Cap space beside. Gotta think LA, Phoenix, Nashville, Colorado.
Washington Capitals – 3.574
San Jose Sharks – 0.941
Chicago Blackhawks – 0.571
Los Angeles Kings – 5.399
New Jersey Devils – 1.950
Phoenix Coyotes – 13.968
Vancouver Canucks – “-0.188″
Pittsburgh Penguins – 0.227
Colorado Avalanche – 8.068
Ottawa Senators – 0.880
Buffalo Sabres – 1.828
Nashville Predators – 12.738
Detroit Red Wings – 2.747
Philadelphia Flyers – 2.431
Calgary Flames – 1.480

2006-07: With Mississauga IceDogs recorded 27 goals and 38 points while playing in 68 games. Luca Caputi added two goals and an assist in five playoff contests.

2007-08: Luca Caputi almost doubled his previous season’s total of 27 goals and 65 points with 51 goals and 60 assists in 2007-08, good for first on the team, fourth in the OHL, and more points than highly touted prospects like Steve Stamkos and Cody Hodgson. The young forward also added an element of nasty to his play with 107 penalty minutes, fourth overall on his team.

Luca Caputi Talent Analysis

Luca Caputi has all of the physical tools to develop into a power forward at the NHL level. At 6-2, 184 pounds, Luca Caputi’s game is based upon paying a price physically. He scores a lot of his goals from in front of the net, and is more than willing to muck it up in the corners. One area where Luca Caputi must improve is his skating, where his initial stride is not as quick as it needs to be.

Luca Caputi Scouting Report

Assets
Has a nose for the net, solid offensive instincts, grit and versatility. Does his best work around the net.
Flaws
Needs to fill out his 6-2 frame in order to add the strength needed to win battles with consistency. Isn’t a great defensive winger.

Career Potential
Scoring winger.
Follow Luca Caputi on Twitter.

• Has a terrific combination of speed and defensive instincts. Is willing to take a hit in order to make a play. Kills penalties very well and can line up on either side of center.

• Doesn’t use his 6-1, 218-pound frame to his advantage nearly enough. Misses a ton of scoring chances due to questionable hands.

• Defensive winger.

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Brian Burke, General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs

By Dan O’Shea

@dkoshea_

I know this as fact because I am a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Sure, there are some out there who will disagree with me. They live in Ottawa. They’ll point to the leafs goals against average or comment on the terrible start to our season. They will say we gave up too much for Kessel. Fact of the matter is Brian Burke saw this coming. He planned it. Hell, he probably ran it by Pat Quinn and they both had a good chuckle over it, then discussed how Dustin Penner was great with Burke is great with Quinn but sucked with McTavish. Then they’ll laugh at Kevin Lowe (I assume). That being said, the leafs are exactly what Brian Burke wanted them to be;

Overachievers.

Let’s face it, it’s not like our roster is chalk full of “Brian Burke type players” Kuliman, Grabo, Poni, Stajan.. Yet it’s apparent the sum is worth more than its parts. We are the highest shooting team in the league. We are a tough team and a tough team to play against (especially on the road…) we’re hard working, and there is little quit in these leafs. More importantly – for the 1st time since the lockout we are playing exciting hockey. No offense Jason Allison.

If you don’t believe me here is my evidence – I live in Southern California yet I haven’t missed a game this year. I’m wearing my Wendel t-shirt on Saturdays and my American born Girlfriend knows how to spell “Ponikarovsky”. I begrudgingly follow @mapleleafs and @leafspacemonika on twitter (relax leafspacers, they’re good sports) and more importantly there are only 2 things that will bring me back to Toronto in the dead of winter

1. Steaks with my father

2. The Toronto Maple Leafs

And all this from the 2nd worst team in the league.

See – we’re over achievers. Always have been. Now we are starting to hear there “may be” a market out there for Hagman, Blake (and his 5 goals) or Poni. Now, Hagman I get – but Blake or Ponikarovsky? We couldn’t give these players away a year ago! That said, it’s starting to make sense right? Blake (and all of his 5 goals) is a proven goal scorer when paired with a decent center. Alexi Yashin proved that and so did Dominic Moore (that’s right Yashin, we are NOT in the business of giving out complements) Blake (and all of his 5 goals) works his ass off every night (5 goals). He’s quick, skates hard and plays with (kindof) an edge. Burke and Wilson (sorry Grapes) have created a market for him (and his 5 goals)and if you don’t believe me just think of the “ever lacking depth on the wing” Pittsburgh Penguins they could use a (kindof) feisty, quick, proven goal scorer on Crosby’s wing, right? Or Malkin’s? Or Staal’s? Seriously, Blake’s contract isn’t what it used to be.

Or maybe I just want Blake out of town .

Either way – All of a sudden the leafs have quietly established a core (Kessel, Komisarik, Schenn and Beaucheman) and a market for their “spare parts” (the rest) all while icing a very entertaining team. That sounds like a Burke Kind of rebuild to me. Not Convinced? Let’s keep going –

You can’t have a leafs article containing the word “trade” without the words “Thomas Kaberle”. So let’s get it out of the way.

1. Thomas Kaberle is playing out of his mind right now.

2. I would hate to see him go.

3. Thomas Kaberle is playing out of his mind right now.

4. Kessel was expensive.

Burke has every right to entertain offers for Kaberle. That’s right folks, “entertain”. For the 1st time, when it comes to Kaberle we are in the drivers seat. As we all know Toronto was offered Carter and a 1st rounder while shopping Kaberle 2 years ago. I expect this year there will be something of a bidding war for his services. Kaberle will waive in order to go to a contender if burke gets an offer that “blows his doors off”. Again, I feel we are a better team with him then without, but his contract will expire before we will be contending for the Cup (playoffs first) If we can get some Kessel picks back along with a top 6 forward then lets do what we can to help Kaberle get a cup and shut up his brother Frank.

If Kaberle goes Ian White gets his minutes. If Kaberle stays then I think we all agree Ian White is a legit NHL defenseman, right? (note: Ian White got good the day Hal Gill was shipped out of town. Just saying). There is always a market for a top 6 defenseman in the NHL.

As for Stajan I say trade him and give Primeau his minutes. Yes, I said it and I stand by it. Primeau has been the biggest surprise of the season for me. The more ice he gets the better he plays. Either way trade Stajan. Just trade him. Trade him for Mike Danton. I don’t care.

Or keep them all (except Stajan). They are a fast team that forechecks well and plays hard. I will continue to watch. Happily. That’s the thing about this team – There is a good core in place and I don’t really care if the rest get traded or are leafs till the end of the year.

Genius.

“It has been widely reported over the last few seasons that much like Jay Bouwmeester, Horton isn’t entirely fond of playing in South Florida and would prefer to play elsewhere.”

Nathan Horton is described in his scouting report on Sportsnet as:

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Montreal Canadiens

Two years ago, the Montreal Canadiens had the best record in the Eastern Conference. After things went south last season, they’ve got a revamped roster and a new coach in Jacques Martin.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, meanwhile, believe they may be able to end a franchise-record four-year playoff drought — if they can fix their leaky defense.

The Original Six and Northeast Division rivals open the new season on Thursday night as Martin makes his debut behind the Canadiens bench in the start of a five-game trip for his club.

Montreal (41-30-11) had an East-leading 104 points in 2007-08 under Guy Carbonneau before losing in five games to Philadelphia in the conference semifinals. Last season, the Canadiens were 35-24-7 when they fired Carbonneau on March 9 with general manager Bob Gainey taking over, but the change failed to provide much of a spark.

Playing as the eighth seed, Montreal was swept by Boston in the opening round.

Gainey hired Martin, who had stints with St. Louis, Ottawa and Florida. Martin coached the Blues and Senators to the postseason in 10 of his 11 seasons with those clubs but never reached the playoffs in three seasons with the Panthers from 2005-08.

“It was a priority for me that we find a head coach that had seen a lot of situations,” Gainey said. “We love Montreal as a marketplace, if that’s the right word, but it comes with the demands and expectations and pressures. And I think Jacques has already proven that’s well within his capacity to handle not only the coaching but the environment in Montreal.”

Gainey also went about reshaping his roster, and the Canadiens will have a smaller — and perhaps quicker team — on the ice.

The Canadiens acquired Scott Gomez in a trade with the New York Rangers and signed forwards Brian Gionta from New Jersey and Mike Cammalleri from Calgary.

Cammalleri had a career-high 82 points last year for the Flames while Gomez tied for the Rangers’ lead with 58 — his lowest total in five years. Gionta had 60 points in his final season with the Devils, his most since a career-high 89 in 2005-06.

Among those gone are Alex Kovalev, who led the Habs with 26 goals and 65 points, and longtime captain Saku Koivu. Kovalev signed with division rival Ottawa while Koivu joined Anaheim.

Carey Price is back in net after a bit of a rocky second season for Montreal. Price went 23-16-10 with a 2.83 goals-against average in 2008-09, but never seemed to recover from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for nearly three weeks in January.

Over his final 32 games including the postseason, Price was 7-16-5 with a 3.48 GAA. He also comes in having lost seven straight, but believes he can bounce back.

“I’m not really doing anything different, just working hard and staying focused,” Price told the Canadiens’ official Web site.

