Erie Otters left wing Stephen Harper (Aaron Bell, OHL Images)Stephen Harper is addressing the leadership question.

The Erie Otters left wing has enough on his plate in his NHL draft season. However, as the Otters' previous first-round pick, the 17-year-old felt was incumbent upon him to take highly touted 15-year-old centre Connor McDavid under his wing with the Ontario Hockey League club. The two share a billet house.

"Just for me, I wanted to welcome him into the league," says Harper, a potential top-60 pick in next summer's draft. "As a 15-year-old, I don't think I could have done the same thing. Connor's done a great job so far. It's huge for my leadership. As a 17-year-old, you don't always get the option to wear the [alternate captain's] 'A.' It's been good so far.

"He was a little quiet at the start and I had to break him in a bit," Harper says of McDavid.

The Otters' lack of veteran depth last season not only led to them winning the so-called McDavid Derby. It also opened up major minutes for Harper. Blessed with a cannon shot, he led all OHL 16-year-olds with 24 goals and was fifth with 35 points. He has a prototype power-winger frame at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, which should make him a safe pick next summer.

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

Duncan Siemens was the Saskatoon Blades' captain last season, but now the Colorado Avalanche first-rounder is not even wearing an alternate's 'A' for the MasterCard Memorial Cup hosts. That seems, uh, glaring. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

Chicago Blackhawks first-rounder Mark McNeill had his "best game of the year" in Prince Albert's road win at Red Deer. That included scoring the decision in a fight with Rebels star Mathew Dumba. (Calgary Herald)

It was Dumba's first-game back since the Minnesota Wild first-rounder served a two-game suspension for head-checking. (Calgary Herald)

A conversion to centre has paid off so far for the Vancouver Giants'  Nathan Burns. (Vancouver Sun)

The Regina Pats might get defenceman Colton Jobke back from the Minnesota Wild organization. What is for certain is coach Pat Conacher will be back for Wednesday's game vs. rival Moose Jaw after tending to a family emergency. (Regina Leader-Post, Moose Jaw Times-Herald)

Look out, Medicine Hat's Hunter Shinkaruk is getting all 'scorey' all of a sudden. (Victoria Times-Colonist)

More on the Giants' #ImportPlayerProblems in the wake of cutting import Ales Kilnar. Meantime, right wing Tanner Moar might finally draw into Vancouver's lineup. (Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province)

What are the chances overage defenceman Austin Madaisky ends up returning to Kamloops? Meantime, the B.C. Division favourite is down another veteran defender due to Tyler Hansen's concussion. (Sportsnet)

The rebuilding Kootenay Ice have pared their roster down to 22 players. (Between The Lines)

Hey, a trade: young defenceman Kaleb Denham is headed to Red Deer with mid-round draft picks coming back to Tri-City. (Tri-City Herald)

You can set your watch to the Brandon Wheat Kings' penalty kill struggling, or so it would seem. (Luber's Lounge)

Discipline is an early-season issue for the Kelowna Rockets. (Regan's Rant)

Everett Silvertips overage Ryan Harrison is making his season debut after serving a suspension assessed at the end of last season. (Everett Herald)

Former 134-point scorer Brendan Shinnimin is breaking into the pros with the Phoenix Coyotes' AHL affiliate. (Kennebec Journal)

OHL

Boston Bruins choice Seth Griffith has had a tougher time scoring of late thanks to a penchant for penalties. (Metro London)

Team USA's world junior team selection camp will be in New York City. (NHL.com)

Brandon Wheat Kings' Ryan Pulock (The Canadian Press)

When former NHL defenceman turned coach Brad McCrimmon perished in the Yaroslav air disaster just more than a year ago, it was unspeakable loss. There's no knowing how much it hurt within the extended family of the Brandon Wheat Kings, who are operated by Kelly McCrimmon, the coach's brother.

The Brandon owner and general manager has been very candid about the loss of his sibling, whom he played with on a Memorial Cup-finalist Wheat Kings team in 1979. One element of the story that hasn't been played up much outside Manitoba is the tragedy had some déjà vu for that province's only major junior hockey team. Current Brandon captain Ryan Pulock, a potential NHL first-round pick, was 15 years old when he endured the 2010 car crash that took the life of his 13-year-old brother, Brock Pulock. It's an emotional well that should be tapped very selectively, but TSN's Leah Hextall got both Ryan Pulock and Kelly McCrimmon to open up about how losing their brothers has helped them connect.

Prince George Cougars playmaker Alex Forsberg is in his NHL draft year (The Canadian Press)The Prince George Cougars have been through tough times as of late. They have missed the playoffs in three of the past five seasons and haven't moved on to the second round since 2007.

For the most part, their lack of success was somewhat expected. In 2009 the Cougars made significant changes in their front office by hiring Dean Clark as their head coach and Wade Klippenstein as their assistant general manager and director of player personnel. The writing was on wall for a rebuild through the bantam draft.

"We made some major changes a few years ago and rebuilt the hockey side from the ground up with special emphasis on scouting and recruiting," says Rick Brodsky, the president of the Cougars. "We have been patient and steadfast in our plan and beliefs and feel we are on the right track. We have a long way to go, but we are definitely headed in the right direction."

The Cougars' lack of success on the ice has taken its toll on them financially. The northern British Columbia team only averaged 2,047 in attendance last year,  the lowest in the WHL. Their ticket sales have dropped consistently with the odd hiccup since 1998-99, when they averaged 5,824 a game.

"Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out we have not been profitable the last few years," adds Brodsky.

Prince George hoped to take a major step into becoming a force down the stretch last year. They added overage goaltender Drew Owsley from the Tri-City Americans, No. 1 pick of the 2010 bantam draft Alex Forsberg made the jump, and several players seemed poised to breakout.

