NHL Prospect Tournament 2009 Preview – Part 1

This years NHL Prospects Tournament is hosted (as usual) by the Detroit Red Wings in Traverse City, Mi, home of the Wings training camp. It will take place from September 6-10, the week prior to all of the NHL training camps kicking off, and will include eight teams Detroit, Atlanta, Columbus, St. Louis, Dallas, New York Rangers, Minnesota, and Carolina.

As of Today, 4 of the 8 Teams have not yet finalized their Rosters for the Tournament, including the Red Wings. A few big names have already been listed. Atlanta is bringing their last two 1st Round Draft Picks,  2008 #3 draft pick  Zach Bogosian and the 2009 #3 draft pick Evander Kane, with such a high profile both players will receive lots of attention during the tournament. Bogosian already played 47 games in the NHL last year but will need all of the skating he can get after missing much of the end of  last season with a fractured fibula.  Kane catapulted up the NHL Draft board with a stellar World Junior Championships in 2009, where he helped lead Team Canada to Gold with 6 points in 6 games.

The three other teams that have finalized their rosters are Carolina, Minnesota, and Dallas. Each team has a few prospects that will be watched by their respective teams to see if they are ready for the NHL.  Carolina’s roster has their last 3 1st Round Draft Picks on the roster (2007 #1 Pick 11 Brandon Sutter, 2008 #1 Pick 14 Zach Boychuck, and 2009 #1 Pick 27 Phillipe Paradis). Aside from the previous three, Jamie McBain, who has played for the Wisconsin Badgers the last 3 years and has developed into a highly skilled offensive and defensive defenseman, is perhaps Carolina’s most prized prospect to watch.  Dallas has only one 1st Round Draft pick on their prospect roster, and that is Scott Glennie, the #8 overall pick of the 2009 draft. He burst onto the Ontario Hockey League scene in 2008 with 70 points (28 G and 42 A) in only 55 regular season games. Minnesota fired their GM this last off-season, and taking one look at the roster they are bringing to the tournament in Traverse City is one indication why; they have very little depth with their prospects. The only high level prospect that they are bringing is Tyler Cuma, who played for the Ottawa 67’s and was the only defenseman on the team who finished the season with a positive plus/minus. Cuma has a good chance of making Minnesota’s roster out of Training Camp this year because he is so strong defensively, though he will need to work on his offensive game.

As of right now, it looks like I will be able to attend the last 2 days of this tournament, and I look forward to bringing you guys pictures and breakdowns of players who play well and players that don’t.  I will do a quick preview of the rest of the teams as soon as their rosters are released.

Watch tomorrow for the first installment of the Central Division preview!