His counterpart, Vesa Toskala, also will be under pressure. Toronto (34-35-13) allowed a league-worst 3.49 goals per game last year and Toskala was 22-17-11 with a career-worst 3.26 GAA.

General manager Brian Burke made sweeping changes to the Maple Leafs’ blueline, adding Francois Beauchemin from the Ducks and prying Mike Komisarek away from the Canadiens. An All-Star, Komisarek spent his first six seasons with Montreal before signing a five-year, $22.5-million deal to join Toronto.

“We are extremely pleased to add a player with Mike’s ability and leadership qualities to our lineup,” Burke said. “He’s a respected competitor in this league and we know that he will bring his hard-nosed approach to our team on a consistent basis.”

Burke also added high-scoring forward Phil Kessel, who was acquired from Boston on Sept. 18 for two first-round picks and a second-round pick. Kessel led the Bruins with a career-high 36 goals last season, but won’t be available until November while recovering from rotator cuff surgery.

The Maple Leafs play five of their first seven games at Air Canada Centre, and know their defense will come under scrutiny in the early season.

“We got guys that can score, we can obviously play better defense,” forward Jason Blake said.

Montreal and Toronto split six meetings last season with each being decided by at least three goals.

Starting Line-ups

Canadiens: One year after taking the East’s top seed, Montreal had a disappointing campaign last season, costing coach Guy Carbonneau his job before the Habs barely squeaked into the final playoff spot. Montreal has had moderate success thus far, finishing 4-2-1 in the preseason, but coach Jacques Martin and GM Bob Gainey will be expecting more production out of an offense that finished eighth in the conference in scoring in 2008-09, after adding Michael Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, and Scott Gomez. The Canadiens’ new trio of forwards totaled 200 points last season, but those points didn’t come cheaply. The three will make a combined $18 million this year.

Maple Leafs: Brian Burke’s rebuilding operation is in full swing, and the GM wasted little time molding the roster into a similar unit to the one he won a Stanley Cup with in Anaheim in 2007. Those Ducks were noted for their physical play, and with Toronto adding Francois Beauchemin, Garnet Exelby and Komisarek to accompany maturing defenseman Luke Schenn, the Leafs have enough brawn on the blue line that few teams will push them around. Newly-signed winger Colton Orr also brings toughness to the lineup. So far this has worked for Toronto, which went 6-3-0 in the preseason, but the goals may not come so quickly. Phil Kessel, perhaps the biggest fish reeled in by Burke this offseason, is out until at least mid-November.

Who’s Hot — After spending his entire career in the defensive-minded Devils organization, Gionta might be primed for a big season in Montreal. The winger is on a roll with three goals in the last three preseason games. For Toronto, Swedish winger Viktor Stahlberg is set to make his NHL debut, and if he produces as he did this past month, he’ll become a mainstay. Stahlberg finished September at a blistering pace, netting five goals in the Leafs’ final five exhibition games.

Injury Report – With Kessel out of the lineup, Toronto’s offense could prove sluggish, and the loss of Mike Van Ryn will make the Maple Leafs thinner on the blue line. The Leafs may also be without gritty center Jamal Mayers, who has not played since a collision with Pittsburgh’s Tim Wallace last week. Montreal should have a full lineup for the opener.

Stat Pack — One might assume the Kessel-less Leafs will want for scoring, but that may not be the case. Despite finishing outside the East’s top eight, Toronto ended the 2008-09 season a respectable 10th overall in goals.

Puck Drop — With the excitement of opening night, it’s unlikely either side will come out flat. Look for Montreal to unleash their newly added firepower, but don’t be surprised if Orr and Toronto’s physical blueliners attempt to establish the tone early, both for the game and the season.

Tomas Vanek scored two goals and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-6 to conclude the exhibition schedule for both teams. Clarke MacArthur, Nathan Gerbe, Jochen Hecht, Tim Kennedy and Matt Ellis also had goals for the Sabres (4-1-1). Patrick Lalime made 21 saves. Lee Stempniak scored twice for Toronto (6-3), and Viktor Stalberg, Jason Blake, Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski also…

I have released North American Central Scouting’s newest rankings of the top 50 prospects for the 2010 NHL draft in June. There will be interesting battles at the top this year, namely the one between two players from the same Ontario League team who are vying for the distinction of No. 1 overall. There’s a vast mix of nationalities and a great variance in the types of players available, so hang on tight and pay close attention because it’s as wide open a draft as we have seen in the past decade.

The following list is our initial top 10, but the season is a long one and names, orders and potential will all change by June; especially with this unique and competitive class.

No. 1 – Taylor Hall  – 6-foot-1, 185 lbs – LW, Windsor Spitfires
Taylor Hall has been a phenomenal player for the Spitfires since he first arrived, but his coming-out party was last year’s Memorial Cup, where a national audience got a chance to see his deadly combination of speed, skill and passion. He starts the year as our No. 1 prospect, but still needs to get stronger, improve his defensive game and continue to develop as a leader. He’s a special player, so we are confident if he does fall during the season, it won’t be very far.
NHL Comparable: Pavel Bure

No. 2 – Cam Fowler – 6-foot-2, 190 lbs – D, Windsor Spitfires
Cam Fowler, who moved over from the U.S. national team development program, is now patrolling the blueline for the defending Memorial Cup champions. It’s going to be an intense battle between the two teammates, while they try to defend their title at the same time. The real winners are the Windsor fans, though, who get to watch these two studs the entire year.
NHL Comparable: Rob Blake

No. 3 – Erik Gudbranson – 6-foot-4, 199 lbs – D, Kingston Frontenacs
After much internal debate, we put the young Frontenacs stud defender in the No. 3 spot because of his unlimited upside and tremendous physical tools. Doug Gilmour, Tony Cimellaro and the rest of the Fronts coaching staff have an opportunity to mold this young superstar and if the team is as successful as we think they will be, Gudbranson will be playing and monitored deep into the playoffs.
NHL Comparable: Dan Boyle

No. 4 – Kirill Kabanov – 6-foot-3, 176 lbs – LW, Salavat Ufa
The most hyped young Russian superstar since Alex Ovechkin, Kirill Kabanov has had scouts drooling since his performance as an underager at the Under-17 Challenge in London, Ont. Along with an electric set of skills and a pro shot, this kid has a nasty edge that keeps his opponents honest and gets him some extra room on the ice. His playing future for this season is blurry because he was selected by the Moncton Wildcats in the Canadian League Import Draft, but his new Russian team, Salavat Ufa, has appealed to keep him in Russia. Rest assured, wherever he plays the scouts will follow and fans will flock.
NHL Comparable: Ilya Kovalchuk

No. 5 – John McFarland – 6-foot-1, 195 lbs – C, Sudbury Wolves
Another OHLer who is a sure-fire top 10 pick, McFarland was an offensive force at the recent Ivan Hlinka under-18s in the Czech Republic and captained the Canadian squad to the gold medal. It could be a long year up in the Nickel Capital, but at least those loyal fans will have an opportunity to watch a future NHL star for at least one more year.
NHL Comparable: Paul Kariya

No. 6 –Teemu Pulkkinen – 5-foot-10, 170 lbs – RW, Jokerit
Pulkkinen is one of the most highly touted offensive Finn’s since Olli Jokinen went third overall in the ’97 draft. Despite some issues with his skating ability, his true genius lies in his hockey sense and ability to finish. He has, at times, been dubbed the Finnish Sidney Crosby and although that is a bit of a reach, we love his competitiveness, skill set and overall game. We feel he may slide in the draft a bit, but as we start the season, we think he has a chance to become a future NHL all-star.
NHL Comparable: Corey Perry

No. 7 – Mikael Granlund – 5-foot-10, 172 lbs. – RW, HIFK Helsinki
The second of the ‘Finnish Duo,’ Granlund is a slight notch below Pulkkinen. Despite a smallish stature, Granlund is difficult to knock off the puck and will be a point producer wherever he plays. He has a nose for the puck and it will be interesting to watch him and Pulkkinen together at this year’s World Junior Championship in Saskatoon.
NHL Comparable: Daniel Briere

No. 8 – Brett Connolly – 6-foot-2, 181 lbs – LW, Prince George
Brett Connolly is a goal scoring phenom who took the Western League by storm last season. Connolly is heading into this campaign as potentially the best natural goal-scorer in the WHL and his draft class, so scouts are left to wonder what type of numbers he would put up if he played with some quality NHL prospects that Prince George severely lack.
NHL Comparable: Tomas Vanek

No. 9 – Stanislav Galiev – 6-foot-1, 177 lbs – RW/C – Saint John Sea Dogs
Stanislav Galiev threw the IIHF into a bind last year by jumping the pond to play with Indiana of the United States League, where he had a phenomenal year. He then went first overall in the CHL import draft to the Sea Dogs, but again upset the natural order of operations by deciding to stay in Indiana. After some intense negotiations, Galiev made the wise choice and will now head to the east coast and try to make an immediate impact in the Quebec League. If Galiev chose to compete in the USHL again, he would have dropped significantly in these rankings and in rankings across the NHL as the move would have been perceived as taking the easy way out.
NHL Comparable: Maxim Afinogenov

No. 10 – Tyler Seguin – 6-foot-1, 186 lbs – C, Plymouth Whalers
Tyler Seguin is a player I think should be higher, but I must respect our process as a staff. I truly feel this kid will move up a few spots in the rankings as the year progresses. The comparisons to Steve Yzerman are plentiful usually we would scoff at such ridiculous comparisons, but this kid has everything, including the “it” factor we can’t quite put our finger on. He played a key part on the OHL’s top line last year with Chris Terry and Matt Caria and if coach Mike Vellucci can succeed in finding some quality linemates for his stud, expect Seguin to be in the upper-half of the top 10 by the end of the season.
NHL Comparable: Zach Parise

Please look forward to my blogs on a more consistent basis this year and check out the rest of the NACS top 50 below for your perusal.

