Thursday notes

So the first of the NHL's three game 7's last night was a bust, as the Capitals crapped the bed at home and lost 6-2 to Pittsburgh. The Caps were down 4-0 by two minutes into the 2nd period and the outcome of the game was never in doubt. Oh well. The series was billed as a matchup of two of hockey's biggest stars, and it did live up to that billing at least - Alex Ovechkin had 14 points in the 7 games and Sidney Crosby was right behind him with 13 points in 7 games.

Two more game 7's tonight in Detroit and Boston.

Got a reader request to fulfill here, after I posted the signing statuses of the 2007 NHL draft picks in the WHL. A reader wants to know if I can do the same for the 2008 picks, although there is no pending deadline to sign them. So I put together what I could....additions/corrections are welcome.

The signed picks:

Tyler Myers - Kelowna Rockets (1st round - Buffalo)

Zach Boychuk - Lethbridge Hurricanes (1st round - Carolina)

Jordan Eberle - Regina Pats (1st round - Edmonton)

Colten Teubert - Regina Pats (1st round - Los Angeles)

Chet Pickard - Tri-City Americans (1st round - Nashville)

Luca Sbisa - Lethbridge Hurricanes (1st round - Philadelphia)

Luke Schenn - Kelowna Rockets (1st round - Toronto)

Tomas Kundratek - Medicine Hat Tigers (3rd round - NY Rangers)

Braden Holtby - Saskatoon Blades (4th round - Washington)

Dustin Tokarski - Spokane Chiefs (5th round - Tampa Bay)

Myers, Eberle, Teubert, and Sbisa are all 1990-born and thus are eligible to play in the WHL again next year and will have to stick with their NHL clubs or else they will be back here. The rest of them would all be overagers next year and so we can probably assume they are gone from the WHL.

And these players are (to the best of my knowledge) unsigned:

Tyler Ennis - Medicine Hat Tigers (1st round - Buffalo)

Kyle Beach - Lethbridge Hurricanes (1st round - Chicago)

Mitch Wahl - Spokane Chiefs (2nd round - Calgary)

Colby Robak - Brandon Wheat Kings (2nd round - Florida)

Travis Hamonic - Moose Jaw Warriors (2nd round - NY Islanders)

Eric Mestery - Lethbridge Hurricanes (2nd round - Washington)

Brandon McMillan - Kelowna Rockets (3rd round - Anaheim)

Lance Bouma - Vancouver Giants (3rd round - Calgary)

Geordie Wudrick - Swift Current Broncos (3rd round - Los Angeles)

Jyri Niemi - Saskatoon Blades (3rd round - NY Islanders)

Jacob DeSerres - Seattle Thunderbirds (3rd round - Philadelphia)

Michael Stone - Calgary Hitmen (3rd round - Phoenix)

Ian Schultz - Calgary Hitmen (3rd round - St. Louis)

Matt Delahey - Regina Pats (4th round - New Jersey)

Colin Long - Kelowna Rockets (4th round - Phoenix)

James Wright - Vancouver Giants (4th round - Tampa Bay)

Stefan Warg - Seattle Thunderbirds (5th round - Anaheim)

Matt Calvert - Brandon Wheat Kings (5th round - Columbus)

Brent Regner - Vancouver Giants (5th round - Columbus)

Teigan Zahn - Saskatoon Blades (5th round - Chicago)

Prab Rai - Seattle Thunderbirds (5th round - Vancouver)

Joel Broda - Calgary Hitmen (5th round - Washington)

Matt Tassone - Swift Current Broncos (6th round - Dallas)

Jared Spurgeon - Spokane Chiefs (6th round - NY Islanders)

Morgan Clark - Swift Current Broncos (7th round - Vancouver)

All of these players should be back in the WHL next year unless their NHL clubs sign them before the start of the NHL season. Ennis, Delahey, Long, Calvert, Regner, Rai, Broda, Tassone, and Spurgeon would all be overagers next year if they are back.