Jack Studnicka – McKeen's Hockey

MCKEEN’S 2022-23 NHL YEARBOOK – BOSTON BRUINS – Top 20 Prospects

Contributors – Brock Otten, Ethan Hetu, Arlo Schulz, Dylan Krill, Zack Szweras — Sun, 18 Sep 2022 14:56:12 +0000

BOSTON, MA - MARCH 24: Boston Bruins center Jack Studnicka (23) carries the puck during a game between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 24, 2022, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)

1 - Fabian Lysell RW

It was a successful transition to North American hockey for Lysell, who came across the pond to play for the WHL’s Giants in 2021-22 after being drafted in the first round by the Bruins. Lysell didn’t disappoint, posting 62 points in 53 games as he adjusted to the smaller ice surface. Where he shined though, was in the playoffs, breaking out for 21 points in just 12 games as the underdog Giants barely grabbed the final playoff spot but proceeded to shock the top-seeded Everett Silvertips in the first round and then put up a six-game fight against the Kamloops Blazers, largely on the back of a strong power play that featured Lysell’s distributing abilities. A great playmaker, Lysell is known mostly for his skating abilities, drawing comparisons to Pavel Bure and Connor McDavid with his first step and ability to change directions or switch lanes to find open ice. He sees the ice well and is adept at creating passing lanes. A weapon on the rush with his puck handling, Lysell is also strong on the cycle and adapted to the North American game well. He is a weapon on the powerplay working off the half wall, and his defensive game is surprisingly advanced for his age. It’s easy to see why the Bruins made Lysell unavailable in trade talks last year, as he possesses all the skills to be a top-line winger in the NHL. Lysell’s shot is underrated but he could stand to use it more, and he needs to add strength as he still gets pushed off the puck too easily at times. He’s likely headed back to the WHL for one more season. - AS

2 - Mason Lohrei D

The Boston Bruins aren’t flush with talented prospects, and part of the reason their system is growing a bit thin is the lack of high-end picks GM Don Sweeney has been able to make. The side-effect of the team’s chase of a second Stanley Cup in the 21st century has been the team’s scouts have often been without many of their high picks, and as a result, the team’s farm is lacking in truly dynamic talents who set themselves apart from the pack. They do have a few players who fit that billing, though, and Mason Lohrei is definitely one of them. The 21-year-old blueliner was the Bruins’ top pick at the 2020 draft, getting selected 58th overall. As an overage pick, many wondered if Lohrei was the most prudent pick for a team badly in need of slam-dunk quality prospects. Speaking now after his freshman season as an Ohio State Buckeye, it seems clear that the Bruins’ selection of Lohrei, who was ranked outside of the top 125 by NHL Central Scouting, was smarter than it initially seemed to be. Lohrei was one of the best first-year defensemen in the NCAA, flashing incredible amounts of raw offensive talent. You can put Lohrei’s skill with the puck on his stick up against any other NCAA blueliner. He is a legitimate offensive generator out of the back end, and that’s not exactly common. With that being said, though, there are real questions about Lohrei’s game that cause concern. First and foremost, the major question to Lohrei’s profile is if his impressive size (six-foot-four) is a benefit or detriment to his game. His size gives him more ways to provide value, and more tools to work with in case he needs to adjust his game. But on the other hand, one wonders if Lohrei’s size contributes to his lackluster mobility, and if his style is better suited for a different body type. Lohrei has enough talent to become an impactful NHL defenseman, but his game and his tools will need to evolve if he wants to be the same defenseman he is in college when he turns pro. - EH

3 - Jack Studnicka C

The reality is that this upcoming season will be the most critical of Studnicka’s young career. The former OHL’er and highly touted second round selection was an AHL All Star and a member of the All-Rookie team in 2020. Since then, his development has plateaued as he has been unable to get over the hump to become a full time NHL player. The difference this year is that he will require waivers to be sent down to Providence, potentially exposing him to other NHL teams should he not crack the Bruins roster out of training camp. The problem is, the Bruins brought back David Krejci and additionally brought in Pavel Zacha to an already crowded forward group. That means Studnicka is going to need to beat out the likes of Tomas Nosek, Trent Frederic, and fellow prospect Oskar Steen for a spot. At his best at center, would Studnicka be able to handle a transition to wing at times? The heady two-way pivot is not a dynamic offensive player. However, he is versatile, excels as a playmaker down low, and is a strong defensive presence. The key for him has always been whether he can improve his skating enough to play that high energy role at the NHL level. There is still a chance that Studnicka develops into a dependable third line center for the Bruins; it is too early to give up on him. However, time is off the essence. - BO

4 - Matthew Poitras C

The 54^th overall selection in the 2022 NHL Draft, Matthew Poitras was apart of a young Guelph Storm team last year and will be ready to take a step forward as a leader of the group. Poitras was the 12^th overall selection in the 2020 OHL Draft, but due to the Covid-19 shutdown, was forced to miss his first OHL year. Fortunately for Poitras, he didn’t lose his game and quickly adapted to the OHL in his first season. Poitras finished the OHL season with 50 points (21G,29A) in 68 games for third in points on his team, and also four points (1G,3A) in five playoff games, tied for first on his team. Poitras has a style of game that fits the Bruins very well. A highly competitive forward who makes smart decisions with and without the puck consistently and also has the tools to contribute offensively. Already being a driving force for his team, Poitras will have the ability to once again have a big year and take a step forward in his development. Poitras’ best assets are his competitiveness and his hockey sense, more specifically his positional awareness. He has the understanding of where and when to be at all times in all three zones, being a step or two before his opponents, being very effective for his team to contain puck possession. Going into the next season, Poitras will be one of the top players on the Storm and will be looking to push farther in the playoffs than previously. You could expect Poitras to have a jump in point production and still remain an effective 200-foot player. - DK

5 - Georgii Merkulov C

Georgii Merkulov went undrafted, and he’s a name many might not recognize on a list of top prospects. He had only a single season of college hockey under his belt before he signed with the Bruins, and he has just nine professional games to his name. He simply hasn’t had the chance to get in front of many hockey fans, especially the ones who don’t follow Big Ten hockey or the USHL very closely. But if there’s one thing to say about Merkulov as a prospect, it’s that those who haven’t been paying attention have been missing out. Merkulov, who led the Ohio State Buckeyes in scoring last season, is an extremely gifted offensive prospect. He has all the skill you want to see from a player in his role. Merkulov has puck skills galore and can make difficult passes look easy. Looking at those parts of his game, Merkulov looks to have clear top-six upside. But looking at just the positives would give an incomplete picture of Merkulov’s game. He possesses a great degree of offensive talent, that much is undeniable, but it’s largely unrefined offensive talent. The best creators of offense in the NHL are the ones who have found ways to remain positive contributors to an attack both with and without the puck. Merkulov can contribute to an offense in spades, but he wants to do it on his terms. He can create space for himself with the puck on his stick but is far too passive when his linemate is the one attracting attention. Overall, Merkulov’s game when he isn’t handling the puck is simply passive, and while that can work at lower levels it’s likely to infuriate NHL coaches. If Merkulov’s time in the AHL can get him to develop a more refined, balanced offensive approach, he can be a strong NHL forward, but if he continues to simply rely on his skill alone, he’ll have trouble breaking through. - EH

6 - John Beecher C

John Beecher, the Bruins’ first-round pick at the 2019 draft, had a difficult time at the University of Michigan, never quite finding a way to be a go-to forward on Wolverines teams that were filled with top prospects during his three years there. Beecher’s freshman year was perhaps his most promising campaign as a Bruins prospect, as after that point he stagnated and saw his level of importance in the Michigan forward group decline. There are aspects to Beecher’s game that make it clear why he was a top pick at the 2019 draft. He has a combination of size and speed that NHL front offices typically trip over themselves to acquire. Beecher has a big six-foot-three frame that he’s filled out well, and he skates better than most players of that size and weight profile. When Beecher is engaged, he’s that rare prospect that can play a sort of throwback-style power forward game at a modern-day fast pace. But those moments of strong engagement where he flashes top prospect upside came too infrequently for him to solidify a place as a scoring forward at Michigan, and by the end of his collegiate career he had settled into more of a third-line shutdown role for the Wolverines. Beecher looked promising when he had an 11-game run with the AHL Providence Bruins, and he will likely return to Providence next season with the hope of becoming a top player there. Next season will go a long way towards determining if Beecher’s offensive struggles at Michigan were due to opportunity rather than ability, although, like with most things, the reality is probably somewhere in between. If he can have success at the AHL level, Beecher could become a useful middle-six player who offers a unique blend of size and speed. - EH

7 - Oskar Steen RW

A former selection of the Bruins in 2016, Steen has slowly progressed into an NHL prospect and, perhaps, even an NHL player. Patience is a virtue and the Bruins have been very patient with Steen. In 2019, Steen had a breakout performance in the SHL that prompted Boston to sign him to his ELC. Since then, across three AHL seasons, he has steadily improved as a North American pro. This culminated with a long look at the NHL level last year, where Steen scored his first two NHL goals and subsequently earned a two-year contract extension (on a surprising one-way deal). It is clear that the Bruins feel Steen can be a highly productive and useful member of their bottom six forward group for this upcoming season. The key to Steen’s success is his high work rate. He may not be tall (5’9), but he is built like a fridge. His strong skating ability and tenaciousness make him such a tough player to win one-on-one battles against. He competes for every puck in all three zones, supports his linemates by working the wall and retrieving pucks, and is a generally intelligent two-way player. The offensive upside is not significant. In all likelihood, Steen tops out as a third line hustler. However, that’s not bad for a former sixth round selection. - BO

8 - Marc McLaughlin C

One of the ways the Bruins have made up for the trades that have cost them many draft picks is through the aggressive recruitment of NCAA free agents. The Bruins, as the NHL’s lone franchise in Boston, are uniquely situated to evaluate and pluck from the college ranks, thanks to Boston being the home of quite a few of college hockey’s top programs. McLaughlin was one of the team’s marquee college signings last season, and his immediate jump to the Bruins’ NHL roster is evidence of that. McLaughlin, who was selected for the United States’ team at the Beijing Winter Olympics, plays the sort of game that looks tailor-made for NHL coaches. He’s responsible. As the former captain of the Boston College Eagles, he brings leadership and a strong work ethic. He’ll rarely take a shift off, and even more rarely find himself out of the lineup due to injury. He’s always available, and the play he puts forth is extremely consistent. The 23-year-old McLaughlin chips in on both ends of the ice, and his polished two-way game is what gives him the chance of sticking as a center in the NHL. He’s smart enough defensively to handle the immense burdens placed upon NHL pivots, and he could eventually see time as a penalty killer. Offensively, McLaughlin’s best tool is his shot. He was a 20-goal-scorer in his senior season in the NCAA and has a shot that could make him a secondary goal-scoring option in the NHL. If he can continue to grow and maintain the consistency he’s displayed so far as a pro, McLaughlin can have a long career as a third or fourth liner who coaches regularly rely on to play difficult minutes and keep the locker room together in the face of the inevitable challenges an NHL season presents. - EH