Their potential faded into disappointment, though. The Cougars took a step back rather than a step forward, finishing dead last in the Western Conference.

Russian star Nail Yakupov

In recent years the CHL has been flooded with Russian talent. In pursuit of avoiding being passed over at the NHL draft, young Russian players are crossing the Atlantic to prove themselves worthy in front of a North American crowd. But, Alex Ovechkin's Russian compatriots made a big impact historically in the CHL, too.

Here's a list of the all-time best Russian scorers in the history of the league.

1. Konstantin Panov (Kamloops Blazers, WHL) 195 games, 120+116=236 points.
2. Alexander Radulov (Quebec Remparts, QMJHL) 127 games, 93+134=227 points.
3. Vitali Yachmenev (North Bay Centennials, OHL) 125 games, 114+104=218 points.
4. Denis Shvidki (Barrie Colts, OHL) 122 games, 76+124=200 points.
5. Nail Yakupov (Sarnia Sting, OHL) 107 games, 80+90=170 points.
6. Ivan Telegin (Saginaw Spirit, Barrie Colts, OHL) 156 games, 81+87=168 points.
7. Dmitri Afanasenkov (Moncton, Sherbrooke, Q) 125 games, 84+78=162 points.
8. Nikita Alexeev (Erie Otters, OHL) 189 games, 72+88=160 points.
9. Oleg Saprykin

Olivier Jodoin

Anyone who has ever been to a CHL rink knows how important good warm-up music is to setting the tone for not only the game, but for the players as well.

No one knows this better than the defending Memorial Cup champion, Shawinigan Cataractes. Unlike most teams however, the Cats are lucky, because their DJs — Olivier Jodoin and Jonathan Narbonne — are also players in the lineup.

In the pre-season, since Jodoin had a penchant for playing around remixing music, his teammates asked if he could to make something for their home opener — so he collaborated with teammate Narbonne on a track they called: 'Internet Spaceman.'

"I was remixing on the bus with Jonathan Narbonne," said Jodoin, who goes by the name DJ Jods. "After I was done the boys said can you send it to us? So I said, 'Yeah I'll put it on YouTube so it will be easier for you to download.' Then the boys started to share it on Facebook and Twitter."

That was some 3,000 views ago.

Since it started being shared on social media, a

Marek Tvrdon (CP Images)The Vancouver Giants have had a particularly rough opening to the season, starting 1-3, not getting their first win until a Sunday evening win over the Spokane Chiefs thanks to a goal with 5:53 left to play by Trevor Cheek.

It started this offseason, when the Giants lost 1991-born goaltender Adam Morrison to age and traded Jackson Whistle to Kelowna to open up space for prospects Liam Liston and Payton Lee to take over. Lee was sent back to Junior B, and the team brought up walk-on Tyler Fuhr to be Liston's backup.

Liston has a WHL-low .776 save percentage through three games, and Fuhr has hardly fared better with a .870 save percentage. Few teams, just Everett, Brandon and Regina, are worse off at giving up goals in the season's early going.

The team took another hit today. For the second time in the last two seasons, the Giants have cut ties with their first round pick from the CHL Import draft. Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports the team has cut ties with 19-year old Czech winger Ales Kilnar.

This is, according to Ewen, symbolic of a worry the Giants' have faced since the graduations of Michal Repik and Mario Bliznak—the team has yet to have two consistent import players since that time.

Slovaka defenceman Juraj Valach (3-1-3-4) was picked up via trade with the Tri-City Americans prior to the 2007-08 season. He lasted three games. Bliznak was shipped back to the Giants by the Vancouver Canucks from the minors a few days later for his 20-year-old season and final one alongside Repik, but GM Scott Bonner said at the time that wasn't related to the Valach trade.

Slovak winger Andrej Kudrna (72-18-20-38) was a Vancouver import pick before the 2008-09 season, and scored 18 goals that year as 17-year-old, but was sporadic defensively and was dealt five games into the following year, shipped to the Red Deer Rebels for Cass Mappin. [Vancouver Province]

Ewen also mentions other European players that haven't stuck it out with the team. Misha Fisenko, then a rare overage import in Milan Kytnar, Sebastien Svendsen, Casper Carning, Alex Kuvaev and Finnish goaltender Jonathan Iilihati, selected at the behest of the Vancouver Canucks, who selected him in the 2011 NHL Draft.

Erie Otters 15-year-old centre Connor McDavid (Mike Carroccetto photo)

The getaway game of one of the Ontario Hockey League's notorious 3-in-3 road trips is not an an optimal time to see a much publicized rookie in peak form. Still, even while his Erie Otters laboured through their third game in fewer than 48 hours last Saturday, one could see why Connor McDavid is something extraordinary.

The circumstances were unfavourable for both the 15-year-old phenom and his team, thanks to a combination of playing a matinee in Ottawa and a dispiriting overtime loss in Kingston the evening prior. Still, there was McDavid protecting the puck down low on a power play before zipping a cross-crease pass to Connor Brown for the lone Otters goal in the 8-1 loss. Or the times he sent teammates in a goal for scoring chances. There was a vignette off-ice when Sherry Bassin, the Otters' managing partner, had Erie's equipment managers open the stick bag to find a left-handed model McDavid could sign so it could be included in a charity auction — not exactly a request made of many first-year juniors. Even on a day when he described his energy as "not bad, not great," McDavid flashed some star power.

The Newmarket, Ont., native has six points in his first five OHL games. That's a harbinger of greater numbers to come, since he and his teammates are still getting used to each other.