Plenty of MLB odds to keep an eye on this week, but we winter-sport guys are already looking ahead to the NHL draft. Today’s prospect to discuss: Victor Hedman.

If Tavares is the X-Factor type of player, Hedman is much more the physical specimen teams are salivating over in the draft. Since it’s been proven (more so in the NFL) that some teams like talent over polish, I wouldn’t necessarily bet at your offshore sportsbook that Hedman automatically slips to the No. 2 overall position.

The scouting report is pretty awesome — he’s 6’7″, giving him the size of Chara or Pronger, but he supposedly skates and positions himself like Lidstrom. So instead of Chara 10 years ago, he already has the scouting report of Chara in his prime, though I’m not convinced he has the mean streak/killer instinct of Chara. We’ll have to wait and see on that.

It wouldn’t be a huge stretch for the Isles to go with Hedman, as I’m betting management sees a hole at pretty much every position there (including “owner” and “general manager.”) If they do and Tavares slips, it’ll throw a crazy wrench in the draft. If I’m making my daily sports picks for the draft right this second, though, I still think Hedman slips to second or third.

While the pansies cry over US Open odds getting rained out (OK, I’m included — I like golf), it’s time to get reflective…as in, reflective on the future…as in, reflective on the NHL draft, which is just a week away.

Let’s go over some of the top prospects with scouting reports. They will be layman scouting reports re: I’m lazy and it’s Friday, but we’ll see what we can do. We’ll start with John Tavares, of course.

What’s the report on him? Well, we know what we can’t do: skate. He’s like Nikolai Valuev in boxing betting; OK, he’s not that slow, but Tavares’ stride isn’t exactly breathtaking. We also know he does almost everything else well — really well. He’s a solid playmaker, he uses his body to protect the puck in a way that reminds me of Jaromir Jagr and Joe Thornton, he has good hands, and he has the weird, inherent nose for the net. He just seems to know where to go and always ends up with the puck on his stick in the blue ice, you know?

Don’t misquote me here, but he sometimes reminds me a TINY bit of Wayne Gretzky; he’s not a gifted skater yet he still finds a way to score. He’s just always…there. It’s a sixth sense.

I think Tavares will be a perennial 90-point plus guy and Garth Snow would be dumb to pass on him…but crazier things have happened in sports predictions, agreed? I’m betting management cans him from Long Island if he messes up the draft for a second straight year.