Big hockey day

It's May 1st and the Bruins are in action against the Flyers today.

The OHL, QMJHL, USHL and WHL are all in the throes of their championship rounds this weekend as well.

This is as good a day as any to kick off the draft blog's month of May and I plan to do some in-depth profiling of some of the best players to come out of Scandinavia this year. That's right-- Sweden and Finland will be well-represented at the draft (again) with several key guys making big statements at the World Under-18s last month (Johan Larsson, Ludvig Rensfeldt, Teemu Pulkkinen and Mikael Granlund). Plus, I'll key on some of the Swedes and Finns who may be flying under the radar a bit...the Patrick Nemeths, Calle Jarnkroks and Joonas Donskois of the world.

So, be sure to check back here later this evening or tomorrow to get the up-to-date scoop on some of those Europeans, who simply haven't gotten the credit they are due thus far.