[Cali Panthers Fan]

I know people are going to go for the guys like Hathaway and Wotherspoon since they're close to being in the NHL, but may I make an alternate suggestion at this point?

Those kind of players are forever going to be borderline NHLers. If they were to make the NHL full time, they probably would have done it by now. Their skills or ability to play at the NHL level are suspect, and even if they make the team this year, it probably won't be for very long, maybe 1 or 2 years.

I'm going to go with some of the younger guys that still have potential. Some of these guys we don't know a lot about yet, but they have yet to determine their ceiling as pros and could turn out to be quite good. I am intrigued by both Lindstrom and Ruzicka for their skills.

Lindstrom put up great numbers in the lower Swedish leagues, and played mostly in the SHL (top swedish league) last year as a 18/19 year old. He's smallish, but very skilled from the reports I've read. He didn't put up a ton of points last year, but obviously he was adjusting to playing in the top league and probably didn't get a lot of ice time.

Ruzicka is already 6'4" and 210 pounds, and put up decent numbers in the OHL. He is on the world junior team coming up for Slovakia (almost certain), and was also on the U18 teams and put up great numbers there. He's also a 4th round pick, where this team has had major success over recent years, so he's got that going for him too.

I went with Ruzicka, purely because his size will translate well to the NHL, even if he's less skilled than Lindstrom.