Player Profiles

Future In The Balance: Top Prospect James van Riemsdyk

When teams have a terrible season the eventual payoff for a year at the bottom can change a whole team’s fate. The Carolina Hurricanes turned their 2nd overall selection in 2003 into a Stanley Cup Championship on the back of Eric Staal. The Columbus Blue Jackets got Rick Nash 1st overall in the 2002 Entry draft and the Washington Capitals got Alexander Ovechkin 1st overall in 2004. The Chicago Blackhawks scored Jonathan Toews 3rd overall in 2006 and Patrick Kane 1st overall in 2007. Pittsburgh has reshaped the entire face of its organization with Marc-Andre Fleury (1st overall in 2003), Evgeni Malkin (2nd overall in 2004), Sidney Crosby (1st overall in 2005), and Jordan Staal (2nd overall in 2006).

The Legend Of Thor Grows: 2010 Olympic Teams Set

It’s a rare thing to see a young undrafted player with only 106 (130 counting playoffs) NHL games under his belt over the course of two seasons become a legend. In fact those looking at his stat line or his brief NHL stint would hardly call a kid like PatrickThoresen a legend. After all he only accounted for 3 goals. That’s not exactly important in the eyes of millions of fans watching some players score 40 a season without breaking a sweat. Still there are two areas of the world that believe in the Legend of Thor. One is the great city of Philadelphia and as of February 8th, 2009 the other is the entire country of Norway, the country Thoresen calls home.