Top Prospects have become top NHL stars
By Aaron Bell
The last time the Home Hardware CHL-NHL Top Prospects Game was played in a Western Hockey League city was in 2008 in Edmonton and that game was a terrific example of the type of high-end NHL prospects that have played in the event over the past 15 years.
Steven Stamkos, Tyler Myers, Zach Bogosian, Luke Schenn, Cody Hodgson, Josh Bailey, Michael Del Zotto, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo and Jordan Eberle are some of the current crop of young NHL stars that all suited up in that game.
The Top Prospects Game returns to the WHL this season when the Kelowna Rockets host the event in British Columbia on January 31 and February 1.
Schenn, who played three seasons for the Rockets before becoming the fifth overall pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2008, said that playing in the event was one of the highlights of his draft year.
“I remember we had a great (year) – Stamkos, Doughty, Pietrangelo, Myers, Bogosian,” Schenn said. “We had a pretty good game. It was a fun atmosphere to play in and you measure against – youre in the WHL, and you hear about all of these guys in the OHL or the QMJHL, and it is good to measure yourself against them. (It’s a) first chance to see up close these guys and how you can compete against them.”
Other players that have played in the game over the years reads like a who’s who of current NHL stars.
Claude Giroux (2006), Jason Spezza (2001), Joffrey Lupul (2002), John Tavares (2009), Tyler Seguin (2010) and Scott Hartnell (2000) are also all among the NHL’s top 30 scorers this season and all played in the Top Prospects Game along with other NHL stars like Taylor Hall (2010), Cam Fowler (2010), Jeff Skinner (2010), Marc Staal (2005), Corey Perry (2003), Dion Phaneuf (2003), Cam Barker (2004) and Mike Richards (2003).
The event started in 1996 as a chance to bring together the top draft eligible prospects from the three member leagues of the CHL into one showcase-style game.
Chris Phillips, Boyd Devereaux, Jeff Brown, Daniel Briere and Jan Bulis were among the future NHL’ers that played in the inaugural event at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Joe Thornton, Daniel Cleary, Paul Mara, Nick Boynton, Patrick Marleau and Eric Brewer all played in the game the following year and helped establish it as a marquee event on the NHL scouting calendar.
In addition to the game itself, the players participate in a three-on-three game and skills competition as well as other on and off ice skill testing and evaluation sessions for the scouts.
“It was awesome,” Schenn said about participating in the event. “There was a lot of hype with the national coverage, knowing that all of the scouts are going to be there and all of the GMs. Its not a make-or-break game, but it is a game where you can leave a better taste in peoples mouths.”