By JIMMY D / Tavares re-establishing himself as No. 1 pick | Jimmy's archive

You can teach ‘fast,’ you can teach ‘skill,’ but you can’t teach ‘big’.

John Tavares has only one of the three, but he has plenty of it as anyone who witnessed his juggling, tappity-tap goal in the World Junior Hockey Championship exhibition schedule will attest. His play for Oshawa this season and his sparkling play at the WJC has scouts leaning his way for the No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft.

Sweden’s Victor Hedman, a defenceman deliciously likened to a hybrid of Chris Pronger and Nicklas Lidstrom, will jockey Tavares all season for that top slot. The eventual pick will likely come down to team needs - if the team winning the draft lottery has plenty of forward depth, they may take Hedman, for example.

On the ‘big’ side, Canada’s foes are having big problems with Keith Aulie (6 foot 6) and Tyler Myers (6 foot 7). If you have watched the pair of towering blueliners, you know they more than compensate for the lack of size among the forward ranks.

Aulie is a Calgary Flame pick, while Myers is Sabre property who should be on your keeper-league radar after emerging as more of an offensive force (20 points in 27 games for Kelowna) this year.

The first big test for Canada is tomorrow when they face the Americans. University of Minnesota super-dwarf Jordan Schroeder, who is draft-eligible in 2009 and scored twice for the Yankees in their recent WJC win over the Czechs.

Jimmy has always been leery of American dwarves dating back to the Lawton and Broten days, but that Kane guy in Chicago changed his mind.

Keeper-poolies should beware Schroeder’s fast start – he is playing on the top line with NHL first rounders James VanRiemsdyk (Philly) and Colin Wilson (Predators) so he’s in a pretty sweet situation.

And while we are on the topic, is it time to make the WJC a six-team event? Norway, Latvia, France and other nations are not going to be competitive nations anytime soon and it’s a waste of time and effort watching them lose 15-0.

Make it a six-team, round-robin event with the usual suspects, spare everyone the embarrassment and put the money spent sending coaches and trainers halfway around the world for a week of partying to better use (as in more rinks or better coaching so they can compete).

Home ‘dogs in Wild Card Weekend

Seldom do you see road teams favored in the NFL playoffs. But look at the odds for Wild Card Weekend and all four home teams are underdogs. Among the road ‘chalk’ is Philadelphia, who already beat the odds bigtime just to make the playoffs.

Jimmy’s Iggles snuck in, beating long odds that required them to beat the Cowboys, the Bucs to get upset at home as 14-point favorites to Oakland and for either Chicago or Minnesota to lose. (The Bears obliged at Houston, so the Iggles visit the Vikings next weekend).

So indulge Jimmy a cruel chuckle at the expense of Dallas Cowboy fans. And also a chuckle at Tampa Bay coach Jon ‘Chuckie’ Gruden as well. Four weeks ago, the Cowboys and Buccaneers were playoff locks and Super Bowl possibilities.

On Sunday, both completed epic choke jobs to finish 9-7 and out of the NFC Wild Card picture. Some observers point to the 0-16 Lions as the biggest losers of 2008, but Dallas is Jimmy’s choice. The ‘Boys will send more than a dozen players to the Pro Bowl and still won’t make the playoffs.

Sad, sad indeed and it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys from goofball Tony Romo at the controls on the field to goofball Jerry Jones at the controls with his chequebook.

In the meantime, stay busy and stay lucky.

Jimmy D
jpoole@herald.ca