9 - Brett Harrison C

The 85th overall selection in the 2021 NHL Draft, Brett Harrison continues to show improvements year after year, finding ways to impact the game in anyway he can. The former 16th overall selection in the 2019 OHL Draft quickly adapted and was very effective in his rookie year, finishing with 37 points (21G,16A) in 58 games. During the 2020-2021 season while the OHL was shutdown due to Covid-19, Harrison made the trip to Europe like some others and played seven games in the U20 SM-sarja and 1 game in the Mestis, finishing with 9 points (4G,5A) in the seven U20 games. Harrison also got the opportunity to play in the U18 World Championship. During the 2021-2022 season, Harrison took another step forward and finished the year with 61 points (27G,34A) in 65 games, which was 2nd on the team for points, 2nd on the team for goals and 3rd on the team for assists. Harrison’s best assets are his competitiveness and hockey sense. He has the understanding of how to use his body and stick to consistently win puck battles, protecting to puck with his size and out-battle opponents with his high motor and active stick. Harrison is always in the play because he has great awareness and positioning, reading and anticipating plays in all three zones. He has the ability to be a great complementary player. Going into the 2022-2023 season, Harrison will look to have another big year in the OHL, being a leader on and off the ice for the Generals. You could expect an increase in points. - DK

10 - Oskar Jellvik LW

Jellvik was selected in the 5^th round, 149^th overall in the 2021 NHL draft by the Boston Bruins. Like many prospects, his opportunities for development in his draft year were significantly diminished by the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of J20 games were cancelled because of the pandemic, limiting Jellvik to 13 J20 games. In that time, he was able to show promising offensive skill with 6 goals and 12 points. He was also given a small chance in the SHL, with three games in a limited role. Although there was little information on him, the Bruins still took a flyer on him in the 5^th round. This past season, Jellvik showed good reason as to why the Bruins used draft capital on him after playing a full season in the J20 with Djurgårdens, with whom he posted 55 points in 41 games, finishing 7^th in points in the league. He continued his offensive performance with 9 points in 6 playoff games. Jellvik’s best attributes are his skating and puck handling abilities. His skating stride is close to textbook, with good extensions, crossovers and ankle flexion. He will be making the transition from Swedish hockey to North American hockey as he is committed to play the 2022-23 season with Boston College. As a Boston draft pick, this will allow the Bruins to keep a close eye on his performance as well as allow their development staff to work with him throughout the season. It will be intriguing to see how Jellvik fairs with this transition from the Swedish junior league to college hockey. - ZS

11 - Riley Duran

A strong skating and competitive forward, Duran was surprisingly excellent at Providence (NCAA) last year as a freshman. His performance at the recent World Junior Championships was very encouraging.

12 - Brandon Bussi

The Bruins signed the massive netminder out of Western Michigan University this offseason and he was immediately solid for Providence (AHL) after turning pro. Bussi could be a diamond in the rough for Boston as they build depth at the goaltending position post Tuukka Rask.

13 - Ryan Mast

The Sarnia Sting defender made positive strides in the OHL this past season, especially from an offensive perspective. The key for him will be to continue to improve his four-way mobility.

14 - Cole Spicer

A key depth piece on the U.S. NTDP this past season, Spicer is an intelligent playmaking pivot. He will attend the University of Minnesota-Duluth this coming year.

15 - Reid Dyck

One of our pre-draft favourites, Dyck is a highly athletic netminder with Swift Current of the WHL. He was excellent for Canada at the U18’s and should blossom as the Broncos become one of the CHL’s top teams over the next two seasons.

16 - Kai Wissmann

Fresh off an extremely impressive performance at the World Championships for Germany, the Bruins inked the 6’4, right shot defender to an NHL deal. His progression in the DEL the last few years has been rapid, and he could be one to watch.

17 - Trevor Kuntar

A competitive, power center, Kuntar had a better sophomore year with Boston College. The goal scoring center needs to continue to upgrade his quickness.

18 - Matias Mantykivi

A well rounded and intelligent playmaking forward, Mantykivi is coming off of a breakout campaign in Liiga on a strong Ilves team. If he can take another step forward this year, he will be a rapid riser in the Bruins’ system.

19 - Kyle Keyser

The former Oshawa Generals star finally broke through as a full time AHL player last season, his third as a pro. An excellent athlete in the crease, Keyser will look to show further improvement this season to stay in Boston’s long-term plans.

20 - Philip Svedeback

The Swedish netminder came to play in the USHL last year, performing well for Dubuque. Now he will take his talents to Providence (NCAA).

2021-22 TOP 15 PROSPECTS: BOSTON BRUINS – RANK: #25 – TIER V

McKeen's Hockey — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 15:10:03 +0000

Boston Bruins

#25 Boston - Can't blame the class of 2015 for this. Blame the classes of 2018-21. Bruins simply haven't drafted enough high upside players.

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 16: Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman (1) stares down a shot during a game between the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders on April 16, 2021 at TD garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)

Fabian Lysell - RW

There are many players out there with great feet and many others with great hands, but only a handful who combine speed in all limbs as well as Lysell. He is electric in transition, constantly forcing defenders back into their heels as he gains the zone with speed, His hands are soft and creative. He can change direction faster than many of his peers can skate in a straight line. Additionally, he will look to play the middle lane, not content to stick to the outside like many players of his ability and stature would. Without question, he has as much upside as any forward taken in 2021, and that is why the Bruins chose him at 21st overall.

There are certainly some perceived concerns over his selfishness on the ice and his overall awareness and ability to consistently get the best out of his skill set, one of the reasons he fell to Boston. However, he is a long-term commitment. Lysell has signed with Boston and intends to play in North America this year. Whether that is in the AHL or in the WHL with Vancouver, remains to be seen. However, if his development goes according to plan, Lysell could develop into a high-end top line forward for the Bruins. - McKeen’s Draft Guide 2021

Jeremy Swayman - G

Tuukka Rask is an unsigned free agent and recuperating from hip surgery that will keep him from playing until January or February, at the earliest. Jaroslav Halak, the practically ideal backup netminder, moved on to Vancouver as a free agent. Boston brought in Linus Ullmark through free agency, but he is no more proven as a starter at the NHL level than Swayman. Long story short, we may be looking at the new Bruins’ starting netminder right here, or at the very least, an equal share tandem goalie.

In his first professional season, Swayman was stellar at both AHL and NHL levels, pitching three shutouts in 19 combined regular season games, making a seamless adjustment after winning the Mike Richter Trophy as the top collegiate goalie the year prior. He has ideal size, moves very well, and is impressively calm in the face of a heavy opposition attack. A full season in the NHL will challenge him more than he has ever been challenged before, but he has yet to show weakness on the ice, dating back to his time at the U14 level in Anchorage, Alaska. Florida’s Spencer Knight gets all the hype for the Calder this year, but we strongly advise you not to sleep on Swayman. He could be special. - RW

John Beecher - C

There were a lot of prospects who were happy to see the end of the 2020-21 season and Beecher may have been the leader of that group. The headline disappointment was surely his being forced to miss the WJC because of a late COVID exposure that also forced his roommate, San Jose prospect Thomas Bordeleau, to miss out. Digging even a little bit deeper, we see that maybe Beecher should not have gone to the WJC anyway, COVID, or no COVID. Where he once was reasonably looked at as a unicorn, with massive size and world class skating speed, and just enough latent skill to dream on a unique top six center, through two seasons with Michigan, his offensive game has stagnated, with him not even looking like he could crest the 0.5 PPG mark.

To make matters worse, he is not putting his great size to use like he could and should. Of course, Beecher is still heavily involved in his own zone, and a future shut-down center is both possible and likely, but he simply doesn’t put any of his strength into working the puck, as he seems to be able to win far more puck battles than he does, and that he should at least make more of an effort to get involved in those puck battles in the first place. Until he adds that grit to his game, he will have a hard time reaching his projected ceiling. - RW

Jack Studnicka - C

After a very strong first pro season in Providence in 2019/20, Studnicka really put himself on the map as a considerable prospect. He was an AHL All-Star and named to the All-Rookie team. The workhorse, two-way center continued that momentum to last season, as he split the year between Boston and Providence. With the Bruins, Studnicka showed promise in a bottom six role, even killing penalties for Boston.

The best part of Studnicka’s game is his awareness at both ends of the ice and his overall IQ with the puck. A safe player, Studnicka has worked hard to improve his ability to play with pace, which includes improving his explosiveness and ability to make plays at top speed. His calling card as an NHL player will likely be his ability to kill penalties, take key faceoffs, and work as a playmaker down low to open up space for his linemates. This upcoming season, Studnicka will look to secure a 3rd or 4th line center role for the Bruins and establish himself as a full time NHL player. As he continues to improve his skating, he has a chance to play higher in the lineup and should have a long NHL career. - BO

Mason Lohrei - D

Taking a big chance in his second year of draft eligibility, Boston saw enough of Lohrei to call out his name in the second round in 2020. He had great size, and skated well enough, but the consistency was not there, and it did leave some scratching their head after the pick. This past season, the Ohio State commit showed a ton as he took massive steps forward in nearly every developmental area. As the USHL’s defenseman of the year, he would take over shifts with his plus speed, mature composure, and impressive vision in the neutral and offensive zones.

Defensively, he was near dominant as well, with tight gaps, clever use of a very lengthy stick, and the trust of his coaches to play in the most difficult of situations. He is not a very physical player, despite his size, because he allows his stick to do the heavy lifting for him. If there are concerns remaining, it is that Lohrei’s great work last year came as a 20-year-old, while most of the more talented players he faced off against were 17 and 18 years old. Our assessment of his true ceiling will depend on how he acclimates to the Big Ten this year. - RW

Jakub Lauko - C

This past season, for Jakub Lauko, was all about getting healthy and regaining his confidence as an offensive player. The speedy Czech forward missed a good chunk of his first pro season in North America (2019/20) after suffering an MCL injury at the World Juniors. However, the injury appears to be in the rear-view mirror as Lauko re-established himself as one of Boston’s top young players in 2020/21. A successful start in the Czech league was followed by an even more successful conclusion with Providence that saw him finish second in scoring for Boston’s AHL club.

