As teams prepare for the 2014 NHL Draft, Im digging back into past drafts in an effort to distinguish some value between picks. This is an exercise I have undertaken a few times, starting in 2009, and hope that Ive refined my approach a little bit in that time to help paint a better picture. This latest update goes through NHL Drafts from 1990 through 2009, leaving some time for the 2009 picks to establish an NHL career, and assigned a numerical value to each of the players selected, using the following guidelines: 10 - Generational9 - Elite Player8 - First Line, Top Pair D7 - Top Six Forward, Top Four D6 - Top Nine Forward, Top Six D5 - NHL Regular 4 - Fringe NHLer3 - Very Good Minor Leaguer2 - Minor Leaguer, under 50 NHL games1 - 10 or fewer NHL games A few disclaimers:- There is not necessarily an equal talent gap from 10-9-8 as there is from 1-2-3 (and there are far more ones than tens), so the average grades may not be right on target for what the average player at that slot will become but they should be in the ballpark. - Its difficult to properly evaluate players from the most recent drafts, as there is a certain amount of projection still required to determine where their careers are headed, so any evaluations from 2009, in particular, tend to be conservative, making the percentage of players "Ranked 7 or better" lower in some cases. - My focus was on the best four years of a players career, in determining whether production/usage would warrant first line, second line, third line status, but players whose careers were shortened or had a narrow peak could be knocked down a peg. - There are any number of reasons why a player may or may not make it to the NHL, so when I list players under "worst", there could be extenuating circumstances, whether its injury or being stuck as a late first-round pick trying to make a talented team. Even so, Ive removed Alexei Cherepanov (#17 in 2007), Luc Bourdon (#10 in 2005) and Mickey Renaud (fifth-round pick in 2007) from the evaluation as their NHL careers werent established enough before their tragic deaths. Below is my value for draft picks, broken down pick-by-pick for the first round, by 5-pick groups in the second round, 10-pick groups in the third and fourth round, then 15-pick groups in rounds five, six and seven. Included is the average rating for players taken in those slots for the years from 1990-2009, with best and worsts of the group included for all first round picks, then only bests beyond pick No. 30. (How would you like to determine the worst fourth-round picks of all time?). Also included are percentages of those selections that ranked at least as top-six forwards, top four defencemen or starting goaltenders and, by contrast, a percentage that maxed out as fourth-liners, depth defencemen, backup goaltenders (or worse). Then, there is a percentage of players taken in that slot that have played at least 100 NHL games, a relatively low bar to say that someone was an NHL player. For those that are just embarking on their pro careers, I tend to give the benefit of the doubt, so even if Chris Krieder has 89 NHL games, I feel pretty comfortable including him among the group that will play at least 100. Before the numbers, some observations:- There is real value to holding the No. 1 pick and its getting better. While there are slip-ups every so often, they are becoming increasingly rare. The last first overall pick that would have fallen short of being a top-six forward, top four defenceman or starting goaltender would probably be Rick DiPietro. That was in 2000 and while a cautionary tale against drafting a goaltender first overall or signing 15-year contracts, DiPietro was an above average goaltender for about three seasons (2003-2004 through 2006-2007) before injuries derailed his career. - While there is plenty of talk of the Panthers trading out of the No. 1 pick, and they very well could do that, there is an element of risk involved in sliding too far down. Some risk starts to show as early as pick three or four, but outside the top five a team is at least as likely to land a depth player as they are a significant contributor. This becomes particularly interesting when a team at the top might consider moving down to take the likes of William Nylander or Nikolaj Ehlers, skilled players with high upside, but maybe they come with a little more risk and thats the downside part of the calculation when looking further down the board. - Another point to consider about the top pick is whether it will get used on Barrie Colts defenceman Aaron Ekblad. There is more risk involved when taking defencemen at the top of the draft, but the difference isnt such that defenceman ought to be ignored altogether. Fair to question whether Ekblad has a high enough ceiling or whether his relative success in junior is predicated on a size and strength advantage that should diminish in the pros, but he shouldnt be eliminated from consideration merely because he plays defence. Teams could have taken Chris Pronger or Drew Doughty at the top of the draft and ended up quite satisfied with their selections. See the positional breakdown for the top of the draft here: Forwards in First 5 PicksAverage Rating: 7.22Ranked 7 or better: 74.2%Ranked 5 or worse: 12.9%At Least 100 NHL Games (or very likely): 95.2% Defencemen in First 5 PicksAverage Rating: 6.82Ranked 7 or better: 66.7%Ranked 5 or worse: 12.1%At Least 100 NHL Games (or very likely): 100.0% Goaltenders in First 5 PicksAverage Rating: 7.30Ranked 7 or better: 80.