Stanley Cup better than being No. 1 pick By ROBERT TYCHKOWSKI, QMI Agency

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins makes a turn during the first period of the Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects game at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto January 19th, 2011. (DAVE ABEL/QMI AGENCY)

MINNEAPOLIS - When Taylor Hall went first overall at the 2010 draft in Los Angeles, he won the day over Tyler Seguin.

A year later, is it time for a re-count?

Hall won the coveted No.1 honours, but Seguin went on to win a Stanley Cup and in the eyes of many, that’s a better deal.

When posed with the question, would you rather go first overall or second overall and win a Cup, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins wasted little time.

“I’d rather go second and win a Cup.”

PLAY NICE - Adam Larsson is the first to admit that establishing yourself as a defenceman in the NHL is harder than establishing yourself as a forward. Especially as a Swede.

The No.2 player in many rankings was rather candid when explaining why.

“I think it is because the forwards hit and are meaner in the NHL than they are in Sweden,” he said. “That’s the biggest part.”

He does think he’ll follow a similar development curve as Victor Hedman, who’s coming into his own in Tampa Bay.

“I try to play the same style as him. I’m maybe a bit more skilled but not as big.”

CAPIAL IDEA - Gabriel Landeskog will probably go before Ottawa gets a shot at him at No. 6, but he’d love to be a Senator.

“Playing with Daniel Alfredsson would mean a lot, he was a great player in Sweden, a hero in Sweden,” said the 6-foot-1, 207 pounder. “I actually met him when I was a little boy, 10 or 11 years old. I doubt he’d remember, but I was in Ottawa and talked to him a little bit about the city. He was really nice, really humble.”

ROBERT.TYCHKOWSKI@Sunmedia.ca

TWITTER.com/SUN_TYCHKOWSKI