NHL Draft Rankings Reviewed: Central Scouting's Final List For 2026; Why Was Viggo Björck Suspended?; How Federations Are Fighting Back Against Player Movement And More

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hello everybody and welcome to called up the prospects podcast I'm your host

Chris Peters of flow hockey joined by my co-host Cam Robinson of elite

prospects and cam we have got a lot to get to today including NHL central

scouting releasing their final list for the 2026 NHL draft we have some

thoughts on that as I'm sure you can expect we'll also talk about the

changing landscape in hockey and how it is actually affecting national teams

now including what's going on with some suspensions at the under 18

worlds and potentially the world juniors for next year for players that are

defying ii hf transfer rules and then on top of that we're also going to

talk about the world under 18 championship which comes up next week it is

one of the best draft events of the season team Canada is known team USA is

known at least their early rosters are so we've got a lot to get to but we're

gonna start today with this NHL central scouting list the final list comes out

of course separated between North America and international skaters North

American international goalies we get four different lists but in the end we

make some sense of all of it and jump out at you anything surprising and I'll

read off some of the list here in a little bit but just your your initial

thoughts where where's the spice why why went out for for Indian food and I

and I came back with with like poutine I get to I got I got I need I need some

more flavor I need some more flavor no I think I think it's pretty it's hard to

really point it too many things on that and be like that's outrageous and and

that's too bad because I often enjoy doing that you're a couple things I can

nitpick about obviously like I think Ryan Lynn should be higher I think

Zaver Villanuev should be higher there you know there's some guys there but I

mean JP Hurlberg should be lower like there's if it's nothing's crazy nothing's

crazy that I'm looking at here anyways it seems you know Caleb the whole

dread six for North American skaters it's a little interesting right you know

behind Daxon Rudolph and then Verhoff and Carl's and Reed club off being at

eight I think is is maybe noteworthy how about that ahead of Belches and

Rose off and Heming and all those guys so there are some some little movements

that you could you could point out big oh interesting just kind of a glimpse into

