This is a press release about a media availability, but the NHLPA's "Rookie Showcase" is one of the more interesting events of the summer. The NHLPA and Upper Deck, the league's hockey card rights-holder, picks a gaggle of top prospects to take part in photo shoots and autograph-signings in Toronto, and the players enjoy the meet-and-greet-and-hang-out aspect of the event:

2014 NHLPA ROOKIE SHOWCASE

TORONTO, ON (August 12, 2014) – Thirty-three of the top NHL® prospects/rookies will gather in Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (site of the former Maple Leaf Gardens) on Saturday, August 23rd for the 2014 NHLPA Rookie Showcase. Now in its sixth year, this unique event provides Upper Deck – the official trading card partner of the NHLPA and the NHL – with an exclusive opportunity to photograph many of the game’s top young prospects/rookies in their official NHL team uniforms, in shots that will be used for upcoming trading card and memorabilia launches.

The prospects attending include the following players...