For Lauko, his game is built around his ability to generate chances with his aforementioned speed and ability to play with pace. The knee injury did not slow him down one bit, and he looks every ounce of the dangerous attacker that he did previous to it. Lauko is also a dedicated two-way player who can succeed when placed in a variety of different roles. This versatility makes him a very valuable player. It is possible that he sees some action with Boston as early as this coming season and his projection is that of a high-end middle six forward. - BO

Urho Vaakanainen - D

It seems like forever ago that the Bruins selected Vaakanainen with their first-round pick because he has already played three seasons in North America. The mobile stay at home blueliner has not been terrible, splitting time between Boston and Providence, but the lack of development in his offensive game does suggest that his potential impact at the NHL level may be limited.

The 22-year-old defender has already proven that he can handle defensive assignments at the NHL level and that he can excel on the penalty kill. He takes away space well with his feet, even if he doesn’t have elite reach or size. However, he remains tentative to play with the puck and still has not yet developed the confidence to use his plus mobility to skate himself out of trouble in the defensive end. Vaakanainen is still exempt from waivers for another year, however there is a chance that he secures a third pairing role this season for Boston. Even with the Bruins bringing in Derek Forbort this offseason, the number six spot is up for grabs, and it could have Vaakanainen’s name on it. - BO

Brett Harrison - C

A big, goal scoring center, Brett Harrison is the kind of player who has a really strong understanding of how he needs to play to be successful. This is not a young man who struggles with his on-ice identity; support puck carriers, keep plays alive, and get to the front of the net so that he can use his soft hands to score. However, he also projects as a two-way center because of his anticipation and awareness. At the U18’s, Harrison may not have done himself any favors, as his lack of power and grace in his skating stride prevented him from making a consistent offensive impact. This in turn caused him to be used sparingly at even strength. As he continues to improve his explosiveness, he could reasonably develop into a solid NHL player given that his style of play and skill set should translate well to the NHL level.

A third-round selection by Boston this year, Harrison will return to play in the OHL with the Oshawa Generals this coming season, after playing sparingly in his draft year due to the OHL hiatus (he went to Finland to get ice time). Look for him to be an offensive leader for the Generals. Simply put, Harrison is a real intelligent player who is currently somewhat limited by his skating deficiencies. With some work, Harrison has a chance to be a long-time pro. - McKeen’s Draft Guide 2021

Jack Ahcan - D

Overlooked three times at the draft, once each as a high school phenom, a USHL point man, and a collegiate whiz kid with a pedigree that included a regular role for a Gold Medal winning Team USA at the WJC, Ahcan nonetheless continued to excel with St. Cloud State, finishing his time on campus third all time for points among all Huskies’ defenders. The Bruins signed him as an undrafted free agent immediately after his senior season, and he acclimated to the pro game rather well. Although Ahcan played a few games in the ECHL, he produced as an offensive defender with Providence, and played in three NHL games to boot, with over 20 minutes of ice time in two of those contests.

His lack of size will always be an issue, but the rest of his game – the things he has control over – has always held up well, without any glaring weaknesses that could hold him back. He is a solid puck mover and prone to making good decisions with the puck. He may not be an elite skater, but he has nothing to be ashamed of concerning his mobility. Ahcan will be in tough to earn a regular role on the Boston blueline this season, with a few young players higher on the Bruins’ pecking order, but if any falters, Ahcan will be one of the first guys up. - RW

Trevor Kuntar - C

Boston’s third round pick last year, Kuntar was a second-year wrecking ball across the USHL, often the only player worth watching on his moribund Youngstown side. The offense he generated with the Phantoms didn’t quite come so easily as a freshman with Boston College, although he still flashed just enough to suggest that the offense will increase over time. What stayed with Kuntar was his crash-and-bang approach, as he showed zero hesitation to get involved in the dirty areas against collegians.

The Bruins have tended towards lower upside players in the draft for many of their picks in the past few drafts, and Kuntar may be one of those, although his floor is higher than a number of others, in that there isn’t much else that we would want to see from him, outside of additional comfort at the collegiate level, before we would feel that he is ready to ascend to his rightful place in a bottom six role. He has enough skill to even double his scoring output in college, and the versatility to fill in any role asked of him. He will be loved by fans more than fantasy hockey players, but either way, he should provide positive value on an entry level deal for his team within a few years. - RW

Brady Lyle - D

Turned a strong AHL season with Providence into an ELC with Boston and is really making waves in the Bruins organization. Lyle can really shoot the puck and his instincts at both ends are sound. With another year at the AHL level, he could be pushing for a third pairing spot.

Zachary Senyshyn - RW

It seems like forever ago that the Bruins passed up on Barzal to select Senyshyn (among others). His development has not gone according to plan, but he is coming off of his best AHL season to date and earned an eight-game look with the Bruins. This is probably his final season in the organization to show that he can be an NHL player.

Oskar Steen - RW

Undersized, but strong skating center who loves to attack and push the pace. Entering his third pro season in the organization and looks like a potential bottom six forward for the Bruins within the next season or two.

Ryan Mast - D

A recent selection by the Bruins, Mast was rated highly by us in our 2021 Draft Guide, and we are sticking to our guns here. He has the potential to be a high-end defensive defender at the NHL level and will look to resume his development with Sarnia of the OHL this coming year.

Curtis Hall - C

Hall is a big (6’4, 216lbs) two-way center who just completed his first pro season with Providence after two good years at Yale. The upside may not be significant, but it is easy to see him as an NHL player in some capacity down the line.

McKeen’s Fantasy Prospects Rankings

Peter Harling — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 18:44:56 +0000

Ranking prospects can be difficult. There are many factors to consider. Adding another layer as impactful as fantasy hockey value can make a big impact on rankings.

As a fantasy GM, it can be difficult to distinguish between NHL value and fantasy value. What a NHL team values and ranks high on their depth chart, may not resonate with your needs as a fantasy GM trying to build a dynasty.

To help you rank prospects for your fantasy league, I have ranked the top 30 forwards, 20 defenders and ten goalies.

For the skaters, I only considered players under 25-years-old and with less the 50 career regular season games played. For goalies, under 25-years-old and less than 25 career games played.

There are many scoring categories in fantasy hockey, but for purposes of this list, I am only considering goals and assists, and keeper dynasty leagues.

Some of the factors that I took into consideration for the rankings include a wide range. Some examples are draft pedigree, age, production at the pro level to date (NHL, AHL, Europe) and opportunity to make the roster. The last one is a big one as I place a lot of value in two factors.

What are the players long term upside, or potential or offensive ceiling?

What is the expected arrival date for the player to break into the NHL?

I have also broken this list of the top 60 prospects up positionally as all fantasy leagues have positional requirements. Depending on your league the positional value may increase or decrease based on scoring.

For goalies, I rank them based on how soon I expect them to arrive in the NHL and score them on win expectations.

ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 10: Anaheim Ducks Left Wing Trevor Zegras (46) in action during a game against the Los Angeles Kings played on March 10, 2021 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire)

Forward Rankings

1. Cole Caufield, RW - Montreal Canadiens

The Hobey Baker Award winner made his debut in the playoffs and is the early favorite for the Calder. He will become a 50-goal scorer.

2. Trevor Zegras, C - Anaheim Ducks

The WJC MVP dominated the AHL and is ready to become the Ducks number one center.

3. Alex Newhook, C - Colorado Avalanche

Turned pro and made his NHL debut including some playoff games. He’s too good for the AHL already and will force his way into a top six role.

4. Marco Rossi, C - Minnesota Wild

A lost season to injury and sickness will be difficult to overcome. But not impossible. Look for Rossi to challenge for the first line center position out of training camp.

5. Philip Tomasino, C - Nashville Predators

Tomasino has dominated at every level he has played, OHL, WJC, AHL. He will make his NHL debut this season and could quickly earn a top six role.

6. Anton Lundell, C - Florida Panthers

Signed his ELC this summer and will be coming to North America after developing his offensive game in the Liiga. Viewd as a two-way player in his draft year he may have been underrated for fantasy purposes.

7. Nick Robertson, LW - Toronto Maple Leafs

Breaking into the Leafs top six is a tall order, but Robertson is a proven goal scorer that has earned the opportunity.

8. Quinton Byfield, C - Los Angeles Kings

Byfield still has a year of OHL eligibility, his playing options are either in the OHL or with the Kings. If the OHL played last year he would have been there but took full advantage of the opportunity in the AHL and looks NHL ready.

9. Morgan Frost, C - Philadelphia Flyers

A gifted offensive producer has done so in the AHL but has yet to translate that to the NHL. This year should be the 22-year-olds breakout season

10. Peyton Krebs, C - Vegas Golden Knights

The Knights are thin down the middle opening the door wide for Krebs to step into the number one pivot role. He may need one more year of seasoning.

11. Matt Boldy, LW - Minnesota Wild

After a solid sophomore season and outstanding WJC, Boldy signed his ELC and produced over a point-per-game in the AHL. The Wild could have multiple Calder candidates.

12. Dylan Cozens, C/RW - Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres may not have a good track record of developing prospects but Cozens already has 41 games of NHL experience and will be a top six player for a long time.

13. Alex Turcotte, C - Los Angeles Kings

A full season of pro hockey in the AHL, but has yet to play a NHL game. The Kings are taking their time in developing Turcotte which will pay off in the long run.

14. Lucas Raymond, LW - Detroit Red Wings

The Wings fourth overall pick is coming to North America but knowing how the Wings like to over ripen players, look for Raymond to spend a full season in the AHL before he is inserted into the first line.

15. Eeli Tolvanen, LW - Nashville Predators

The expectations for Tolvanen have gone up and down, and the Preds have been patient. Now is the time for the sniper to show offensive consistency.

16. Grigori Denisenko, LW - Florida Panthers

Split time between the NHL and AHL in his first season in North America, and may require a little more development in the AHL

17. Connor McMichael, C - Washington Capitals

Benefited from the Pandemic cancelling the OHL, which allowed him to play in the AHL where he showed he was ready for the next level.

18. Alexander Holtz, RW - New Jersey Devils

Goal scoring winger will require more seasoning before he is NHL ready but riding shotgun for either Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier has a lot of upside potential.

19. Cole Perfetti, C - Winnipeg Jets

Saw action in the AHL, WJC and World Championship. Where will he play next year? His options are back to the OHL or make the jump to the NHL. He may be a year or two away, but “Goal” Perfetti will have an impact when he arrives.

20. Barrett Hayton, LW - Arizona Coyotes

Hayton has bounced between the AHL, NHL and even Liiga in the past two years, not to mention some international tournament play as well. Wherever he plays, AHL or NHL next year, it would be good for his development to play on one team and get a big role.

21. Samuel Poulin, LW - Pittsburgh Penguins

Almost made the cut last year but was returned to junior as the QMJHL was open for business. Poulin will turn pro next year, and the Penguins desperately need some youth.

22. Seth Jarvis, C Carolina Hurricanes

Jarvis began the year in the AHL and was doing great. Then the WHL resumed play and he was returned and will likely payout his final season in the WHL before returning to pro full time.

