Boca Raton, FL (PRWEB) March 2, 2006
Corey Perry of the Portland Pirates (AHL) and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim organizations was selected as the No. 1 player overall by the editors of Minor League News (MLN) in the MLN FAB50 Hockey 2006 rankings of the best players in minor league and developmental professional hockey.
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, with players ranked 1st, 2nd, 6th and 15th overall, were named to the first NHL Development System of the Year award presented by MLN.
“This is the third year of our mid-season FAB50 Hockey rankings,” said Brian Ross, Senior Editor of Minor League News. “Selection is based on extensive reasearch by our team of writers lead by freelance sports journalist Dan Hickling. These writers cover the American Hockey League, ECHL, Central Hockey League, and United Hockey League for MLN. We then poll the teams and coaches in the minor hockey leagues, and also check in with major league player development personnel.”
The result is a mid-season movement ranking, a snapshot of which players, by around the time of most all-star breaks, are moving on the fast-track towards a possible career in the National Hockey League.
“We appreciate the hard work from the committee and Dan Hickling is terrific leader and writer,” said Greg Glynn, Director of Communications for the Portland Pirates.
Not surprisingly, most players are selected from the Class-AAA, top-tier American Hockey League clubs. One new wrinkle to this year’s FAB50 Hockey rankings, though, was the inclusion of Chris Beckford-Tseu of the Class AA Alaska Aces, an affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, as the 50th overall player in the rankings.
“Normally ECHL players don’t make the cut for the FAB50,” said Ross. “This year, because of circumstances within the St. Louis Blues organization, Beckford-Tseu has been playing at a level that is making everyone consider what to do with him on a club with a lot of talented netminders.”
With the end of the strike, and the release of players bottled up in the minor leagues from last season, this year there are just five returning faces to the FAB50 Hockey rankings. No. 3 goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh) moves up three from No. 6 in 2005. Center Jiri Hudler of the Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit) ranked at No. 10 this year, moves up from No. 23 last year.
The top ten players in the MLN FAB50 Hockey 2006 rankings are:
1 Corey Perry RW Portland Pirates / Mighty Ducks
2 Ryan Getzlaf C Portland Pirates / Mighty Ducks
3 Marc-Andre Fleury G WBS Penguins / Pittsburgh Penguins
4 Al Montoya G Hartford Wolf Pack / New York Rangers
5 Eric Fehr RW Hershey Bears / Washington Capitals
6 Dustin Penner LW Portland Pirates / Mighty Ducks
7 Peter Sejna LW Peoria Rivermen / St. Louis Blues
8 Roman Voloshenko LW Houston Aeros / Minnesota Wild
9 Braydon Coburn D Chicago Wolves / Atlanta Thrashers
10 Jiri Hudler C Grand Rapids Griffins / Detroit Red Wings
For the complete list, the full article, and complete bios of each player, see the article at MLN Sports Zone (http://www.mlnsportszone.com/hockey/features/articles2006/02/15/00.html
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