National Hockey League scouts do look at family trees and wonder how far the acorn will fall from the old oak.

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Sam Gagner made the Oilers as an 18-year-old. His father, Dave Gagner, didn't play in the NHL until he was 20.

Photograph by : Getty Images, File

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With the NHL draft coming Saturday, they've all wondered how Boston University forward Colin Wilson will be next to his dad Carey, who played for the Flames in the '80s. Same with Swedish forward Anton Gustafsson, whose father Bengt had a wonderful career with the Washington Capitals and now is head coach of Sweden's national team. The scouts know winger Phil McRae isn't a chip off the old block of his pugnacious old man Basil, who seldom met a fight he didn't want to take part in. Phil's tough, although nowhere near as mean as Basil, but he may still go in the top 60.

Last year, the story was Sam Gagner and whether he was anything like his dad Dave. Turns out Sam, picked sixth overall by the Edmonton Oilers, was further advanced than his dad, who didn't make the NHL until he was 20. Sam, who had 49 points this past season, doesn't turn 19 until August.

Athletic ability aside, scouts definitely feel sons can learn things from their playing dads that give them a leg up on other kids. Same with brothers.

"Sons or siblings like Jared Staal (brothers Eric, Marc and Jordan were all first-round draft picks and all are in the NHL today) have an advantage in the social, not biological sense of, 'Gee I haven't scored in four games' and the dad says, 'Four games, I once went 12,' '' laughed E.J. McGuire, the head of the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau. "As well-meaning as every parent is when they say, 'That's OK, kid,' there's an added benefit when the boy says, 'Gee, I wish I was on the power play' and dad says, 'So did I when I was 16.' ''

"A player might say to his dad, 'Boy, I don't get along with that guy in the dressing room,' but in the case of Sam Gagner, Dave could say to Sam, 'That dressing room I was in in New York with the Rangers was a house of cards,' and that makes the kid feel better.''

There are also slight advantages to your dad playing another sport at a high level. "I don't know football that well, but (likely No. 2 or No. 3 overall pick) Zach Bogosian's dad was a four-year letterman at Syracuse University. This is an athletic advantage for the boy, but not a hockey-specific advantage," said McGuire.

And Jared Staal? What can he learn from his brothers?

"If he were to say, 'I want to skip a workout today,' Eric and Marc and Jordan would say, 'No, we don't do that.' They would say to Jared, 'C'mon let's go to the gym and this afternoon we can go golfing.' Not that Joey Smith and Bobby Jones wouldn't also say that, I just feel there's a positive influence with brothers," said McGuire.

In the 2006 draft, 0ttawa took Mike Foligno's boy Nick late in the first round and scouts wondered if the boy was anything like the dad, who was the third name called in the 1979 draft after Rob Ramage and Perry Turnbull. The kid doesn't have his dad's hands around the net or his jumping ability after scoring, but he has already played for Ottawa.

"I think it's pretty neat, trying to compare Mike and Nick...and there's another boy, Marcus, who's coming up in Sudbury, too. You wonder about him," said McGuire.