23. Vitali Kravtsov, RW - New York Rangers

Bouncing back-and-forth from Russia to North America is cause for concern, but Kravtsov rebound nicely in the KHL. Expectations are he is an NHL player now but will need to produce to hold that position.

24. Vasili Podkolzin, RW - Vancouver Canucks

Canucks fans are excited for the Russian winger, but this may be a case where his NHL value exceeds his fantasy value.

25. Joe Veleno, C - Detroit Red Wings

The wings are developing Veleno slowly but steadily. The big question is what will his upside be? Is he a good second line center, or a great third line guy?

26. Arthur Kaliyev, LW - Los Angeles Kings

Arguably a boom or bust fantasy player. Kaliyev is a goal scorer, and a very good one. But he needs to score to contribute and make the NHL.

27. Alex Barre-Boulet, C- Tampa Bay Lightning

With the two-time Stanley Cup Champions forced to make some offseason roster moves for salary cap compliance, Barre-Boulet could be the benefactor of a vacated top six position.

28. Ryan Poehling, LW - Montreal Canadiens

After his incredible NHL debut, Poehling has been developing in the AHL and is close to NHL ready. Don’t count on too many more three goal games, but his AHL time is coming to an end.

29. Jack Studnicka, C - Boston Bruins

Studnicka played in 20 regular season games with the Bruins and if the Bruins lose David Krejci in the offseason look for Studnicka to fill the void.

30. Riley Damiani, C - Dallas Stars

Wrapping up the top 30 with a sleeper. Damiani had a monster AHL rookie season with 36 points in as many games and was named the AHL Rookie of The Year. He has some players to leap over to get an NHL roster spot, but Don’t think he can’t do just that.

SAN JOSE, CA - APRIL 14: Anaheim Ducks Defenceman Jamie Drysdale (34) skates with the puck during the NHL hockey game between the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks on April 14, 2021 at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA. (Photo by Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire)

Defense Rankings

Jamie Drysdale - Anaheim Ducks

Made the NHL out of his draft year and is poised to take the reigns as the Ducks top defender. He could be a Calder candidate

2. Evan Bouchard - Edmonton Oilers

Bouchard could be lethal on the power play with McDavid and Draisaitl. Barrie signed until 2024, but the Oilers will be looking to Bouchard to quarterback their powerplay in the future.

3. Bowen Byram - Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche have a deep blueline, but Byram has number one defender upside. Look for Byram and Makar to be 1A and 1B

4. Moritz Seider - Detroit Red Wings

Seider is making GM Steve Yzerman look pretty good for drafting him when he did. There was some surprise the draft floor when his name was called sixth overall.

5. Jake Bean - Columbus Blue Jackets

His 44 NHL games played is almost enough to disqualify him from the list, almost. Now in a new home in Columbus and new opportunity.

6. Scott Perunovich - St. Louis Blues

Perunovich lost the season to injury, but at this time last year I was predicting him to make the Blues to start the season and end it as a top four player and PP quarterback.

7. Rasmus Sandin - Toronto Maple Leafs

With three Leaf defenders making over $5 million, there is only one opening for a top four in Toronto. Sandin is poised to secure that job

8. Nils Lundkvist - New York Rangers

The exile of Anthony DeAngelo opened the door for Lundkvist. After leading the SHL in defense scoring and being named the top defender in the SHL, it is time for him to debut on Broadway.

9. Caled Addison - Minnesota Wild

Addison had a great rookie year in the AHL posting 22 points. Look for the Wild to embrace their youth next year and Addison will be in their mix with Rossi and Boldy.

10. Cam York - Philadelphia Flyers

York has been a dominant player for USA and at the NCAA level with Michigan. He is ready to take his game to the pro level and should dominate for a season in the AHL before making an impact in the NHL.

11. Victor Soderstrom - Arizona Coyotes

Soderstrom played all over the map last year, seeing games in Allsvenksen, the WJC, AHL and making his NHL debut. The departure of OEL opens the door for Soderstrom and Chychrun to inherit the top pairing duties

12. Pierre-Olivier Joseph - Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins will soon need to turn to their young players as the Crosby-Malkin era winds down. Joseph is by far their top prospect in defense

13. Ryan Merkley - San Jose Sharks

The former first overall OHL Draft pick has tremendous fantasy and offensive upside. The concern is he could be more like other recent OHL grads Sean Day due to poor defensive decision making, or Tony DeAngelo with off ice problems. A boom-or-bust prospect.

14. Thomas Harley - Dallas Stars

The Ryan Suter signing will block Harley out of the top four for now, but he will play his way into it in a year or two.

15. Conor Timmins - Arizona Coyotes

After losing a development season in 2018-19 to injury, he was surpassed on the Av’s depth chart by Cale Makar and Bowen Byram. A fresh start on a rebuilding team with less roster blockers increases his fantasy value tremendously.

16. Jake Sanderson - Ottawa Senators

One of the biggest 2020 draft risers, Sanderson fantasy stock has cooled off during his freshman season in the NCAA where he scored two goals and 15 points in 22 games at the University of North Dakota. It was a solid freshman season, but his sophomore year should be more impressive.

17. Ville Heinola - Winnipeg Jets

Heinola has spent the past two years bouncing between the NHL, the AHL, the WJC and Liiga. Odds are he is a full time Jet this year competing for top four minutes

18. Alex Alexeyev - Washington Capitals

The big Russian defenseman has spent the past five years in North America (minus 55 KHL games due to COVID). He may have one more year of AHL development ahead of him, but like the Penguins, the Caps will be looking to some of the kids to make an impact soon.

19. Braden Schneider - New York Rangers

It was a great season for Schneider producing over a point-per-game in his final junior campaign, he was impressive for Canada at the WJC and made the Men’s World Championship Team Canada as well. A full AHL season is likely next before he breaks the Rangers roster.

20. Wyatt Kalynuk - Chicago Blackhawks

Seth Jones will get all the minutes he can handle as the Hawks top defender, but don’t sleep on Kalynuk who posted nine points in 21 games with the Hawks last year, and another ten in only eight AHL games. He’s a player.

Goalie Rankings

1. Spencer Knight - Florida Panthers

After a dominant NCAA sophomore season highlighted with a Team USA WJC Gold Medal, and a Hobey Baker nomination, Knight made his NHL debut and was getting playoff starts over Bobrovsky. It’s simply a matter of time (immediately or next season) before he is an NHL All-Star

2. Yaroslav Askarov - Nashville Predators

Pump the brakes if you think the Pekka Rinne retirement means Askarov instantly becomes a NHL starting goalie. He needs more development time for that, but it will happen soon enough.

3. Cayden Primeau - Montreal Canadiens

One could argue that a large part of why Montreal chose to expose Carey Price and his contract in the expansion draft is because they know what they have coming down the pipe with Cayden Primeau. That is the next franchise goalie.

4. Justus Annunen - Colorado Avalanche

With both Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francouz in the final years of their contracts, Annunen could inherit the crease to a Stanley Cup contending team if he has a strong full season in the AHL. His resume to-date suggests this is highly probable.

5. Jeremy Swayman - Boston Bruins

Swayman fantasy hockey stock is soaring after his sparkling NHL debut posting a 7-3-0 record with a 1.5 GAA and .945 SV%. The fact that the future of Tuukka Rask is in limbo doesn’t hurt either.

6. Pyotr Kochetkov - Carolina Hurricanes

The Canes crease had a complete makeover this summer with the additions of Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta on two-year contracts. This buys the 22-year-old Kochetkov some extra development time before he becomes the team’s starting goalie.

7. Lukas Dostal - Anaheim Ducks

The 2020 Liiga Best Goalie Award winner was too dominant in the Liiga and when the AHL resumed, he was brought over to North America. He quickly became the Gulls top goalie. The 21-year-old should get a full season of development in the AHL with John Gibson as the Ducks starting goalie, for now.

8. Daniil Tarasov - Columbus Blue Jackets

The 6-5 Russian goalie has posted impressive stats in the Liiga and the KHL before making his AHL debut last season. His 4-2 record in the AHL was a good indication that he can play in North America as well.

9. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen - Buffalo Sabres

At the time this was written, the Buffalo goalies under contract are Craig Anderson and Aaron Dell. One can only assume they will add a legit starting goalie, or they are chasing the Shane Wright lottery. Either way, don’t expect to see much of UPL in the crease this season as he would be best served playing top minutes in the AHL

10. Joel Hofer - St. Louis Blues

The Blues have invested for a long time with Binnington in the crease. This gives Hofer all the time he needs to develop in the AHL.

McKeen’s 2020-21 Hockey Yearbook: Top 300 Prospect Rankings

McKeen's Hockey — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 17:09:56 +0000

These are our final prospect ranking prior to the start of the season. As a subscriber you can download the list in an excel chart and can link to the player pages in the chart found here. As always, the rankings you see below are based on our 20-80 scouting system looking at five categories for skaters (Skating, Shot, Puck Skills, Hockey Smarts, Physicality) and six for netminders (Athleticism/Quickness/Speed, Compete/Temperament, Vision/Play Reading, Technique/Style, Rebound Control, Puck Handling). Our prospect team spent large portions of their last few months pre-COVID in the rinks, watching the players below and many others, and further work on video (Instat Hockey has been a terrific resource in recent days) before passing judgement on their future projections.

The 20-80 scouting system is meant to allow players from different leagues in different parts of the world to be compared to one another, such that grades on a player in the OHL can be directly compared to grades from an AHL player, and to grades of someone playing in the MHL.

