Nashville, TN (My Sportsbook) - While the National Hockey League Entry Draft serves as an annual springboard for many a teenage hockey player, it usually impacts the current landscape of the league in some form as well. As with any mass meeting of the hockey world, this weekend's event will provide ample time for both talking and trading between decision-making executives.
Leading the pack of players rumored to be on the block are Tampa Bay's Nikolai Khabibulin and Phoenix' Sean Burke, two of the top goaltenders in recent history.
Khabibulin, the younger of the two at 30, was the backbone of the Lightning's run to the Southeast Division title, but he was pulled from the lineup in favor of backup John Grahame for Game 5 of the team's first-round loss to New Jersey. The All-Star was reportedly less than thrilled at his benching for the final game of the set, and those grumblings sparked rumors of an impending trade in the following weeks.
Further reports have surfaced saying that the team, not Khabibulin, may force a deal as part of a plan to cut payroll. However, Lightning general manager Jay Feaster denied all of the above.
"My budget for next year is in place, and we have to do our best to maintain that number," Feaster told the Tampa Tribune. "If you don't watch this year's draft, then you won't miss us trading our goaltender."
Khabibulin went 30-22-11 with a 2.46 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in 65 games this past season, his second with Tampa. If both he and Grahame remain with the club in 2003-04, the Bolts will have the luxury of arguably the top goaltending tandem in the NHL.
Burke, meanwhile, is one of three netminders who could figure into the Coyotes' plan next year, along with Brian Boucher and Zac Bierk, both of whom are significantly younger. Only two of the trio will be on the roster come fall, and the 36-year-old Burke, coming off the best three seasons of his career, is the most marketable.
The Boston Bruins have been the club widely discussed regarding Burke, and the 16th overall pick they hold might be the proper barter to get a deal done. However, whether or not the B's want to part with a mid first-round selection in such a talent-rich draft remains to be seen.
Of course, if they don't part with it and don't pick up Burke they'll have a top-notch prospect, but they very well may be without a stable goaltending situation. Jeff Hackett, obtained from Montreal during last season, is who the club would like to see between the pipes, but he is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. And Hackett hasn't exactly committed to re- signing.
Others in the market for goaltending are the Colorado Avalanche, who must find a replacement for Patrick Roy, and the Philadelphia Flyers, who dealt disgruntled team MVP Roman Cechmanek to the Los Angeles Kings.
THE DRAFT ITSELF
With this year's field of prospects the deepest in years -- top-notch talent should reach into the second round -- the Florida Panthers, as they did in 2002, must decide if they want to hold onto the No. 1 overall pick or deal it away.
Last June, of course, the Panthers moved the choice to the Columbus Blue Jackets and were still able to take the player they coveted, defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, at No. 3.
"Ideally it would be a first-round pick and one or two players who could help us immediately and in the future," Panthers GM Rick Dudley said of what it would take for him to move out of the top spot. "Then, after that, things around the edge maybe. Maybe a veteran could be thrown in there to help in the leadership department, or another draft pick or something like that. It undoubtedly would take two players to help us out."
Widely regarded as the best player available is center Eric Staal, who scored 39 goals with 59 assists for Peterborough of the Ontario Hockey League this past campaign. Staal is a swift-skating playmaker who can dominate a game. Some have compared him to Carolina Hurricanes captain and future Hall of Famer Ron Francis, except Staal is viewed as a faster skater than Francis was at this point.
The one knock on Staal is that he plays more of a finesse game, but one would think that he'll eventually fill out his 6-3 frame to the point where he can get involved and play some sort of physical brand of hockey.
If Staal, whose father built a rink for him and his brothers in the family's back yard, doesn't go first, a prudent bet is goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who many clubs below would like to snag by trading up. Fleury, yet another classic Quebec-bred butterfly backstop, starred for Cape Breton of the QMJHL this past season, as well as Team Canada at the World Junior Championships. Some think Fleury is the promising player of this draft, while others have gone as far as to say he is the best goaltender to make the board in the last 10 years.
Oshawa's Nathan Horton, a 6-2 center with power forward potential, Ryan Suter, a two-way defensive prospect who is the nephew of former NHLer Gary Suter, and the Central Red Army's Nikolai Zherdev, who has hints of Ilya Kovalchuk's skills spread throughout him, are other candidates for the top pick, and all should be gone in the top 5.
As stated earlier, this year's draft is much more plentiful than the '02 edition. Last summer, after the top four selections a player was considered a crap shoot, while this year the impact of a player taken No. 7 may be similar to one at 27.
