TSN.ca is reporting that the ISS is currently ranking Victor Hedman above John Tavares for the 2009 entry draft.

Hedman, the 6′5 D-man playing with MODO in Sweeden is the talk of the hockey town recently, surpassing Tavares for the number 1 spot with his Chris Pronger style of play. Much like Tavares, professional sports run in the Hedman family - his brother Oscar currently is in the Washington Capitals system.

The 1st draft pick for the NHL entry draft 2009 will likely be decided by the teams needs. As of right now, it looks as if the Kings, The Isles or the Thrashers will have a shot at the 1st pick. The teams need to determine whether a powerful forward or an offensive d-man would better suit their club.

With Hedman’s style of play in MODO and the WJC, we can hope that he might pull a Luke Schenn and walk right onto one of these lesser teams. The difference with Hedman is that his offensive skills will likely be called upon, where as Schenn with the Leafs is almost non-existant in the offensive category, and yet he still manages to be one of the more important players on the ice. Hedman likely won’t be able to pull this, as the expectation of 40+ points in his rookie season will certainly be there.

In the OHL, Tavares is sitting at 2nd in goals and 4th in points. 15 games in he has 14 goals and 26 points, resulting in just under 2 points per game. To say that Tavares is underachieving is a bit ridiculous, but at the very least he is not out-performing his “exceptional player” status.

On the other side of the coin, being “out of the spotlight” may be just what John Tavares is looking for! With the attention now on Hedman, Tavares can start to focus on the core aspects of his game and improve before the draft. There is still no doubt that Tavares will go top 5 in the NHL draft 2009, but once you leave that number 1 spot, the pressure likely fades a bit. For a player that has been touted as a future superstar since he was 13, this pressure relief could certainly be a good thing.

Look for Tavares to focus on core aspects of his game in the future, and round out the season hard. Trade talks are being thrown around the OHL, but personally I don’t see it happening.

Also, look forward to Victor-Hedman.com, a new blog based on the aspiring Sweede in the coming week.

Well who have thought that John Tavares would have already jumped into an early scoring lead in the OHL? After only 4 games the upcoming superstar has netted 5 goals and 5 assists, giving him 10 points. So much for “slowing” down as some of the scouts have said.

Tavares is out to prove that he’s ready for the NHL, and a franchise player as well.

Although 4 games is no indication of a season, for the sake of forecasting, lets look at a fun stat:

10 points in 4 games is 2.5 points per game.

If John plays 63 games (which he’s averaged over the past 3 seasons), and keeps up this streak, he’ll have 157 points. Now this doesn’t exactly get to Bobby Smith’s 192 point season, but would shatter his previous high of 132 points.

Hopefully John Tavares continues to impress the coaches, and locks in the number 1 spot!