PROSPECT CRITERIA

Players under 26 years of age as of the September 15th prior (Sep. 15, 1994) to the season in question who have appeared in less than 60 NHL games (30 for goalies) and less than 35 in any one season – or 25 last year (20 for goalies, 15 last season) are considered prospects

RANK	PLAYER	NHL	POS	AGE	HT/WT	ACQUIRED
1	Alexis Lafreniere	NYR	LW	19	6-1/195	`20(1st)
2	Tim Stutzle	Ott	C	18	6-1/185	`20(3rd)
3	Quinton Byfield	LA	C	18	6-4/215	`20(2nd)
4	Trevor Zegras	Ana	C	19	6-0/170	`19(9th)
5	Kirill Kaprizov	Min	LW	23	5-10/200	`15(135th)
6	Lucas Raymond	Det	LW	18	5-11/170	`20(4th)
7	Dylan Cozens	Buf	C	19	6-3/185	`19(7th)
8	Bowen Byram	Col	D	19	6-0/195	`19(4th)
9	Peyton Krebs	VGK	C	19	5-11/180	`19(17th)
10	Jake Sanderson	Ott	D	18	6-1/185	`20(5th)
11	Moritz Seider	Det	D	19	6-3/185	`19(6th)
12	Jamie Drysdale	Ana	D	18	5-11/175	`20(6th)
13	Igor Shesterkin	NYR	G	25	6-1/190	`14(118th)
14	Alexander Holtz	NJ	RW	18	6-0/190	`20(7th)
15	Cole Perfetti	Wpg	LW	19	5-10/180	`20(10th)
16	Marco Rossi	Min	C	19	5-9/185	`20(9th)
17	Vasili Podkolzin	Van	RW	19	6-1/190	`19(10th)
18	Victor Soderstrom	Ari	D	19	5-11/180	`19(11th)
19	Nick Robertson	Tor	LW	19	5-9/160	`19(53rd)
20	Cole Caufield	Mtl	RW	19	5-7/165	`19(15th)
21	Yaroslav Askarov	Nsh	G	18	6-3/175	`20(11th)
22	Spencer Knight	Fla	G	19	6-3/195	`19(13th)
23	Philip Broberg	Edm	D	19	6-3/200	`19(8th)
24	Jack Quinn	Buf	RW	19	6-0/180	`20(8th)
25	Matthew Boldy	Min	LW	19	6-1/190	`19(12th)
26	Nils Lundkvist	NYR	D	20	5-11/180	`18(28th)
27	Seth Jarvis	Car	RW	18	5-10/175	`20(13th)
28	Ty Smith	NJ	D	20	5-10/180	`18(17th)
29	Grigori Denisenko	Fla	LW	20	5-11/185	`18(15th)
30	Barrett Hayton	Ari	C	20	6-1/190	`18(5th)
31	Alex Newhook	Col	C	19	5-10/195	`19(16th)
32	Thomas Harley	Dal	D	19	6-3/190	`19(18th)
33	Alex Turcotte	LA	C	19	5-11/185	`19(5th)
34	Vitali Kravtsov	NYR	RW	21	6-3/185	`18(9th)
35	Philip Tomasino	Nsh	C	19	5-11/180	`19(24th)
36	Connor McMichael	Wsh	C	19	5-11/175	`19(25th)
37	Dawson Mercer	NJ	C	19	6-0/180	`20(18th)
38	Ilya Sorokin	NYI	G	25	6-2/180	`14(78th)
39	Gabriel Vilardi	LA	RW	21	6-3/200	`17(11th)
40	Ryan Merkley	SJ	D	20	5-11/170	`18(21st)
41	Alexander Romanov	Mtl	D	20	5-11/185	`18(38th)
42	Kaiden Guhle	Mtl	D	18	6-2/190	`20(16th)
43	Samuel Poulin	Pit	LW	19	6-1/205	`19(21st)
44	K'Andre Miller	NYR	D	20	6-3/205	`18(22nd)
45	Scott Perunovich	StL	D	22	5-10/175	`18(45th)
46	Evan Bouchard	Edm	D	21	6-2/195	`18(10th)
47	Braden Schneider	NYR	D	19	6-2/200	`20(19th)
48	Juuso Valimaki	Cgy	D	22	6-2/205	`17(16th)
49	Cam York	Phi	D	19	5-11/175	`19(14th)
50	Anton Lundell	Fla	C	19	6-1/185	`20(12th)
51	Morgan Frost	Phi	C	21	5-11/180	`17(27th)
52	Owen Tippett	Fla	RW	21	6-1/200	`17(10th)
53	Albert Johansson	Det	D	19	5-11/165	`19(60th)
54	Liam Foudy	CBJ	C	20	6-0/175	`18(18th)
55	Kieffer Bellows	NYI	LW	22	6-0/200	`16(19th)
56	Arthur Kaliyev	LA	RW	19	6-2/190	`19(33rd)
57	Oliver Wahlstrom	NYI	RW	20	6-1/205	`18(11th)
58	Nils Hoglander	Van	RW	20	5-9/185	`19(40th)
59	Matias Maccelli	Ari	LW	20	5-11/170	`19(98th)
60	Tobias Bjornfot	LA	D	19	6-0/200	`19(22nd)
61	Jacob Bernard-Docker	Ott	D	20	6-0/180	`18(26th)
62	Connor Zary	Cgy	C	19	6-0/180	`20(24th)
63	Dominik Bokk	Car	RW	20	6-1/180	T(StL-9/19)
64	Ryan Suzuki	Car	C	19	6-0/180	`19(28th)
65	Dylan Samberg	Wpg	D	21	6-3/190	`17(43rd)
66	Jake Bean	Car	D	22	6-1/175	`16(13th)
67	Josh Norris	Ott	C	21	6-1/195	T(SJ-9/18)
68	Rasmus Kupari	LA	C	20	6-1/185	`18(20th)
69	Jakob Pelletier	Cgy	LW	19	5-9/165	`19(26th)
70	Drake Batherson	Ott	RW	22	6-1/190	`17(121st)
71	Jan Jenik	Ari	RW	20	6-1/180	`18(65th)
72	John-Jason Peterka	Buf	LW	18	5-11/190	`20(34th)
73	Kirill Marchenko	CBJ	LW	20	6-3/190	`18(49th)
74	Bode Wilde	NYI	D	20	6-2/195	`18(41st)
75	John Beecher	Bos	C	19	6-3/210	`19(30th)
76	Tyler Madden	LA	C	21	5-10/155	T(Van-2/20)
77	Jack Studnicka	Bos	C	21	6-1/170	`17(53rd)
78	Jake Oettinger	Dal	G	22	6-4/210	`17(26th)
79	Alex Formenton	Ott	LW	21	6-2/165	`17(47th)
80	Matthew Robertson	NYR	D	19	6-3/200	`19(49th)
81	Calen Addison	Min	D	20	5-10/180	T(Pit-2/20)
82	Ty Dellandrea	Dal	C	20	6-0/185	`18(13th)
83	Akil Thomas	LA	C	20	5-11/170	`18(51st)
84	Mavrik Bourque	Dal	C	18	5-10/180	`20(30th)
85	Ian Mitchell	Chi	D	21	5-11/175	`17(57th)
86	Jason Robertson	Dal	LW	21	6-2/195	`17(39th)
87	Hendrix Lapierre	Wsh	C	18	5-11/180	`20(22nd)
88	Brendan Brisson	VGK	C	19	5-11/180	`20(29th)
89	Theodor Niederbach	Det	C	18	5-11/175	`20(51st)
90	Zac Jones	NYR	D	20	5-10/175	`19(68th)
91	Robert Mastrosimone	Det	LW	19	5-10/160	`19(54th)
92	Joe Veleno	Det	C	20	6-1/195	`18(30th)
93	Rodion Amirov	Tor	LW	19	6-0/170	`20(15th)
94	Jake Neighbours	StL	LW	18	5-11/195	`20(26th)
95	Julien Gauthier	NYR	RW	23	6-4/225	T(Car-2/20)
96	Justus Annunen	Col	G	20	6-4/215	`18(64th)
97	Egor Zamula	Phi	D	20	6-4/175	FA(9/18)
98	Shane Pinto	Ott	C	20	6-2/190	`19(32nd)
99	Noel Gunler	Car	RW	19	6-2/175	`20(41st)
100	Ridly Greig	Ott	C	18	5-11/165	`20(28th)
101	Jesse Ylonen	Mtl	RW	21	6-1/185	`18(35th)
102	Samuel Fagemo	LA	RW	20	6-0/195	`19(50th)
103	Mattias Norlinder	Mtl	D	20	5-11/180	`19(64th)
104	Olli Juolevi	Van	D	22	6-3/200	`16(5th)
105	Kristian Vesalainen	Wpg	LW	21	6-3/205	`17(24th)
106	Raphael Lavoie	Edm	RW	20	6-4/195	`19(38th)
107	Jan Mysak	Mtl	C	18	5-11/180	`20(49th)
108	Cayden Primeau	Mtl	G	21	6-3/180	`17(199th)
109	Pavel Dorofeyev	VGK	LW	20	6-1/170	`19(79th)
110	Morgan Barron	NYR	C	22	6-2/200	`17(174th)
111	Ville Heinola	Wpg	D	19	5-11/180	`19(20th)
112	Dylan Holloway	Edm	C	19	6-0/205	`20(14th)
113	Jack Dugan	VGK	RW	22	6-2/185	`17(142nd)
114	Alexander Khovanov	Min	C	20	5-11/195	`18(86th)
115	Jacob Perreault	Ana	RW	18	5-11/195	`20(27th)
116	Jake Evans	Mtl	C	24	6-0/185	`14(207th)
117	Adam Beckman	Min	LW	19	6-1/170	`19(75th)
118	Jett Woo	Van	D	20	6-0/205	`18(37th)
119	Nolan Foote	NJ	LW	20	6-3/190	T(TB-2/20)
120	Logan Brown	Ott	C	22	6-6/220	`16(11th)
121	Martin Kaut	Col	RW	21	6-1/175	`18(16th)
122	Jack Rathbone	Van	D	21	5-10/175	`17(95th)
123	Ozzy Wiesblatt	SJ	RW	18	5-10/185	`20(31st)
124	Ryan O'Rourke	Min	D	18	6-0/180	`20(39th)
125	Lukas Reichel	Chi	LW	18	6-0/170	`20(17th)
126	Jordan Harris	Mtl	D	20	5-11/180	`18(71st)
127	Lukas Dostal	Ana	G	20	6-1/170	`18(85th)
128	Egor Afanasyev	Nsh	RW	19	6-3/205	`19(45th)
129	Conor Timmins	Col	D	22	6-1/185	`17(32nd)
130	Lassi Thomson	Ott	D	20	6-0/190	`19(19th)
131	Eeli Tolvanen	Nsh	RW	21	5-10/175	`17(30th)
132	Kasper Simontaival	LA	RW	18	5-9/180	`20(66th)
133	Roni Hirvonen	Tor	C	18	5-9/165	`20(59th)
134	Thomas Bordeleau	SJ	C	18	5-9/180	`20(38th)
135	Benoit-Olivier Groulx	Ana	C	20	6-1/195	`18(54th)
136	Tyler Kleven	Ott	D	18	6-4/200	`20(44th)
137	Tyson Foerster	Phi	C	18	6-1/195	`20(23rd)
138	Helge Grans	LA	D	18	6-2/205	`20(35th)
139	Jonathan Dahlen	SJ	LW	23	5-11/185	T(Van-2/19)
140	Marat Khusnutdinov	Min	C	18	5-11/175	`20(37th)
141	Alexander Alexeyev	Wsh	D	21	6-3/200	`18(31st)
142	Pierre-Olivier Joseph	Pit	D	21	6-2/170	`17(23rd)
143	Topi Niemela	Tor	D	18	5-10/160	`20(64th)
144	Oskari Laaksonen	Buf	D	21	6-2/165	`17(89th)
145	Filip Hallander	Tor	LW	20	6-1/185	T(Pit-8/20)
146	Serron Noel	Fla	RW	20	6-5/205	`18(34th)
147	Martin Chromiak	LA	LW	18	6-0/185	`20(128th)
148	Shakir Mukhamadullin	NJ	D	18	6-3/180	`20(20th)