how they're thinking and how they're evaluating but oh nothing nothing too

spicy that's too bad I was looking for some I know yeah so let's let's run down

the list real quick at number one Gavin McKenna this is for North America and

I'll give you the European ones as well but North America and and you know

seeing as we have to continue to separate North America and South America and

Europe not well and Europe yeah I know yeah we can get some of those in there

but but yeah it's it starts off with number one Gavin McKenna no surprise

there and then you've got four defensemen going two through five chase

Reed is at number two from the sugrayhounds Carson Carl's number three number

four Keaton Verhoff number five is Daxon Rudolph so you've got to get all the

way to number six as you mentioned to get to the first forward the next

forward after McKenna and it's Caleb Melhotra followed by time in Lawrence at

seven and then we get our run on forwards Nikita Klepov Ethan Belchets Ilya

Marozov Oscar Heming JP Herbert Wyatt Cohen Abnavotny and Maddox Dagenay that's

the top 15 that rounds out the top 15 moving over to Europe you've got

Evar Stenberg you've got Albert Smith's at number two so the other defensemen

very high on the list number three is the center Oliver Savanto number four

another center Vigo Bjork you've got Elton Hermenson at five you hope it

porine in at six multi-gust of Senate seven so a couple more defensemen in the

mix there Marcus Nord market eight Cleb Pugaccio at nine and Seamus

Ignativicious the Lithuanian product at number ten among European skaters so

cam some of the things that jump out right now we're looking we've been talking

about these top defensemen in this class what did you think of their order what

would you change what what you know and obviously Smith's is is the outlier in

Europe so you know he's not included in that that quartet of players that I

mentioned that go two through five on North American skaters again right you

look at it and it's everyone's gonna have a slightly different opinion on this

defense class you and I have slightly different opinions on this defense of

class and team to team it's gonna vary greatly as well too and so if you want

to throw Chase Reed Keaton Verhoff Albert Smith Carson Carlisle Daxon Rudolph

you want to think of Sussan like if you want to throw all those guys into a

hat and just start pulling names I think it might land with one of the teams

less so it's it's really gonna be on preference are you looking for maybe a

slightly lower ceiling but a safer for maybe a bigger body player like an

Albert Smith's or Keaton Verhoff are you looking for someone dynamic are you

looking at maybe more like a Chase Reed or Xavier Villanue or Ryan Lin are you

looking for a writer are you looking for a lefty are you looking for a kid who's

playing pro who might be you know closer to NH already someone who's playing

junior and then gonna go to college and maybe take their time and you don't

see him for three to four years where's the life cycle and the evolution of

your team your development staff so so I do think that there's gonna be a lot

of discrepancies between each list and again like it's hard to poke too many

holes in this version of it like it's not the same as mine my ranking of this

defenseman it looks a little differently but not outrageously so so again it's

like you know it's I think they got it right with Chase Reed I do I think

having him top of the pile there I think that they got that right for sure yeah

Chase Reed is definitely moved into the top of my list among the defenseman as

well and I think it's because he brings the most to the table it feels like in

terms of the skating component the size component the you know the the

handedness the offensive ability like all those different things all come into

play and Chase Reed is is currently with the Sue Greyhounds in a fight for the

OHL playoffs they're down three nothing to Kitchener in that series so his

season could come to an end he's too old for the under 18 championship so no

additional opportunities there for him unless somehow he made the US national

team for senior worlds I don't think I see that happening necessarily but it's

gonna be really interesting to watch this group kind of come together this

group of defenseman rather and yeah you've got you know really you can

interchange them and you're gonna you're gonna hear people that are gonna have

Smith higher than some of these other guys you're gonna hear a lot of people

that also have a forward breaking up that group like Caleb Malhotra who's

had a tremendous postseason with Branford they just closed out their series

with North Bay last night and are on to the conference finals in the OHL so a

lot of really intriguing opportunities here the thing that I think strikes me

Cam as I continue to go down this list is how much less excited I get as we

get further and further away from the top five I think that there is an

opportunity for teams here to make some really great picks and get humongous

value out of players that are diamonds and the rough at this point but I look

and I you know I really like I really like Adam Novotny and Maddox Dajane and I

like Wyatt Cullen and I like these players that are kind of in the the back half

of the top 15 and I'm like I could see them going you know in that that mid

middle first later first but I'm also thinking how many years are these guys

you know true top 20 picks you know and different things like that that's that's

where I get a little bit and we've talked about it all year like there's a lot

of you know there's a lot of okay sure you know kind of in this class which you

know and sometimes I wonder Cam if I've just been doing this for too long and I

get less and less excited about a little class but I mean I was I was able to

sell myself on last year's class I was able to sell myself on the previous

years class and it's been harder this year and even if you go across and you

you add those guys from the from Europe and you've got you know seem a

signato vicious in the top 10 like I think he is definitely a fringe first

rounder in this class and probably a likely first rounder at this point based

on what we've seen but I'm just thinking gosh if I'm a team that's picking in

the latter portion of the first round I feel like I'm getting you know second

round value which is actually not always that far from the truth no and you're

spot on it's it's I've had I do like the top of this class I do think there's a

lot of interesting players I feel like and I've had this discussion with with

teams and with other people to do public analysis like we do as well where

there's there's kind of a spot right around 2022 where for me maybe 25 it

really falls off where I'm like actively searching being like gosh this doesn't

feel like a first rounder just like you said this feels like more like someone I

would be but okay I feel okay taking about around 40 or 45 in most years so it

has been a little bit difficult I think to really fall in love with the depth

of this class but I like you I do think that there is opportunity here too that

there are some guys that we're gonna see and this happens every year it's it's

not unique to this class but there's gonna be somebody or two that are taken

outside of the top 12 or top 15 that in a few years we're gonna be like how

did they slip and and hopefully we're spot on on exactly who those guys are

and they're sitting seven or eight on our boards and we look like geniuses at

the end of the day but I do I do think there's gonna be some opportunities to

mine for some some underappreciated assets here and then that'll that'll

probably bleed in today too as well on some of these guys that were not in

love with but maybe have pro tools or have that one standout trait that they

can really leverage once they get into pro hockey or into the NHL and start to

pop through their mid 20s so that is always there for the scouting teams to

really dig into and try to find those diamonds in the rough but I'm like you

I think that this is a fairly top heavy class not an elite class and that the

depth it does run a little bit dry a little bit sooner than an average yeah

absolutely and I you know I think as I look here at some of the players that

we're gonna be excited about you know it is that that group of defensemen is

about as good as you can find at the top of a draft you know where where you

have that varied because then you get into the next tier of defensemen and

then it's you know it's multi-gust of sin it's you know it's you hope

hip-a-rin and it's Ryan Lynn it's it's Xavier Villanue of you know you keep

going down the list and guys like Tommy Blile and then like even like later in

the second round Luke share like there's a number of players that I think you

can you know really say hey there's plenty of developmental runway for these

guys and we're just gonna do our work and and that's the whole thing is like

the draft is one portion of it now you've got to develop these players and also

the players have more and more options available to them for how they're

gonna develop going into the draft so there's a lot or going coming out of the

draft rather I should say you know so there's those guys that could go the

college route that could you know some of those guys that are you're gonna be

19 years old that are gonna be able to go into the the AHL a little bit

earlier if they're first round draft picks so there's a lot more that teams can

do at this point to maximize the development of these players and we're gonna

get into a conversation a little bit about how some teams and leagues and

everybody's trying to get their arms around this changing landscape and how

maybe some are going a little too far but you know we've got some some really

interesting interesting opportunities ahead for these players and and you know

again I think if you look at the central scouting list there's gonna be things

that you might agree and disagree with but I think the general consensus is we're

talking about fractions between players we're not talking about goals we're not

talking about you know maybe between the very top of this class and then the

next tier there's there's a there's a gap but we're not once we start having

those nitty-gritty discussions as we talk about sleepers and other things like

that like one man sleeper very well could be another guy second-rounder you know

like it's just it's incredible to see the wide range one other node on central

scouting you look at you know Brady Nolan is the number one North American goal

tender as listed and I you know there's there's a lot of in the goal-tending class

this year it's a lot of hope I feel like a lot of maybe we'll see a lot of guys

that have the size component haven't necessarily put it all together yet there's

a number of intriguing Europeans will probably see the run on goalies I think

little later than normal this year but you really never know some somebody's

gonna sneak into the second round because it seems like they always do even

when we think there's not a lot there but any any any closing thoughts just on

the classes as we see it now and now that we have the the central scouting list

which is a which is kind of the signal of hey we're getting towards the end of

this draft season any any any closing thoughts on on what we saw today just

it's it's like another little twist for me because we have our scouting

meetings coming up this weekend and I've had my list open my working list and

I've been fiddling around with it and I've been trying to fill out the back

half and it's just I'd say it like I was I wasn't like waiting for this to come

out to get a look at it but I was hoping it would come out and that it would

have someone like I said those spicy takes that would really push me maybe to

like reevaluate how I'm looking at the back and look at someone that they

had really really high that I didn't or someone that I had hide that they

have really really low maybe that wouldn't change my mind but I might have

looked at it from a different angle but at the end of the day like I'll put in

my list amongst all of our scouts so we'll do that and then we'll sit down for

three hours and we'll bang it out and that's where my my mind will be pushed in

different directions and I'll have my opinions challenged and I'll challenge

others and then we can go back and have that final refresh you 18s are

going to be a big deal obviously we can debate that too on how important

those are for assessment but I I think it's a really excellent book end to

this scouting season so but end of the day here we're at it here we're at the

final spread combine not too far off graft just around the corner then we've

got to reset again Chris we got to look at 27 and that's going to do the year

it's going to be legendary it's going to be deep we're going to love all the

players we're going to rank 150 no problem it's going to be one

I hope I certainly hope so but we'll find out sooner than later so

we are going to talk about the under 18 worlds shortly and part of what we're

going to talk about next we'll touch on that but

what we talked a lot last week about kind of the changing landscape and the

different things so we talked about it more from the North American

perspective but there's a really important perspective that is is coming to

the forefront now because it will be on display at the under 18 world

championship or rather it won't be on display at the under 18 world

championship so here's one we're going to start with one unrelated one we're

going to come back to the ones that are more tied to the landscape but the

unrelated one are we are we not seeing Vigo Bjork at the under 18s anymore he's

named to team Sweden but now all of a sudden like this and again this has

nothing to do with the transfer agreement that we're going to talk about

shortly this has this is a federation making a decision

tell me what you know about the Vigo Bjork situation camp

so this is a decision so like this is all kind of come out and bits and bobs I

find so originally when it was announced so there's seven players on that

Swedish U18 team that were set to play in the U20 national final

formally known as the J20 and so they were told like hey plain leaves

tomorrow you need to be on that plane if you want to play at this tournament

which means that they could all play in game one but that would be the end of

their series and so six of them said okay we'll get on that plane and Vigo said

no I'd like to stay in play for a championship

and so that puts him in suspension mode that he won't be eligible to play in

that tournament which is unique and different compared to like last year as we

were in Texas you know Anton Frontel airlifted in three days after the

tournament began you know I think it was for the Sweden at least

their second or third game and he was met with like a heroes welcome right we

see it every year guys airlift in super late guys coming to the CHL

coming out of there whatever their Swedish leagues their French leagues

or whatever right like that's part of the tournament like these guys get

this extra help later they leave roster spots open

it's kind of cool actually too I don't mind it

more talent the better and so obviously Vigo

late in at last year starred starred at the U20s this year like he didn't

need to go to this tournament I actually didn't think it was going to happen

I was really hopeful that he was going to agree to go to it but I was like what

does he need to go to the U18s again right and so that's probably in his

mind here too now I've had a lot of people you know I talk about being like

you know this is this is wonderful this is like

character stuff like he's not willing to leave his team he wants to stay with

his teammates and and win a championship and yes that's great

I will mention that he played with the SHL team all season here he didn't

play on this U20 club but if you look at that roster

it's basically the same roster that he did play with all of last year

and did win a championship if I do believe you're a garden one that

that day 20 championship last year so going for a back-to-back title

he's torching at that level competition is below him

just like the the U18s would have been slightly below him he would have gone

out there and really but it would have been a real boost for Sweden that is a

very much a gold medal contender you take Vigo Bjork out of that mix who I

predicted to be like the tournament leading score and the best player there yeah

that's always going to impact it and they're going to have their

hands full with Canada so it's it's disappointing

unless something changes because this is something that all the teams voted

and favor of before the season and that's why this changes happen it's not

up to the federation or like the president or whoever like they're saying

like you know we had a good conversation with Vigo he wants to stay like nobody's

mad the suspension won't linger into any other future tournaments I'm told

but it is really disappointing for for fans and for us and for scouts who

we're hoping to get a look at him kind of being that quarterback in that

mastermind of that Sweden offense and defense

yeah man I want to loss you know and for the tournament too you know I mean like

really you know and Vigo has been he hasn't played with the U18 team all year

either you know so he's he's played the the Swedish national team he's played

with the U20 team all year and you know what is he going to gain

necessarily you never you know who knows but in the end

it's a loss for the tournament and this is but to me

this is the federation you know kind of saying

it defies logic for me there's a couple of things that defy logic one

is scheduling your national U20 championships for this which is

what Canada and USA has to deal with the USA shell like there's a number of

outside NTP players that are not playing for team USA that could like Jack

Hextall who's still with Youngstown phantoms and in their their playoffs

guys that that are trying to you know stay with their club teams

but this is one where especially knowing the international schedule

this is something that probably could have been avoided

to a certain extent not to say that everything should revolve around this tournament

