NHL Draft

Every team approaches the new season differently. With All-Star festivities wrapping up last weekend, the NHL season is now well past its half-way point—many teams who were picked for great things before the first game have failed to live up to expectations.

In a year in which seemingly every team can make a run for a play-off spot, there are a handful of teams who have managed to anchor themselves in the bottom-feeder club.

Here's a look at the NHL's most poorly managed franchises:   

During the NHL offseason, players from every team come and go, and teams get better and worse.

Over the last 15 years, the Detroit Red Wings have been remarkably good at keeping their team mostly in tact, and plugging in the holes left by players who leave.

The signing of Ian White over the offseason to replace retiring Brian Rafalski would be a perfect example of plugging one of those holes.

While it's still early in the year, there have already been several rookie standouts that are making their case for the Calder Trophy.

With a wide array of talented, first-year players to choose from, there have been few stand-alone candidates to this point. However, the season is still young, and as it progresses you will start to see leaders separating themselves from the pack.

For now, we're left to examine the players currently making a name for themselves as rookies around the league.

Winter is dawning and rankings for the 2012 NHL entry draft are emerging as scouts start making decisions about their valuations of players.

A lot will change between now and when selections are made, but this is the most important time for draft hopefuls seeking to make good early impressions on scouts and general managers alike. 

The 50th annual draft will take place on the 22nd and 23rd of June 2012 at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Those are the two days when NHL dreams will be made or be broken.

This entry was taken from TJ's blog: Hockey Heaven, NY.  Head over to read more about the Sabres and the NHL!

Teams can never have enough wingers on their roster. The 2011 NHL Draft has some very intriguing prospects who are both left wings and right wings.

These 10 players come from all over the world hoping that they can one day be one of the greatest at their respective position.

The 2011 NHL Draft takes place on June 24.

Begin Slideshow

At the end of every season, the NHL entry draft is held, and the general managers of each team take their best swing at securing prospects that will ultimately materialize into contributors at the NHL level at some point down the road.  

A general manager's ability to do so depends on both the quality of each team's scouting department and the number of quality players available in the talent pool, which typically can't be determined until at least five years after the draft takes place.  

NHL teams are always finding mid-to-late round talents; All-Star players who were looked over by many teams through many rounds.  Often times, these players go on to have far better careers than many first and second-round picks in their draft year.  Here's a small sampling of fantastic late-round picks:

Draft season is a trying time for fans and teams alike. There’s so much hope that a club is about to land that next hot prospect, or perhaps completely restock the minor league cupboard, or maybe find that diamond in the rough.

But it’s a double-edged sword.

There are also first-round busts, later-round guys who never put on your jersey and years where you outright miss on every pick you make.

That's all she wrote, folks. The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals are in the books, and over-anxious hockey fans now have from now until the beginning of October to speculate on everything from trades and free agency to the 2011 NHL Draft and potential lineups for their favorite teams.

The rumors surrounding draft picks are picking up steam with just a week left until the 2011 NHL Draft. Meanwhile, the Flyers spoke with Ilya Bryzgalov and his agent yesterday.