He sparked the home crowd with a series of dangles and toe-drags that reminded us why he is paid 4 million a season.

The trade is pending Kessel agreeing to a contract with Toronto.

A process the Leafs are working on right now.

The deal would end a saga that began during the lead-up to NHL draft when Kessel originally appeared to be headed to Toronto in exchange for defenceman Tomas Kaberle and a draft pick. However the deal was scuttled at the last moment due to a miscommunication over the pick.

The Bruins had been unable to re-sign the 21-year old Kessel and the two sides were miles apart on a new contract. A restricted free agent, Kessel was reportedly looking for a deal in the neighbourhood of $4-5 million a season, while the Bruins, who are right up against the league mandated $56.8 million salary cap, could not afford to sign the Madison, Wisconsin native to the terms he desired.

Kessel informed the team through his agent last week that he was through negotiating and intended to sign an offer sheet with one of the league’s other 29 clubs.

While both the Nashville Predators and New York Rangers had shown interest, Leafs’ general manager Brian Burke’s persistence has finally paid off.

Kessel, who is sidelined until at least November following rotator cuff surgery, overcame a battle with testicular cancer in 2006 and captured the Masterton Trophy in 2007 for perseverance and dedication to hockey. He enjoyed a career season with the Bruins last year, leading the team with 36 goals in 70 games while adding 24 assists to finish with a career high 60 points. He was selected in the first round, fifth overall by the Bruins in the 2006 NHL Entry draft.

Phil Kessel

Five years, $27 million for Kessel. Toronto has given Boston two first round draft picks and a second round pick.

Kessel is regarded as an outstanding talent by many.

Intrigue in this circumstance was heightened earlier today, when Kessel’s Mississauga-based agent, Wade Arnott, dropped by the Leafs’ practice facility and chatted at length with senior vice-president of hockey operations David Nonis. Arnott — though typically amicable — refused to comment on the specifics of the Kessel negotiations, but one can assume he did not huddle with Nonis to review what the two men had for dinner on Saturday. As sort of a middle-man between Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli and the Maple Leafs, Arnott clearly has a pulse on what Boston is seeking in a deal for Kessel and it’s further anticipated the agent will do his utmost to help facilitate a move to Toronto. Chiarelli, of course, holds the hammer, as he maintains the right to match any offer and to negotiate with all of the clubs interested in Kessel. In a perfect situation, one would suspect he’d rather trade Kessel out of the Northeast Division and, perhaps, the Eastern Conference to reduce the likelihood of his former player coming back to hurt the Bruins. And, that’s where Brian Burke factors in.

The Leafs’ GM is undoubtedly conscious of the fact Chiarelli would prefer to do business elsewhere, and Burke understands his equalizing factor is to offer the Bruins’ manager a package he simply cannot refuse — one substantially more attractive than that put forward by any other team. Technically, if so inclined, Burke could go to extremes in order to secure Kessel’s rights; if he were to do something ridiculous such as putting $6 or $7-million a season into a multi-year offer-sheet, it’s unlikely the Bruins would follow through on their claim to match. But, Burke also has a cap situation to manage, and it would seem terribly imprudent — not to mention hypocritical — for him to disfigure the market premium on any free agent.

Whether or not Burke, as part of a trade, should sacrifice a first-round draft pick in the post-lockout NHL is another topic for debate, though he can make the valid argument that Kessel was a first-rounder — and a legitimate one — only three years ago (chosen fifth overall by the Bruins). To include a second opening-round pick in the deal is a far greater risk, but it appears the Leafs’ GM is at least considering such a move.

Whatever the case, it should come as no surprise if a Boston-Toronto trade happens in the next 48 hours.

The open game is against the Motreal Canadiens and we can expect a good amount of boos thrown towards Mikhail Grabovski and Mike Komisarek. Following that, the Leafs will be playing against Ovechkin and The Washington Capitals.

Click here for the Toronto Maple Leafs Schedule for the 2009 – 2010

Brian Burke hasn’t always looked like a genius in the NHL draft. But the current general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs has made two of the most bold and memorable draft-day moves in the history of the game.

In 1993, as GM of the Hartford Whalers, he swapped a handful of draft picks for the second overall choice and selected Chris Pronger. A decade ago, facing what has emerged as one of the weakest draft pools ever, Burke bid his way to the second and third picks and then drew a pair of Sedins.

Squarely in his crosshairs today is John Tavares. While it takes two (or more) parties to make a successful swap happen, there is considerable evidence that the man just might pull it off.

Why this matters to the Leafs is not just that Tavares is considered by Burke to be the top talent available in the draft pool but that such a selection would be the closest thing to a sure thing that one can get in the draft.

So this scenario is about risk management as much as talent management. The lottery to order the top picks of the NHL draft is high profile but the real lottery is in the assessment and emergence of talent from the actual draft.

What is clear to most is that the top selections offer the best chance to acquire an NHL-calibre player who will perform at a high level. What is less clear is how those odds erode as the draft progresses.

To assess that question let’s look at the 20 drafts between 1985 and 2004 to see how careers have developed. Later draft years were excluded as many players graduating from the process have yet to fully mature. Also excluded from this analysis, for comparative reasons, are goaltenders. Note that many of the players included in the study have far from complete careers.

Of the top 30 picks from each of the drafts over the study period around 10 per cent were complete duds, failing to play even one game in the NHL.

If we expand the definition of a first-round dud to playing fewer than 200 NHL career games (perhaps an unfair definition for those drafted in the later years of this study), then more than 25 per cent would qualify. Looking at this by draft position we can count nine “failed” draft picks among the top five choices (no ‘duds’ were drafted No. 1 overall), 24 from picks 6-10, 32 from picks 11-15, 40 from picks 16-20, 33 from picks 21-25 and 38 from picks 26-30.

Does this not provide solid support for Mr. Burke’s behaviour?

The top five overall picks, especially the first pick, offer clearly reduced risk profiles. After that the first round looks a great deal like a lottery (although picks 6-10 look somewhat safer).

If you get to roll the dice often enough, a luxury many GMs don’t have, then you can think about averages more than absolutes. Below is a graph of the average performance (games played and scoring points) of forwards selected among the top 30 in the draft.

Forwards drafted No. 1 overall have averaged over 800 career games and 700 career points. Those averages fall off rapidly over the first few picks and diminish slowly as we go deeper into the first round.

Such an analysis suggests that, after the top 10 selections, there is not much difference in the value of a first-round draft pick. This is more confirmation that, beyond the blue-chip prospects, even the first round of the draft should be thought of as a lottery.

Defencemen need to be assessed separately as they are not properly measured by a focus on scoring points. While overall impact can be measured using complex methods, the simplest way to look at the impact of defenders is to look at ice time. But the NHL has captured that statistic only recently in its history. The next best proxy is games played.

Below is a graph of the average games played (and points) of defencemen selected among the top 30.

Alan Ryder

Because the dataset is smaller, this is a noisier-looking graph. But the games played profile looks similar and the conclusions reached for forwards would also seem to apply to blueliners.

If the latter part of the first round is a lottery, what does that say about later rounds?

Over the study period the NHL grew from 21 to 30 teams. To study the value of a later-round pick we need to normalize for this. Let’s group the first 30 draft picks as “Tier 1”, the second 30 picks as “Tier 2” and so on. And let’s chop the data off after 240 picks (Tier due to variations in the length of the draft. The data already reviewed suggests that it might also be helpful to split Tier 1 into the top 10 picks (Tier 1a) and the subsequent 20 picks (Tier 1b).

Below is a graph of player performance by draft tier.

Alan Ryder

Intuition tells us that the value of a draft pick ought to diminish with picks that are deeper in the draft. Sure enough, Tier 1 picks outperform those in later tiers. But this analysis also suggests that there is not much difference in expected player performance between the subsequent rounds of the NHL draft.

That there is no material difference in the value of a draft pick after the first round is further strong evidence that the draft is largely a lottery. Some very talented players, such as Theo Fleury, Peter Bondra, Pavol Demitra, Tomas Kaberle, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg have emerged from quite deep in the draft. And this assessment has ignored goaltenders. A large number of today’s No. 1 goaltenders were selected with a low pick.

How does one increase the chances of winning a lottery? Hold more tickets. Want to reduce the overall risk in draft results? Make more picks.

The selection of a blue-chip prospect substantially reduces draft execution and concentrates talent in one player – both good outcomes. But the relative value of late picks is higher than one might think. To build a successful team over time one needs to believe in these dynamics.