and I should know the U18 worlds has been slightly moved back from years past

a couple weeks you know we about a week later than it had previous like there

were years where it would overlap with the frozen four and stuff like that

where you know you'd have to make a decision between those two events or

whatever and so it's a very interesting thing that we that we that we

were seeing here and if you're Sweden you should feel

every reason to believe that you you can win the tournament you can win this

thing the whole thing with the group especially with the four group the

defense it's okay but the forward group is really good

and then you know then you you're losing a guy who who led your U20 team to

only its second gold medal in the last you know 40 30 years or whatever so

it's a kind of incredible situation that they find themselves in

and to not make every accommodation for that

particular player they should do I mean I've been to that like I saw

just like you frontel get in there last year Tevo Terevinan was a guy that

came in after the league of playoffs valorine a chushkin came in after a

KHL playoffs like they they they they will make room those teams will make room

for those players but in the end it's we're not going to see Vigo Bjork yeah

two thoughts on that too I agree making this decision to go like

you have to be there for all the pre tournament you have to be on the

playing with the team all that it seems needlessly harsh especially when

you consider that this is you know if this if this series goes five games

and finishes at five games you know I think it's the best of three

the rest of five I should say three to win it would still end the day before

the tournament begins at the U18 so it's like he could play the entire

U20 finals yeah exactly hop on a two hour flight

and be there for game one so that's one thing that you got to look at too it's like

when when friend Delha you jump you flew from Sweden to Texas overnight was playing

that day um the other thing too is that don't you want

number one your best players playing in the championship

match right don't you want your best players playing in your U20 national

championship finals I think you do yeah so you just lost

six of them you kept vgo just by lock and don't you want your best U18 team at the

world so you could have scheduled this to start earlier too like there was a

like a draw there was there's time in between in the schedule um and you know

I had a couple of people in Sweden reach out to me too some Sweden contacts it

there's a they everyone's scratching their head here what's going on you know

that it's it this is just bad planning you know is that they they it's the same

federation who realized in september in the j-20 it only had 30 games this

year it's like oh we'll just add a tournament at christmas time um last

minute and the schedule came out two weeks in advance you know like it it just

seems like they're just kind of running um not with a lot of foresight

in these it's these sort of circumstances so it's again just all around

disappointing yeah for them too right like their products water down both

at the j-20 and at the U18 it's like it's just it doesn't

double i-chef i'm a little bit miffed at this too because now you've taken a

marquee player out of out of an event that is going to need some marquee

players i mean they have some coming to the tournament we'll get to that

shortly but yeah it's yeah so but anyway we'll talk a little bit more about team

Sweden and the world under 18s in a little bit but i want to get back to

the discussion about player movement and we talked about you know this new rule

with the NCAA rules and all those other things it gives players a lot more

choice it gives them a lot more freedom there is

a push from the European federations mostly but i think you'll also see it

potentially from places like here to honor the agreements that players

sign which you know contracts or contracts right you're supposed to

agree them so there's two situations in international hockey one that

immediately affects the under 18 worlds which is to say that that that is

the um decision with Oscar Heming so Oscar Heming is the best finish forward

outside of Oliver Savanto um and you know has a brother that that played

you know representing Finland a number of times but Oscar Heming is not eligible

to play for Finland in this tournament because he is currently

in dispute with his Finnish club over his contract now he attempted to leave

that contract earlier this year to go play for the kitchen arrangers in the

OHL that transfer was denied and therefore he could not play for the

kitchen arrangers and so then he's like well i'm not coming back to Finland

so i'm not i'm not doing that then he decides eventually to play

in January for Boston College so he's able to play now the NCAA is not under

iHF sanctions they have no obligation to honor any of their transfer

agreements they have nothing but this is where teams are

teams and federations are now exacting some control which is to say

that these players who have signed contracts that are valid contracts

must honor that contract now they can reach an agreement with their team to

leave and if that's a mutual agreement between player and team that player can

leave that transfer agreement isn't enforced

but this is the only way really that these teams have to control and that is to

say if you don't come play you will not be eligible to represent our

country in double iHF play

cam we've seen it and and the other the other one is multi-boss who is

eligible for the u20s next year will he be able to play in the u20s he left

faruistad a year early and played for Boston University

they are now wanting to enforce that as well saying that he left with a year

remaining on his contract and is not going to be eligible to play

cam i turned the floor over to you just for thoughts opinions analysis of this

situation as we see it now

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what a weird year for this kind of stuff hey the oscar hamming stuff especially

but it's like i can see it from both sides of the coin i will say

is that if you're if you're a club team over in Sweden and you've invested in

these players and people need to remember that most of the day a lot of the

time these guys go into they're called gymnasiums over in in Europe and in

Sweden right and so they get these kids young and they stay in that program

you know you 14 you 16 you 18 you 20 like they they they spent a lot of time and

money developing these players and so they want something out of it

they want them to stay in play for their men's team so that they can generate

you know the attraction that way or they want money or they want you know

a fair deal and a transfer and so i do understand that side for them

the same time it's like gosh do we need to be so bitter and petty about things

like that's like if a player wants to go can we let them go can we can we wish

them well and and then support them or do we have to block

opportunities for them moving forward and and kind of hold that grudge

i'm not a grudge holder myself necessarily like i like to let bygones be

bygones and move past these things and we can all come by

off if there's an opportunity here unless maybe i guess it really slightly

but um yeah so in these situations i i feel for the player

because they're obviously feeling like they're trapped in a situation and they

can't get out and if they do that now now what's the repercussions

and i do understand it from a team building and a management and

in a financial sense as well from these clubs and these organizations where

it's like we've we've been working with you for the last five years

we spent x amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars to make you into the