149	Mattias Samuelsson	Buf	D	20	6-3/215	`18(32nd)
150	Janne Kuokkanen	NJ	LW	22	6-1/190	T(Car-2/20)
151	Ryan Johnson	Buf	D	19	6-0/175	`19(31st)
152	Sean Farrell	Mtl	C	19	5-8/175	`20(124th)
153	Martin Fehervary	Wsh	D	21	6-1/190	`18(46th)
154	Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen	Buf	G	21	6-4/195	`17(54th)
155	Will Lockwood	Van	RW	22	5-11/175	`16(64th)
156	Isac Lundestrom	Ana	C	21	6-0/185	`18(23rd)
157	Michael DiPietro	Van	G	21	6-0/195	`17(64th)
158	Jonatan Berggren	Det	RW	20	5-10/185	`18(33rd)
159	Kevin Bahl	NJ	D	20	6-6/230	T(Ari-12/19)
160	Aliaksei Protas	Wsh	C	19	6-5/205	`19(91st)
161	Reilly Walsh	NJ	D	21	5-11/180	`17(81st)
162	Nick Abruzzese	Tor	C	21	5-9/160	`19(124th)
163	Tyler Tucker	StL	D	20	6-1/205	`18(200th)
164	Arseni Gritsyuk	NJ	RW	19	5-10/170	`19(129th)
165	Klim Kostin	StL	C	21	6-3/195	`17(31st)
166	Brayden Tracey	Ana	LW	19	6-0/175	`19(29th)
167	Joel Hofer	StL	G	20	6-3/160	`18(107th)
168	Joey Anderson	Tor	RW	22	6-0/195	T(NJ-10/20)
169	Yegor Spiridonov	SJ	C	19	6-2/195	`19(108th)
170	Sam Colangelo	Ana	RW	19	6-1/205	`20(36th)
171	Joey Keane	Car	D	21	6-0/185	T(NYR-2/20)
172	Jared McIsaac	Det	D	20	6-1/195	`18(36th)
173	Jamieson Rees	Car	C	19	5-10/175	`19(44th)
174	Ivan Morozov	VGK	C	20	6-1/180	`18(61st)
175	Rem Pitlick	Nsh	C	23	5-11/200	`16(76th)
176	Tyce Thompson	NJ	RW	21	6-0/170	`19(96th)
177	Michael McLeod	NJ	C	22	6-2/195	`16(12th)
178	Jaret Anderson-Dolan	LA	C	21	5-11/190	`17(41st)
179	Dustin Wolf	Cgy	G	19	6-0/165	`19(214th)
180	Antti Tuomisto	Det	D	19	6-4/190	`19(35th)
181	Brett Berard	NYR	LW	18	5-9/155	`20(134th)
182	Luke Evangelista	Nsh	RW	18	5-11/170	`20(42nd)
183	Joel Blomqvist	Pit	G	18	6-1/180	`20(52nd)
184	Joni Ikonen	Mtl	C	21	5-10/170	`17(58th)
185	Olivier Rodrigue	Edm	G	20	6-1/165	`18(62nd)
186	Lucas Elvenes	VGK	RW	21	6-0/175	`17(127th)
187	Anthony Angello	Pit	RW	24	6-5/205	`14(145th)
188	Tuukka Tieksola	Car	RW	19	5-10/160	`19(121st)
189	Declan Chisholm	Wpg	D	20	6-1/190	`18(150th)
190	Cole Koepke	TB	LW	22	6-1/195	`18(183rd)
191	Valtteri Puustinen	Pit	RW	21	5-9/185	`19(203rd)
192	Ty Smilanic	Fla	C	18	6-1/175	`20(74th)
193	Patrik Puistola	Car	LW	19	6-0/175	`19(73rd)
194	Justin Barron	Col	D	19	6-2/190	`20(25th)
195	Andrew Peeke	CBJ	D	22	6-3/210	`16(34th)
196	Michael Vukojevic	NJ	D	19	6-3/210	`19(82nd)
197	Alec Regula	Chi	D	20	6-3/200	T(Det-10/19)
198	Connor Corcoran	VGK	D	20	6-1/185	`18(154th)
199	Jeremy Swayman	Bos	G	22	6-1/190	`17(111th)
200	Pyotr Kochetkov	Car	G	21	6-1/175	`19(36th)
201	Mikey Anderson	LA	D	21	6-0/195	`17(103rd)
202	Carter Savoie	Edm	LW	18	5-9/190	`20(100th)
203	Samuel Walker	TB	C	21	5-11/160	`17(200th)
204	William Wallinder	Det	D	18	6-4/190	`20(32nd)
205	Jack Drury	Car	C	20	5-11/180	`18(42nd)
206	Emil Andrae	Phi	D	18	5-9/185	`20(54th)
207	Cal Petersen	LA	G	26	6-3/190	FA(7/17)
208	Jeremie Poirier	Cgy	D	18	6-0/200	`20(72nd)
209	Tarmo Reunanen	NYR	D	22	6-0/180	`16(98th)
210	Simon Holmstrom	NYI	RW	19	6-1/185	`19(23rd)
211	Aleksi Saarela	Fla	RW	23	5-11/200	T(Chi-10/19)
212	Anton Johannesson	Wpg	D	18	5-9/155	`20(133rd)
213	Lauri Pajuniemi	NYR	RW	21	6-0/185	`18(132nd)
214	Morgan Geekie	Car	C	22	6-2/180	`17(67th)
215	Shane Bowers	Col	C	21	6-2/190	T(Ott-11/17)
216	Sasha Chmelevski	SJ	C	21	5-11/190	`17(185th)
217	Ruslan Iskhakov	NYI	C	20	5-8/155	`18(43rd)
218	Cole Schwindt	Fla	RW	19	6-2/185	`19(81st)
219	Hugo Alnefelt	TB	G	19	6-3/195	`19(71st)
220	Nikita Okhotyuk	NJ	D	20	6-1/195	`19(61st)
221	Sampo Ranta	Col	LW	20	6-2/205	`18(78th)
222	Alexander Volkov	TB	LW	23	6-1/190	`17(48th)
223	Alexander True	SJ	C	23	6-5/205	FA(7/18)
224	John Leonard	SJ	C	22	5-11/190	`18(182nd)
225	Carl Grundstrom	LA	LW	23	6-0/195	T(Tor-1/19)
226	Dmitri Semykin	TB	D	20	6-3/200	`18(90th)
227	Cal Foote	TB	D	22	6-4/215	`17(14th)
228	Jean-Luc Foudy	Col	C	18	5-11/175	`20(75th)
229	Alex Barre-Boulet	TB	C	23	5-10/165	FA(3/18)
230	Tristen Robins	SJ	RW	19	5-10/175	`20(56th)
231	Max Gildon	Fla	D	21	6-3/190	`17(66th)
232	Nikita Alexandrov	StL	C	20	6-0/180	`19(62nd)
233	Michael Benning	Fla	D	18	5-9/180	`20(95th)
234	Justin Sourdif	Fla	RW	18	5-11/175	`20(87th)
235	Tanner Laczynski	Phi	C	23	6-1/200	`16(169th)
236	Eamon Powell	TB	D	18	5-11/165	`20(116th)
237	Kaedan Korczak	VGK	D	19	6-3/190	`19(41st)
238	Drew Commesso	Chi	G	18	6-1/180	`20(47th)
239	Nikolai Kovalenko	Col	RW	21	5-10/175	`18(171st)
240	Pius Suter	Chi	C	24	5-11/170	FA(7/20)
241	Wade Allison	Phi	RW	23	6-2/205	`16(52nd)
242	Bobby Brink	Phi	RW	19	5-10/165	`19(34th)
243	Lukas Cormier	VGK	D	18	5-10/180	`20(68th)
244	David Farrance	Nsh	D	21	5-11/190	`17(92nd)
245	Roby Jarventie	Ott	RW	18	6-2/185	`20(33rd)
246	Dmitri Voronkov	CBJ	LW	20	6-4/190	`19(114th)
247	German Rubtsov	Phi	C	22	6-2/190	`16(22nd)
248	Vitaly Abramov	Ott	RW	22	5-9/175	T(CBJ-2/19)
249	Alex Laferriere	LA	RW	19	6-0/175	`20(83rd)
250	Trey Fix-Wolansky	CBJ	RW	21	5-8/185	`18(204th)
251	Isaac Ratcliffe	Phi	LW	21	6-5/200	`17(35th)
252	Kale Clague	LA	D	22	6-0/180	`16(51st)
253	Landon Slaggert	Chi	LW	18	5-11/180	`20(79th)
254	Wyatt Kalynuk	Chi	D	23	6-1/180	FA(7/20)
255	Mikko Kokkonen	Tor	D	19	5-11/200	`19(84th)
256	Kevin Mandolese	Ott	G	20	6-4/180	`18(157th)
257	Daniil Tarasov	CBJ	G	21	6-5/185	`17(86th)
258	Evan Barratt	Chi	C	21	6-0/190	`17(90th)
259	Tyler Benson	Edm	LW	22	6-0/200	`16(32nd)
260	Yegor Korshkov	Tor	RW	24	6-4/215	`16(31st)
261	Hunter Skinner	NYR	D	19	6-2/175	`19(112th)
262	Riley Damiani	Dal	C	20	5-9/165	`18(137th)
263	Ryan McLeod	Edm	C	21	6-2/205	`18(40th)
264	Ilya Konovalov	Edm	G	22	6-0/195	`19(85th)
265	Will Cuylle	NYR	LW	18	6-3/205	`20(60th)
266	Evan Vierling	NYR	C	18	6-0/165	`20(127th)
267	Emil Heineman	Fla	LW	19	6-0/180	`20(43rd)
268	Zayde Wisdom	Phi	RW	18	5-10/195	`20(94th)
269	Hunter Jones	Min	G	20	6-4/195	`19(59th)
270	Ty Tullio	Edm	RW	18	5-10/165	`20(126th)
271	Jordan Spence	LA	D	19	5-10/165	`19(95th)
272	Dmitri Zavgorodny	Cgy	LW	20	5-9/175	`18(198th)
273	Alex Beaucage	Col	RW	19	6-1/195	`19(78th)
274	Matiss Kivlenieks	CBJ	G	24	6-2/190	FA(5/17)
275	Artyom Zub	Ott	D	25	6-2/200	FA(5/20)
276	Urho Vaakanainen	Bos	D	22	6-0/185	`17(18th)
277	Dmitri Samorukov	Edm	D	21	6-2/180	`17(84th)
278	Michal Teply	Chi	LW	19	6-3/185	`19(105th)
279	Colby Ambrosio	Col	C	18	5-8/170	`20(118th)
280	Mads Sogaard	Ott	G	20	6-7/195	`19(37th)
281	Jeremy Lauzon	Bos	D	23	6-3/205	`15(52nd)
282	Dennis Gilbert	Col	D	24	6-2/200	T(Chi-10/20)
283	Trent Frederic	Bos	C	22	6-4/215	`16(29th)
284	Lucas Carlsson	Chi	D	23	6-0/190	`16(110th)
285	Zack Macewen	Van	RW	24	6-3/205	FA(3/17)
286	Brandon Hagel	Chi	LW	22	6-1/175	FA(10/18)
287	Vasily Ponomarev	Car	C	18	5-10/180	`20(53rd)
288	Jakub Zboril	Bos	D	23	6-1/200	`15(13th)
289	Garrett Pilon	Wsh	RW	22	5-11/190	`16(87th)
290	Jeremy Bracco	Car	RW	23	5-9/180	FA(10/20)
291	Dylan Sikura	VGK	RW	25	6-0/170	T(Chi-9/20)
292	Kyle Capobianco	Ari	D	23	6-1/180	`15(63rd)
293	Sami Niku	Wpg	D	24	6-0/175	`15(198th)
294	John Farinacci	Ari	C	19	5-11/185	`19(76th)
295	Jackson Lacombe	Ana	D	19	6-1/170	`19(39th)
296	David Cotton	Car	LW	23	6-3/205	`15(169th)
297	Erik Portillo	Buf	G	20	6-6/210	`19(67th)
298	Jacob Truscott	Van	D	18	6-1/170	`20(144th)
299	Mikhail Berdin	Wpg	G	22	6-2/165	`16(157th)
300	Cam Hillis	Mtl	C	20	5-10/170	`18(66th)