Ken Holland has built the Red Wings into a powerhouse by, among other things, successfully managing this lottery. No other general manager has done so much with so little.

In Toronto the story has been different. The Leafs have historically been short on draft picks. In particular, Cliff Fletcher did not apply this data as the interim GM in Toronto. As he was cleaning house he traded away more picks than he acquired.

Burke’s pursuit of John Tavares suggests that he gets it. In this case the improved certainty of outcome is as valuable as the improvement in talent.

Here is a look at potential 2009 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents listed by position (as of May 14/09). At the center position, it is not an overly strong crop. There the potential retirees in Mats Sundin and Joe Sakic, but Henrik Sedin, Mike Cammalleri and maybe Nik Andropov should draw plenty of interest. Wingers Marion Gaborik, Marion Hossa, and Daniel Sedin head the list of top free agent wingers. Jay Bouwmeester is the most intriguing defenseman hitting NHL free acency this offseason. Niklas Backstrom (re-signed), Tim Thomas (re-signed), Nikolai Khabibulin, and Manny Fernandez are several solid goaltending free agent options.

Centers – 2009 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents
Player	Age	Team	08-09 Salary	Notes
Mats Sundin	38	VAN	$7,000,000
Joe Sakic	39	COL	$6,000,000
Saku Koivu	34	MON	$4,750,000
Mike Comrie	28	OTT	$4,000,000
Sergei Fedorov	39	WAS	$4,000,000
Robert Lang	38	MON	$4,000,000
Mike Cammalleri	27	CGY	$3,600,000
Henrik Sedin	28	VAN	$3,575,000
Tim Connolly	28	BUF	$3,500,000	Re-signed. 2 years, $9 million
Andy McDonald	31	STL	$3,333,333	Re-signed with the Blues. 4 years, $18.8 million.
Steve Sullivan	34	NAS	$3,200,000
John Madden	36	NJ	$2,938,540
Brendan Morrison	33	DAL	$2,750,000
Todd Marchant	35	ANA	$2,660,000
Bobby Holik	38	NJ	$2,500,000
Viktor Kozlov	34	WAS	$2,500,000
Mike Sillinger	38	NYI	$2,300,000
Jason Williams	28	CLB	$2,200,000
Nik Antropov	29	NYR	$2,150,000
Rob Niedermayer	34	ANA	$2,000,000
Steven Reinprecht	33	PHO	$2,000,000
Tyler Arnason	30	COL	$1,750,000
Doug Weight	38	NYI	$1,750,000	Re-signed with the Isles, 1 year.
Derek Armstrong	36	LA	$1,600,000
Radek Bonk	33	NAS	$1,600,000
Manny Malhotra	29	CLB	$1,500,000
Samuel Pahlsson	31	CHI	$1,400,000
Michael Peca	35	CLB	$1,315,000
Steve Begin	31	DAL	$1,300,000
Chris Gratton	33	CLB	$1,250,000
Johan Franzen	29	DET	$1,150,000	Re-signed with the Wings. 11 years, $43 million.
Jeremy Roenick	39	SJ	$1,100,000
Marty Reasoner	32	ATL	$1,000,000
Patrick Rissmiller	30	NYR	$1,000,000
Vernon Fiddler	29	NAS	$900,000
Dean McAmmond	36	NYI	$900,000
Dominic Moore	28	BUF	$900,000
Scott Nichol	33	NAS	$750,000
Eric Perrin	35	ATL	$750,000
Stephane Yelle	27	BOS	$750,000
Scott Nichol	34	NAS	$750,000
Brian Sutherby	27	DAL	$700,000	Re-signed with the Stars. 2 years, $1.6 million.
Michael Zigomanis	28	PIT	$650,000
Blair Betts	29	NYR	$615,000
Jason Krog	33	VAN	$605,000
Boyd Devereaux		TOR	$600,000
Jamie Lundmark	28	CGY	$600,000
Janis Sprukts	27	FLA	$600,000
Mike Glumac		MON	$550,000
Yanick Lehoux		MON	$550,000
Grant Stevenson		ATL	$550,000
Josh Green		ANA	$525,000
Mike Iggulden		NYI	$525,000
Craig Macdonald	32	CLB	$515,000
Eric Boguniecki		ANA	$500,000
Carl Corazzini		EDM	$500,000
Mark Cullen		VAN	$500,000
Carsen Germyn		CGY	$500,000
Matt Hendricks		COL	$500,000
Steve Kelly		CLB	$500,000
Krystofer Kolanos	27	MIN	$500,000
Cory Larose		SJ	$500,000
Bryan Lundbohm		MIN	$500,000
Greg Mauldin		OTT	$500,000
Mike Rupp		NJ	$500,000
Wyatt Smith		PHO	$500,000
Nathan Smith		COL	$500,000
Trent Whitfield		STL	$500,000
Colton Fretter		BUF	$475,000
Alexandre Giroux	28	WAS	$475,000
Ben Guite	30	COL	$475,000
Ryan Murphy		NJ	$475,000
Kris Newbury	27	TOR	$475,000
Michael Ryan	29	CAR	$475,000

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Having John Tavares in Toronto is much closer to happening now. In light of Tampa Bay’s known money problems, with Malone being paid between $7 and 8 million this coming season, this trade makes financial sense for the Lightning. Tavares would give the Leafs that young gun they need to build around.

More details to follow as this story develops.

Here is the complete interview.

The 2009 NHL Entry Draft lottery was held on April 14, 2009. The New York Islanders retained the first overall selection, hence there were no changes from the reverse order of finish of the 2008–09 NHL season.

2009 NHL Draft Notes (Round one)

1.* The San Jose Sharks’ first-round pick will go to the New York Islanders as the result of a trade on February 20, 2009 that sent Mike Comrie and Chris Campoli to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Dean McAmmond and this pick.

Ottawa previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on August 29, 2008 that sent Andrej Meszároš to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Filip Kuba, Alexandre Picard and this pick.

Tampa Bay previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on July 4, 2008 that sent Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich to San Jose in exchange for Matt Carle, Ty Wishart, a fourth-round pick in 2010 and this pick.

2009 NHL Draft Notes (Round 2)

Notes (Round two)

1.* The Toronto Maple Leafs‘ second-round pick will go to the New York Islanders as the result of a trade on June 20, 2008 that sent a first-round pick in 2008 to Toronto (Luke Schenn) in exchange for a first-round pick in 2008, a third-round pick in 2008 and this pick.

2.* The Minnesota Wild’s second-round pick will go to the Nashville Predators as the result of a trade on July 1, 2008 that sent Marek Židlický to Minnesota in exchange for Ryan Jones and this pick.^[8]

3.* The Buffalo Sabres’ second-round pick will go to the San Jose Sharks as the result of a trade on July 4, 2008 that sent Craig Rivet and a seventh-round pick in 2010 to Buffalo in exchange for a second-round pick in 2010 and this pick.^[9]

4.* On March 11, 2009, the NHL general managers agreed to award the 17th selection of the second round as a compensatory pick to the New York Rangers for deceased player Alexei Cherepanov.^[10]

5.* The Anaheim Ducks’ second-round pick will go to the Atlanta Thrashers as the result of a trade on February 16, 2009 that sent Mathieu Schneider and a conditional pick in 2009 to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a third-round pick in 2010 and this pick.^[11]
Montreal previously acquired this pick in a trade on February 26, 2008 that sent Cristobal Huet to the Washington Capitals in exchange for this pick.^[12]
Washington previously acquired this pick in a trade on November 19, 2007 that sent Brian Sutherby to Anaheim in exchange for this pick.^[13]

6.* The Columbus Blue Jackets’ second-round pick will go to the Ottawa Senators as the result of a trade on March 4, 2009 that sent Antoine Vermette to Columbus in exchange for Pascal Leclaire and this pick.^[14]

7.* The Montreal Canadiens’ second-round pick will go to the Colorado Avalanche as the result of a trade on March 4, 2009 that sent Jordan Leopold to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Lawrence Nycholat, Ryan Wilson and this pick.^[15]
Calgary previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on June 20, 2008 that sent Alex Tanguay and a fifth-round pick in 2008 to Montreal in exchange for a first-round pick in 2008 and this pick.^[7]

8.* The New York Rangers’ second-round pick will go to the Toronto Maple Leafs as a result of a trade on March 4, 2009 that sent Nik Antropov to New York in exchange for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2010 and this pick. The conditional pick is a 4th round pick in 2010, should the New York Rangers make it to the 2nd round of the playoffs in 2009.

9.* The Carolina Hurricanes’ second-round pick will go to the Toronto Maple Leafs as the result of a trade on March 4, 2009 that sent Dominic Moore to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for this pick.

Buffalo previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 4, 2009 that sent Ales Kotalik to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for this pick.

Edmonton previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on March 4, 2009 that sent Erik Cole and a fifth-round pick in 2009 to Carolina in exchange for Patrick O’Sullivan and this pick.

10.* The Calgary Flames’ second-round pick will go to the Carolina Hurricanes as the result of a trade on March 4, 2009 that sent Justin Williams to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Patrick O’Sullivan and this pick.

Los Angeles previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on June 20, 2008 that sent Michael Cammalleri and a second-round pick in 2008 to Calgary in exchange for a first-round pick in 2008 and this pick.