player you are and now you just want to leave without nothing no we want

something and no you don't want to give us something while then we're

going to take something from you and that's a pound of flesh so

i don't think it's a win or anybody right like let's find a better

way to do business so that everybody can go home fat and happy and that

that's kind of my goal in life generally here too so so i it it sucks it sucks

again that we don't have Oscar Heming at this tournament because it's

another player i would have who because of all this

didn't get a lot of games right we didn't get a ton of viewings on

Oscar Heming so we can really truly evaluate the player that he is so

this would have been that last hurrah against his age group

big powerful player he probably would have put up points he would have been

really good for Finland he would have helped them a

hun obviously arguably would have been their best player

so just again hurts them hurts us hurts any jail teams evaluating

loses yeah it's it is a lose lose situation but i think you know the

important point here is that everyone is trying to figure out how to

seize some control back right like the players are getting more and more

control in this situation and as usually happens those that had the control

before want to keep it i think i'm with you on this like i think this is

anti-player development i think this is definitely um you know

it's it's it's shortsighted because Oscar Heming

while he may not be a superstar player for Finland in the future

he is an important player everyone seems to want to be able to develop their

own talents and get credit for it or whatever

get money there is there is a financial component there is compensation for

when players are drafted out of your program and other things like that

there's a number of things that that that is online here

it is a business thing and i do think that that that contracts have to be

honored now let's also keep in mind all of these contracts these players

enter into enter into them as miners they have to be signed by their

parents yeah here's what is going to happen

this isn't me thinking this is going to happen this is going to happen and

this is this goes for any league that is attempting to put

multi-year contracts on the table for players who are miners and have their

parents signed everyone wants i understand that

everyone wants to do that the more teams that do that

the fewer those players the fewer those players will sign those contracts

okay so you are now suddenly pushing players out

earlier than you ever did before this is going to have an adverse effect on your

entire system if you do it this way now junior contracts pro contracts other

things like that school contracts different things academy contract

there's all sorts of different things that happen there's also junior

player agreements and all those other things

but the thing is is that if you are forcing players to make these decisions

earlier which we have talked about how the chl rule now means that you don't

have to make a decision at 16 about where you're going to play and be like that

is my only path forward now everybody's wanting to curl that back and say no

you do have to choose at 15 and 16 and that's where i start to get a little

upset about it because yeah we are now putting these players back into a box now

i'm not saying that teams shouldn't have some control and some say in this i

think that that's we this is the way the world works

but the free flow of players and who gets credit and in the end

what is the point who does it matter for and i that's where i get confused

came that's where i'm like if i see a player and instead of doing all the

things i'm supposed to do to keep that player

which is develop them provide the resources all those things

make it so they don't want to leave and then there's another option for that

player where that there there there's a promise of better resources better

opportunity all those things am i not supposed to

like this is is is that not supposed to be what competition is supposed to

breed do we have to have these players that are like

hey you know like that's the thing is like okay you want to keep players

okay put them in a better developmental situation how many kids in europe

get buried in their own system yeah and then you're like like what if Oscar

Heming doesn't play enough this year and he's locked in and that may have

been part of the fear and part of the reason to move

i'm not saying that contracts shouldn't be honored i am saying that i think that

we are putting far too much pressure on these players at too young of an age

to make life altering decisions when there are more options and there have

ever been for them to do what they want to do

like i think you'll see more like how many kids from russia moved to the

moved to canada in the united states over the last several years

just to get out from that system that's going to start happening in other

countries if they continue to do this with their top players

yeah no i i mean i see no lies i see no lies and you know one of the things that

maybe think about was and obviously different scenario but

conradard was not moved out of regina in his draft year

where everybody knew ham loops was hosting the memorial cop they would have paid

an arm and a leg we could have had conradard through the wjl playoffs at the

mem cop the big hoopla wasn't coming back he was going to the NHL everybody knew

but regina wanted to have from the regina pads selected first overall

conradard and maybe bedard i never had a chance to sit down and really

talk to him about it and be like did you just say i want to stay i want to finish

with these guys and that's i want to go out as a regina pat or was that the

team being like we can get a lot from having you drafted first

overall out of our program more so than we would get

in a trade for you maybe in the next three or four years on ice

product because they would have got a haul but you lose that you know

there's our first overall pick so it's it's those business decisions those

financial decisions and like you said i'm i'm definitely with you on that is

that getting these kids into to lock in their services for years at a time at a

young age when this is the world of opportunity for them now it's never been

more open than this before i talked about how i was chatting with david

Carl at the frozen for and how he was just saying like

get us out of youth ranks we do not need to be trying to recruit these great

ten students anymore can you play for me next year maybe the year after

great let's talk about it but committing four years out ridiculous so much

can change over that time your your opinions can change your desires can

change the schools opportunities can change in their roster construction

it's got to be a much tighter timeline and we need to be ready and willing to

accept when people change their minds when someone wants to hit the portal

jump to a different school when they want to do this or that move from a league

or a team or whatever it's it's the way of the world and it's this it's not

even that you can be like oh it's this new generation coming up is like all

about instant gratification and no it's not that it's it's what's best for

their development it's what's best for their future careers it's what's best

for individuals and i don't care if you're born in 1950 or you're born in

that's just that's just how things should be if you're looking out for yourself

and at the end of the day you need to look out for yourself these players need to

look out for themselves because organizations will they will love you and they

will support you as best they can but at the end of the day you are a number on

sheet and and you can be replaced and if your value starts to sink then you

will be replaced too right so you do have to look out for yourself in a day

there is there is one other situation and i forgot to put this on the run down

so i'm springing this one on you but there is one other situation

where we're going to be looking at transfer agreements and other things now

USA hockey and hockey canter are still i believe in discussions about the

ongoing transfer situation between the two countries but we've you know there's

been a lot of chatter about kato rork and exceptional status and lots of

different things so he is the the the kid that everybody's looking at he's a

native of round rock texas and that's an important factor in this

discussion round rock texas which is near Austin

which is near where the flow the flow offices in Austin so you've got

kato rork he has lived in canada in Ontario for the last four years on a

student visa that but you know that was basically done to allow the OHL to

potentially get territorial rights to the player

because if he was living in texas he would be a property of the WHO

as far as i can tell i think that that part is resolved

in terms of WHO versus OHL because of him establishing residency in Ontario

having a parent with him i think that that'll eventually get resolved

what is not yet resolved and what i have no clarity on i just want to say that

is whether is what's going to happen next because he is a US citizen

USA is going to have to approve a transfer card for him

will they do it for a player that gets exceptional status within hockey

canada's system that is probably the ongoing question

at this point that will so again it's everyone it's not just these clubs it's

not just these teams it's federations it's the double ichef

they're trying to bring some law and some rule into what has become the

wild west of player development and everything else

much left to be determined on all fronts here we will not solve in today can

but go ahead you say you say we got one thought on that

first of all if you have not make sure you go over to elite prospects and read

the in-depth article that John Shapiro wrote very good to work it is

very good tremendous journalism he has known that family since that kid was like

four or five years old sat down with them for a one-on-one in Vegas

really really insightful stuff really cool kid really cool family left you

know the fact that they split up their family that and and came went up to

to Ontario and mom and the other two siblings stayed in Texas

you know we had exceptional status 2026 above his door for years now that

that's a daily motivator so he he's a very motivated kid i like you as it's

it's very interesting to hear that the whtl came and kind of laid in the game

i think to maybe be like hey isn't maybe maybe isn't he one of ours

but i like you think that that was probably just like oh maybe we're just

poking in and i mean you'd be remiss not to the kids gonna be a super sorry

junior for sure um but uh all those things you mentioned the

American citizenship stuff you know hockey

Canada being the one to grant it never having an

American coming like this before it's it's really it's going to be a

very fascinating and i know that like even like six eight weeks ago

there were some reports online that hey this is done he's been accepted and i

pushed back on that and i spoke to hockey candidate you know like with Sean

talking like him talking to the family and stuff and then being like yeah we

saw those reports too and it's like we hadn't even filled out our application yet

he is like people jump the gun in a big big way

personally i think if we're laying odds on it we're going to see him granted

exceptional status because he is an exceptional player i think that he's very

mature off the ice and i think that the chl has

recognized in hockey canners recognize that they need to get younger as a league as

they start to you know say goodbye to some of their top 17 18 19 year olds

so it's good for business to get some of these like high profile young players

in that's going to garner attention so i think all those things help him out

but like you said mitigating factors outside of their control outside of

on ice product might get in the way of that

yeah lots lots to be discussed it'll be it'll continue to be a topic and we

will continue to cover it here because i think

it's a confusing time for everybody um but yeah now the transfer portals open

that thing is going crazy also one note on the transfer portal cam and as you

know a lot of players that are in the transfer portal didn't really have a

choice in the matter cuts have come to college hockey

oh yeah that is yeah that was that that used to be an absolute

rarity and now we're seeing the two way street happening where teams are

now starting to tell players hey we don't have a spot for you anymore

unfortunate byproduct of the times that we are in so hopefully players

continue to find their places because there are winners and losers and they

are often among the players and not the teams and leagues and all those

other things all right camo want to buzz through a quick preview of the

under 18 world championship i know you'll be on your way out to Slovakia

i will be not doing that but uh but i will miss you i definitely yeah i know i

feel like i'm i'm i'm i'm becoming more and more stationery in my old age

but the um the tournament itself is going to be really interesting

Canada did announce their camp roster 23 players on the roster for that

USA has not announced their roster yet uh interestingly enough even though

they're usually together all year um they did play an exhibition game today we'll

talk about some of the players that are are new to that team um and then also

the beyond going situation with Sweden really puts their roster in flux

because they could have their number one center not available to them unless

somebody comes to their senses sooner than later uh which i i'm not ruling out

just yet uh yeah so yeah so cam let's start with hockey

Canada let's start with team Canada got in a big boost

Keaton Verhoff will be there uh he's in camp that's a big boost for them

time and Lawrence a big guy that that played for them for

at the Honka Gratsky another solid boost Adam Valentini who just played me

frozen for he will be there as well but then there's a number of other

high profile players that will be part of this Ryan Lin who we've talked about

he was on the team last year you've got two of the top 2027 guys and

Dima Jilkin and Alexi Joseph um going there you've got math as

Preston Alessandro Diario like guys that you've heard

about talked about in these in these situations

what do we think about this Canada team as it's constructed now there's

still the possibility that they could add players from other teams that are

getting eliminated not everybody that's in camp is going to make the final

roster potentially what do you think about this Canadian roster is they go for

third straight gold medal at this event

yeah it's a good team it's a good team for sure um i was happy to report

there right after Verhoff got eliminated in North Dakota that he would in fact

agree to go um we'd expectulated that that was going to happen obviously

Lin pressed in them getting balanced like not even making the playoffs with

the Giants they were always going to show up there if they're if they're

healthy but yeah getting Alexi Joseph right getting

Zilkin getting um Jackson Jacobson who put up tons of like 85 points in the

West this year too is a 27 eligible they're going to be a deep squad it's

going to be a deep squad and you can expect they're probably going to get

a little help to airlift it in you know do we see we see one of the one of

the thunder cats get knocked out early one of the big dogs and we see

do we get a land and do pond do we get a do we get a daxon Rudolph or do we get

a Carson Carl's do we get some of these guys so it's like there's there's

definitely more to come potentially but on paper i think right now especially

if he goes not there this is Canada's tournament to lose

and and we don't always say that at the u18s right because they don't always

have their best at the u18s right and so so the fact that they are on a two

two-year heater and and are coming in on paper is the best squad it's

good for business at least the u18 level because u20's yeah yeah we

have not talked about them as a as a regular contender

they're absolutely never mix this year as as a gold medal

opportunity having a gold medal opportunity figure the team two years ago is

probably one of the best rosters they've put in one of those events

on you know with mccanum our tone tease again we're having a great game you

know just all those players that that really showed out at that tournament

last year they didn't necessarily have all of the boppers that they could have

but they had a really good team a lot of younger guys that were going to have

an opportunity to you know be drafted this year

on that roster they win again in texas and win fairly easily

as well except for that one uh a little blip against uh

chequea in the uh quarters and so but there's that chequea again by the way

um yeah but yeah but you know i i i think the other thing that's happened

in in the balances that as can it has come up USA has fallen off a fair amount

and USA is going to have a roster this year where they didn't get a lot of

outside help the two outside players that we know of for now

and they're this could change but i think that it's likely not too

brooksorgowski from the ashrow general's huge center six foot six guy very

well could be a first round draft pick and then lead by Harper who's not

draft eligible until next year but had a tremendous season with the second

spirit and also was very good at the link of greets he kept

notably not on the roster but available Nikita Kloppov so we've talked about

Nikita Kloppov he has russia can't USA dual citizenship

wrapped USA at the link of greetsky cup he's been fairly non-committal about

whether or not he would play for the us potentially playing for russia and

once you play in the double ichef that does you know lock you in unless you go

through a process to get your citizenship back for uh for a different

per for for playing purposes so that means a lot of younger guys have been

called up card or mire is probably the guy that a lot of people in in the

us have been looking at as the potential big-time player in the oh nine class

Diego Gutierrez braiden Willis Nolan Fitt Henry also among the players

also one of their gold tender or braiden willis is the gold tender

or they have a number of gold tenders so either way you've got a team that is

you know on paper in tough we'll see what happens here they you know the other

guys they have Wyatt Collin who did not play in their pre-tournament game

we'll see what's going on there um you know victor plant um

you know Jamie Glantz guys that are that have had success

internationally for them but maybe not all like the top tippy top of the draft

class this is going to be a fairly weak american draft class this year

what do we think of this us squad Kim you know as as as we've seen it now i'll

you know i'm just pulling up their their their their line chart from earlier

today and you know you're you're probably going to be leaning on some of your

younger players from your outside guys

but then hoping that guys like Collin plant another's

can really step up for you yeah i mean getting ragowski is good like i

i was having a chat with a scout there just this morning too it's like it's

it's not gonna it's not gonna take much to convince teams that he's worth an

earlier pick than maybe people are expecting six foot six right shot center

right like he's he's got some tantalizing physical tools about him so he if

he hasn't this is a great opportunity for him to have a big last kind of

impression for them um also notably available but not

on the roster are invited JP Herber right is uh

yeah well that one we kind of sock coming i think i think i think we did for

to project that one coming right not so happy that uh Mr. Herber departed from

the program to go play Hamlet's Blazers this year

despite putting up a ton of points obviously would help this team out

but we know we know that yeah yeah they're not the only one in the USA hockey

but we've seen in the past hockey canada's as excluded guys who've left the

CHL before now that's it's less now because of all the openings and

comments and going yeah it used to be if you left to go to school you weren't

getting invited to hockey canada either yeah well this is kind of like the quiet

suspension right because we we talked about the guys that weren't invited for

or that you know are suspended by their national programs

you know this isn't an official thing but you know leaving early was basically

leaving this opportunity behind as well because there was just no way USA was

going to give it to a guy that left the program a year early unless they had

to and like last year they they they they did have

um you know they had a potter calling potter playing

on their team and Will Horkoff guys that did leave

early um but they left for the NCAA so perhaps that was more palatable um

but either way there's that and i also forgot to mention the the underager i was

thinking of that's the goalie is Eli Winters who's on the team

as well i was i was somehow conflating him and Braden Willis at that point but

either way Eli Winters is there too so they've got a number of underage

players on the roster excuse me guys to keep an eye on though

Sammy Nelson not draft eligible until next year um

Casey Mutrin has been a guy that i think scouts of like but they wanted to see

more from all season long big opportunity for him there um

you know and then i i mentioned earlier um Luke share

he's a guy that has been kind of up and down in terms of his draft stock over

the course of the season but that's another guy to keep a

a close eye on uh as they get things going and then

Brady Nolling the number one listed North American

gold tender bicentral scouting will also be there

yeah i was also told white cullen is is just fine they're just sitting

about a pre-tournament games because they know what they have with him

that's not very good very good yeah that's and that's a big he's a big

a big guy for them he's unfortunately dealt with injuries

over the course of the season but when he's been healthy he has been

something and and he's he's one of those guys too he

he did his ntdp try out at like five foot four i think and now he's sick of

one that's a two year or two over a two year span pretty wild

um you know looking at sweeten you don't have vgo Bjork but you still have a

really good forward group and Alexander command Marcus Nordmark

Elton herminson mark um and i put Marcus Nordmark twice on my list

um nice you know you have uh you have some other players some younger

players as well

losing Bjork is that end the gold medal

dream or just kind of diminish it slightly

i think it just diminishes it but i don't know about

slightly like it is i like it's a big it's a big

you removed the best player from the tournament

like i know that vgo probably won't be the first 26 that's drafted

but if you put them all on a sheet of ice right now

i think he's the best player i think he's the best player among all those guys

we'll see where he is in in in five seven ten years in the NHL if that's still

the case but you've removed the best player from your team and the best player

from the tournament and that's going to significantly impact you

fortunately this is a really strong class for sweeten

at coming to the 18s and unfortunately the other six players

excuse me that are playing should have been playing in the finals decided

that they would go and i think that that was a difficult decision for them

but no i do i think you mentioned Alexander command i think he's a real player

i think he is hard to host a difficult player to play against has some

flashes as well offensively i think he's going to play a big role for them especially

