Buy my eighth annual Prospects Report here. Includes Mock Draft and nearly 500 prospect profiles. Yep, 500. About 200 more than you’ll ever consider for your league – but part of the information is telling you which guys ‘not’ to go after, right?

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Hall of Fame announces that Rob Blake, Dominik Hasek, Peter Forsberg, Mike Modano and Pat Burns will be inducted. Well deserved, all.

But let’s be honest – Modano in his prime would have his jockstrap handed to him going one on one against Mogilny or Lindros in their prime.

Also – the Habs re-signed Andrei Markov for three more years, and the Blue Jackets re-signed their backup Curtis McElhinney.

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DobberProspects’ Brendan Ross (@RossyYoungblood) answers some NHL Draft questions from our forum members and talks all things draft in his latest Prospects Ramblings. Check it out!

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Christopher Nilstorp has signed a contract to play in Sweden (SHL) next season. He would have been a UFA on July 1

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The NHL released the 2014-15 Schedule Sunday and as always there are some interesting notes that I gathered between using my own two eyes as well as dozens of people posting observations on Twitter…

Toronto plays 22 of the first 33 games at home.

Buffalo and Columbus play 19 back-to-back games to lead the league, New York Rangers, Ottawa, Phoenix and Minnesota each play 13, St. Louis plays 12, Toronto plays 18. Los Angeles and Winnipeg have the fewest back-to-backs (nine).

Rogers will show 350 games nationally – that’s close to 30% of the schedule

All 30 teams play on the final day (April 11)

Martin St. Louis returns to Tampa Bay on November 26 – his only time there.

Roberto Luongo returns to Vancouver January 8 – his only time there next season.

Barry Trotz returns to Nashville on January 16.

The last NYR vs. NYI game at Nassau Coliseum is March 10.

Boston plays Montreal on October 16. In case you’ve forgotten this:

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Here is an excellent (annual) look at the NHL schedule from a “miles traveled” point of view. Arizona will travel the most in the season ahead, while Philadelphia will log the least miles.

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The Hall of Fame inductees will be announced today, Monday, at 3pm. Peter Forsberg‘s name will be listed. Dominik Hasek‘s name as well. Anyone else? Here is a list of candidates:

Dave Andreychuk, Rob Blake, Pat Burns, Rod Brind’Amour, Guy Carbonneau, Theoren Fleury, Adam Foote, Bill Guerin, Paul Henderson, Phil Housley, Curtis Joseph, Paul Kariya, Steve Larmer, John LeClair, Eric Lindros, Kevin Lowe, Sergei Makarov, Mike Modano, Alexander Mogilny, Markus Naslund, Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts, Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk and Doug Weight.

My picks?

Peter Forsberg – Just 885 career points but he did so in 708 games. There were at least three seasons in which he was considered the best player in all of hockey – and in my own personal HoF criteria which doesn’t count stats or even tenure, that’s all that matters. Were you one of the three best forwards, two best defensemen or best goaltender in hockey in any two-year span? Then you’re in. Was there a time in which you would have made the starting lineup for Team Earth in a battle against Mars? Then you’re in.

Dominik Hasek – Six Vezina Trophies and two Hart Trophies? Wow. Obviously meets my criteria above as the best goalie in hockey, several times over.

Pat Burns – I have no criteria for coaches, but winning the Jack Adams on three different occasions with three different teams, plus a Cup with the one team that he didn’t win a Jack Adams with. Sounds good to me.

Alexander Mogilny – This is my annual rant. But there were two years there in which Mogilny was the third best forward in all of hockey. That’s just my opinion and obviously not everyone agrees since he was only a Second-Team All-Star twice and a First-Team All-Star zero times, implying that he was never a Top 3 forward in hockey. Regardless of his on-ice stats, which are borderline HoF material, and regardless of my own personal criteria which again puts him into the HoF only barely (since there is some disagreement on that point) – he should get in because of what he did for hockey. The guy stowed away in the trunk of car to escape Team Russia and after several days of being hidden away in secret locations, he finally got to play in the NHL. It opened the floodgates and soon Russians were common in the NHL. You can read all about his defection here. But tell me that between that, his 76-goal season and his 1032 career points (for those who believe stats make the Hall-of-Famer) – which are second-highest among Russian NHLers – aren’t enough. Try and tell me.

If I add a fifth entry, it would be Lindros. I’ve already gave my reason above – he quite simply was the best for a good two years. I don’t care about the rest, this is about honoring the best. Another consideration – Makarov.

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Now, who do I think the HoF committee will pick? I predict Forsberg, Hasek, and a couple of people who weren’t on anyone’s radar – like a builder from the 1950’s or a female pioneer from 1988. It always seems to work out that way.

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Ray Shero was a really good GM for the Penguins. He drafted well enough, he brought in the needed pieces, but more than anything else – bad luck cost him. How could he know in advance how injury-prone his team is? Sure, Malkin and Crosby are Band-Aid Boys, but you can’t trade those guys. Letang really made it known over the past 18 months that he’s the king of BAB’s…but prior to that, a GM just couldn’t know. And he couldn’t trade Letang in the last 18 months because of said injuries. Maybe he shouldn’t have re-signed him? We’ll call that a mistake then. I don’t think his stance on MA Fleury was a mistake. What else could he do? Fleury was a top pick on a big contract with a Cup ring. You can’t panic and trade him because fans and media pressure you to. And he turned out to be alright, putting forth a strong season and he was not the reason they got knocked out of the playoffs. Perhaps Shero should have fired Dan Bylsma after last year? At that point in time, it was too tough a call to make and not many GM’s would have made it. So in the end, Shero didn’t do a whole lot wrong. And now the Penguins have Jim Rutherford, who I believe is inferior to Shero.

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Brad Richards was bought out by the Rangers and I’m just waiting for the next NHL team to sign him for big money the way the Flyers did last year with Vincent Lecavalier. Is there a team out there dumb enough? Absolutely.

To me, Richards is comparable to Derick Brassard or slightly below Tyler Johnson, but without the youth and upside – I’m talking about just today. He’s worth one year at $3.5 million, or maybe three years at $7 million. But I can see a GM giving him four years and $16 million! Can you?

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Still happening right now – the DobberHockey writers Mock Draft. Access it here. Turns out I’m picking for Philadelphia…Discuss it here.

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Do you want a professional design of your fantasy league or team’s logo? A member – Glorybe – is a graphics designer and has volunteered to give three of you a great design (via random draw). Enter here

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In one of my keeper leagues, thanks to an idea given to me by a forum member about 16 months ago, we implemented a rule in which the five teams that did not make the playoffs (top nine get to compete in the postseason segment of our league) will compete to remove points from the regular season total. So now they weren’t quite as willing to give up their playoff guys at the trade deadline, since those playoff guys will help them jockey for the first overall draft pick. For example, if a team in 13th got 650 points and their roster totaled 70 points in the NHL playoffs, then they end up with 580. If the 14th place team ended up with 630 points but his playoff guys only got him 49, then that team ends up with 581 – and picks second overall. It was a tremendous success and the last place battle was actually more exciting then the battle for first in the playoffs (he walked away with it). In the end, after you did the math, teams 12, 13 and 14 were about three points apart.

And interestingly enough, the team that finished 10th and just missed the playoffs, actually finished second in the playoff pool – he would have won second-place prize money had he pushed his team into ninth in the regular season. Instead, those 115 points were removed from his regular season total. But he was so far ahead of 11th that he didn’t drop a single spot.

Anyway, some ideas for your keeper league, if you were looking for one.