11.* The Philadelphia Flyers’ second-round pick will go to the Tampa Bay Lightning as the result of a trade on February 25, 2008 that sent Václav Prospal to Philadelphia in exchange for Alexandre Picard and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade).^[20] The condition – Philadelphia reaches the Eastern Conference Finals 2008 – was verified on May 3, 2008.^[21]

12.* The Boston Bruins’ second-round pick will go to the New York Islanders as the result of a trade on September 11, 2007 that sent Petteri Nokelainen to Boston in exchange for Ben Walter and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade).^[22] The condition – Nokelainen plays in 50 or more NHL games in either 2007-08 or 2008-09 OR appears in 90 games total over those seasons – was verified on March 22, 2008.

2009 NHL Draft Notes (Round 3)

1.* The Tampa Bay Lightning’s third-round pick will go to the Pittsburgh Penguins as the result of a trade on June 28, 2008 that sent Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone to Tampa Bay in exchange for this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – Ryan Malone is signed by Tampa Bay prior to the 2008-09 season^[24] – has been converted on June 30, 2008.^[25]

2.* The Atlanta Thrashers’ third-round pick will go to the Montreal Canadiens as the result of a trade on February 17, 2009 that sent a second-round pick in 2009 and a third-round pick in 2010 to Atlanta in exchange for Mathieu Schneider and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade).^[11] The condition – Montreal exits in the first round of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs – has been converted on April 22, 2009.^[26]

3.* The Los Angeles Kings’ third-round pick will go to the Buffalo Sabres as the result of a trade on July 4, 2008 that sent Steve Bernier to the Vancouver Canucks for a second-round pick in 2010 and this pick.

Vancouver previously acquired in a trade on July 5, 2006 that sent Dan Cloutier to Los Angeles for a second-round pick in 2007 and this pick (being conditional at time of trade). The condition – Dan Cloutier resigning with the Los Angeles Kings – has been verified on September 27, 2006^[27].

4.* The Phoenix Coyotes’ third-round pick will go to the Calgary Flames as the result of a trade on March 4, 2009 that sent Matthew Lombardi, Brandon Prust and a conditional first-round pick in either 2009 or 2010 to Phoenix in exchange for Olli Jokinen and this pick.

5.* The Ottawa Senators’ third-round pick will go to the Nashville Predators as the result of a trade on June 20, 2008 that sent a first-round pick in 2008 to Ottawa in exchange for a first-round pick in 2008 and this pick.

6.* The Minnesota Wild’s third-round pick will go to the New Jersey Devils as the result of a trade on June 20, 2008 that sent a first-round pick in 2008 to Minnesota in exchange for a first-round pick in 2008 and this pick.

7.* The Buffalo Sabres’ third-round pick will go to the Los Angeles Kings as the result of a trade on June 20, 2008 that sent a first-round pick in 2008 to Buffalo in exchange for a first-round pick in 2008 and this pick.

8.* The Florida Panthers’ third-round pick will go to the Tampa Bay Lightning as the result of a trade on March 4, 2009 that sent Steve Eminger to Florida in exchange for Noah Welch and this pick.

9.* The Calgary Flames’ third-round pick will go to the Philadelphia Flyers as the result of a trade on February 20, 2008 that sent Jim Vandermeer to Calgary in exchange for this pick.

10.* The Philadelphia Flyers’ third-round pick will go to the Edmonton Oilers as the result of a trade on July 1, 2007 that sent Joffrey Lupul and Jason Smith to Philadelphia in exchange for Joni Pitkanen and Geoff Sanderson and this pick.

11.* The Pittsburgh Penguins’ third-round pick will go to the New York Islanders as the result of a trade on March 4, 2009 that sent Bill Guerin to Pittsburgh in exchange for this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade).^[28] The conditions – Pittsburgh advance past the First Round of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs and Guerin plays in more than 50 per cent of those First Round games – have been verified on April 21^[29] and 25^[30], 2009, respectively.

12.* The San Jose Sharks’ third-round pick will go to the Philadelphia Flyers as the result of a trade on November 7, 2008 that sent Steve Downie, Steve Eminger and Tampa Bay’s fourth-round pick in 2009 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Matt Carle and this pick.

Tampa Bay previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on June 21, 2008 that sent a third-round pick in 2008 to San Jose in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2008, a fifth-round pick in 2008 and this pick.

Updated April 27th, 2009
Notes: John Tavares has been bumped down to 3rd overall pick by Central Scouting. This isn’t expected to change team’s decisions on this draft order though.

1

John Tavares

Ht/Wt:6.00/199 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:London (OHL)

2

Victor Hedman

Ht/Wt:6.06/220 lbs
Position:LD
Drafted From:Modo (Swe JE)

3

Matt Duchene

Ht/Wt:5.10.5/190 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:Brampton (OHL)

4

Evander Kane

Ht/Wt:6.00/170 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:Vancouver (WHL)

5

Magnus PaajarviSvensson

Ht/Wt:6.01/187 lbs
Position:LW
Drafted From:Timra (Swe JE)

6

Brayden Schenn

Ht/Wt:6.00/196 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:Brandon (WHL)

7

Oliver EkmanLarsson

Ht/Wt:6.00.5/165 lbs
Position:LD
Drafted From:Leksand (Swe. II)

8

Jared Cowen

Ht/Wt:6.05/216 lbs
Position:LD
Drafted From:Spokane (WHL)

9

Nazem Kadri

Ht/Wt:6.00/175 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:London (OHL)

10

Dmitry Kulikov

Ht/Wt:6.01/195 lbs
Position:D
Drafted From:Drummondville (QMJHL)

11

Scott Glennie

Ht/Wt:6.01/174 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:Brandon (WHL)

12

Jordan Schroeder

Ht/Wt:5.08/168 lbs
Position:RW
Drafted From:USA U-18 NTDP

13

Ryan Ellis

Ht/Wt:5.10/175 lbs
Position:RD
Drafted From:Windsor (OHL)

14

Zack Kassian

Ht/Wt:6.03/209 lbs
Position:RW
Drafted From:Peterborough (OHL)

15

John Moore

Ht/Wt:6.02/180 lbs
Position:D
Drafted From:Chicago (USHL)

16

Simon Despres

Ht/Wt:6.03/208 lbs
Position:LD
Drafted From:Saint John (QMJHL)

17

Peter Holland

Ht/Wt:6.01/178 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:Guelph (OHL)

18

Jacob Josefson

Ht/Wt:5.11/174 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:Djurgarden (Swe JE)

19

Carter Ashton

Ht/Wt:6.02/190 lbs
Position:LW
Drafted From:Lethbridge (WHL)

20

Stefan Elliott

Ht/Wt:6.00/175 lbs
Position:LD
Drafted From:Saskatoon (WHL)

21*

Chris Kreider

Ht/Wt:6.02/200 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:Andover (MA – HS)

22

Landon Ferraro

Ht/Wt:5.11/165 lbs
Position:RW
Drafted From:Red Deer (WHL)

23

Louis Leblanc

Ht/Wt:5.11/170 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:Omaha (USHL)

24

Kyle Palmieri

Ht/Wt:5.11/185 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:USA U-18 NTDP

25

Ethan Werek

Ht/Wt:6.00.5/184 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:Kingston (OHL)

26

Drew Shore

Ht/Wt:6.02/165 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:USA U-18 NTDP

27

Nick Leddy

Ht/Wt:5.11/185 lbs
Position:D
Drafted From:Eden Prairie (Minn.-HS)

28

Jordan Caron

Ht/Wt:6.02/196 lbs
Position:C
Drafted From:Rimouski (QMJHL)

29

Calvin deHaan

Ht/Wt:6.00/170 lbs
Position:D
Drafted From:Oshawa (OHL)

30*

Tim Erixon

Ht/Wt:6.02/190 lbs
Position:D
Drafted From:Skelleftea AIK (Swe.)

Tyler Bozak

Brian Burke and the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed UFA prospect, Tyler Bozak. There were deemed three prospects that were great talents coming out of the NCAA this year and Toronto has done a good job of signing two of them this far.

Tyler Bozak Scouting Report

Universal centerman with striking intelligence and maturity in all facets of the game .. the type of player that projects to play in all-situations and excel in all three zones in the NHL .. subtly skilled with great imagination, industry, and all-around awareness .. understands how to maximize his stick and body strength in traffic .. a deft one-touch passer that is very creative in tight spaces .. fairly robust skater with lengthy strides that stimulate his ability to pick up speed while carrying the puck .. a precisely accurate shooter with a nippy release and a sixth sense like ability to find the quiet areas around the net .. everything starts with strong defense for Bozak, as he consistently assumes healthy supportive positions behind the puck .. hard-working and tenaciously competitive, Bozak isn’t a nasty player, but plays the body consistently .. with the NHL’s rule-changes putting an extra emphasis on the ability to win draws, Bozak’s expertise in the face-off circle will have him on the ice for the games’ crucial moments .. this 22 year-old pivot is ready for the NHL and has some similarities to current young stars Paul Stastny and Jonathan Toews.