Bjork's not there all of a sudden his role gets ratcheted up the line up

elton herminson extremely talented offensive player can be frustrating at

time so when he gets going he's got a lot of juice same with you know

norvar to um they there's there's a lot of talent sprinkled into that team

um forget the 27-kid their top prospect for next year i was disappointed that he

wasn't going to be there gosh what was his name

so it's a nice but anyways yeah i don't want to see a little people in a

comments last week just pick this up wasn't

so is it something i got i don't look at i don't look at our comments

because we we definitely had somebody pick us up in the comments last

week and i forgot what it was nice yeah why can't we remember this

kid's name i'm sorry to all of you he's that he's that good cam he's

that good we can't even remember but it's disappointing for us but either way

yes then yeah yeah also notable in this tournament

pipperine and savanto if available savanto is a maybe yeah at this point for

the tournament not confirmed pipperine and is um and one player to watch on not

on the big countries nicoce aramolson from norway a guy that does have some

first round buzz still this year um and is outside of that that that big group

also notably this year so you've got you've got denmark and norway in the

tournament you do not have switzerland switzerland relegated their playing

in they have to play their way back into the top level so just bizarre

to have seen uh switzerland fall off in that way

meland sunstone all right by the way it was sunstone got it nailed in sunstone all right

six foot two center ripped up the j-20 this year you know

it's good pretty good oh look pretty good pretty good you pretty good good cool

it hurt wouldn't hurt so all right cam it's time back

by popular demand back in the mix here

for the call-up challenge we are we're doing it

Now, I have a question for you. Do you want to start with me and let me do the terrible

job that I'm going to do with this? Because I will say I did redeem myself in some recent

trivia that I was challenged on for some other content that we did at Flowhockey,

redeemed myself quite well, impressed, although I did have one hiccup in a nine for ten run

on where did they play Junior Hockey, which we'll have to play. Did you see my comment?

I commented on that video. I commented. I saw it. It came across my feed and I said,

where is this recall on our show? You were just I know smashing those, buddy. Like you got

into the zone. I think I was I was in the I was in a flow stage some sort. I wasn't but yeah,

so but but here's what we're going to do for this one. We're going to do five context clues.

So hopefully one of us can pick this up. Five context clues, 2021 draft prospect. So 2021

draft for for reference is the own power draft, the COVID draft, the draft that is a fog in my

memory. I did this on purpose to challenge myself, Cam. All right. So I'm going to look at my

context clues for my player. You go ahead and look at yours for yours. That's all we really get in

terms of how long it goes point. All right. So all right. I've you want me to throw it at you?

Are you giving it to me? I want you to go. I want you to start because I need you to finish

strong when I fail. Okay. Okay. You ready for this? I'm ready. I think I think I think we've got

you. I think we're going to say, yeah, pretty well here. Okay. Drafted drafted in the second round.

Okay. Great start. Was in the NHL the very next season. Oh,

has a world championship silver medal. Oh, I got it. I think I got it. It's already been traded

and signed an eight got extension this season. I love this. JJ Moser.

JJ Moser. I'm mad at you. Look at that. Look at this. Maybe I broke this. Maybe I broke

unbroken my brain. But let me go again. JJ Moser. Interestingly enough, I hear from

somebody that draft season about JJ Moser. And I'm like, they're like, hey, like get

eyes on this guy now. And this was way early in the season. And I'm like, okay, interesting.

And then you put eyes on and it's like, okay, this guy's definitely going to play.

But it's like, but again, where does a player like that end up? Where does a player like that go?

He goes in the second round. He's been in every day NHL or you think about, you know, that

that found value in the second round. Those are picks that make difference in in a franchise.

And now look at him. He's he's doing just fine.

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And I think he was like 110 on Europe Central Scouting last that year.

Like he was like not getting drafted on that list. He was way, way, way off the radar.

So like massive found money for sure. And then to turn him into circuit. I know there's some

other pieces there, but great for Tampa. Good fine for Arizona all around all around good stuff.

Yeah, it worked out worked out now. Now now the mammoth now the mammoth.

By the way, a couple of mammoth prospects just ribbing it up in the queue with Caleb

Denoy and Gabe Smith going doing things for for Monkton right now.

All right, Caleb was going to go to the NCA next year instead of going to pro. It would have been fun.

Ah man. Well, they have him played Michigan.

Yeah, there's something that would have been cool.

Well, he signed his ELC as long as he's on flow hockey next year. I don't care because I've

enjoyed that. I've been trying to see him on watching Monkton's ripping up in the in the playoffs.

They have already moved on to the conference final thing. Well, Q's is a little different,

but either way. All right, so here we go. All right, my five context clues for you.

I'm nervous. That's a drawling there.

This player was drafted in the top 20 of the draft. So that's going to narrow it down very quickly.

That's helpful. This player has appeared in more NHL games than he has AHL games.

Though has played in both leagues this season.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So he has. Yeah.

This player played in St. Petersburg's system.

Bro, this player. So that's three. That's very helpful.

Three clues. Okay. So now you know, now, but now you know the nationality on top of it.

I do. And that really scales it down for me. Yeah. Yeah. So top 20 nationality.

And we've got more NHL games played than AHL games played in his career.

Okay. And I could also tell this is this is a bonus clue for that. He also has more AHL games played

than he does KHL games played. So Scott system in the M or the V I guess potentially.

So there's that too. All right. And this player.

Okay. So this, this, this could end up giving it away then. This player plays in the A has played

this season in the AHL for the Milwaukee admirals. Yeah. You already had it, but you know, you just

gave it away. All right. Satchgaugh. Federer Satchgaugh. Really interesting that like, so he played 52

games in the NHL last season, only 13 in the A. This year he played 69 games in the NHL, but was,

was with Milwaukee for a period of time to get right. He had eight points in 10 games and then

Nashville is like, all right. I think we got him fixed. So he's a good player. I think he was

underrated in his draft year too. You we liked him. I like the fact that he went it like, yeah, like he

was a big body strong skilled. So Federer Satchgaugh. So we, we, we both got our answers.

That is a big time. We called up challenge. It's back. We'll buzz through it again next week. Well,

maybe we'll do a junior team recall and see if we, or, or as I like to call it, the Pierre McGuire

challenge. So you start rattle off everybody's college and, and junior team like, there was nobody's

business back in the old NBC days, which seemed so far away, but really like less than 10 years ago.

All right. Well, up here. No, he'll be stoked that we have a segment named after him.

Yeah, it's the Pierre McGuire called up challenge. Sponsored. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Let's get cash beer. Hey, that's exactly. And yeah. So all right. We're going to move into

our beyond belief segment. Our regular segment. We do every single week where we give each other a

statement, decide whether it's believable or beyond belief. I'm going to start us off today.

Cam, you were at the Frozen Four. You witnessed Denver win yet another championship. David

Carmel has three NCAA titles. And he is what? 36 years old. 36 years old. Like, okay. So like,

go off, David Carmel. We've talked about him in this beyond belief segment before,

but I'm going to change the dynamic of this of this statement a little bit because I think he is

wildly unpredictable. But this we'll see whether it's predictable or unpredictable.

Cam Robinson. Some team in the NHL is going to back up the Brings truck for David Carmel this year.

And they will not take no for an answer. They are going to make him an offer. He can't refuse.

I feel like I'm walking into like a mob boss's office. Hey, you don't say no. No. Yeah.

Yeah. No, this ain't none of me. No, I say beyond belief, beyond belief. I think a team might go

in there. I think they might go David. We have an offer you can't refuse. David Carmel is going to

look at it and be like, I refuse offers like that for breakfast. No, I think he's very, very happy

where he is. I think he has the young family. I think he loves Denver. I think maybe at the Colorado

avalanche. Yeah. We're like, Mr. Carmel, we got an offer you can't refuse, but I don't see Mr.

