For most of this decade Montreal Canadiens fans have believed the salvation of their faded franchise rested upon rebuilding with the young players drafted and developed by the team. 

Habs fans for the past several years have trotted out the high rankings their organization received from websites and publications tracking prospect development for the club's supposed depth in promising talent. 

A quick look however at the fate of most of the players considered top prospects within the Canadiens system from 2000 to 2007 suggests those rankings may have been inflated. 

2000: The top three picks were Ron Hainsey, Marcel Hossa and Jozef Balej. Of the three only Hainsey is still playing in the NHL but in Atlanta, not Montreal, where he faces being relegated to second line defense pairing as young Zach Bogosian continues to improve. 

2001: Mike Komisarek, Tomas Plekanec and Alexander Perezhogin were the best of this bunch. Komisarek is considered among the league's best physical defensemen but now plays for Toronto. Plekanec is a strong second line center with first line potential but could be lost to the UFA market next July. Perezhogin now plays in Russia.

2002: Christopher Higgins was projected as a future Canadiens captain but after three 20-plus goal seasons he was shipped to the NY Rangers where he's played so poorly he's rumored to once again be on the trade block. 

2003: Andrei Kostitsyn, Jaroslav Halak, Maxim Lapierre and Ryan O'Byrne have made the club but none have yet to emerge as a true star. Kostitsyn's stock has fallen dramatically since his 26-goal, 53-point "breakout" performance two seasons ago. Halak is a capable goalie but he's yet to prove himself a full-time starter. Lapierre is a good checking line forward and O'Byrne has been hampered by injuries and consistency issues. 

2004: Kyle Chipchura was the Habs top pick that year but he's not even good enough to stick around as a fourth line center because of his skating. Mark Streit and Mikhail Grabovski have had better performances but with other teams as the Canadiens let Streit walk via free agency and traded Grabovski to the Maple Leafs for little in return.

2005: Goaltender Carey Price was the star pick in this draft but he's struggling to adjust to the heightened expectations of being the Canadiens "savior". It appears the Habs are guilty of rushing him before he was truly ready and mature for the role of starting goaltender. Guillaume Latendresse has yet to prove he's capable of being a power forward, Matt D'Agostini appears destined to become a checking line forward while Sergei Kostitsyn has played his way out of Montreal. 

2006: Only Ben Maxwell has played any games for the Canadiens, appearing in a grand total of seven last season.

2007: Max Pacioretty was touted as a power forward but he's shown that  ability only in spurts last season and even less this season. Yannick Weber played only six NHL games, and couldn't stick with an injury-ravaged Canadiens blueline early this season. PK Subban has been played up as the future of the Habs defense corps but that remains to be seen as he's yet to play an NHL regular season or playoff game. 

Of the Canadiens supposed depth of young talent who went on the play in the NHL, most of the better players - Hainsey, Komisarek, Grabovski and Streit - now play elsewhere.

Of those remaining, only Plekanec has emerged as a good, consistent player, but he's no superstar.

Price and Halak have yet to prove themselves capable starting goaltenders. The Kostitsyns have been major disappointments. Lapierre is an energetic checking line forward while D'Agostini could become one. Latendresse is a bust thus far as a power forward while Pacioretty is struggling to adjust to NHL play. Chipchura's slim hopes for an NHL career are dying and the jury remains out on O'Byrne.

For one bright shining season (2007-08) it seemed the Canadiens were at long last about to become a great team again, but it now seems that season was an anomaly. 

No one in this current group of young players have established themselves as superstars and it's doubtful any of them will.

Canadiens fans will likely protest that it's still too early to judge those youngsters currently playing for their team too harshly, that there's still plenty of time for those players to develop into the stars they were projected to be, and the Habs shouldn't give up on them. 

Maybe some of those players will become stars one day but if recent history is anything to go by, they'll likely be playing for other NHL teams when they finally reach that potential. 

The Canadiens future, it appears, has been built upon a weak foundation. Unless that changes soon, Habs fans should expect their team to be as mediocre in the next decade as it was in this one. 

As per LA Kings Insider Rich Hammond's blog:

"It won’t be announced by the league until early December, but Kings officials have been told that Los Angeles will host the NHL Entry Draft next June. It’s still to be determined whether the event will be held at Staples Center or Nokia Center, but the dates will be June 25-26. By all accounts, it will be the same format, with the first round on Friday night and the rest on Saturday."

And yes, provided I can scrape up the cash, I hope to be there. It's been nearly ten years since I was last in Los Angeles so I'm overdue for another visit, even if it'll be business-related. 

Another NHL season is underway and like every season comes with an always-active rumor mill. 

Only three weeks into the 2009-10 NHL campaign the biggest name being bandied about is forward Alexander Frolov of the Los Angeles Kings, whose recent one-game benching for a perceived lack of commitment to his game has give rise to rumors linking him with the Edmonton Oilers, Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens in the 

It remains to be seen if this move will spark a better effort from Frolov, a former two-time 30-plus goal-scorer who after nine NHL games this season has only one goal and seven points. 

Frolov is also an unrestricted free agent next summer and it's believed he no longer fits into the Kings future plans, which only adds more fuel to the rumor fires. 

Sure, it's possible the Kings could trade Frolov, but it'll be very surprising if they do so before the NHL's week-long Christmas trade freeze which begins December 19th.

The reason for my doubts is quite simple: since the 2005-06 season only two star players - Joe Thornton and Sergei Fedorov - were traded in the first three months of an NHL season, and both those trades occurred in November 2005.

Frolov isn't a "star" on the same level as Thornton is and Fedorov was but a winger who's scored over 30 goals in two of the past three seasons like Frolov could be considered a second tier star. Players of that caliber also aren't moved in the first three months of an NHL season in today's salary cap world. 