Tyler Bozak
Center
Born Mar 19 1986  -- Regina, SASK
Height 6.00 -- Weight 165 -- Shoots R

                                            --- Regular Season ---  ---- Playoffs ----
Season   Team                        Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM  GP   G   A Pts PIM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2004-05  Victoria Salsa              BCHL   55   15   16   31   24
2005-06  Victoria Salsa              BCHL   56   31   38   69   26
2006-07  Victoria Grizzlies          BCHL   59   45   83  128   45
2007-08  U. of Denver                NCAA   41   18   16   34   22
2008-09  U. of Denver                NCAA   19    8   15   23   10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Current statistics as of 2009-04-03

Determining the balance among ad position, impression rate, or clicks can assist you in making your PPC advertising campaign successful.

Let’s first, though, examine how Google will display the results of your sponsored ads.

1) Your daily budget controls the impressions of your ad

Your ad impression or frequency at which they appear may be diminished if budgeted too low. Being seen is important to you ad campaign and impressions are critical.

2) Rank Number decides where your ad is positioned

Your rank number is important as the higher it is, the higher up on the page your ad is positioned. The formula for rank number is as follows:

CPC (Cost Per Click) x CTR (Click Through Rate) x Ad Quality = Rank Number

We now leave Google behind and see what you can do to enhance your PPC campaign performance.

3) Increase daily budget

In order to receive maximum exposure of your ad you need to make sure it appears when your keyword is searched. If it does not appear frequently enough, you probably need to increase your daily budget for your keyword.

A 50% increase in your budget would still leave you a safe margin. Since you only pay on clicks through and not impressions, you can increase your impressions while maintaining your desired budget. An example would be: You have put aside $10.00 per day to actually spend for your Google ad budget. You could bid $15.00 if you must for more impressions, but if you don’t reach a click through rate that exceeds your budgeted $10.00 you are still within your budget. When you do this make sure to monitor your activity daily to make sure you do not exceed what you can afford.

4) Use keywords to improve your delivery.

Your PPC campaign can consist of one or more AdGroups. Google set up AdGroups based on a collection of keywords and ads that display when certain keywords are searched on Google’s search engine. It can be the case that even though you have a large collection of keywords in your AdGroup, only a few of them results in your ad being displayed. Your daily budget controls the number of impression your ad can produce. However, these impressions are competing with other AdGroups and individual keywords, so your budget might not be sufficient for some of those keywords.

You might consider setting up a new AdGroup and extract some of your keywords to use in another ad campaign that produces low impressions so that your ad is assured to be among those displayed when one those keywords are searched.

5) Select the right AdGroup

Besides keywords you also select an AdGroup when setting up your PPC campaign, and like the keywords mentioned above, different AdGroups produce different results. Splitting your ad campaign to include different groups can help the frequency of your ad impressions.

6) Optimize your clicks

If you find that one of your PPC ad campaigns is producing unwelcome visitors or clicks, you can improve you ROI by reducing your Max CPC and /or your ad position. You can use the savings to increase your bid on targeted keywords that are doing well.

7) Your ad should target your market

All you have done so far will be for naught if you do not satisfy your visitor. Your carefully chosen keywords have delivered you a potential customer. It’s now up to you to sell them your goods or services, have them download that white paper, or sign up for that free newsletter, have them do what your web site is about. Your landing page needs communicate exactly what your ad implied. Make sure your goods or services are what you promised in your ad. An advertised sale or discount should be prominently displayed. When you visitor shows up and finds what they have been searching for you want to be the web site that can deliver it.

It takes work and testing and then more work to make your PPC ad campaign produce that which you expected, make you more money than you spend. You would not have signed up for that campaign if you had not wanted to make a profit, it’s there for you if you work for it.

For more on Google Adwords Management

The final straw for Hartsburg might have been Sunday’s 7-4 loss to the Washington Capitals. After the game, Hartsburg called his team out for not playing hard.

“The thing for us right now is that we have to play the game with a lot more pride than what we started this game with,” Hartsburg told the National Post. “You know what? [Washington] is a great team, and they exposed some things in us, but we have to take a lot more pride in ourselves as a team right from the start of hockey games.”

Hartsburg signed a three-year contract in June of 2008, taking over for current general manager Bryan Murray. His 17-27-7 record has left Ottawa with 41 points, which is the third worst point total in the league.

Prior to his stint with the Senators, the 49-year-old Hartsburg spent five seasons as head coach of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. During that period, he was also assistant coach to Brent Sutter for Team Canada’s 2006 World Junior championship win, before going on to lead Canada to two more junior gold medals as head coach in 2007 and 2008.

Previously, Hartsburg had been at the helm of the Chicago Blackhawks (1995-98) and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks (1998-2000).

Hartsburg, a former NHL defenceman, was picked sixth overall by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1979 NHL draft. The native of Stratford, Ont. had 413 career points in 570 games over 10 seasons with the team.

With a number of players available in Toronto, the Maple Leafs could be inching closer towards pulling the trigger on another trade this season.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, the Lightning is thin on the blueline and has had interest in Maple Leafs defenseman Ian White.

Leafs GM Brian Burke has been working the phones and is in constant talk with several of his counterparts.

White is among several players available for trade, including the likes of forwards Nik Antropov, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Jason Blake, defensemen Tomas Kaberle and Pavel Kubina, and goalie Vesa Toskala.

Atlanta Thrashers
(D) Schneider, Mathieu ($5,750,000)
(D) Havelid, Niclas ($2,900,000)
(C) Williams, Jason ($2,200,000)
(C) Reasoner, Marty ($1,000,000)
(C) Perrin, Eric ($750,000)
(R) Hoffman, Mike ($550,000)
(R) Motzko, Joe ($550,000)
(C) Stevenson, Grant ($550,000)
(R) Lessard, Junior ($525,000)

Boston Bruins
(G) Fernandez, Manny ($4,333,333)
(L) Axelsson, Per-Johan ($1,850,000) (has limited NTC, up to 20 teams for player approval)
(G) Thomas, Tim ($1,100,000)
(D) Hnidy, Shane ($760,000)
(C) Yelle, Stephane ($750,000)
(L) Reich, Jeremy ($500,000)

Buffalo Sabres
(R) Afinogenov, Maxim ($3,500,000)
(C) Connolly, Tim ($3,500,000)
(D) Spacek, Jaroslav ($3,300,000)
(R) Kotalik, Ales ($2,500,000)
(D) Numminen, Teppo ($1,100,000)
(L) Darche, Mathieu ($575,000)
(L) Peters, Andrew ($550,000)
(L) Bouck, Tyler ($500,000)
(L) Ellis, Matt ($475,000)
(C) Fretter, Colton ($475,000)
(L) Murphy, Colin ($475,000)

Calgary Flames
(D) Aucoin, Adrian ($4,000,000) (has NTC)
(C) Cammalleri, Mike ($3,600,000)
(D) Warrener, Rhett ($2,500,000)
(R) Bertuzzi, Todd ($1,950,000)
(D) Eriksson, Anders ($1,500,000)
(L) Nilson, Marcus ($1,000,000)
(C) Lundmark, Jamie ($600,000)
(L) Moss, David ($575,000)
(R) Roy, Andre ($550,000)
(C) Germyn, Carsen ($500,000)
(G) Krahn, Brent ($500,000)
(L) Peters, Warren ($475,000)

Carolina Hurricanes
(D) Seidenberg, Dennis ($1,200,000)
(D) Melichar, Josef ($1,000,000)
(D) Tanabe, David ($900,000)
(R) LaRose, Chad ($875,000)
(L) Gillies, Trevor ($500,000)
(L) Murley, Matt ($500,000)
(L) Bayda, Ryan ($475,000)
(L) Brookbank, Wade ($475,000)
(L) Lacouture, Dan ($475,000)
(C) Ryan, Michael ($475,000)

Chicago Blackhawks
(G) Khabibulin, Nikolai ($6,750,000)
(R) Havlat, Martin ($6,000,000)
(R) Adams, Craig ($600,000)
(D) Walker, Matt ($600,000)
(D) Johnson, Aaron ($525,000)

Colorado Avalanche
(C) Sakic, Joe ($6,000,000)
(C) Arnason, Tyler ($1,750,000)
(D) Leopold, Jordan ($1,500,000)
(R) Laperriere, Ian ($1,150,000)
(D) Tjarnqvist, Daniel ($750,000)
(L) Ledin, Per ($600,000)
(R) Willsie, Brian ($600,000)
(C) Hendricks, Matt ($500,000)
(C) Smith, Nathan ($500,000)
(L) Durno, Chris ($475,000)
(C) Guite, Ben ($475,000)
(R) Boulerice, Jesse ($475,000)

Columbus Blue Jackets
(D) Backman, Christian ($3,400,000)
(C) Malhotra, Manny ($1,500,000)
(C) Peca, Michael ($1,315,000)
(G) Norrena, Fredrik ($900,000)
(L) York, Mike ($750,000)
(C) Macdonald, Craig ($515,000)
(C) Kelly, Steve ($500,000)

Dallas Stars
(D) Zubov, Sergei ($5,350,000) (has NTC)
(R) Lehtinen, Jere ($4,100,000) (has NTC)
(D) Sydor, Darryl ($2,500,000)
(L) Lundqvist, Joel ($725,000)
(R) Wilson, Landon ($550,000)
(R) Parrish, Mark ($500,000)
(D) Janik, Doug ($500,000)