Bednar going anywhere anytime soon, right? So I don't I don't think, I gosh, I mean like

somebody ulcers on like 10 million. How do you say no to that? But I mean within the realms of

reason here, I think he's back in Denver next year. I think he's teaching Ryan Lin how to play

like Z. Boyam. I think he's reloading and going for another natty. I do. And eventually, yes,

eventually the offer will come and he will say yes, he will take it. He'll move on to the NHL.

That will happen. I'd strongly believe that. He's already a legend in college hockey at 36.

But I do think he'll be back there next year. I am I am absolutely fascinated by

what he's building and what he's continuing to build. Now we talked about he didn't have the

splashiest CHL players last year. But then he gets Johnny Hicks who I am him. I I watch Victoria

to watch players last year. I could not have picked Johnny Hicks out of a lineup. If you put them

in full goalie gear and pads, I really couldn't and here he is winning a national championship for

this team. You know, and so I look and like I knew who Christian Epersen was. He was in the system

before and you know, but he makes a big play in their overtime game. You know, he's there's all

these players that that find a way Clark Caswell and like all these guys that made a significant impact

for them. And they were part of this new era and they fit into this program rather seamlessly.

It's it's incredible to see. So my my the one team outside. I think you're right. If it's the

Colorado Avalanche, it's a different story because it you wouldn't have to move his young family.

The the one thing I'm just looking at is like Detroit needs to shake things up again.

Do they have the coffers full for and does Steve Iserman have the pitch and say look at what

John Cooper is done. We brought John Cooper in. What is he done? And you know, that's the only you

know, when he when he was with Tampa. That's the only other thing I could conceivably see happening

at this point. It's just absolutely insane though the way things have worked out. And you're seeing

what Dan Muse is doing with Pittsburgh as well. And another first year head coach like I think

some of these teams may just need a new voice all together. Well, that I think is for sure. Let's

quit recycling guys. Let's give some easy. I love that. Yeah, I was going to put some out there

that you know, like how old's a brand in Toronto, right? Like he's in his mid early 30s. You know,

DCs 36 nightingales like 44 or something like that. Like some of the top branches like the GM

of North Dakota is like 34. Like we're seeing some real shock call or some decision-makers some

like high end guys on the some of the top programs are pretty young. And I love that. I love that.

Now let's now a lot more you will get to mind in a minute. But but I do love to see that the youth

and let's get some fresh blood in there when we can. Absolutely. Well, let's keep that train rolling

because I think our next our next topic is our next statement is in there. Indeed. Indeed. We will see

all of David Carl Adam nightingale and Brandon Narado in the NHL within the next five years.

You know, I think it's certainly certainly believable. I think I have a feeling Adam

nightingale is going to want to get a national championship ring before he goes anywhere.

But I think that there's going to be some opportunities for him to to do that. It's believable

in that regard. I think Carl, you know, as his kids get a little bit older as he feels a little

more comfortable making moves. I think that's certainly a possibility for for him to to get

excuse me to get rolling. You know, Narado is a real interesting one because here's the thing

about Brandon Narado. I think there's always been this kind of discussion about does Michigan do it

the right way? Do they do? You know, are they? They always find a way. They always find how many

frozen forces the guy been to with different configurations of the roster? He's resonating

with those players and like, you know, I think that Michigan's group has not like earned a ton of

friends in the business for how they've done it. But look at the war chest. They have built.

They still have to get over the hump. No national championships since 1998 and Ann Arbor. That's

really not flying. So I think you're all looking like the thing is is that Carl is the is the prize.

Carl is the guy that everybody wants. But as this landscape continues to change, as these guys get

more and more high end players to work with, I mean, you look at what Adam nightingale did with

Ike Howard and Charlie Stremel really helped them turn their collegiate careers around.

You look at what Porter Martin did in year one. How much of an impact that like those are the types

of coaches you want to work with and Adam nightingale and Brandon Narado for that matter have worked

in the NHL. Narado was a skills coach where a lot of the best players in Detroit over the years

and just, you know, had had been part of their their system. So you're looking at some really

intriguing talents in the pipeline. So I think it's absolutely believable that they'll be there in

some shape or form. But I think each of them, you know, start and say, okay, well, they have

they have something. They have something cooking right now. And just one, I'll just say one last

thing on that is that for the desire for and, you know, for a guy like nightingale, let's see what

he does with Kaden Lindstrom next year too. Now that he had him for a year, he's going back.

Yeah, because that's a there's a lot and there's a lot relying on on that pick there for Columbus.

And I do think that he's in a good spot to to help refine his game. But the the the temptation

to move to the NHL now is probably at its lowest point too for these guys because they can stay.

We see college coaches stay for five, 10, 15 years. Like they can you can settle into a program.

You can make big money guys. Now we're, you know, seven figures, right? There are multiple coaches.

Maybe a couple that we just mentioned are making seven figures or high six figures. That's not a

bad life. It's not a bad life, especially your travel is less, but it's also juicy and comfortable.

You can raise your family in these spots like this. It is. It is a it's like if I was doing a

crawl, I'd be looking at that too. Yeah, sure. I can maybe what droople or five times what I'm

making right now. But what if we have a bad year? What if the GM gets fired after that bad year?

Now a new guy comes in. I'm not even his guy. What happens then? Right? Like do it. Am I here for

two or three years now? I'm gone and I was bought at Denver's gone to, right? Like it's all that

kind of up in the air and that there is, there's not a ton of allegiances in the National

Hockey League where there is a lot more at say an NCAA. Yeah. No, no question. I mean, those guys

really probably have their jobs for life if they want it. So. Okay. What you got for me now?

All right. My turn now. We turn our attention to the world championship. Cam, will we get a

Gavin McKenna and Evar Stenberg showcase one last one at the men's world championship this

year? That's what we're getting. That's what I want to see. Is that believable or is that beyond

belief? It's believable for sure. For sure. I think Evar is very well positioned to make the Swedish

team. I think he has to perform in the pre-turning games as my understanding and look like he can

handle it, which I think that he will be able to handle it. I think he was one of the best players,

one of the best teams in the SHL this season. And yes, there will be NHLers joining the mix.

But he has cachet. He's a young player. He'll inject some enthusiasm and some excitement into

that club too. And I think that it behoove the Swedish Federation to get him involved at the

national level right now. So I think that he has a lot of things going for him as long as he holds

up his end of the bargain. McKenna, I think, brings a lot of those same things. The cachet,

the youthfulness, bringing into the, you know, inject some of that into the into the hockey

candidate. I do think it also helps him that it was already an Olympic year. So some guys have

already played extra hockey. I do think that some of these bubble guys will be more inclined to

say yes to these invitations so that they can make a World Cup team or a future Olympic team. But

no, I think that this is very believable. I don't think it's a slam dunk. But we might even see a

couple other young guys there from some other nations or even from these ones too, as we move on.

Let's let's hope. Let's hope it's always more fun when you see some of those young guys.

I remember Lay and Hudson coming in just as a, and you're like, oh boy, we got, we got something here.

We are when he was yet something, but we really got something now. So,

right. He's an 18. Yeah, unreal, unreal. All right. Okay. Let's do one more on the men's world. How about

so Vigo doesn't get to go play at the U 18s. But instead, he goes and makes the men's worlds.

What do we think? I love the boys put that on there. I love that you put that on there. I'm

gonna say beyond belief. I'd love for it to be true. I mean, why shouldn't it be was one of the

best players in the U 20 team? And you know, was it was an integral part of their team? It does

sound like, you know, Anton Frendel is going to at least camp. You know, part of that Jew gardens

trio there or a Jew gardens trio that, you know, could potentially be there. Victor Ecclin's

going to be busy with the calder cup playoffs with the Bridgeport Islanders for at least a little

bit. Man, he's looking good. But yeah, he has been. I've loved watching him make that transition.

