NHL

The veteran winger will be in tough for the award against young stars Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington's Alex Ovechkin. St. Louis won the trophy back in 2004 when it was known as the Pearson Award and he led the NHL in scoring in 2013 with 60 points in 48 games. He also led the league with 43 assists.

He has one year left on his contract with Ufa of the KHL but his deal has a buy-out clause, according to Murray. If he doesn't play overseas then he could skate for Mississauga in the OHL, since they own his junior rights, or with Syracuse in the AHL. Vasilevski was the 19th overall pick in the 2012 draft.

At this point, we have to imagine European clubs just wish Stamkos' Lightning would make the playoffs and leave them alone. Edmonton teammates Taylor Hall (two goals) and Devan Dubnyk (13 saves) also aided Canada's cause. With the win, Canada is second in its pool with seven points, trailing only Switzerland's eight points.

The Lightning are excited to add a promising young player, but they're also more than willing to be creative with the pick. "We feel pretty good,'' director of scouting Al Murray said. "I think this year at three gives you lots of opportunity that you might get the No. 1 player on your list because everybody sees it a little differently. 'There is a legitimate chance we could get the No. 1 guy on our overall list at three, which gives (general manager) Steve (Yzerman) the flexibility to look at moving back or moving it for a player. I think anybody in the top five has a prospect that is very close to playing in the NHL and playing at a high level, so that's a very valuable pick this year. And I think teams will look at it that way. So, I think it gives us a lot of opportunity this year because the asset is that good.''

Financial terms were not immediately made available. The hard-hitting defenseman appeared in 22 games with the Lightning this past season, while posting two goals, five points, 38 penalty minutes and a plus-3 rating. Gudas was also credited with 87 hits.

Paquette had 27 goals, 83 points, and 103 penalty minutes in 63 QMJHL games this season. He was taken in the fourth round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

He has two years left on his current deal at a $4.5 million cap hit. However, GM Steve Yzerman wasn't willing to discuss his thought process just yet. "We'll spend the next month figuring out our plan," Yzerman said. "I'm not really concerned with where we are with the cap. It's not going to be an issue for us as far as what we want to do."