The 2008 NHL entry draft takes place on June 20-21 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, and the big name in this year's draft is Toronto native Steven Stamkos, who will be the first overall selection. Stamkos is an 18 year-old centre who plays for the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League, and he was also the first overall pick for the OHL's 2005 entry draft, so this young man has been in the spotlight for a few years already.

He was second in league scoring in 2007-2008 and is known as an intelligent and level headed young man, so the Tampa Bay Lightning will use up their selection in the hopes that Stamkos can help to turn around a team that had a very disappointing season this year despite the talents of forwards Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, who both continue to be highly productive despite their team's woes.

Other than the first selection, nothing is written in stone for the remaining choice order, as it is up to the individual teams to assess their needs in regards to player position availability. This year's crop of prospects includes a number of fine defensemen, starting with Zach Bogosian who plays for the Peterborough Petes and hails from Massena, NY. At 6'2", 200 lbs., this big 17 year-old will make an imposing figure whatever blue line he's guarding next year in the NHL.

Drew Doughty is another big defenseman at 6', 215 lbs. and he has made a name for himself playing for the Guelph Storm, which isn't too far from his hometown of London, Ontario. He won the IIHF best player award for top defenseman at the 2008 World Junior Hockey Championship as he helped Canada win the gold medal in Prague.

One of the top goaltending prospects is fellow Storm player Thomas McCollum, who is an impressive 6'2", 208 lbs. and comes from Sanborn, NY. Thomas had a great year between the pipes for Guelph, and he should have no problem developing into a top goaltender in the NHL one day.

There are also some excellent European prospects, with six of the top ten coming from Russia.
Nikita Filatov's stature is small at 5'11", 165 lbs., but that should not hamper his ability to make some waves when he is drafted early in the selection process. The word on Nikita is that his lack of size could actually work for him as he is a speedy and tenacious forward who can put the puck in the net. Besides, in the new NHL, size isn't always an imperative as guys like St.Louis has proven the last few years.

Kirill Petrov is a 6' 3", 200 lbs. right winger who has been described as a power forward who is typical of Russian snipers lately, in that he has no problem with displaying his sniping skills as he puts the puck in the net. He is also a quick and agile skater who will have little difficulty in adapting to the North American game.

Two hot European goalies who are expected to go early in the draft are a couple of Swedish players named Jakob Markstrom and Anders Lindback, and with comparisons to Henrik Lundqvist being thrown about in relation to these two guys, you know they're going to go very early in the draft.

The first five teams to pick this year all require different things to turn their respective teams around, so anything is possible on draft day. The one sure thing is that the above mentioned players will definitely go very early in the draft, and all of them have the potential to be standouts in the NHL.

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