–Jason Spezza talks about the decline in scoring in the NHL and makes the obvious point that it’s because there are fewer powerplays. “It’s harder to score, it’s harder to be an offensive guy these days and if you’re scoring a point per game, you’re almost top five in the league right now. It seems like there are (fewer) penalties now and that’s the biggest thing. You’re getting one or two power plays per night, where before you were getting four or five a night.”
–The Hockey News and TSN‘s power rankings are out, with Ottawa 12th and 10th.
–Joy Lindsay Tweets that Louie Caporusso has been recalled by Binghamton. She says that Caporusso is a big fan of Elmira coach Pat Bingham and is looking forward to the ECHL playoffs. Lines at practice: Hoffman-Da Costa-Parrish, Grant-Cannone-Petersson, Dziurzynski-Caporusso-Downing, Cowick-Hamilton-Bartlett/Lessard; Borowiecki-Gryba, Henningson-Conboy, Wiercioch-Schira, Godfrey.
–Michael Blinn writes about the top college free agents this year, indentifying the following: forwards Spencer Abbott, J. T. Brown, Jack Connolly, Brian Flynn, Brian O’Neill, Kelly Zajac, and Mark Zengerle, blueliners Danny Dekeyser, Torey Krug, and goaltenders Troy Grosenick and Chris Rawlings. Nichols writes about the prospect of the Sens pursuing 6’8 Andrej Sustr (teammate of Sens prospect Bryce Aneloski), although the article doesn’t isolate Sustr‘s main impediment to playing the pro game, his skating (Red Line Report also thinks he needs to be more physical). Anaheim 2008 2nd round blueliner Justin Schultz (37-16-28-44) could also become a UFA and would be hotly pursued.
–Red Line Report also has a list of top college agents, but unlike Blinn’s above its ranked and has more detailed information (those referenced above are marked with a *; Jack Connolly (38-18-38-56), Kelly Zajac (36-8-33-41), Mark Zengerle (37-13-37-50), and Troy Grosenik (1.66 .936) don’t make the list):
1. Danny DeKeyser* (D, 6’3, Western Michigan, sophomore, 38-5-11-16)
2. Nate Schmidt (D, 6’0, U of Minn, sophomore, 39-3-33-36)
3. Jeremy Welsh (LW, Union College, junior, 35-23-13-36)
4. Torey Krug* (D, 5’9, Michigan State, junior, 37-12-21-33)
5. J. T. Brown* (RW, 5’10, Minnesota-Duluth, sophomore, 36-23-23-46)
6. Brian Flynn* (RW, 6’1, Maine, senior, 37-17-29-46)
7. Ludwig Karlsson (LW, 6’2, Northeastern, freshman, 32-10-16-26)
8. Terry Broadhurst (RW, 5’11, Nebraska-Omaha, junior, 38-16-20-36)
9. Chris Rawlings* (G, 6’5, Northeastern, sophomore, 2.71, .916)
10. Brian O’Neill* (RW, 5’8, Yale, senior, 35-21-25-46)
11. Andrej Sustr* (D, 6’8, Nebraska-Omaha, sophomore, 33-4-13-17)
12. Drew Leblanc (C, 6’0, St. Cloud, senior, 10-2-10-12)
13. Nick Sorkin (LW, 6’3, New Hampshire, sophomore, 37-9-26-35)
14. Pat Mullane (C, 5’11, Boston College, junior, 38-8-25-33)
15. Eriah Hayes (RW, 6’4, Minnesota State, junior, 36-13-11-24)
16. Matt White (C, 5’10, Nebraska-Omaha, sophomore, 38-17-23-40)
17. Kyle Follmer (D, 6’1, Northern Michigan, junior, 36-4-22-26)
18. Karl Stollery (D, 5’11, Merrimack, senior, 37-7-14-21)
19. Spencer Abbott* (C, 5’10, Maine, senior, 37-20-39-59)
20. Jack Maclellan (LW, 5’11, Brown, senior, 30-15-15-30) [signed by Nashville]
21. Ross Mauermann (C, 5’9, Providence, freshman, 37-10-15-25)
22. Travis Oleksuk (C, 6’0, Minnesota-Duluth, senior, 38-21-29-50)
–Red Line Report‘s latest issue is out with an updated list of 2012′s top prospects (with the position changes noted; for the previous report go link). Coming into the 2011-12 season scouts believed the 2012 draft was going to be a deep one, but now the sentiment is the opposite.
1. Nail Yakupov (Sarnia, OHL)
2. Filip Forsberg (Leksand, Sweden)
3. Mikhail Grigorenko (Quebec, QMJHL)
4. Matt Dumba (Red Deer, WHL)
5. Ryan Murray (Everett, WHL)
6. Morgan Rielly (Moose Jaw, WHL)
7. Pontus Aberg (Djurgarden, Sweden)
8. Sebastian Collberg (Frolunda, Sweden) (+2)
9. Griffin Reinhart (Edmonton, WHL) (+2)
10. Alex Galchenyuk (Sarnia, OHL) (-2)
11. Andrey Vasilevski (Salavat, KHL)
12. Jacob Trouba (US NTDP, USHL)
13. Matt Finn (Guelph, OHL)
14. Cody Ceci (Ottawa 67s, OHL)
15. Derrick Pouliot (Portland, WHL)
16. Radek Faksa (Kitchener, OHL)
17. Slater Koekkoek (Peterborough, OHL)
18. Teuvo Teravainen (Jokerit, Finland) (+3)
19. Damon Severson (Kelowna, WHL) (-1)
20. Zemgus Girgensons (Dubuque, USHL) (-1)
21. Phil Di Giuseppe (U. Michigan, NCAA) (+1)
22. Scott Kosmachuk (Guelph, OHL) (+2)
23. Jordan Schmaltz (Sioux City, USHL) (-3)
24. Olli Maatta (London, OHL) (-1)
25. Brendan Gaunce (Belleville, OHL)
26. Oscar Dansk (Brynas, SEL) (+1)
27. Henrik Samuelsson (US NTDP, USHL) (-1)
28. Anton Slepyshev (Novokuznetsk, KHL)
29. Brady Skjei (US NTDP, USHL)
30. Tomas Hertl (Slavia, Cze) (+5)
One player fell out of the top-30 this month: Nick Ebert (#31, -1) Here’s the movement among former top-30 players: Colton Sissons (#32, NC), Martin Frk (#38, -7), Scott Laughton (#49, +13), Gianluca Curcuruto (#51, -1), Chandler Stephenson (#55, -1), Troy Bourke (#60, -1), Calle Andersson (#79, -5), Jarrod Maidens (#85, +2), Eric Locke (#89, +2), Matia Marcantuoni (#105, -NC), Patrik Machac (#133, -29), Ryan Olsen (#216, -8), and Luca Ciampini (#263, -13).
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eyeonthesens 
[…] college free agents (who has been signed and who remains available); for the original article go here: Michael Blinn’s picks Jack Connolly (38-18-38-56) Kelly Zajac (36-8-33-41) Mark Zengerle […]
[…] updated list of 2012′s top prospects (with the position changes noted; for the previous report go link). Coming into the 2011-12 season scouts believed the 2012 draft was going to be a deep one, but […]