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Sabres in quandary over Nikita Zadorov: the coast-to-coast

The Buffalo Sabres believe Nikita Zadorov is 'too big' for junior hockey, but he's not eligible for minor pro (Gerry Broome, AP)
The Buffalo Sabres believe Nikita Zadorov is 'too big' for junior hockey, but he's not eligible for minor pro (Gerry Broome, AP)

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

WHL

Highly touted U.S. forward Auston Matthews, whom the Everett Silvertips have drafted, is said to be "50/50" on playing major junior hockey instead of in the NCAA. (SBN College Hockey)

It was probably just a matter of when: 16-year-old playmaker Gage Ramsay will debut with the Vancouver Giants immimently. (Metro Vancouver)

The plea for the Edmonton Oilers to not keep Leon Draisaitl up with the big club.  (Hometown Hockey)

One caveat with the Kelowna Rockets being 9-0: the power play might be due for a regression. (Kelowna Daily Courier)

A five-game Eastern swing: that will fix up the Portland Winterhawks. (The Columbian)

How did Medicine Hat's Cole Sanford and Kamloops' Cole Ully get left off of Team WHL for the Subway Super Series? (Taking Note)

The Lethbridge Hurricanes are taking fewer penalties and have a higher kill rate, so there is that. (Lethbridge Herald)

OHL

Ted Nolan says the Buffalo Sabres "are trying to do our best" with 19-year-old defenceman Nikita Zadorov, whom they are not about to send back to the London Knights. (Buffalo News)

Meantime, the 8-0-0-0 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds will get Darnell Nurse back after he appeared in one game with the Oilers. They really struggled without him, you know. (Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun)

Brian Kilrea is downplaying his one-game return to the Ottawa 67's bench for Friday's afffray with the Mississauga Steelheads: "If I can see something, I may mention it to [coach] Jeff [Brown] and then to the player when he comes off," the 80-year-old Hall of Famer says. (Ottawa Sun)

St. Louis Blues first-rounder Robby Fabbri will be deployed as a left wing in his Guelph Storm season debut, writes Tony Saxon. (Guelph Mercury)

There it is, Mikkel Aagaard with the first Niagara IceDogs goal at the Meridian Centre. (St. Catharines Standard)

Stan Butler is tweeting; it's all part of the 'new era in North Bay' thing. (North Bay Nugget, QMI Agency)

Belleville Bulls owner Gord Simmonds says the team will need 3,000 fans per game to stay viable. That's about 40 to 50 per cent more than the usual turnout at the Yardmen Arena. (Quinte News, Belleville Intelligencer)

Few expected the Peterborough Petes to have one win in seven starts, yet here we are. Defenceman Matt Spencer, to Mike Davies: "We have to be way better in our defensive zone because there seems to be no intensity." (Peterborough Examiner)

QMJHL

The Q has a relatively bumper crop for the 2015 NHL draft, writes Willy Palov. (Halifax Chronicle-Herald)

How did Halifax's Timo Meier end up chasing a puck instead of ball while coming of age in Switzerland? "I'm a big guy, and I'm probably not fast enough to play soccer." (Metro Halifax)

Hockey term of the day: the "accidentally-on-purpose wide point shot." The gambit helped Cape Breton end a losing skid. (Cape Breton Post)

Charlottetown is vying to do the same, having lost three consecutively going into Friday's game vs. Acadie-Bathurst. (Charlottetown Guardian)

With Alexis Pepin back ahead of schedule, the Gatineau Olympiques will actually have their full lineup for the first time on Friday. (Le Droit)

Marvin Cupper was irate after departing from Shawinigan's blowout loss to Sherbrooke. How will the overage goalie rebound in his next start? (Le Nouvelliste)

Quebec is not a good road team thus far, but that won't matter come May 21. (Le Soleil)

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.