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 0.0%At Least 100 NHL Games (or very likely): 100.0% - What is notable is that, aside from the super small sample of goaltenders taken in the top five (Roberto Luongo, DiPietro, Kari Lehtonen, Marc-Andre Fleury, Carey Price), which is a relatively successful group, the rest of the goaltending picks in the first round are a serious roll of the dice. Even though he has nothing to do with those numbers, maybe that could affect the appeal of Thatcher Demko, the top goaltending prospect. Forwards in First 30 PicksAverage Rating: 4.96Best: Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin. Ranked 7 or better: 32.7%Ranked 5 or worse: 50.1%At Least 100 NHL Games (or very likely): 73.5% Defencemen in First 30 PicksAverage Rating: 4.71Best: Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Drew Doughty, Erik Karlsson. Ranked 7 or better: 29.9%Ranked 5 or worse: 53.7%At Least 100 NHL Games (or very likely): 70.6% Goaltenders in First 30 PicksAverage Rating: 4.11Best: Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Carey Price, Tuukka Rask. Ranked 7 or better: 27.2%Ranked 5 or worse: 61.4%At Least 100 NHL Games (or very likely): 50.0% - The 15th pick has been some inexplicable wasteland, the lowest-rated pick of the first 29 and that includes having Erik Karlsson taken there by the Ottawa Senators in 2008. Only 40% of 15th picks played 100 games in the NHL, so best of luck, Detroit. - Beyond the first round, there is better than a 34.0% chance that a second-round pick (31-60) plays 100 NHL games. This falls to about 29.3% of third-round (61-90) picks, 19.3% in the fourth round (91-120), 14.7% in the fifth round (121-150), 15.5% in the sixth round (151-180) and 9.2% in the seventh round (181-210). A neat trick to have sixth-round picks slightly more successful than fifth-round picks, but that speaks to the randomness at play by that point in the draft. Land a Pavel Datsyuk or Andrei Markov or Brian Campbell at that stage and it affects the value. - While I enjoy the draft as much as anyone, and its always interesting to see how teams approach talent acquisition, hopefully these numbers indicate the uncertainty of the process. There are very few sure things on draft day. PICK VALUES No. 1Average Rating: 7.88Best: Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin.Worst: Alexandre Daigle, Patrik Stefan, Rick DiPietro.Ranked 7 or better: 85.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 5.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 100.0% No. 2Average Rating: 7.78Best: Evgeni Malkin, Chris Pronger, Daniel Sedin, Drew Doughty.Worst: Andrei Zyuzin, Pat Falloon.Ranked 7 or better: 90.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 0.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 100.0% No. 3Average Rating: 7.00Best: Scott Niedermayer, Henrik Sedin, Jonathan Toews.Worst: Alexandre Svitov, Aki Berg, Cam Barker.Ranked 7 or better: 80.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 15.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 100.0% No. 4Average Rating: 6.13Best: Paul Kariya, Roberto Luongo, Nicklas Backstrom.Worst: Alexandre Volchkov, Jason Bonsignore, Pavel Brendl.Ranked 7 or better: 50.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 30.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 85.0% No. 5Average Rating: 6.68Best: Jaromir Jagr, Thomas Vanek, Phil Kessel, Carey Price.Worst: Ric Jackman, Stanislav Chistov.Ranked 7 or better: 55.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 10.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 85.0% No. 6Average Rating: 5.25Best: Peter Forsberg, Ryan Smyth, Oliver Ekman-Larsson.Worst: Scott Scissons, Brian Finley, Daniel Tkaczuk.Ranked 7 or better: 45.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 45.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 80.0% No. 7Average Rating: 5.40Best: Jason Arnott, Shane Doan, Ryan Suter.Worst: Ryan Sittler, Alek Stojanov, Lars Jonsson.Ranked 7 or better: 35.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 40.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 90.0% No. 8Average Rating: 4.75Best: Derian Hatcher, Richard Matvichuk, Braydon Coburn.Worst: Scott Glennie, Terry Ryan, Jonathan Aitken, Alexandre Picard, Zach Hamill.Ranked 7 or better: 20.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 45.