Choosing a jersey number sometimes has a philosophy of its own. Each NHL player has his own number logic and usually keeps this number for the rest of his career if possible. How are the numbers chosen and do they have a specific meaning? Well in some cases they are just numbers which are still […]

The Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is held annually and gives scouts the first sightings of the season in a competitive tournament for U18 players. It is the first time scouts have a glance at many prospects, which are eligible for the upcoming draft and therefore the stands are usually […]

Team Finland announced its final roster today for the World Cup of Hockey, which will be held in Toronto this September. The country has added an additional seven players to the final roster. Among them is 18-year-old Patrik Laine from Tappara and Sebastian Aho from Karpat. Aho is a Carolina Hurricanes prospect and is likely […]

Clayton Keller 2015-16 Team: USA U18 (#19) Date of birth: 7/29/1998 Place of birth: Swansea, Illinois Ht: 5’10 Wt: 170 Shoots: Left Position: C NHL Draft Eligibility: 2016 1st year eligible Twitter: @claytonkeller37 THW’s March Madness Mock Draft: 11  Other Rankings: Future Considerations: 9 ISS Hockey: 12 Hockeyprospect.com: 12 THW’s Pike Picks: 10  *** Buckle up […]

The NHL is the best league in the world. The best players are playing in this league and although most of us follow other leagues, local teams etc. – The NHL remains the “real deal”. For most of us, watching NHL games is easy. For Europeans though, this can become quite a challenge with the […]

Jacob Moverare 2015-16 Team: HV71 J20 (#72) Date of birth: 8/31/1998 Place of birth: Osterstund, Sweden Ht: 6’2 Wt: 198 Shoots: Left Position: D NHL Draft Eligibility: 2016 1st year eligible THW Mock Draft March Madness: 60 Twitter: @moveraree Other Rankings: Future Considerations: 68 The Draft Analyst: 69 CS Final Rankings: 12 EU Skaters *** Intriguing […]

Oskar Steen 2015-16 Team: Farjestads BK (#29) Date of birth: 3/9/1998 Place of birth: Karlstad, Sweden Ht: 5’9 Wt: 187 Shoots: Right Position: C/RW NHL Draft Eligibility: 2016 1st year eligible Twitter: @oskarsteen7 Rankings: Future Considerations: 100 The Draft Analyst: 73 *** Steen’s Determination Making Size Forgotten Undersized forward Oskar Steen has made his debut this […]

The U18 World Championship is about to kick-off in a few hours in Grand Forks, North Dakota. While the Canadians send a very strong group of players, the U.S. roster is mostly featured by players from the NTDP. Sweden and Finland will send a well-rehearsed team, but unfortunately the biggest news in advance of the […]

Janne Kuokkanen 2015-16 Team: Karpat U20 (#22) Date of birth: 5/25/1998 Place of birth: Oulunsalo, Finland Ht:  6’1 Wt: 179 Shoots: Left Position: C NHL Draft Eligibility: 2016 1st year eligible Twitter: @Kuokka22 Rankings Future Considerations: 70 The Draft Analyst: 52 *** Kuokkanen combines hockey smarts and puckhandling Janne Kuokkanen is a very smart hockey […]

Otto Makinen 2015-16 Team: Tappara U20 (#15) Date of birth: 5/21/1998 Place of birth: Tampere, Finland Ht: 6’1 Wt: 179 Shoots: Left Position: C NHL Draft Eligibility: 2016 1st year eligible THW midterm rankings: 46 Twitter: @MakinenOtto98   Other Rankings Future Considerations: 78 The Draft Analyst: 57 *** Makinen Part of a Deep and Strong Finnish […]

Do you remember when Jonathan Cheechoo scored 93 points in a single season with the San Jose Sharks or when Cam Barker was selected third overall in 2004 and you were expecting them to be your team’s new shooting star? Suddenly those names have disappeared and you lost track of those guys. What are they […]

Ryan Lindgren 2015-16 Team: U.S. National U18 Team (#18) Date of birth: 2/11/1998 Place of birth: Minneapolis, USA Ht:  6’0 Wt: 196 Shoots: Left Position: D NHL Draft Eligibility: 2016 1st year eligible THW Pikes Picks: 48 Twitter: @Lindiesal Other Rankings Future Considerations: 55 The Draft Analyst: 76 DraftSite: 37 *** Lindgren living up to the […]

Pius Suter 2015-16 Team: ZSC Lions (#44) Date of birth: 5/24/1996 Place of birth: Wallisellen, Switzerland Ht:  5’11 Wt: 176 Shoots: Left Position: C/LW NHL Draft Eligibility: 2016 3rd year eligible Twitter: @pius_suter Other Rankings: Central Scouting EU skaters: 39 *** In the Shadow of Auston Matthews Pius Suter is playing an exceptional season with the […]

Jacob Cederholm 2015-16 Team: HV 71 J20 (#33) Date of birth: 1/30/1998 Place of birth: Helsingborg, Sweden Ht:  6’3 Wt: 181 Shoots: Right Position: Defence NHL Draft Eligibility: 2016 1st year eligible Twitter: @JacobCederholm THW The Next Ones Ranking: 53 Other Rankings: Future Considerations: 82 *** Cederholm Displaying Great Leadership Skills If you have to […]

When the Edmonton Oilers selected Canadian prodigy Connor McDavid at first overall on June 26, a new era in Canadian hockey started. McDavid has been announced as the new Sidney Crosby, the next Canadian superstar. Like Canada has McDavid, every nation has its own once-in-a-century-talent. Switzerland has only produced a handful of impact NHLers such […]

There has been some talk about coach Marc Crawford and his possible return to the NHL. The 55-year-old veteran coach is in his fourth season with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League, where he won the 2014 championship and the Swiss Hockey Cup this year. Rumors that Crawford is leaving Switzerland came up […]

There has been so much talk about all the high-flying rookies this season, about Patrick Kane and how he dominates the league in scoring. The greatest and most praised players have gotten their well-deserved attention as the season matures. But what about the guys that play a phenomenal season as well, with the only difference […]

After publishing two “players to watch” lists in September, respectively November, the NHL Central Scouting Bureau published its midterm rankings this week. I analyzed the rankings and compared it to the players to watch list from earlier in the season and came up with some surprising rises or falls. Let’s have a look at the […]

With the World Junior Championship ending in a home victory for Finland, it is time to have a look at some of the 2016-eligible prospects that could see their draft stock taking a rise thanks to a strong performance in the tournament. At the same time, I will have a look some players that could […]

I had a look at the top European leagues to identify which the five most intriguing drafted prospects are. I have listed the top five prospects of the SHL (Swedish Hockey League), Finnish Liiga and the KHL plus the top five in the remaining leagues: Sweden: Andreas Johnsson (LW, Frolunda, Sweden) The Toronto Maple Leafs […]