Bump.

Interesting news coming out of the Ligue de hockey junior-majeur du Québec: the Victoriaville Tigres have traded Blackhawks prospect Philip Danault to the Moncton Wildcats for a player, two firsts, and a second.

Why is this relevant? Because that's agreed to be one hell of a haul for a 19-year-old who is liable to bolt for the majors at the end of the year. If you're giving up that much for a likely half-season rental, you must be getting one quality player. To refresh, Danault (pronounced "Danno") is the guy we drafted with the Caps' pick in exchange for sending them Troy Brouwer. If he ends up being as good as the Q (the league, not Coach Q) is making him look, and Brandon Pirri pans out as planned, then hooray, we have centers again!

Hockey Prospectus ranks the Hawks' prospect pool 6th in the league; Hockey's Future has us 9th. Looks like Bowman isn't doing so poorly after all.

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Pretty interesting how Hockey's Future has the Blues' farm system ranked 5th and Hockey Prospectus has them 19th.

I'm guessing Hockey Prospectus places a greater premium on advanced metrics, which would obviously give a boost to the Blackhawks and Red Wings and bust down the Me Like Hockey plugs in the St. Louis and Nashville systems. The problem, of course, is that the National Hockey League no longer places a premium on the finesse players whose worth would be valued by such advanced metrics, and as such, plugs are really all you need. The Blackhawks have been made a dinosaur by dinosaurs. Wrap your head around that one.

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If they win this one you have to think everyone believes in him now.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”