Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

Happy birthday Mr. Hockey. Gordie Howe turns 82.

From living legends to teen rookie phenoms, it's all covered in this week's random thoughts.

Some Wednesday morning thoughts from an analyst who thinks the Ottawa Senators have a future star on their hands in 19-year-old defenceman Erik Karlsson.

Don't be fooled by the fact this smallish defender has just two goals and 22 points in 55 games and would probably rather not talk about his minus-10 rating. You have to watch the graceful Karlsson play nightly to fully appreciate offensive upside and ability to control the pace of a game. Karlsson's confidence is growing with leaps and bounds and with six assists in his last three games, he is suddenly Ottawa's most important defenceman.

Last night against Washington Karlsson had three shots on goal and two assists in 24:26 ice time in a 5-4 Ottawa victory. He wasn't perfect, taking two minor penalties, but you could make the case his solid play was every bit as important in Ottawa's win ad Jason Spezza's two-goal, two-assist output.

Ottawa's first pick in the 2008 NHL entry draft, Karlsson is a smooth skater with soft hands who isn't afraid to double back in the middle of a rush a rush if he doesn't see anything favorable developing in front of him. He still makes mistakes - what 19-year-old doesn't - but his miscues are all just part of the learning curve and do not cause him to revert to a safer, less authoritative game.

Karlsson won't garner nearly the attention that fellow rookie defenders Tyler Myers of the Buffalo Sabres and Michael Del Zotto of the New York Rangers will in terms of voting for the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year, but my guess is he'll be as good or better than both two years down the road.

THE DON OF AN OLD ERA: Tim Cherry, Don's son, deserves a great deal of praise for not only capturing the spirit of minor league hockey in the fifties and sixties, but the candid way he portrayed his father in the wonder movie Keep Your Head Up Kid: The Don Cherry Story. It might have been tempting to soft-sell his dad's dogged determination to make it to the NHL long after it was obvious to others it wasn't in the cards, but Tim Cherry resisted that temptation. Instead, what we saw in the two-part movie that was shown on CBC this week was Don as a young man and father whose work ethic and determination kept his family afloat through the most troubled times. When others might have given up, Don Cherry pushed forward, even when it didn't seem like the most logical life path at the time. We all know the end result - Cherry became coach who enjoyed some success and is now one of Canada's biggest TV stars - but what I liked best was how, when hockey kicked him in the pants, he picked himself up and continued to chase his dream. Don Cherry isn't always right in his assessments of the hockey world on his weekly installment of Coach's Corner, but you always know he is speaking from the heart. Being truthful in the script he prepared for the movie was Tim Cherry's best way of honoring his father.

THE PRICE OF OIL: By finishing 30th this season, the Oilers guaranteed themselves their best drafting slot since 1994 when they selected Jason Bonsignore at fourth overall. It wasn't a great draft year in 1994, but the Oilers did manage to pass on Mattias Ohlund, Jose Theodore, Patrik Elias, Marty Turco, Tomas Holmstrom, Milan Hejduk and Daniel Alfredsson, among others. This year the Oilers won't blow it. They'll likely pick between Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin, two youngsters many scouts have dubbed as sure-bets to be NHL stars. If one of those kids joins the Oilers next year along with Jordan Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson next season, and Ales Hemskey and Nikolai Khabibulin make successful returns from injury, the Oilers will push for a playoff spot in 2010-11. Eberle, by the way, has three goals and eight points with Springfield of the American League since joining them following his junior season with Regina.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. HOCKEY: The first time I saw Gordie Howe play live was in Hamilton when his Detroit Red Wings came to town to play an exhibition game against the Hamilton Red Wings, the Junior A team they sponsored. Back then the NHLers seemed to take delight in spending one of their nights off bringing joy to the lives of hockey fans who wouldn't normally have the opportunity to see them perform live. Years later, while I was working in Peterborough, Howe swung into town for a guest appearance at a hockey school. I was assigned to write a feature about him and Howe was very accommodating, sitting down with me for about 30 minutes. When it came time to leave, I thanked Howe for his time and started to leave the dressing room. "Where the (blanket-blank) do you think you're going?," Howe bellowed. I froze in my steps. "I'm not back on the ice for another 45 minutes. Are you going to leave me alone here?" I turned around, sat back down and listened to another 45 minutes of The Best Of Howe. What a thrill! Happy 82nd birthday, Gordie.