Detroit Red Wings
(R) Hossa, Marian ($7,450,000)
(L) Zetterberg, Henrik ($2,900,000)
(R) Samuelsson, Mikael ($1,200,000)
(C) Franzen, Johan ($1,150,000)
(G) Conklin, Ty ($750,000)
(D) Chris Chelios ($750,000)
(R) McCarty, Darren ($575,000)
(R) Haydar, Darren ($525,000)
(R) Kopecky, Tomas ($525,000)
(R) Downey, Aaron ($500,000)

Edmonton Oilers
(L) Cole, Erik ($4,000,000)
(G) Roloson, Dwayne ($3,000,000)
(G) Garon, Mathieu ($1,000,000)
(D) Strudwick, Jason ($650,000)
(C) Corazzini, Carl ($500,000)

Florida Panthers
(D) Bouwmeester, Jay ($4,875,000)
(D) Boynton, Nick ($2,950,000)
(D) Skrastins, Karlis ($2,400,000)
(R) Zednik, Richard ($1,750,000)
(R) Dvorak, Radek ($1,600,000)
(L) Peltonen, Ville ($1,200,000)
(D) Murphy, Cory ($875,000)
(D) Cullimore, Jassen ($830,000)
(C) Sprukts, Janis ($600,000)
(G) Anderson, Craig ($575,000)

Los Angeles Kings
(L) Calder, Kyle ($2,700,000)
(D) Gauthier, Denis ($2,200,000)
(C) Armstrong, Derek ($1,600,000)
(D) O’Donnell, Sean ($1,250,000)
(G) Ersberg, Erik ($700,000)

Minnesota Wild
(R) Gaborik, Marian ($7,500,000)
(G) Backstrom, Niklas ($3,100,000) (has limited NTC, cannot be traded 9/1/08 – 2/1/09)
(D) Skoula, Martin ($1,900,000)
(D) Bergeron, Marc-Andre ($1,691,000)
(D) Foster, Kurtis ($1,025,000)
(L) Veilleux, Stephane ($862,500)
(G) Schaefer, Nolan ($600,000)
(C) Kolanos, Krystofer ($500,000)
(C) Lundbohm, Bryan ($500,000)
(D) Mojzis, Tomas ($500,000)

Montreal Canadiens
(L) Tanguay, Alex ($5,375,000) (has NTC)
(C) Koivu, Saku ($4,750,000) (has NTC)
(R) Kovalev, Alexei ($4,500,000) (has NTC)
(C) Lang, Robert ($4,000,000)
(D) Komisarek, Michael ($1,900,000)
(D) Bouillon, Francis ($1,875,000)
(D) Dandenault, Mathieu ($1,750,000)
(C) Begin, Steve ($1,300,000)
(R) Kostopoulos, Tom ($900,000)
(D) Brisebois, Patrice ($750,000)
(G) Denis, Marc ($600,000)
(C) Glumac, Mike ($550,000)
(C) Lehoux, Yanick ($550,000)
(D) Anderson, Chad ($500,000)
(L) Flinn, Ryan ($500,000)
(D) Henry, Alex ($500,000)

Nashville Predators
(L) Sullivan, Steve ($3,200,000)
(D) de Vries, Greg ($2,750,000)
(C) Bonk, Radek ($1,600,000)
(C) Fiddler, Vernon ($900,000)
(C) Nichol, Scott ($750,000)
(R) Ortmeyer, Jed ($750,000)
(D) Zanon, Greg ($750,000)
(D) Koistinen, Ville ($700,000)
(G) MacIntyre, Drew ($500,000)
(R) Ward, Joel ($500,000)
(D) Yonkman, Nolan ($475,000)

New Jersey Devils
(R) Gionta, Brian ($4,000,000)
(C) Madden, John ($2,938,540)
(C) Holik, Bobby ($2,500,000)
(L) Shanahan, Brendan (TBD)
(G) Weekes, Kevin ($700,000)
(D) Oduya, Johnny ($600,000)
(G) Clemmensen, Scott ($500,000)
(R) Disalvatore, Jon ($500,000)
(C) Rupp, Mike ($500,000)
(C) Murphy, Ryan ($475,000)
(D) Spiller, Matthew ($475,000)
(L) Wiseman, Chad ($475,000)

New York Islanders
(R) Guerin, Bill ($4,500,000) (has NTC)
(C) Comrie, Mike ($4,000,000)
(C) Sillinger, Mike ($2,300,000)
(C) Weight, Doug ($1,750,000)
(L) Hilbert, Andy ($700,000)
(D) Pock, Thomas ($685,000)
(R) Jackman, Tim ($600,000)
(G) Danis, Yann ($550,000)
(R) McLean, Kurtis ($550,000)
(C) Iggulden, Mike ($525,000)
(L) Fritz, Mitchell ($500,000)
(D) Lee, Chris ($500,000)
(G) MacDonald, Joey ($500,000)

New York Rangers
(D) Kalinin, Dmitri ($2,100,000)
(D) Mara, Paul ($1,950,000)
(G) Valiquette, Stephen ($725,000)
(C) Betts, Blair ($615,000)
(R) Orr, Colton ($550,000)

Ottawa Senators
(G) Gerber, Martin ($3,700,000)
(D) Kuba, Filip ($3,000,000)
(R) Neil, Chris ($1,200,000)
(C) McAmmond, Dean ($900,000)
(D) Fata, Drew ($550,000)
(R) Isbister, Brad ($525,000)
(C) Mauldin, Greg ($500,000)

Philadelphia Flyers
(G) Biron, Martin ($3,500,000) (has NTC)
(D) Hatcher, Derian ($3,500,000)
(R) Knuble, Mike ($2,800,000)
(D) Alberts, Andrew ($1,400,000)
(G) Niittymaki, Antero ($1,375,000)
(D) Vaananen, Ossi ($1,000,000)
(D) Kukkonen, Lasse ($900,000)
(G) Aubin, Jean-Sebastien ($550,000)
(L) Gratton, Josh ($550,000)
(L) Kane, Boyd ($500,000)

Phoenix Coyotes
(D) Morris, Derek ($3,950,000)
(C) Reinprecht, Steven ($2,000,000)
(G) Tellqvist, Mikael ($800,000)
(D) Klee, Ken ($625,000)
(L) Hoggan, Jeff ($500,000)
(C) Smith, Wyatt ($500,000)
(L) Murray, Garth ($475,000)
(R) Nesbitt, Derek ($475,000)

Pittsburgh Penguins
(R) Satan, Miroslav ($3,500,000)
(D) Boucher, Philippe ($2,500,000)
(R) Sykora, Petr ($2,500,000)
(L) Fedotenko, Ruslan ($2,250,000)
(D) Gill, Hal ($2,100,000)
(L) Pesonen, Janne ($875,000)
(D) Scuderi, Robert ($725,000)
(C) Zigomanis, Michael ($650,000)
(L) Taffe, Jeff ($550,000)
(G) Sabourin, Dany ($525,000)
(L) Gove, David ($500,000)
(L) James, Connor ($500,000)
(D) Kemp, T.J. ($500,000)
(L) Minard, Christopher ($500,000)
(D) Mormina, Joey ($475,000)

San Jose Sharks
(D) Blake, Rob ($5,000,000)
(D) McLaren, Kyle ($2,500,000)
(R) Grier, Mike ($1,775,000) (has NTC)
(C) Roenick, Jeremy ($1,100,000)
(G) Boucher, Brian ($650,000)
(D) Semenov, Alexei ($650,000)
(R) Cavanagh, Tom ($500,000)
(C) Larose, Cory ($500,000)
(D) Westgarth, Brett ($480,000)
(D) Buckley, Brendan ($475,000)
(D) Kinch, Matthew ($475,000)
(R) Vesce, Ryan ($475,000)
(R) Lemieux, Claude (TBD)

St Louis Blues
(L) Tkachuk, Keith ($4,500,000) (has NTC)
(C) McDonald, Andy ($3,333,333)
(G) Legace, Manny ($2,500,000)
(R) Hinote, Dan ($1,000,000)
(D) Wozniewski, Andy ($775,000)
(D) Weaver, Mike ($700,000)
(L) Winchester, Brad ($600,000)
(L) Regier, Steve ($500,000)
(C) Whitfield, Trent ($500,000)
(L) Linglet, Charles ($475,000)

Tampa Bay Lightning
(G) Kolzig, Olaf ($1,500,000)
(C) Gratton, Chris ($1,250,000)
(D) Malik, Marek ($1,250,000)
(R) Recchi, Mark ($1,250,000)
(L) Roberts, Gary ($1,250,000)
(R) Ward, Jason ($700,000)
(L) Pettinger, Matt ($550,000)
(L) Koci, David ($525,000)
(D) Heward, Jamie ($475,000)

Toronto Maple Leafs
(L) Bell, Mark ($2,500,000)
(C) Antropov, Nik ($2,150,000)
(C) Moore, Dominic ($900,000)
(G) Joseph, Curtis ($700,000)
(L) Battaglia, Bates ($675,000)
(L) May, Brad ($600,000)
(D) Boumedienne, Josef ($600,000)
(C) Devereaux, Boyd ($600,000)
(C) Newbury, Kris ($475,000)
(R) Ondrus, Benjamin ($475,000)

