Plymouth Whalers Alex Nedeljkovic, Alex Peters and Matt Mistele Play in Tonight's BMO Top Prospects Game

If you watch the Whalers practice this week, you'll notice that Alex Nedeljkovic, Matt Mistele and Alex Peters are missing.

That's because they're in Calgary, AB, getting ready to play in tonight's BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

The game features 40 of the top-rated CHL players eligible for the 2014 National Hockey League Draft, which will be held June 26-27 in Philadelphia.

Nedeljkovic comes into the game as the highest rated CHL goaltender in the most recent NHL Central Scouting mid-term rankings. He's fifth overall among all North American goaltenders.

Peters is rated 36th among North American prospects; Mistele checks in at 51st.

The other Whalers listed in the mid-term rankings include Connor Chatham (30), Josh Wesley (79) and Yannick Rathgeb (153).

Central Scouting mid-term rankings:  North American prospects.      

North American goaltenders.

Recently, NHL Central Scouting Director Dan Marr visited Compuware Arena and spoke about several of the Whalers up for the 2014 NHL Draft.              

“He moves well for a big man,” Marr said about Chatham during a recent Plymouth-Sarnia game after Chatham moved easily around Sting defenseman Anthony DeAngelo. “He’ll starting putting more numbers on the board eventually.  But you like to see a guy who is making something happen every time he’s out there.”

It’s often hard to judge the progress of defensemen, but Marr and his staff has seen improvement with Peters.

“Peters is learning that less is better,” Marr said.  “By that, I mean he’s learned to simplify his game.  He starting to put himself in positions where he’s not going to get burned or give the puck away.  Defensively, he’s always been pretty sound.  I think he’s a pretty reliable guy that the coach can put out in any given situation.”

Nedeljkovic seems to enjoy the challenge of facing a lot of shots on for a team that doesn’t score a lot of goals.

“When NHL teams draft a goalie, (they) look at a guy and say, ‘Is he going to be a number one for our team and play for us for a number of years?’," Marr said. "Alex has shown that he can handle the load in Plymouth and he can be a number one guy. He comes up big and he gets the job done, game in and game out.”

There’s nothing neutral about Rathgeb’s game.  He hits, he fights and he adds offense from the back end.  But coming from Switzerland means adjustments – on and off the ice.

“You have to let a European kid go around the block once,” Marr said.  “He’s got to figure out the league.  I see that under forecheck pressure, Rathgeb is a lot more composed (now), he’s not rushing to get rid of the puck and he’s much more comfortable to hang on to the puck and make a good first pass.

“European players usually come to North America a little more skill-oriented.  Rathgeb has the skills where he can stick handle with the puck and make the good first pass out of the zone.  That’s all a coach wants out of a d-man.”

Marr praised the way that Vellucci and the rest of his coaching staff develops players.

“You look at the NHL and teams like the Red Wings and New Jersey and the way they patiently develop players,” Marr said.  “Mike is patient with his young players, too.  They don’t have the pressure to have to carry the team.  Young players may find that frustrating, but if they apply themselves in practice, the Whalers do have a development system.  And all of these first-year players are going to have an impact and are going to contribute next year.”

AUDIO - Listen to the entire Dan Marr interview.

As it turns out, several of the Whalers' young players are starting to contribute now.

And Nedeljkovic, Peters and Mistele will be back in time for Friday agame against Sudbury.

A side story to tonight's game - will Peters or Mistele drop the gloves and keep a Plymouth tradition alive of having a scrap during the game?  In 2012, Tom Wilson dropped the gloves against Dalton Thrower.   In 2013, Ryan Hartman fought Kerby Rychel.

Stay tuned.