Petry
2. Matthew Corrente
3. Kyle Cumiskey
4. Kenndal McArdle
5. Jeremy Williams
6. T.J. Galiardi
7. Brian Strait
8. Jake Hansen
9. Philippe Gogulla
10. Vitaly Anikeyenko


The Wings already have some good forward that are hitting their prime but the defense is very below average. But the system for defenseman is strong. So the future is bright in that regard but they have already traded away their top picks for next two drafts. For Mr. May’s sake, hope some of these guys turn out to be decent players.

23. Atlanta Thrashers

1. Jamie Benn
2. Brett Sonne
3. Matt Rust
4. Cody Wild
5. Theo Peckham
6. Chris Porter
7. Chris Terry
8. Jason Gregoire
9. Phil Desimone
10. Vitaly Karamnov -

The Thrashers do have some intriguing prospects if they were to move them for an upgrade in order to make a cup run. After that it does stop, they have already traded most of their picks away for next two entry drafts. The Thrashers will need to get creative in the off-season to maintain their high-level of success and obtain some more youth in the system.

24. Calgary Flames

1. Riku Helenuis
2. Patrice Cormier
3. Matt Pelech
4. Devan Dubnyk
5. Jamie Arniel
6. Brian Salcido
7. Mark Dekanich
8. Nathan Davis
9. Andy Rogers
10. Petr Kalus

The Flames have good pool of goalie prospects but that’s all they really have. They are trying to acquire more picks to fast forward the re-build process. The Flames do have their first round draft picks in the next 2 drafts. These couple of picks will provide the team with some much needed help. Here Comes John Tavares.

25. Colorado Avalanche

1. Akim Aliu
2. Michael Sauer
3. Thomas Greiss
4. Brad Marchand
5. Jyri Niemi
6. Julien Demers
7. Joe Finley
8. Ruslan Bashkirov
9. Evgeni Dadonov
10. Andrew Kozek

The Avs have some defenseman that can develop into solid player in the long run. Their offensive pool is very shallow, with their potential stars being in Russia or Aliu who concerns teams with his attitude problems. The Avs have already traded away their first rounders for next two drafts. New GM Faith is taking the team in a right direction.

26. Vancouver Canucks

1. Devin Setoguchi
2. Paul Postma
3. Mathie Brodeur
4. Tom Pyatt
5. James Livingston
6. Patrick McNeill
7. Joel Broda
8. Scott Jackson
9. Reto Berra
10. Matt Fillier

With a lack of any impact prospects outside of Setoguchi, they may be in tough to use any of these prospects to flip for solid NHL'ers. Look for the Canucks to trade some older vets for younger prospects as the deadline approaches if they are on the outside looking in. The Canucks with the 9th overall should nab a solid prospect.

27. San Jose Sharks

1. Jakub Voracek
2. Tyler Cuma3. Jonas Junland
4. Marek Schwarz
5. Karri Ramo
6. Mikki Lehtonen
7. Nigel Williams
8. Chad Denny
9. Dimitri Vorobiev
10. Andrei Popov

The Sharks are loaded at the CPHL level and are gunning for a second championship in a row but there's no way they can keep that team together for next season. So some top players will be moved in the off-season and this prospect pool will certainly fill up with top potential prospects again, only to be traded during the season. A formula of success.

28. Washington Capitals

1. Ryan Stoa
2. Igor Mirnov
3. Blake Geoffrion
4. Anton Khudobin
5. T.J. Fast
6. Rick Rypien
7. Jordan Hendry
8. Tyson Strachan
9. Jens Hellgren
10. Tyler Haskins

The caps have some depth, unknown prospects but no one really stands out. The one that has the ability to do that is Mirnov who is currently playing in the KHL but if he comes over he could be a star. Also, not a lot is expected from them next couple of drafts as they have traded most their picks already.

29. New York Islanders

1. Jamie McBain
2. Niklas Hjalmarsson
3. Alexandre Bolduc
4. Codey Burki
5. T.J. Brodie
6. Billy Ryan
7. Brandon Yip
8. Jesper Samuelsson
9. Scott Winkler
10. Stephen Johnston

Kevin has assembled some good prospects but their ceiling is not very high. With a team with already strong defense and more defense coming through the systems the Isles have to start developing offensive talent. They do have their first round draft pick in the next draft 5th overall, which should be a good young player.

30. Boston Bruins

1. Mark Fistric
2. Jesse Joensuu
3. Anton Axelsson
4. Jean-Simon Allard
5. James Wyman
6. Ryan Turek
7. Per Jonsson
8. Joonas Järvinen
9. Scott Darling
10. Henrik Eriksson

Bruins GM Fernet has never shown any affection to his or any other prospects. So it is obvious they will already be trading their 2009 draft picks away this early. One cannot question Fernet’s passion for the CPHL but how long can the Bruins keep playing with fire? With the cap diminishing trade opportunities, the Bruins will have to start developing some young talent sooner rather than later.