Keeping an Eye on the Future

East or west. Canada or the United States. Much of your attention this hockey season should be focused on the the junior leagues. The future stars are playing there, and with the NHL currently out of the picture, the time is now to get on the web and look for all you can find about the two top prospects for the 2013 draft.

Nathan MacKinnon, a center for the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He's a Canadian and a player who grew up -- as any video or print report will tell you -- in the same home town as Sydney Crosby.

Any number of preseason draft forecasts have him at or near the top of the list. And last season, he had the pressure of being compared to the top players like the Quebec Remparts' Mikhail Grigorenko, who was taken in the first round by the Buffalo Sabres last June.



The other person battling for attention as the No. 1 selection in 2013?

Seth Jones, a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. He's an American. His father, Popeye Jones, played in the NBA.



Both videos are from last spring, and there will be plenty more to watch as the two move through the season, the World Junior Championships and possible runs at their league championships and the Memorial Cup.

Bob McKenzie of TSN broke down his thoughts on MacKinnon and Jones and also rounded out his list of top 10 prospects for the 2014 draft. You think Mel Kiper Jr. knows the NFL draft? McKenzie knows the NHL draft and pretty much any number of levels of hockey beyond just the draft. And he doesn't need a bucket of hair lacquer, either.

I'll try to keep you updated with what is going on in all corners of the rink, so please feel free to join me on the junior beat. I'll be looking at the the Canadian Hockey League (the QMJHL, OHL and WHL compose this association), the United States Hockey League and I also hope to follow the trail of some top players in the CJHL, an association of 10 leagues at the level below the CHL, as well as Minnesota high school hockey and the New England prep leagues.

This is going to be a fun year, even if we don't quite reach the level of enthusiasm displayed in this video for the Victoria Royals of the WHL.