Great, great young player. But Vigo, man, like, they're, they're suspending them for the U 18. So

I can't see them saying, sure, you can come play with our senior team. You can play with the

trade crowner. You can be in the highest honor prestige honor for the audacity of wanting to

compete with your team for a U 20 championship for this thing that we scheduled in the wrong time.

So Vigo, probably not going to men's worlds. But I'd love to see him get a shot at it. If,

if they suspect him for this tournament, he goes there, man, I am going to laugh so hard.

But one thing I did want to bring up, Kim, before we move on to our next topic is, like, you think

back the world championship can have an outs the men's worlds in particular can have an outsized

impact as the last thing because you're showing it against NHL players. Popo, there was a big debate

about whether or not he should supplant Jack Hughes after he helped Finland win a gold medal

at the world championship. Patrick Linae had an incredible world championship. You go down the list

and you look back at, now, for whatever reason, I'm, it's escaping the Austrian player for

who plays for the trade round. Because I used all my brain power on our call up challenge. And now

I can't think of the player's name that I am thinking about. Yes, Marco Casper.

Marco Casper also raised his draft stock considerably because he was a leading player at the

world championship. Don't I'm sure the importance of that tournament. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Yeah, and even Porter Marton getting the look last year, even though he didn't play a ton,

it was like, hey, this doesn't mean something. So love that. Hope we see some more young guys there.

It's a lot of fun. Great tournament too. Definitely on my bucket list of things to cover before

I end down into this career. Let's let's go. Let's get it preferably in like Paris or something.

So yeah, well, we'll have the French Alps for the Olympics next time. But I also, and I had an

opportunity to do it this year, but like my travel is so nuts in the spring already. And to go

18's mem cop like over for three weeks to Switzerland for the worlds. And then, you know, calm mind.

It's it like I'd be gone for three months. Basically, I'm already it's a battle. That's a thing is like

a venture. I probably wouldn't have to have the draft is one of my primary focuses in order to

justify that trip, right? So someday, someday we can dream cam, we can dream someday the tournament

will be so relevant in the US and Canada that everyone will want us to cover it for them.

All right, let's wrap this up. And this is inspired by a question I was asked on a podcast.

Our pal, Shang Peng for who is a great writer covering the San Jose Sharpe dude has he did a pull.

He did a pull of people and he got a little bit more variety in responses than I personally expected.

But let's see if there's any variety between the two hosts here. You've got Matthew Schaefer who

is almost certainly going to win the Calder trophy this year. I mean, he's going to win the Calder

trophy this year. And Maclin Celebrini who won it last last year, two years ago, whatever.

I they're all run all the years run together now last year. Last year. Last year.

You're building a team. Do you want the number one defenseman Matthew Schaefer or the number one

center Maclin Celebrini? Is it harder than it sounds or does it? Is it as easy as I think it is?

You think this is easy? Are you undervaluing Matthew Schaefer? Because my answer is Maclin

Celebrini because like at this moment in time, he might be the best player. You know, you need to

leak this year. The MVP of the league, maybe not the best player in the league. He might be the

heart trophy if we're going by its true definition. God, I love Matthew Schaefer though. Like what an

enthusiastic, like lovely, lovely human like I and I think he's going to be an absolute stud.

But is he going to be an absolute stud like Rasmus Dahlene or an absolute stud like Kilmacar?

And I think it's more Rasmus Dahlene, which is spectacular. Someone who's going to put

75 to 80 points a point of game, going to do everything defensively. He's going to skate miles.

Good when the Norse. Get absolutely when Norse trophies. Absolutely. But now we're also talking about

a kid who's 19 years old who has a legitimate claim to the heart trophy who is sitting third,

fourth in league scoring already at 19 like the sky is a limit for him and it's not just offense.

It's defense. He's a bull in a China shop at 25. He's going to be an absolute nightmare in this league

putting up those points and being a physical beast too. So no, it is not going to celebrate me,

but it's hard because of how much I like Mattie Schaefer. And I think it was hard for the professionals

that were asked the question because of like gosh, this is Matt, you know, Schaefer's probably

going to end up playing 28 minutes at night. He's going to score points. He's going to give you

good minutes. I mean, he is going to be the model for many of the young defensemen coming up

in these next 100 years. Play like Matthew Schaefer. You guys got to find ways to play like Matthew

Schaefer just in the same way that kill McCarr was for for and Quinn Hughes and you know, like

people can try to play like Lane Hudson, but he's kind of like an alien. So like, I don't know if

that's possible. Like, you know, there's just so many different things that that you could do,

but Matthew Schaefer is going to be that. But to me, when it comes down to it, if you give me and

if you think it is close and I, you know, I have no qualms with that. I think it's just it's my

appreciation for Macklin Celebrini that puts this one over the top. I think it's I think it's a

genuinely good debate to have because the positionality and everything else and the age and these

are two young, young, young guys who are just have so much runway in their development. But to see

what like Matthew Schaefer season in context, second highest scoring season by a U19 player ever

with Phil Howesley being the first and that was in the 80s when everyone was scoring mega points,

you know, outscoring most goals ever by a U19 player among defensemen. Like, there are so many

things like he is a historic talent. We are looking at and and I wish we got to see him more

last year in like how much more could he have dominated if he was healthy last year? And then

everything you did, everything we had to say at the beginning of the season was a caveat of

some kind. Like, we have to put a little qualifier on this because of how we don't know what it's

going to look like. We know he's at a supreme talent. We don't know what it's going to look like

having missed so much time last year. Oh, it turns out he's a hockey genius on top of everything else.

So he's a savant. Is a savant. And we have when we are we are I say it all the time, Cam,

we are living in the best era for this sport. It is more entertaining than it's ever been. And it's

because of the talents that we have coming into the league. Canadian talent. Yeah, that's right.

Just had to slide that in there. Canadian talent there. Hey, you know what? I just saw our friends

at the athletic dis released a U-25 team. And there were a lot of Americans on that club,

a lot of Americans, but neither of them the best player at their position for the future goal.

The league. Is that qualifier? Yeah. You got it. You got it. Fine, whatever. Gold medal. But anyway,

so right now, tell us what's coming up on elite prospects before we get out of here.

Oh, boy, we're getting you 18-pilled here. We got like I mentioned, we got our Scouting

meetings this weekend. That is always a highlight of the week in the year. So that'll be a fun one.

We're going to rank a lot of players. Then we're meet the teams. Like let's get going on U-18s.

I'll be over there. Yannick will be with me as well too. So we'll have a double coverage at EP.

Lots of scouting reports, lots of features, lots of video stuff. So that'll be big for us too. And then

and then yeah, get home and get cranking on this draft guide. And we've got film rooms. I got my

Ryland film room almost ready to go to. I'll save a couple of views at the U-18s and get some more

quotes for that to be at lots and lots of content. So you're going to see my stupid face everywhere.

That sounds good. And we're going to get a ton of coverage here on Flowhockey, the OHL and QMJL

Jail playoffs are underway as are the USHL Clark Cup playoffs. All those first round series are

done. We got the second round coming up. So you definitely want to tune in for that. It's the final

weekend of the regular season for the HL and the ECHL. So we got Calder Cup and Kelly Cup playoffs

on the way. And we're also going to have some other European content. SHL Cup and a little birdie

told me we are also going to have the Swiss NLA final on Flowhockey this year. So you'll be able

to watch those Swiss pro hockey as we get that rolling. So there's always something to watch.

Make sure you are subscribed to tune in and ready to roll. It has been an absolute blast cam to

have another episode with you. We are getting into the nitty-gritty of our season. This is when

all the views go up, all the listens go up and everybody wants all the information. We are going

to have lots of stuff. I think mock draft time is just about here as well. You can even be next

week. Who knows. But we also brought back a call up challenge. So anything can happen on

called up the prospects podcast. But that is going to do it for this week's episode for Cam Robinson.

I'm Chris Peters. We'll see you next time.