The panel picks for the Cup Final are coming tomorrow.

Good morning! The Fantasy Prospects Report is released in three days. You know you want it!

Oops, I guess rereading it, it kind of does look as though I place some value in the KHL-Huberdeau thing. What I meant to say was rather than 0% chance, perhaps it is actually a 0.001% chance.

The KHL draft was held yesterday. They generally draft Russian players, of course, but occasionally they will place dibs on Canadian, American or Swedish players if the team thinks there is an outside shot that they can convince the player to cross the pond. I was very interested to see that one team took Jonathan Huberdeau fifth overall. That is a very high pick to waste on a player who is not coming over… so the team would have to have some reason for the pick.

Other drafted players of note: Landeskog, the younger Granlund, Jarnkrok, R. Murphy, Strom, McNeill, Couturie – drafted in that order (but in the later rounds)

An older column, but Chesnokov reports that Jagr is only talking to KHL teams, according to Jagr's agent.

The Hurricanes plan to shop for a backup goalie for Cam Ward. Justin Peters will play in the AHL next year and battle Mike Murphy for the starting role.

Houston and Binghamton are deadlocked at a game apiece in the AHL Calder Cup Final. The leading scorer of the postseason is Binghamton's Ryan Potulny, a long-time Dobber favorite who is getting Lonny Bohonos'ed out of the NHL. He's made the AHL his bitch, and his stint in Edmonton to me was a good one. I also think he was a solid and promising prospect in Philadelphia who was moved because there was no room for him there. One piece of bad luck after another, and were it not for a bounce here or a bounce there, he could be a second-line NHL player today. Now? Journeyman forever.

The top scorer for Houston is Patrick O'Sullivan, who is probably following Potulny down the same path. One the biggest and most surprising declines in my fantasy hockey history, ranking right up there with Alexander Daigle, Kevin Stevens and Jonathan Cheechoo.

I know that Jacob Markstrom's debut North American season was unimpressive, but take a look at his monthly stats breakdown, courtesy of Litter Box Cats. I just see that SP improving after a brutal two months:

October 4-5-0, 3.33 GAA, .891 SV%

November 3-5-0, 4.05 GAA, .868 SV%

December 4-4-0, 2.37 GAA, .930 SV%

January 5-5-1, 2.32 GAA, .929 SV%

February 0-1-0, 3.04 GAA, .909 SV%

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Here are some interesting CHL Award Winners:

Prospect of the year – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (profiled in the Fantasy Prospects Report and No.1 on Matt Bugg's Mock Draft)

Top Scorer – Linden Vey, LA Kings prospect, also profiled.

Scholastic Player of the Year – Dougie Hamilton, another 2011 draftee who is fully profiled in the FPR.

Rookie of the Year – Nail Yakupov, a possible first overall pick for 2012.

Goalie of the Year – Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota Wild prospect who is profiled by Justin Goldman in the FPR and he appears on both Justin and my own charts (keeper league goalies to own).

Defenseman of the year – Ryan Ellis, Nashville prospect, also profiled of course.

Tonight's Memorial Cup Final – Saint John (featuring Jonathan Huberdeau) vs. Mississauga (featuring Casey Cizikas and Maxim Kitsyn). I'm most interested in Saint John goaltender Jacob DeSerres. Philadelphia didn't sign him to a contract last summer and he went back into the draft…where teams ignored him. So what does he do? He joins a top team in Saint John and bangs off a 27-3-0 record with 2.22 GAA and 0.916 SP…and then in the Memorial Cup he goes 2-0-0, 2.18, 0.934. I don't care how strong the team is in front of a goaltender and I don't care about "style". As a fantasy guy, I care about stats – and this guy wins. So despite having no team to speak of right now in the NHL, I have him 25^th on my top goaltenders to own who have not played a single NHL game. Goldman is doing a column on him tomorrow based on his performance tonight, to give you his thoughts on the style and skills of DeSerres. But I personally believe he gets signed or drafted by an NHL team this year. He's a long shot – and a long ways away, of course, but what goalie isn't?

On the Forecheck gives their Report Card on Sergei Kostitsyn, dig up a quote from me from back in September and repost it. I must say, I'm impressed with myself…

Ray Shero says that the Penguins will not be re-signing Alex Kovalev or Mike Comrie, and that Comrie "might be leaning toward retirement". Also, Crosby is back in Pittsburgh and will be re-evaluated by a concussion specialist this week.

Torontonians we have narrowed the date of the DobberHockey Event down to two evenings – Thursday June 16 or Friday June 17. Join Justin Goldman, myself and other writers from around DobberHockey and the blogosphere at a pub near Yonge and St. Clair for drinks and hockey talk. Please vote on your preferred night – Thursday, Friday or "either one".

My favorite crazy play-by-play goal-call voice Rick Jeanneret will work on 51-56 games next year as the team fazes him out…or he fazes himself out. Either way – noooooo! Want to know what I mean? Here: