Random thougths

* Development camp starts today. I'd love to get down there today but unfortunately I can't swing 2:45 to 4:15. Wed and Thurs are better bets for me. If anyone makes it down I'd love to hear your reports. You can find the complete roster here.

Here is the full on-ice schedule:

Monday, June 29 - 2:45 to 4:15 p.m.
Tuesday, June 30 - 10:30 a.m. to Noon
Wednesday, July 1 - 10:30 a.m. to Noon
Thursday, July 2 - 10:30 a.m. to Noon

* John Moore became the first American ever drafted by the Jackets in the first round.

* Pretty cool that 5 of the Jackets 6 picks will actually make the development camp this week. Only Swede Anton Blomqvist won't make it.

* I have to admit -- with both Schroeder and Moore still available when the 21st pick rolled around I would have been thrilled with either. While Moore is certainly a steal I think the Canucks had the steal of the draft netting Schroeder at 22. I really think that kid is going to be a Parise type of player.

* What is up with the Flyers paying a king's ranson to land Chris Pronger? I mean Lupul, Sbisa and two first round picks for a guy who only has 1 year left on his deal? Pronger is a beast and typically the team who acquires the best player in a deal eventually wins the trade but wow, that is a lot to give up. Flyers better hope they can get him extended.

* Hard to believe but free agency is only two days away. #1 goal of course is to get Rick Nash extended. As I've stated before, don't expect much if anything out of the Jackets on the first day. In fact the read I'm getting is that Howson is going to be very patient this year and will wait to see how things shake out. That is a pretty good strategy considering our needs and budget. I could see a lot of good players still be available after the initial splash.

* My top 10 Jackets prospects now that the '09 draft has concluded are:

1. Derick Brassard
2. Nikita Filatov
3. John Moore
4. Cody Goloubef
5. Maksim Mayorov
6. Kevin Lynch
7. Kevin Lalande
8. Michael Blunden
9. Grant Clitsome
10. Matt Calvert

HM: Weber, Ruth, Holden, LaCosta, Legein, Picard, Regner

What's really interesting is that once Brass and Filatov graduate this season the Jackets primary strength in the pipeline is going to be defensemen. That was obviously identified as a major weakness when Howson came aboard and he has certainly worked diligently to address it.

* If you're keeping score out there the Ottawa Sens used the Jackets 2nd round pick they acquired in the Leclaire/Vermette deal to land goalie Robin Lehner.

* One can never truly grade a draft class until 4 to 5 years later but without the benefit of hindsight I'm gonna give this draft a B+. Moore is an A+, Lynch a B, Savard an A-, Larkin a B, Blomqvist a B- and Neuber a C.

* I personally give Scott Howson an 'A' for being aggressive and working what the draft gave him.

* It appears Manny won't be signed prior to July 1st. I'm glad Howson is sticking to his guns here because even though we don't know the numbers, I get the sense Manny is over-valuing himself. He'll probably get more than we are offering but there will be other options that I believe will be a bigger bang for the buck.

* Here is a lost of the top 50 free agents set to hit the market come July 1st. The only Jacket on the list is Jason Williams.

* The Jackets have signed a 28 year old Swede by the name of Daniel Steiner to a pro try-out contract. His stats can be found here.

-LTL