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 75.0% No. 9Average Rating: 5.03Best: Dion Phaneuf, Logan Couture, Kyle McLaren.Worst: Brent Krahn, Petr Taticek, Brian Lee.Ranked 7 or better: 25.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 55.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 85.0% No. 10Average Rating: 4.68Best: Nik Antropov, Radek Dvorak, Cody Hodgson, Jocelyn Thibault.Worst: Boris Valabik, Mikhail Yakubov, Brad Ference.Ranked 7 or better: 0.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 63.2%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 80.0% No. 11Average Rating: 5.15Best: Jarome Iginla, Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter.Worst: Kyle Beach, Lauri Tukonen, Jeff Heerema, David Cooper.Ranked 7 or better: 35.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 45.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 70.0% No. 12Average Rating: 5.08Best: Marian Hossa, Dan Hamhuis, Ryan McDonagh.Worst: Teemu Riihijarvi, Hugh Jessiman, A.J. Thelen.Ranked 7 or better: 40.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 50.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 70.0% No. 13Average Rating: 5.10Best: Alexander Semin, Ales Hemsky.Worst: Michael Henrich, Marek Zagrapan, Michael Stewart, Joe Hulbig.Ranked 7 or better: 40.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 40.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 70.0% No. 14Average Rating: 5.05Best: Sergei Gonchar, Brent Seabrook.Worst: Sasha Pokulok, Michel Riesen.Ranked 7 or better: 30.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 35.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 80.0% No. 15Average Rating: 3.10Best: Erik Karlsson, Alex Kovalev.Worst: Matt Zultek, Scott Kelman, Artem Kryukov, Igor Knyazev, Jesse Niinimaki.Ranked 7 or better: 20.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 80.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 40.0% No. 16Average Rating: 3.68Best: Markus Naslund, Martin Biron, R.J. Umberger.Worst: Nick Stajduhar, Mario Larocque, Alex Bourret.Ranked 7 or better: 15.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 75.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 60.0% No. 17Average Rating: 4.26Best: Zach Parise, Barret Jackman, Martin Hanzal.Worst: Scott Allison, Brent Bilodeau, Brad Church, Alexei Mikhnov.Ranked 7 or better: 21.1%Ranked 5 or worse: 57.9%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 60.0% No. 18Average Rating: 4.20Best: Glen Murray, Petr Sykora, Brooks Orpik, Jason Smith.Worst: Jesper Mattsson, Jens Karlsson, Chet Pickard.Ranked 7 or better: 20.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 65.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 75.0% No. 19Average Rating: 4.13Best: Ryan Getzlaf, Keith Tkachuk, Martin Straka.Worst: Mark Mitera, Niklas Sundblad, Jakub Koreis.Ranked 7 or better: 25.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 70.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 40.0% No. 20Average Rating: 4.53Best: Martin Brodeur, Alexander Frolov, Brent Burns.Worst: David Fischer, Angelo Esposito.Ranked 7 or better: 25.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 60.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 70.0% No. 21Average Rating: 4.63Best: Saku Koivu, Tuukka Rask.Worst: Libor Polasek, Evgeny Ryabchikov, Anton Gustafsson.Ranked 7 or better: 20.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 55.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 70.0% No. 22Average Rating: 3.83Best: Claude Giroux, Simon Gagne, Max Pacioretty, Jordan Eberle.Worst: Curtis Bowen, Jeff Brown, Nikos Tselios.Ranked 7 or better: 20.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 70.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 60.0% No. 23Average Rating: 4.68Best: Ray Whitney, Todd Bertuzzi, Ryan Kesler.Worst: Mikka Elomo, Craig Hillier, Tyler Cuma.Ranked 7 or better: 35.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 55.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 70.0% No. 24Average Rating: 4.43Best: Mike Richards, Alexander Steen, Daniel Briere.Worst: Dennis Persson, Eric Lecompte, Luca CeredaRanked 7 or better: 25.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 60.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 70.0% No. 25Average Rating: 3.95Best: Brenden Morrow, Cam Ward, Patrik Berglund.Worst: Mikhail Kuleshov, Patrick White, Eric Lavigne, Chad Penney.Ranked 7 or better: 15.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 70.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 70.0% No. 26Average Rating: 4.10Best: Zigmund Palffy, Martin Havlat, David Perron, Cory Schneider.Worst: Nicolas Perreault, Kevin Grimes, Martin Vagner.Ranked 7 or better: 20.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 55.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 60.0% No. 27Average Rating: 3.95Best: Scott Gomez, Steve Staios, Boris Mironov, John Carlson.Worst: Ari Ahonen, Mike Morris, Philippe Paradis.Ranked 7 or better: 20.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 65.