2020-21 McKeen’s Hockey Yearbook: Boston Bruins Top 20 Prospects

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 12:14:38 +0000

Boston Bruins

McKeen's Top 20 Boston Bruin prospects for the 2020-21 season. You can read an organizational assessment prior to the draft in Ryan Wagman's article found here. Following the draft we provided a review on each teams performance based on our rankings found here.

John Beecher, C (30^th overall, 2019. Previous ranking: 1)

In Beecher, the Bruins see a player with all of the components to his game, and the physical tools, to grow into a world class third line center. Starting with the physical gifts, he is a bear of a young man, standing a burly 6-3”, and he skates like the wind. He is remarkably graceful for his stature, and when he goes to the net (which he does regularly) he has been near impossible to stop at the collegiate or WJC levels. Despite his moderate numbers, there is still reason to expect more to come. He played a more central role as a freshman with Michigan, where he was the fourth most productive forward, than he did with the USNTDP. His hands are quick and capable of the occasional surprising deke. He uses his elite reach well on both sides of the puck and has demonstrated a knack for creatively setting up his linemates for scoring chances. Beecher also takes full advantage of his imposing size, and at his best, can dominate any given shift. He just needs to start doing it more often. - RW

Jack Studnicka, C (53^rd overall, 2017. Previous ranking: 2)

It comes as absolutely no surprise that Studnicka should be around the top of this list. After making his NHL playoff debut this past season with the Bruins, he seemed to hardly be phased by the level and speed of the game and instead rose up to the challenge. Studnicka is a highly adaptable, fast, and naturally gifted hockey player. His ceiling is very high, and he has not come close to peaking yet. His biggest asset is his speed, both with and without the puck, although he is still a little lightweight and weak on the puck. His goal for next season will be added strength to help him win physical battles more often. After leading AHL Providence in points, Studnicka is ready to take on fulltime duty with Boston. Of course he will need to adapt, but even at his worst he makes things happen on the ice and therefore it would be unwise for the Bruins to sleep on such a good offensive talent and overall playmaker and goal scorer. - SC

Jeremy Swayman, G (111^th overall, 2017. Previous ranking: 3)

Goalies are often difficult to project, but as a fourth-round pick, Swayman is looking like a solid investment. He performed well in his time in the USHL, but he didn’t really showcase his skills until he came to Maine, where he was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team and won a bronze medal at the WJC, both in his freshman year. He had an okay sophomore year but really broke out during his junior year, ranking second nationally in save percentage, and winning a full trophy case full of awards. It is no surprise he signed with the Bruins after the season ended. Swayman is a calm goaltender who isn’t afraid of playing the puck. He doesn’t often make flashy saves — a good indication of solid technical skills — but occasionally makes flashy glove saves. He has quick reflexes and a quick stick. He moves well laterally and often stays in the crease. His speed is impressive, and his reflexes are sharp, but it also helps that he is 6-3” and fills the net nicely. His size will no doubt be an asset at the next level. - JS

Urho Vaakanainen, D (18^th overall, 2017. Previous ranking: 4)

With all of Vaakanainen’s high level experience in the past few years, including time in both the AHL and NHL for the last two years, it is hard to remember that he is still only 21 years of age. The AHL training has been good for Vaakanainen, who has been playing heavy minutes, including time on both the penalty kill and powerplay units. He is a good skater with a good overall skill set, but what stands out is his calmness under pressure, making good decisions quickly with the puck. His hockey IQ is high and he has matured so much as a player over the course of two seasons that he is mentally tough and composed, although his speed and overall play is lacking a certain element for now. More urgency and intensity need to be inserted into his game and he needs to move the puck up faster to keep up with the NHL pace. He still has a high ceiling, and he continues to develop at a good rate leading him to most likely be called up again next season as he works towards a permanent bottom four role. - SC

Jeremy Lauzon, D (52^nd overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 5)

Lauzon has found himself on the precipice of a full time role with the Bruins thanks to his tenacity and ability to rise up to the physical and mental challenges of the NHL. He is not known for his offensive contributions, but his style of play works for him and the Bruins. He plays a more defensive role and often lends his passing and skating abilities to breakouts and special teams situations. Lauzon is such a calm player that even in two-on-one defensive situations he takes the time to read the play and properly reacts. He is simply a smart player. He has a good head on his shoulders and Boston needs more stay-at-home defensemen to balance things, which is why Lauzon has lucked out with his calm play being an asset. It would really come as little surprise to see him finally hit his stride and secure a full time roster spot with Boston next season as part of a bottom four pairing, considering the way he played in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. - SC

Trent Frederic, C (29^th overall, 2016. Previous ranking: 6)

Frederic has changed a lot in the way he plays since his days in the USNTDP and University of Wisconsin, meaning that he has developed quite the mean streak, if only not out of the need to be more aggressive at the next level, but also due to frustration. Frederic is a well-rounded forward who can skate, shoot, move the puck, and stick handle all with ease, but in the Boston system as an average forward, he needs to make things happen in order to stand out and that is where he has been having trouble. He needs to dial in and focus on contributing to the stat sheet in a positive way, making his contributions hit the back of the net, rather than the penalty box especially when up with the Bruins as part of their bottom six. For a player as talented as he is at getting to the net, he needs to find ways to perform at the next level and become an offensive threat in a skilled way as Boston already has plenty of grit in their main roster. - SC

Jakub Zboril, D (13^th overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 7)

It is not that Zboril has been overlooked or not given a proper chance in the NHL yet, it is simply that for such a complete player, the Bruins want to ensure that he is completely ready to make a permanent jump to the next level rather than earning brief stints here or there. Zboril is probably one of the more well-rounded prospects in the system. He can skate, shoot, and pass all with top level accuracy and performance. He is not necessarily anything spectacular in terms of being a flashy, standout type of guy but he contributes in getting the little things he does right, which spurs bigger things downstream. As he continues to get more comfortable and confident in the AHL, his chances of making the NHL are growing along with his maturity. Zboril simply needs to continue on his development path and at some point next season, he may see himself up with Boston. - SC

Jack Ahcan, D (Undrafted Free Agent, signed Mar. 27, 2020. Previous ranking: 8)

One of the prize collegiate free agents this season, Ahcan was a surprise member of the Team USA at the 2017 WJC, helping the Americans to a Gold Medal, and has since racked up four 20+ point seasons for the perennially competitive St. Cloud State Huskies, and making the All-NCHC second team during both of is last two seasons. The undersized blueliner is a classic power play specialist, although he was used in all situations in college. He is very mobile and likes to activate in the offensive zone. He reads the play well and generally makes the smart play to extend possession. As with any player of this size Ahcan will have to prove himself at every level before moving out, but in a best-case scenario, he makes it easier for the Bruins to walk away from Matt Grzelcyk when the latter becomes a UFA after the 2021-22 season. - RW

Jakub Lauko, C/LW (77^th overall, 2018. Previous ranking: 9)

In his rookie AHL season last year with Providence, Lauko stood out for his speed, which is his best asset, as well as for his tenacity when forechecking. Unfortunately, he sustained a severe leg injury at the WJC, which ended the rest of his season far too early. That said, with the pandemic that ended everyone’s season too early, he has had much time to heal and rehab which which will only aid in his recovery to full speed. Lauko will need to work on getting up to the AHL pace when moving the puck and knowing when to hold onto it, while his efforts in his own end are already commendable. He is yet another speedy, quick forward that Boston could use in their lineup at some point in the near-term future and he fits the mold for what the Bruins looks for in their forward prospects quite well. For now, he has been loaned back out to his home country to play in the Czech league for a little bit, hoping that when he comes back he will be ready for his first NHL test as part of Boston’s bottom six. - SC

Daniel Vladar, G (75^th overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 10)

Vladar made his NHL debut as the unconventional backup for the Bruins in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a situation made possible by Tuukka Rask’s decision to leave the tournament. For a young goaltender with ECHL and AHL experience, Vladar did well despite being thrown in the midst of things unprepared, and he should be proud of his efforts. He stands 6-5” and has an eye for finding the puck in scrambles and fights well for positioning behind screens. He stays square to the puck and cuts down angles really well. Confidence when playing the puck will come with time, and so will playing against one on one situations better. If he works on remaining calm and not biting too early, his progression towards earning Boston’s number one spot will only get better. Overall, much of Vladar’s play should improve in the coming seasons and by the next time he finds himself in a Boston jersey he should be ready to start. - SC

Zachary Senyshyn, RW (15^th overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 11)

Of course, nearly everyone reading this list is waiting for the day when Senyshyn makes it. So far, he has not been terribly good for the 2015 first round pick, and he has yet to pass the 30 point mark in a season in the AHL for Providence. His transitional game, as well as his puck movement need to be faster and this next year will most likely be the last year to prove himself and try to find another gear when it comes to his overall game. Senyshyn’s skills are all up to standard for the type of offensive player he is, but he will need to do better and be more dominant in the AHL first in order to earn a full time spot whether with the Bruins, or on a different team. It has now become a mental game and it is up to only him to determine whether he still wants to do what it takes for a chance at the NHL or not. - SC

