Labor Day Hockey notes

1. Team Canada has completely dominated Team Russia in the SuperSeries thus far, taking game 4 on Saturday 4-2 and winning each of the four games in Russia. The Canadian half of the series begins tonight at 8pm ET in Winnipeg.


2. It seems that John Tavares is, in fact, looking for a waiver to make him eligible for next year's NHL draft; he was born 5 days too late to be eligible for 2008. Tavares' agent, Bryan Deasley, is making overtures about playing in Europe next season if special consideration is not granted. Tavares would be a shoo-in for the number one pick in the draft - as of now that honour might go to Steve Stamkos.

3. So much for the rumours about Patrick Marleau being dealt - last Friday he signed a lucrative two-year deal to stay in San Jose, giving the Sharks an enviable top stable of forwards for at least the next three seasons (including Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo, and Milan Michalek)

Early look at 2008 draft - Steve Stamkos

Jumping ahead of the upcoming season for a post, this weekend there was an article on CBC's hockey section about Sarnia Sting (Ontario Hockey League) center Steve Stamkos, who at this point clearly projects to be the number one pick in next June's NHL draft.

I got to see Stamkos play last January in Toronto (against the St. Michael's Majors) on my annual SOHO "scouting" trip and was highly impressed. If not for the four goal (plus shootout) performance by John Tavares the following evening, Stamkos would have taken home the highly prestigious SOHO MVP award.

Stamkos' first year in the OHL was a huge success, finishing 12th in league scoring with 42 goals and 92 points in 63 games. Previous to being the #1 pick in the 2006 OHL draft, his final year of minor midget hockey was spent with the Markham Waxers - here was his stat line:

66 games
105 goals
92 assists
197 points

Finally, the CBC article refers to an incredible move made at the OHL skills competition last year - here it is:



We'll be seeing Stamkos play head-to-head against Tavares this January when the Sting visit Oshawa, a likely battle between the #1 picks in 2008 and 2009.