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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

NYI Point Blank interview with E.J. McGuire

Former longtime New York Islanders VP of Communications Chris Botta has an excellent interview with Central Scouting Director E.J. Maguire over on his NYI Point Blank site.


Central may be a lightning rod of criticism in certain hardcore draft circles, but McGuire is very accomodating and does a nice job of breaking down the top draft prospects in this class.

Multiple POVs are good, and McGuire is a pro who articulates his views well.

He leads with Adam Larsson, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Sean Couturier, but also discusses Gabriel Landeskog. Describing the Swede as a "Tomas Holmstrom with more skill" is an interesting comparable. It maybe evokes less of a player than fans would like, but Holmstrom has been a big-game player for the Red Wings for a lot of years on multiple championship teams.

Ryan Murphy is also discussed-- Maguire has some interesting insights on the Kitchener standout, including the potential to go with the top pick, but he'll have to be the right fit for the team holding the No. 1 choice.

Key takeaway from the interview-- There is no clear-cut No.1 right now. With a lot of hockey to be played, anyone can emerge from the pack with a big scoring tear (or maybe a hellagood WJC?)

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