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 65.0% No. 28Average Rating: 3.70Best: Corey Perry, Justin Williams, Matt Niskanen.Worst: Brandy Semchuk, Adrian Foster, Jonas Johansson, Nick Petrecki.Ranked 7 or better: 15.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 70.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 50.0% No. 29Average Rating: 3.50Best: Niklas Kronwall, Mike Green.Worst: Chris Gotziaman, Brian Wesenberg, Daultan Leveille.Ranked 7 or better: 10.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 80.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 40.0% No. 30Average Rating: 2.70Best: Sandis Ozolinsh, Jim Slater, David Steckel, Deron Quint.Worst: Rod Pasma, Andy Rogers, Nick Ross.Ranked 7 or better: 5.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 95.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 35.0% No. 31-35Average Rating: 2.83Best: Doug Weight, James Neal, Marc-Edouard Vlasic.Ranked 7 or better: 13.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 84.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 34.0% No. 36-40Average Rating: 2.84Best: Geoff Sanderson, Jozef Stumpel, Bryan McCabe, Brendan Morrison, Jarret Stoll.Ranked 7 or better: 10.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 82.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 34.0% No. 41-45Average Rating: 3.02Best: Patrice Bergeron, P.K. Subban, Paul Stastny.Ranked 7 or better: 11.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 75.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 41.0% No. 46-50Average Rating: 2.69Best: Shea Weber, Milan Lucic, Mike Cammalleri.Ranked 7 or better: 12.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 81.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 32.0% No. 51-55Average Rating: 2.71Best: Patrik Elias, Duncan Keith, Jason Pominville.Ranked 7 or better: 10.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 82.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 33.0% No. 56-60Average Rating: 2.32Best: Zdeno Chara, Michael Nylander, Brandon Dubinsky.Ranked 7 or better: 5.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 89.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 29.0% No. 61-70Average Rating: 2.45Best: Brad Richards, David Krejci, David Backes, Kris Letang.Ranked 7 or better: 5.5%Ranked 5 or worse: 88.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 37.5% No. 71-80Average Rating: 2.32Best: Jonathan Quick, Alexei Zhamnov, Chris Drury, Vinny Prospal.Ranked 7 or better: 8.5%Ranked 5 or worse: 83.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 26.5% No. 81-90Average Rating: 2.16Best: Sergei Zubov, Milan Hejduk.Ranked 7 or better: 6.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 89.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 24.0% No. 91-100Average Rating: 2.10Best: Marc Savard, Patrick Sharp, Alexander Edler, Johan Franzen.Ranked 7 or better: 3.5%Ranked 5 or worse: 90.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 24.5% No. 101-110Average Rating: 1.85Best: Keith Yandle, Christian Ehrhoff, Niklas Hjalmarsson.Ranked 7 or better: 3.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 94.5%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 19.5% No. 111-120Average Rating: 1.68Best: Miikka Kiprusoff, Lubomir Visnovsky, Miroslav Satan.Ranked 7 or better: 4.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 94.5%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 14.0% No. 121-135Average Rating: 1.85Best: Daniel Alfredsson, Jamie Benn, Marty Turco.Ranked 7 or better: 4.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 92.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 16.0% No. 136-150Average Rating: 1.64Best: Ryan Miller, Andrei Kovalenko, Bryce Salvador.Ranked 7 or better: 2.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 94.3%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 13.4% No. 151-165Average Rating: 1.78Best: Peter Bondra, Brian Campbell, Andrei Markov, James Wisniewski.Ranked 7 or better: 5.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 92.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 15.0% No. 166-180Average Rating: 1.74Best: Pavel Datsyuk, Andrew Brunette, Marek Zidlicky.Ranked 7 or better: 2.3%Ranked 5 or worse: 94.0%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 16.0% No. 181-195Average Rating: 1.54Best: Martin Erat, Filip Kuba, Jussi Jokinen.Ranked 7 or better: 2.0%Ranked 5 or worse: 96.3%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 10.3% No. 196-210Average Rating: 1.49Best: Henrik Lundqvist, Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Kaberle.Ranked 7 or better: 2.3%Ranked 5 or worse: 96.3%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 8.0% No. 211+Average Rating: 1.61Best: Tim Thomas, Tomas Vokoun, Pavol Demitra, Kimmo Timonen, Pekka Rinne.Ranked 7 or better: 3.2%Ranked 5 or worse: 94.6%At least 100 NHL games (or extremely likely): 12.0% Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. 