Sure, Frolov has value given his previous production and the fact that at 27 he's now considered in his playing prime. That's not why he'll be tough to move in the autumn.

Frolov is being paid $4 million for this season, a number which most NHL teams would have trouble swallowing at this time of year. Not only does the return have to make sense for the Kings but the salary numbers have to fit for the club acquiring him. 

If the Kings decide to put him on the trade block it'll likely happen between January 1st and the NHL's March 3rd trade deadline, excluding the two weeks in February when the league will shut down for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. 

By mid-season half of Frolov's  $4 million will have been paid out by the Kings, making the remainder more affordable for rival clubs. The closer to the trade deadline, the more of his salary is paid by the Kings, the less having to be picked up by any interested parties. 

His trade status will also be determined not just by his performance but of the Kings over the course of the season. If Frolov plays well for most of the season and the Kings are a playoff contender he won't be dealt. If he's playing poorly or the Kings are out of the playoff race by the trade deadline he'll probably be moved. 

Now of course there's always exceptions to every rule and Frolov could be dealt earlier in this season, but given the aforementioned variables I wouldn't expect Frolov, or any other notable NHL players, to be traded between now and New Year's Day.  

The Washington Capitals recent "demotion" of center Michael Nylander to the AHL's Grand Rapid Griffins for a two-week conditioning stint has resulted in a minor resurrection of speculation he could either be traded to another NHL team or perhaps loaned to a European club, possibly in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). 

The way I read it, this is a last chance measure for Capitals management to hopefully drum up some interest in the 37-year-old center. 

Two years ago the Capitals signed Nylander, who was coming off an 83-point performance with the NY Rangers in 2006-07, to a four-year contract worth $4.875 milllion against their salary cap per season. 

The thinking was Nylander might mesh well with young Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin as a set-up center, and early in the 2007-08 campaign the early returns were promising. 

Alas, Nylander tore a rotator cuff in a game against the Florida Panthers resulting in season-ending surgery several weeks later. 

During his absence the Capitals, under new head coach Bruce Boudreau, began turning into a playoff contender while young Swedish center Nicklas Backstrom eventually took over the first line center role from Nylander. 

Last season Nylander played in 72 games but saw less and less ice time as he tumbled down the Caps depth chart, losing the confidence of Boudreau along the way. His expensive contract, with a "no-movement" clause effective to the end of the 2009-10 season, became a burden on the Capitals budget. 

This season Nylander has been a healthy scratch throughout the pre-season and all the Capitals regular season games thus far, spending his time in the press box. The club cannot trade him or demote him to the minors without his consent.  

Boudreau and Capitals GM George McPhee alluded to rectifying his situation which most observers believed meant loaning him to a KHL team. The Caps would still be on the hook for most of his salary for this season but by loaning him overseas it clears his salary from their cap. 

Hence the reason - it's believed - for his two-week conditioning stint in the AHL. His salary still counts against the Capitals salary cap while he's there and he didn't have to pass through waivers, not that any NHL club is currently interested in plucking him off the waiver wire. 

Nylander didn't have to agree to that move but given he's not going to attract much attention as a healthy scratch this would give him the opportunity to prove himself as a worthy center to the rest of the hockey world and perhaps revive some attention in him. 

Despite some rumors out of Russia of possible interest in Nylander, including one claiming his former Rangers linemate and Avangard Omsk star Jaromir Jagr was actively stumping to be reunited with his former set-up man, it appears the window of opportunity for an overseas loan is closing. 

The Chicago Blackhawks went through a similar situation at the start of last season with goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin and ultimately were forced to keep him when no trades with NHL teams or loans to a European club could be found. 

The difference is, Khabibulin went on to become a key factor in the Blackhawks march to the 2009 Western Conference Final. 

Unless Backstrom and second line center Brendan Morrison end up going down to season-ending injuries, Nylander probably won't get the same chance to redeem himself this season with Washington that Khabibulin got last season with Chicago.

That'll likely mean that, barring a suspension if Nylander should suddenly get fed up and quit the team or announce his retirement, he'll be spending most of this season watching Capitals games rather than playing in them.

And the best the Capitals can likely hope for is a rival NHL team to get so decimated by injuries or so desperate to make the playoffs they'll be willing to make an offer for Nylander.

If I were a member of the Capitals management, I wouldn't get those hopes up.  

Minnesota Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher finally made a move to bolster his injury ravaged forward lines, acquiring right winger Chuck Kobasew from the Boston Bruins. 

Heading to the Bruins is checking forward Craig Weller, a second round pick in 2011 and the rights to prospect Alexander Fallstrom.

Kobasew comes with a $2.33 million salary for this season and the Wild were roughly 0K from the salary cap ceiling, but according to Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune the club placed forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion) on long term injury status thus allowing them to take on Kobasew's salary.

With Bouchard, Cal Clutterbuck (sprained ankle), Martin Havlat and Petr Sykora (groin) sidelined the Wild were struggling offensively, and with nothing really worthwhile in the free agent market or the waiver wire Fletcher was forced to make a trade. 

Kobasew is a former three-time twenty-plus goalscorer who had a career-season in 2008-09 with 42 points in 68 games, although this season he's off to a slow start with no goals and one assist in seven games. 

Fletcher is obviously hoping a change of scenery might help Kobasew regain his scoring touch.

For the Bruins moving Kobasew dumps his salary from their books for both this season and next, freeing up valuable cap space not only for later use this season but also in re-signing several key players by next summer. 

Weller adds affordable checking line depth which can be used either on the Bruins roster or farm club, they pick up another valuable draft pick and add another prospect to their system.