Hello Hockey Fans and welcome to the NHL Draft.  As anyone who has been following me for a while knows I am relatively new in the hockey world.  I only really turned on a hockey game 5 years ago and basically try to teach myself something new about hockey every day.  I would have never 5 years ago tried to explain the NHL Draft (I barely knew what it was) but now I want to pass a few important tips about the draft and building an NHL team.

1) How players are chosen?  Every team in the  NHL gets to go through every round and pick a player.  It would make perfect sense to say the team in 30th place at the end of the NHL season gets the 1st pick and the team that wins the Stanley Cup gets the last pick but that is not true.  Welcome to the world of lotteries, trades and free agency.

1a) Lottery: The teams that finish last in the league enter a lottery.  For example Colorado finished 29th in the league but since they won the lottery they get the 1st pick and beat the Florida Panthers which finished last in the league.  The 14 teams that do not make playoffs are eligible for the lottery.  

1b) Trade: A player can be traded on draft day, It makes no difference if he is a veteran or a rookie or being drafted that day. One of the best examples of a trade on draft day would involve Brain Burke, former GM of the Vancouver Canucks. After Burke knew he was going to get one Sedin he made phone calls and worked it so he got both Sedins.  Daniel was drafted 2nd and Henrik was drafted 3rd and both wear Vancouver Canucks jerseys.  But any player who is eligible to be traded can find himself packing his bags on this day.

1c) Free Agency: Two ways to become a free agent in the NHL.  Either turn 27 or spend 7 years in the NHL with an expiring contract then they will become an UFA (unrestricted free agent)  Also, a player can sign with a team after the age of 22 as a free agent, meaning they are never drafted.  There is such a thing as a restricted free agent but we will talk about that another time.

2) You will often hear me say, "this player was drafted 8th overall in 2009" This NHL Draft is what I am talking about.  The draft goes to round 7 but the longest running draft was back in 2000 when 293 players were drafted.

3) Have FUN with the draft!  It doesn't matter what team to cheer for, draft day is really like no other.  Players can change addresses in seconds and a team with the 9th overall pick may find a way to grab the 2nd pick with a deal.

There are rules and no rules.  Especially with some of the agreements made after the lockout, teams have a little more flexibility and options not normally welcome this year to meet salary cap dollars.

Also, don't forget you can see rivalries heat up during the draft, or brothers pegged against each other.  Case and point the Malcolm Subban drafting which saw Malcolm become a goalie for the Boston Bruins while his older brother PK was a rising star defenceman for the Montreal Canadians.  A hatred that goes back to the beginning of hockey.  They hugged and smiled but you can bet PK will be a thorn in his baby brother's butt while Malcolm has to try and stop the same shots he tried to stop as a kid with couch cushions strapped to his legs.  

Good Luck Prospects and we can't wait to see you lace up your skates for the 2013-14 season!

It doesn't happen often and who knows when we will see it again but the Chicago Blackhawks have possibly inked their best year ever in there 87 year existence!

Capped with a Stanley Cup win  the Cherry on Top.  The Presidents Trophy would be the whipping cream, while the 24 game points streak to start the season would be the banana and the start of a season to begin with after a lockout would be the ice cream.  The Chicago Blackhawks had a Banana Split kind of season.

It took 6 games for the Blackhawks to get the W just like in 2010.  This time is was Dave Bolland who scored the game winning goal.  In 2010 it was Patrick Kane.  It would be safe to say that it looked like Boston was going to win the game.  It was an elimination game for them and they sure didn't want to head home early.  Boston had a one goal lead after the 1st period with a goal by Chris Kelly. Blackhawks Captain Toews ties up the game early in the 2nd period.  Boston's Milan Lucic scored at about the 1/2 way mark in the 3rd.  It looked for a bit like that might be it.  And then it happened,  2 goals by the Blackhawks in 17 seconds to win the franchise's 5th Stanley Cup and their 2nd cup in 4 years.

It was Bryan Bickell with the tying goal (Bickell scored 9 goals in the regular season and 9 in the playoffs alone) then it was Dave Bolland with the game winning goal with 59 seconds left in the 3rd!  

There were 19 players between the two teams that had won Stanley Cups between Chicago's 2010 win and Boston's 2011 win.  Eight players now have two cups with Chicago they include Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Dave Bolland, Marian Hossa and Bryan Bickell.

Who needs to keep talking!  Let's just enjoy this win and bring on the party!!  Congratulations to the 2013 Stanley Cup Champs the Chicago Blackhawks!!

June 15th 2013, Los Angeles California, 7:00pm local time and I am yelling at the TV saying words I thought would never come out of my mouth?!?  Case in point "Go Blackhawks Go!"

Hello Hockey Fans!  How are you?  I want to say sorry in the most Canadian way possible for not having gotten a post up with a breakdown of what the Stanley Cup Finals will look like.

The Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins have met up in the Finals this year.  Both are Original 6 teams and both have won recent Stanley Cups.  The Blackhawks in 2010 and the Bruins in 2011.  This East/ West matchup couldn't be paired better.  Like an amazing glass of red wine and great steak these two teams entertain each other beautifully but mix as well as oil and water.

Game 3 is tonight at the TD Garden in Boston. You can expect a physical, fast moving, puck shooting game and perhaps another insane overtime!  

There are some characteristics you will recognize about these teams from when they won their Cups.  Both teams core players are still there. The Blackhawks have Captain Jonathan Toews, followed by Patrick Kane (who scored the Stanley Cup winning goal against Philadelphia in 2010) Patrick Sharp, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith and Marian Hossa to name a few.  While Boston has Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, Tyley Seguin, Captain Zdeno Chara, Shawn Thornton and Nathan Horton rounding out their top players.

One really huge difference is the goaltenders.  Both teams have made it to the finals with different goalies. Chicago won with Antti Niemi in 2010 (now #1 for the San Jose Sharks) between the pipes and Boston won with Tim Thomas in 2011 (who decided to take a break from NHL hockey after the win).  Now the Blackhawks have Corey Crawford while the Bruins have Thomas's former backup Tukka Rask stoppin pucks.  Crawford had an amazing year during regulation with a 19-5-3 record while Rask went 19-10-5.  The goalies could very well be the game changers in this series!

As you probably noticed I am not in Vancouver right now!  I am in Los Angeles for two weeks.  Start of summer vacation/getting writing done for Season 3 of Hockey Talk with Courtney. 

Like I said at the beginning of my post the strangest things have been coming out of my mouth since the Finals started. The one used most "Go Blackhawks Go!" and the always classic "Nice stop Crawford" or one of my favourites "Bryan Bickell, Amazing!"

With the Vancouver Canucks being my beloved #1 team, I do follow all 30 teams in the NHL.  I certainly wasn't the only hockey fan in Vancouver or British Columbia for that matter to be making a decision. Hawks or Bruins?  Hawks or Bruins?  I settled for the Hakws like 99% of Canucks fans I talked to did.  Nobody seems to be fully over the Game 7 loss to the Bruins in 2011 but everyone loves the contemporary rivalry between the Canucks and the Blackhawks.  Plus the Hakws have Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook who all won Gold with Team Canada at the 2010 Olympics and that resonates deeply with Canadian hockey fans.  

Game 3 is tonight.  5:00pm puck drop for people on the West Coast.  How exciting!  And don't forget the team cheer "Go Blackhawks Go!" (Still feels strange saying it but I had to pick one!) I will be back with more highlights and name dropping to really let you know which players from which teams stand out!  Enjoy