Nibbles on Thanksgiving

Here are a few things I've come across in the past few days.

There are rumors that John Tavares of the Oshawa Generals, the No. 2 rated prospect for 2009, will be traded before the Jan. 10 deadline. This kind of thing happens a lot in junior hockey just like in the NHL -- if a top guy is on a lower-tier team, the team would rather sell him off and build for the future. In following the Tavares story, I read that top guys in the CHL often have no-trade clauses. That struck me as very demanding for a teenager, but the more I thought about it, it's probably a lot more disruptive for a teenager to move in the middle of the year. They'd have to change schools, etc. So I guess it makes sense. I'm interested to see where Tavares ends up.

If you haven't checked out Central Scouting's preliminary rankings for 2009 yet, here's a link.

Bruce Boudreau's Washington Capitals might be injured like crazy, but it did create an opportunity for his son Ben Boudreau. Ben had been playing for the IHL Flint Generals (first year pro), but yesterday was signed to the Caps' ECHL affiiate South Carolina Stingrays, who had lost players to Hershey Bears due to the Caps' injuries. Ben is 24. Does this sound a bit like the Jake Anderson events? It does to me. Ben was in camp with Hershey too.

We all get tired of reading cliche answers by athletes, but some guys should actually learn the cliches, because they are better answers than what they actually said. I edited a Q&A yesterday that was just unbelievable. It was of a Russian playing in the OHL. The interview was done in his native language, so there's no reason he couldn't express himself. But no, here's a taste:

HF: For your average Kings fan who has never seen you play, how would you describe your style?
AL: Sorry, but I don’t like to talk about my playing style.

If a player can't or won't talk about their playing style, the most basic, and perfectly reasonable question there is, then they should be kept away from the media. The guy comes off terribly.

Hopefully the guy I talk to tonight will be in a decent mood despite Augusta's troubles.
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