The Fifth Liners

The time has come at last Tampa Bay Lightning fans! 2013 3rd overall draft pick Jonathan Drouin will at last make his anticipated NHL debut this week. This event has been a year in the making, but will this man live up to the hype? Last season Drouin was surprisingly sent back to his old team the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL after training camp. Clearly Tampa Bay wanted to ensure this was one gem that was thoroughly polished. This meant that this young man was the only top 6 pick that didn't go on to make an appearance in the NHL. Despite the disappointment, Drouin went on to have another productive season with Halifax and finished with 29 goals and 108 points! Another blow would come when the 19 year old broke his thumb before training camp even began and it looked as if he would be confined to another year of obscurity when Lightning again sent him down. Drouin was sent to AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch for a conditioning assignment. Fans in Florida were again left in lim...

Tampa Bay Lightning's #3 draft pick Jonathan Drouin was injured last night while playing for the Halifax Mooseheads. Quebec Remparts' Adam Erne hit Drouin sending him face first into the glass. Erne picked up a major penalty and a game misconduct for his hit on his potential future teammate. Both players were picked by the Lightning. Drouin returned to the bench after leaving the ice but played no more part in the game after showing concussion-ish symptoms. Hopefully it's nothing but Drouin will be reassessed by team doctors this weekend.

Any fans of the Tampa Bay Lightning hoping to see their new 3rd overall pick Jonathan Drouin in action at the start of this new season will sadly have to wait as it has been announced by the franchise that their new hot prospect has been sent back to his former team the Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior League! Last season along with Nathan Mackinnon he formed one of the deadliest partnerships in junior league as they won the Memorial Cup in style! But now with Mackinnon likely to be starting at the Colorado Avalanche, Drouin will need to find another partner to help push him back to the big leagues, as Don Cherry once said "Keep your head up kid!"

Alex's question of the week was "out of the top four draft picks, which team will benefit the most?" Damn good question Alex, so let's have a look. First of all, no team did badly in the draft. At least on paper. So who went where? 1st: Nathan MacKinnon - Colorado Avalanche 2nd: Aleksander Barkov - Florida Panthers 3rd: Jonathan Drouin - Tampa Bay 4th: Seth Jones - Nashville Predators Colorado Avalanche The Avs need several good forwards and several good defencemen to be successful. MacKinnon definitely adds strength to Colorado's forward line but one man does not make a team. I think MacKinnon will struggle to post the sort of numbers he's currently scoring in the lower levels.  Florida Panthers Aleksander Barkov has already played against the big boys in the Finnish SM Liiga so he'll have an advantage when he lines up for the Panthers. Tampa Bay Lightning The Lightning will expect to do well with Drouin. With Stamkos and F...

Nathan Mackinnon was selected as the 1st overall pick by the Colorado Avalanche in New Jersey last night, after an impressive season with the Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior League it came as little surprise to many and capped an impressive comeback after a knee injury during the World Junior Championships had threatened to lower his ranking. Young Finnish centre Aleksander Barkov was chosen as the second selection by the Florida Panthers and Mackinnon's Halifax team mate, Jonathan Drouin was picked as the third overall choice by Tampa Bay Lightning . Biggest surprise of the night came when original number one prediction Seth Jones was only selected fourth by the Nashville Predators . Swedish centre Elias Lindholm was the fifth choice for the Carolina Hurricanes while Sean Monahan was added to the Calgary Flames at sixth overall. There was a shake up at  the 9th overall pick as the Vancouver Canucks unexpectedly traded Cory Schneider to the New Jersey...

With the NHL Draft only 11 days away in New Jersey, the Colorado Avalanche still appear to be hanging onto the top pick in the draft after days of 'will they- won't they?' speculation- but according to NHL.com, Avalanche Hockey President Joe Sakic has dropped a bomb shell and announced they will not select Seth Jones in the upcoming draft as they favour a power forward and will instead focus on choosing either Nathan Mackinnon , Jonathan Drouin or top European prospect Aleksander Barkov ! Last season Colorado conceded 152 goals in the regular season and finished bottom of the Western Conference, a top defensemen is required to give stability at the back, but also the Avs struggled offensively last year and long gone are the days of goal machines Sakic and Peter Forsberg so a forward come in useful. Colorado will need to use this pick carefully because this draft promises to be one of the deepest in years!

A mesmerising offensive display by Nathan Mackinnon and Jonathan Drouin has guided the Halifax Mooseheads to their very first Memorial Cup win after a 6-4 win over the Portland Winterhawks at Credit Union Center in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan last night! Mackinnon bagged an impressive hat trick to finish as tournament MVP with to add more fuel to the speculation he will be selected first overall come June 30th! Drouin is also looking an impressive prospect and he added 5 assits to their win and seems set to follow his team mate in the first round! This year's draft will be a very exciting one and I for cannot wait to see Mackinnon hit the big league next season!