The NHL hasn't even completed round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and already, the outlook for the 6 Canadian hockey teams is rapidly changing.

Edmonton is in the midst of a youth revival, Vancouver fired the man who brought (arguably) the best goaltender in the league right now, Ottawa has become a Goliath in decline, Montreal has secretly become the new Northeast powerhouse, Calgary is starting to show signs of promise that could get them back to the Cup finals like in 03/04, and Toronto...well, Toronto I guess is kind of the exception to that statement.

But, not for nothing, they did relieve embattled GM John Ferguson Jr. of his post, which can very easily be construed as a step in the right direction, and accumulated some draft picks (2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds to be exact from the deals for Hal Gill, Chad Kilger and Wade Belak respectively).  And, on top of that, they hold the 7th overall pick in a respectable draft year, that, based on preliminary rankings, could line them up for either gritty Kelowna defenseman Luke Schenn, or Boston U point per game centre Colin Wilson, or creatively skilled Kitchener Rangers centre Mikkel Boedker.

Although the Leafs lost out in the Steven Stamkos sweepstakes, it appears that fate has put them front and center for what is, in this writers opinion, a far more lucrative sweepstakes.

This would be the Fabian Brunnstrom sweepstakes.

But who is this Fabian Brunnstrom you might ask, why is that name familiar? How is he more important than highly touted CHL grad Stamkos? 

Brunnstrom can best be decribed as a 'late bloomer' who's pre-blossoming stock value was so low, he wasn't even drafted, falling victim to the classic wait-and-see approach taken by NHL GM's in regards to European prospects.

So what makes him so special?

Well, aside from the fact he has raw talent comparable to Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin at his age (23), Brunnstrom has established himself as one of the fastest and smartest players in the Swedish Elite League with Farjestad after a phenomenal season in Sweden's First Division earned him a contract with a big club.

At 6 foot 1 inch, 195 pounds, he is not the biggest guy on the ice, but he is far from the smallest. His skill and stature have drawn comparisons to Evgeni Malkin from international critics, and he has earned himself the title of  'The best player not in the NHL right now'.

So his numbers must be phenomenal right?

Wrong.

He completed the 2007/2008 season with 9 goals and 28 assists through 54 games, and 16 PIM's.

So why the buzz?

The Brunnstrom oversight can be attributed to what I like to call "The CHL effect". This occurs when scouts and GM's only get excited over inflated numbers from CHL players. Crosby's last 2 years in Rimouski saw him net 135 (54g,81a) and 168 (66g, 102a) points, promising Anaheim youngster Corey Perrey had 113 and 130 points respectively in his last 2 seasons of junior with the London Knights and is only now starting to blossom into a premier top 6 forward in the NHL.

In comparison to these phenomenal numbers, let's look at another players numbers from the Russian Elite League, through 4 years with his hometown Moscow, he accumulated only 69 points (36g,33a) through 151 games. In fact, his highest scoring totals happened in his last 2 years, where he scored 13 goals each year.

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