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The veteran fighter will be squaring off with Henderson in a five-round lightweight bout as part of another network televised card at the United Center on Saturday night.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Kerry, Im sure its been asked a million times but during the Habs game Manny Malhotra was ejected out of the face off in the dying seconds of the first that resulted in the Stars winning the faceoff and scoring. Then as I continue to watch the game, or any NHL game in my life for that matter, the linesmen are ejecting guys out of the dot or waiting longer to drop it. My question: what are these guys looking for to drop the black rubber thing on the ice? John Cobb John: In one word, the linesmen are looking for fairness! They want to conduct a fair drop to ensure that one player doesnt gain a distinct advantage over the other by cheating. With the multitude of face-off markings that are on ice, in addition to the procedure spelled out in Rule 76 (face-offs) it really shouldnt be all that difficult for the centers to stand squarely with their stick on the ice in the shaded area of the dot. It all sounds good in theory but as Dale Hunter once told me, Frase, if you aint cheatin you aint tryin! Manny Malhotra is without a doubt the premier face-off expert in the NHL. I can tell you that Manny is also a real solid citizen and a class act. Those fine qualities, however, do not prevent the Habs player from subscribing to Hunters theory whenever he can get away with it. With 2.5 seconds remaining in the first period and a face-off to the right of Carey Price, Malhotra keyed on Mike Cviks hand once the big linesman presented the black disc in preparation of dropping it. As Honda applied finger pressure to the puck just prior to releasing it, Manny jumped prematurely with a stick swing that eliminated opposing center Jason Spezzas stick before drawing the puck cleanly on his backhand. Malhotra beat Cvik to the draw by exerting contact to his opponent and the linesman had no alternative but to eject the Montreal specialist from the face-off. (Here is a test for you. Hold your thumb and pointer-finger together and apply pressure. The fine muscles in your hand will twitch and your thumb nail will even change color at the tip. That creates the trigger switch for an expert like Manny Malhotra to move on. Each linesman can grip the puck a little differently and demonstrate a tell as to the moment he will drop the puck. Experts like Manny Malhotra study these iindividual tendencies) Players must adhere to the following guidelines and enforced by the linesmen as per Rule 76.dddddddddddd4, which states that when the face-off takes place in any of the end face-off circles, the players taking part shall take their position so that they will stand squarely facing their opponents end of the rink, and clear of the ice markings. The sticks of both players facing-off shall have the blade on the ice, within the designated white area. The visiting player shall place his stick within the designated white area first followed immediately by the home player. It really shouldnt be all that difficult for players to follow those clear instructions. Violations that result in an ejection are: i) One or both centers are not positioned for the face-off, ii) One or both centers refrain from placing their stick on the ice, iii) Any player has encroached into the face-off circle, iv) Any player makes physical contact with an opponent, or v) Any player who lines up for the face-off in an off-side position. A referees best friend is a moving puck. Trust me when I tell you I wanted face-offs to be conducted by the linesmen as quickly and efficiently as humanly possible. I respect their need for maintaining the integrity of an end-zone face-off because, as we saw in this situation, a goal resulted just prior to the horn sounding. Fans get frustrated and frequently blame the linesmen when players are ejected from the face-off circle or it seems to take forever to drop the puck. The last thing any linesman wants is to become the goat when a flawed face-off results in a goal. As much as I respect their position, I have to admit that I stood on the goal line many times and uttered under my breath, just drop the puck! One night in the Joe Lewis Arena, my friend and colleague linesman Dan McCourt was taking forever to drop the puck for an end zone face-off. I finally skated into the face-off circle from my opposite side goal-line position and said to Chief, The artist sitting in the first row just informed me that he has finished your still portrait and its okay for you to drop the puck now. Just open your hand and let gravity take over! You can imagine what linesman Chief Dan McCourt told me to do. I still chuckle how the two centers just about fell over laughing as I skated back to my position. The puck eventually fell and another perfect face-off was conducted. ' ' '