MLN FAB50™ Hockey 2008
The annual Best of the Best in minor league hockey to mid-season features fresh faces on the fast track to the NHL, and an NHL club with the hottest AHL bench in professional hockey.
BOCA RATON, FL - Who are the fifty hottest hands in minor league hockey for 2008? Minor League News (MLN) presents the MLN FAB50™ Hockey 2008, the top players, and the top player development system in the NHL.
The MLN FAB50 is not your father's popularity contest, or some skills-centric techno-analyst ranking. It is a talent and movement ranking that gives a reality check on the best players to mid-season by evaluating not only their skills, but the reality curve of opportunity within the organizations in which they play.
To make the list, a player needs a top skill set, the command and self-discipline to use it, and the opportunity to have a high likelihood of advancement within the organization within the next 12 to 18 months. They have to have played a good chunk of their season at the AHL or lower level, or have been down with periodic NHL assignments.
It is the movement part of the formula for making the MLN FAB50 that may separate many of the worthy talents in the American Hockey League (AHL) from making the list.
Another way to find yourself off of the list is to be on the list... too long. Al Montoya is still one of the best goaltenders in minor league hockey. Even though he finds himself winging his way to new opportunities to advance in the Phoenix organization, after three years on the list, players are removed for at least a year until their future prospects to advance become clearer.
The MLN FAB50 Hockey rankings focus heavily on AHL players because this is the triple-A level of hockey, where most of the top talents on the fast-track congregate. While we don't exclude Junior or Class AA hockey players from the list, it is geometrically harder for them to jump from these leagues into full-time major league roster spots.
Top Farm System: Atlanta is On Fire
The Atlanta Thrashers and their AHL club, the Chicago Wolves are named as the MLN FAB50 Hockey Farm System of the Year 2008 (See: Article) for having five of the hottest players in developmental hockey. The Boston Bruins and the Providence Bruins (Peebs) were second. The Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, and Anaheim Ducks placed third through fifth, respectively.
The Rule Factor
Changes in the NHL rules which favor a higher-scoring game burn up defensemen faster. The larger need for quality D-men has increased our focus on blue-liners as top prospects, because the opportunities to advance have increased with the changes in the way that the game is actually played.
What's New?
The MLN FAB50 Hockey 2008 is bigger and better. Bigger 17" photo spreads for each player are followed by feature stories from top sports writers from around North America.
Each is represented by their own player honor page. The best way to see them is to go to one of the Photo Galleries and then launch into each page of the article. You can also visit the MLN Ones2Watch™, the list of players beginning to make their way to the fast-track to an NHL career.