Vancouver Canucks
(C) Sundin, Mats ($9,070,000)
(C) Sedin, Henrik ($3,575,000)
(L) Sedin, Daniel ($3,575,000)
(D) Ohlund, Mattias ($3,500,000) (has NTC)
(L) Pyatt, Taylor ($1,575,000)
(R) Ouellet, Michel ($1,300,000)
(G) Labarbera, Jason ($850,000)
(L) Cowan, Jeff ($725,000)
(G) Sanford, Curtis ($650,000)
(C) Krog, Jason ($605,000)
(D) Nycholat, Lawrence ($600,000)
(D) Davison, Rob ($560,000)
(D) Baumgartner, Nolan ($550,000)
(L) Burrows, Alexandre ($525,000)
(C) Cullen, Mark ($500,000)
(L) Jaffray, Jason ($500,000)

Washington Capitals
(C) Fedorov, Sergei ($4,000,000)
(C) Kozlov, Viktor ($2,500,000)
(L) Brashear, Donald ($1,200,000)
(G) Johnson, Brent ($825,000)
(L) Laing, Quintin ($500,000)
(L) Mink, Graham ($500,000)
(C) Giroux, Alexandre ($475,000)
(D) Helmer, Bryan ($475,000)
(D) Sloan, Tyler ($475,000)

===============================Un-signed 2008 UFAs==============================

(C) Forsberg, Peter (rehab, out until Dec)
(C) Smolinski, Bryan
(R) Murray, Glen (ankle surgery, out for season)
(R) Lapointe, Martin

============================Potential UFAs from Overseas===========================

Signed Overseas
(D) St. Jacques, Bruno (Anaheim)
(R) Mowers, Mark (Anaheim)
(D) DiPenta, Joe (Anaheim)
(C) Platt, Geoff (Anahaim)
(C) Dixon, Stephen (Anaheim)
(D) Kwiatkowski, Joel (Atlanta)
(D) Pilar, Karel (Atlanta)
(L) Bartovic, Milan (Atlanta)
(D) McCarthy, Steve (Atlanta)
(G) Brathwaite, Fred (Atlanta)
(D) Zhitnik, Alexei (Atlanta)
(C) Doell, Kevin (Atlanta)
(D) Popovic, Mark (VI) (Atlanta)
(R) Chistov, Stanislav (non-tendered) (Boston)
(L) Collins, Chris (non-tendered) (Boston)
(G) Sigalet, Jordan (Boston)
(G) Grahame, John (Carolina)
(R) Letowski, Trevor (Carolina)
(D) Zyuzin, Andrei (Chicago)
(D) Fahey, Jim (Chicago)
(G) Flaherty, Wade (Chicago)
(C) Hlinka, Jaroslav (Colorado)
(D) Jillson, Jeff (Colorado)
(L) Healey, Eric (Colorado)
(C) Hussey, Matt (Colorado)
(D) Tarnstrom, Dick (Colombus)
(R) Vyborny, David (Colombus)
(D) Maenpaa, Mikko (Columbus)
(G) Popperle, Tomas (Columbus)
(D) Westcott, Duvie (non-tendered) (Columbus)
(L) Dicasmirro, Nate (Columbus)
(R) Rycroft, Mark; re-signed (Columbus)
(R) Holtet, Maruis (Dallas)
(D) Timonen, Jussi (Dallas)
(L) Vas, Janos (Dallas)
(G) Holmqvist, Johan (Dallas)
(D) Lampman, Bryce (VI) (Dallas)
(C) Hartigan, Mark (Detroit)
(D) Rourke, Allan (Edmonton)
(C) Taylor, Adam (non-tendered)(Florida)
(C) Josef Stumpel (Florida)
(D) Mezei, Branislav (Florida)
(D) Johansson, Magnus (Florida)
(D) Klemm, Jon (Los Angeles)
(C) Ryan, Matt (Los Angeles)
(D) Dallman, Kevin (Los Angeles)
(L) Giuliano, Jeff (Los Angeles)
(L) Nagy, Ladislav (Los Angeles)
(R) Kanko, Petr (Los Angeles)
(D) Nummelin, Petteri (Minnesota)
(R) Radivojevic, Branko (Minnesota)
(L) Simon, Chris (Minnesota)
(L) Payer, Serge (Minnesota)
(D) Lakos, Andre (Minnesota)
(D) Hill, Sean (Minnesota)
(R) Engelhardt, Brett (Montreal)
(R) Ferland, Jonathan (Montreal)
(D) Degon, Marvin (non-tendered) (Montreal)
(L) Lahti, Janne (non-tendered) (Montreal)
(D) Biron, Mathieu (Montreal)
(R) Milroy, Duncan (VI) (Montreal)
(C) Matt Ellison (Nashville)
(G) Grumet-Morris, Dov (Nashville)
(R) Langfeld, Josh (Nashville)
(L) Hlavac, Jan (Nashville)
(L) Gelinas, Martin (Nashville – 14 day tryout)
(D) Rachunek, Karel (New Jersey)
(L) Clarke, Noah (New Jersey)
(C) Viuhkola, Jari (New Jersey)
(D) Grand-Pierre, Jean-Luc (New Jersey)
(C) Brylin, Sergei (New Jersey)
(G) Parise, Jordan (non-tendered) (New Jersey)
(G) Doyle, Frank (New Jersey)
(L) Rasmussen, Erik (New Jersey)
(G) Dubielewicz, Wade (NY Islanders)
(R) Marjamaki, Masi (non-tendered) (NY Islanders)
(C) Vasicek, Josef (NY Islanders)
(R) Keith, Matt (VI) (NY Islanders)
(L) Brennan, Kip (NY Islanders)
(R) Jagr, Jaromir (NY Rangers)
(C) Straka, Martin (NY Rangers)
(R) Kozak, Rick (NY Rangers)
(G) Emery, Ray (buyout) (Ottawa)
(R) Dimitrakos, Niko (Ottawa)
(C) Mapletoft, Justin (Ottawa)
(C) Robitaille, Randy (Ottawa)
(L) Saprykin, Oleg (Ottawa)
(D) Jonsson, Lars (Philadelphia)
(D) Grenier, Martin (Philadelphi)
(D) Modry, Jaroslav (Philadelphia)
(D) Berard, Bryan (Philadelphia – after being released from tryout)
(D) Roche, Travis (Phoenix)
(C) Tenute, Joey (Phoenix)
(G) Aebischer, David (Phoenix)
(C) Kapanen, Niko (Phoenix)
(L) Hossa, Marcel (non-tendered) (Phoenix)
(D) Caldwell, Ryan (Phoenix)
(L) Tjarnqvist, Mathias (Phoenix)
(D) Nasreddine, Alain (Pittsburgh)
(C) Beech, Kris (Pittsburgh)
(D) DuPont, Micki (St Louis Blues)
(L) Trudel, Jean-Guy (St Louis)
(L) Kariya, Martin (St Louis)
(R) Guenette, Francois-Pierre (St Louis)
(L) Cajanek, Petr (St Louis)
(L) Rucinsky, Martin (St Louis)
(D) Brooks, Alex (St Louis)
(R) Johnson, Mike (St Louis)
(G) Riksman, Juuso (St Louis)
(G) Patzold, Dimitri (VI) (San Jose)
(C) Brown, Curtis (San Jose)
(C) Karlsson, Andreas (Tampa Bay)
(R) Kvapil, Marek (non-tendered) (Tampa Bay)
(D) Scalzo, Mario (non-tendered) (Tampa Bay)
(R) Wanvig, Kyle (Tampa Bay)
(R) Milley, Norm (Tampa Bay)
(D) Schneider, David (Tampa Bay)
(C) Pohl, John (Toronto)
(D) Harrison, Jay (VI) (Toronto)
(R) Salmelainen, Tony (Toronto)
(R) Ling, David (Toronto)
(R) Balej, Jozef (Vancouver)
(C) Moran, Brad (Vancouver)
(C) Ritchie, Byron (Vancouver)
(C) Chubarov, Artem (Vancouver)
(C) Morgan, Jason (Washington)
(G) Cassivi, Frederic (Washington)
(D) Hunt, Jamie (non-tendered) (Washington)
(D) Clymer, Ben (Washington)

=================================Signed UFAs==================================

Anaheim Ducks

Atlanta Thrashers

Boston Bruins

Buffalo Sabres

Calgary Flames

Carolina Hurricanes

Chicago Blackhawks

Colorado Avalanche

Columbus Blue Jackets

Dallas Stars

Detroit Red Wings

Edmonton Oilers

Florida Panthers

Los Angeles Kings

Minnesota Wild

Montreal Canadiens

Nashville Predators

New Jersey Devils

New York Islanders

New York Rangers

Ottawa Senators
(R) Alfredsson, Daniel; re-signed, four-year contract

Philadelphia Flyers

Phoenix Coyotes

Pittsburgh Penguins

San Jose Sharks

St Louis Blues

Tampa Bay Lightning

Toronto Maple Leafs

Vancouver Canucks

Washington Capitals
(D) Erskine, John; re-signed two-year contract

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