This and that

Here's a juicy draft nugget via Andy Strickland on hockeybuzz:

Word is Tampa Bay and the Islanders are both interested in drafting Swedish D-man Victor Hedman. This means T.B. is listening hard to all offers when it comes to moving out of the second overall spot.

Toronto continues to be very aggressive in moving up to #2 and have discussed trading Thomas Kaberle to the Lightning. Tampa Bay wants more than just Kaberle and is asking for a package including both Kaberle and Schenn.

Will the pressure from media and fans prevent Toronto from rebuilding their franchise the right way? It takes a lot of patience to construct a winning franchise and it will be interesting to see if Toronto can stay the course the way St. Louis has been able to do since the lockout. You have to draft well and develop your own players to really demonstrate the stability necessary to compete in the salary cap era. The win now mentality by spending in the open market may get you into the second round of the playoffs but chances are it won’t deliver a Cup.

Redline ranks the top 10 defensemen in this year's draft. Pay attention to picks 5 through 10 as one could very well end up being a Jacket:

1. Victor Hedman 6-6/220 R 18 DEC 90 MoDo 1

2. Oliver Ekman-Larsson 6-1/172 L 17 JUL 91 Leksand 1

3. Jared Cowen 6-5/218 R 25 JAN 91 Spokane 1

4. Dmitri Kulikov 6-0/187 L 29 OCT 90 Drummondville 1

5. David Rundblad 6-2/189 R 08 OCT 90 Skelleftea 1

6. Ryan Ellis 5-9/178 R 03 JAN 91 Windsor 1

7. Charles Roussel 6-1/203 R 13 SEP 91 Shawinigan 1

8. Nick Leddy 5-11/173 L 20 MAR 91 Eden Prairie H.S. 1

9. Calvin de Haan 6-0/171 L 09 MAY 91 Oshawa 1

10. John Moore 6-2/190 L 19 NOV 90 Chicago 1

I like Ellis a lot but with Russell on the roster and an undersized offensive d-men in Regher in the system I'm not sure the Jackets go in that direction. Out of that group I'm goin with Moore if he's still on the board unless Kulikov somehow falls into our lap.

Should Moore end up a Jacket it would mark the first time a yank has been drafted in the first round by the Jackets.

The scratch your head move of the day -- the Dallas Stars have canned Dave Tippet and hired...get ready for this...............Marc Crawford?

If new Dallas GM Joe Nieuwendyke wanted to put his early stamp on the squad he hasn't wasted any time.

I suspect Tippet will not be out of work for long.

Looking for wallpaper? Firethecannon.com has posted some new ones with more to come.

The R Bar has sent me some of their draft day plans for the night of Friday June 26th:

Miller Lite Girls will be here from 5:30 to 7 giving a way prizes
Molson Pints will be 3.00 dollars all night
Beer Tubes will be $16 till 9 p.m. $20 the rest of night

They are also finalizing the prizes that will be handed out.

Couple this with the event Nationwide is hosting and I predict many drafts being handed out on this night.

I've already got a half day scheduled off to get an early start on "hydrating" the system at the R.

The Jackets have released their development camp roster. From Puck-rakers:

Here's the roster:

Forwards: Stefan Legein, Brock McBride, Tomas Kubalik, Matt Calvert, Keith Harvey, Matt Caria, Sean Collins, Trent Vogelhuber, Kelly Geoffrey, Jake Hansen, Tim Miller, Nick Sucharski, Cam Atkinson.

Defense: Brent Regner, Theo Ruth, Cody Goloubef, Steven Delisle, Will Weber, Kevin Roeder, Tim Filangieri, Drew Olson, Spencer McAvoy.

Goaltender: Kevin Lalande, Allen York.

Certainly not a lot of star power in that group. Personally I'll be looking forward to see what this Brent Regner is all about. I'll also be keeping a close eye on Lalande, Legein, Calvert, Goloubef, Weber and Ruth.

I doubt any players picked from this year's draft will make an appearance as the draft is the weekend before the camp starts -- but you never know. It sure would be a helluva way to make a first impression.

The schedule:

June 29: 2:45 to 4:15 p.m.
June 30: 10:30 a.m. to noon
July 1: 10:30 a.m. to noon
July 2: 10:30 a.m. to noon

That's too bad they couldn't take the ice the first day around lunch. I may have to catch a cold in the afternoon *cough* *cough*.

I'm workin on a free agency look at backup goaltenders. I hope to have it up soon!

-LTL