Trevor Kuntar, C (89^th overall, 2020. Previous ranking: NA)

In his second year of eligibility, Kuntar stepped up his game last year as an assertive, physical, scoring center. A volume shooter, he took more shots on net than all but one other player in the entire USHL. The Boston College commit reads the game well and plays in a style that leaves little room for subtlety, mostly playing in straight North-South lines. He is a strong skater who prefers to play at his top speed and his strong frame and balance makes him hard to knock him off his stride. Always the top player on his Youngstown team, he will have to adapt his game to a lesser role at the next level, but his no-nonsense style, coupled with capable offensive tools leaves open the possibility that he can assert himself in a middle six role at the highest level. At worst, he can find a fit as an agitating presence will find a depth spot to call his own over time. - RW

Roman Bychkov, D (154^th overall, 2019. Previous ranking: 13)

Bychkov is a skilled puck moving defenseman who plays a mature, detailed game. He keeps his game quite simple in his own end and makes the correct reads and decisions. He has the ability to make plays in the offensive zone and can run the power play very well at the junior level in Russia. Has soft hands for giving and receiving passes. His shot is decent with a quick release but doesn’t pose much of a threat from the point. He plays with his head on a swivel and shows strong awareness of his surroundings. He is quick to collect loose pucks and take them out of danger in front of the net. Bychkov is a good skater with quick feet and agility. I think his explosiveness and speed will improve once he gains lower-body strength. Despite a current lack of physicality, he looks ready to make the jump to pro hockey. - MB

Curtis Hall, C (119^th overall, 2018. Previous ranking: 14)

Hall is extremely noticeable on the ice, partly because he is a rangy 6-3” forward. Drafted by Boston in the fourth round, he had played hockey in his native Ohio before spending two years in the USHL with Youngstown. He was named to the USHL All-Rookie Second Team in his first year with the Phantoms. This past year, Hall earned a spot on the U.S. World Junior Championship team. Hall led the Bulldogs, a historically low-scoring team, in points as well. Hall isn’t flashy but he is a fairly solid player and is an offensive asset who likes to score. His game is still raw but at 20 years of age, there is time and room left for him to improve. He is very physical. Hall ins’t incredibly fast but he is an aggressive backchecker, who makes his presence felt off the puck. He has also fared well in the face-off circle, winning over half of his draws. He may yet be a four year college player before turning pro. – JS

Oskar Steen, C (165^th overall, 2016. Previous ranking: 15)

As a smaller forward, Steen does well at getting to the net and is oftentimes fearless in getting to the puck first and staying persistent on the forecheck. This past season with AHL Providence, he was a rather dominant two-way player who was heavily relied upon in penalty kill situations especially due to his speed. Steen is a quick thinker and works best in tight situations down low where he can work the puck and find ways to get to the net. He simply has to keep up at the same high tempo pace as last season and land the same strong hits in order to earn his first NHL stint with Boston. He brings a good skill set and speed along with a strong degree of smarts, the struggle simply comes with his size and consistency, and those will be the main tests when it comes to the next level. Steen should be able to earn his first call up next season in a bottom six role, with a shot at the second penalty kill unit as well. – SC

Peter Cehlarik, LW (90^th overall, 2013. Previous ranking: 16)

One of a few players on this list in their last years of prospect eligibility (age-related), Cehlarik has a second concern in that he was still unsigned as of early November 2020. That said, he is still an organizational asset for the Bruins, and his early season production for Leksands in SHL (oner one point per game) is not hurting his cause either. Cehlarik has already received 40 games of experience in the NHL for Boston. While he showed some ability to generate offense at the NHL level, his AHL scoring rates were unsustainable at the highest level, and he is further held back by his occasionally plodding foot speed and his propensity to play a soft, perimeter game, even though he has impressive size and strength. At this stage of his career, it is unlikely that Cehlarik ever grows higher than his current status as system depth, but even with those low expectations, he has value as he can hold his own for stretches thanks to his strong shot and solid puck skills, without pulling his team down. - RW

Anton Blidh, LW (180^th overall, 2013. Previous ranking: 17)

Like Cehlarik above, Blidh is about to age out of consideration for this list. Unlike Cehlarik, Blidh is still under contract with the Bruins. Moreover, Blidh is a different type of player. Less of a true goal scorer, he has swift legs, and is not averse to grinding. He can play with added physicality, forcing opponents to work. Blidh has not been able to provide much offensive punch since his days in the Swedish junior ranks, and even his AHL numbers have been very underwhelming. He may have been primed to break through with the Bruins last season but was limited to 11 combined games in the NHL (7) and AHL (4) due to a severe shoulder injury that required surgery. Presuming a return to good health, he could be in line to start the 2020-21 season up with Boston, at least as long as Brad Marchand remains out with his own injury. His ceiling is low, but he is NHL playable. - RW

Joona Koppanen, LW (135^th overall, 2016. Previous ranking: UR)

This run of AHL left wingers extends to (and ends with) Koppanen, although his career may lead him to more time as a center than on the wing. Tall and gangly, he remains intriguing even if he has struggled to put up notable numbers in his two seasons in the AHL, both times finding himself relegated down to the ECHL for a stretch. To his credit, Koppanen has spent the last month or so making the most of his time back home in Finland, playing on loan first in the Finnish second men’s league, as well as in the top flight Liiga, putting up impressive numbers. He has good hands and seems to read the game fairly well, but he is not the swiftest of skaters, and he does not generally put his giant frame to good use. Like Blidh, Koppanen has a very low ceiling, but Koppanen is also younger enough that we may yet see him continue to develop and force his way up the organizational depth chart. - RW

Victor Berglund, D (195^th overall, 2017. Previous ranking: UR)

Although he only signed his Entry Level Contract this past June, the former seventh round pick has already had a cup of coffee in the AHL, ending his 2018-19 season with Providence after the end of his 2018-19 season in Sweden. A right-handed blueliner, he has a pretty good point shot, giving him power play capabilities, but his other tools trend more towards average. Even without being toolsy, we have seen Berglund steadily continue to develop since his draft year, to the point where he can now state that all of his tools are at least average. His performance has similarly improved over two seasons in Sweden’s second league and that has continued in the early part of this season, as the Bruins have loaned him to Lulea in the SHL and he has looked pretty good. There are others in the Boston system who could fit in this part of the rankings, but we selected Berglund as he has at least hinted more that there is additional growth coming in his game. We’ll be watching. - RW

Mason Lohrei, D (58^th overall, 2020. Previous ranking: NA)

Outside of Columbus’ first rounder, Lohrei at the end of the second round was one of the most shocking picks of the 2020 draft. In his second year of draft eligibility, and his first full season playing in the USHL, the tall blueliner mixed production from the back end with a solid game in his own end. The numbers are great, but his size is his only real plus tool. We have not seen the upside to justify a second round selection, but his success in jumping from the high school ranks to the USHL – a jump which has caused many other talented players to fail – has impressed. He is expected to play in the USHL for one more season before taking the step up to the collegiate level with Ohio State. The Louisiana native is still very much a dark horse in terms of future NHL potential, but the Bruins clearly were impressed with what they have seen so far. - RW

MCKEEN’S 2020 NHL PROSPECT REPORT – BOSTON BRUINS – ORGANIZATIONAL RANK: 7

Ryan Wagman, Profiles: Jashvina Shah, Shaiyena Cote, Marco Bombino, Ryan Wagman — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 17:37:34 +0000

Boston Bruins

It is often said – I often say so myself – that prospect development is rarely, if ever, linear. Some guys are ready for stardom before they are even draft eligible. Some seem that way but hit the height of their development too early and fizzle out. Some shine dimly at first and stay dim. Others seem to be on the path to journeyman status and suddenly hit a switch and take on a whole new trajectory.

The Bruins NHL roster is evidence of the variable paths prospects can take. Think of their big three forwards. High scoring David Pastrnak was a skilled playmaker in the Swedish junior ranks in his U18 season. He was good enough to be selected on merit in the first round, but his trajectory took a new upward course after he turned 18. He went right from the SuperElit, averaging two points every three games against the best teenagers in Sweden, to scoring over a point per game in the AHL and then holding his own as an 18-year-old in the NHL. He has never looked back.

Two-way extraordinaire Patrice Bergeron likewise flipped the switch as an 18-year-old, making the rare leap from the second round straight to the NHL. He was good right away, in a secondary scoring capacity, but turned it up even more after spending the lockout season in the AHL, returning as a 20-year-old capable of putting 70 point seasons on the board, in addition to his all world play off the puck.

Finally, we have the Nose, Brad Marchand. An undersized third round pick out of the QMJHL, he did not go straight from the draft to the pros, but spent two more years in junior hockey, putting up good numbers without exactly reaching a new level. Through his first two pro seasons, (ages 20-21), he had started to look like a good pick, even if his first 20 NHL games ended with only a single assist to his credit. He made the NHL for good at age 22, a solid middle six winger. It was only in his sixth full NHL campaign, at age 27, that he became more than a skilled pest and a true top six player. The following year he eclipsed the point-per-game mark for the first time, and has not fallen from that level since.

I could give more examples on this team alone, but I really want to switch gears here to talk about goalies. For netminders, we can take everything I wrote above about forwards flipping the switch at different times and amplify that ten-fold.

It is often said that scouting goalies is hard. Some say “voodoo.” Part of that is the sheer difficulty of separating a goalie’s performance from that of the defense in front of him. Part of that is judging athleticism. Some displays of athleticism in a netminder are a result of poor positioning or tracking forcing the goalie to scramble. Other displays are a breakdown of the defense forcing the goalie to scramble to save his teammates. And of course, it often takes goalies that much longer to reach their potential, with too many snuffed out due to a bad game or two at the wrong time, losing the confidence of their coach. Think of Bruins’ legend Tim Thomas, who didn’t break through to the NHL full time until he was 31.

This difficulty has long led many scouts and analysts to preach against drafting goalies early. Why is this relevant here? In the pre-season, we had one goalie, Kyle Keyser, in the Bruins’ top 20. After a season largely on the sidelines, he has been overtaken on the Boston depth chart by both Jeremy Swayman, who flipped the switch as a junior at Maine, winning the Mike Richter Award as the top goalie in the NCAA, and Dan Vladar, who seems to improve slightly every season without ever making the big leap. Goalies are indeed hard, but still essential. That’s why I have long advised drafting/signing one every year and not putting all the expectations on one prospect, no matter how talented he may be.

MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 26: Look on Boston Bruins center Jack Studnicka (68) during the Boston Bruins versus the Montreal Canadiens game on November 26, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire)

John Beecher, C (30^th overall, 2019. 2019 Rank: 1)

More than who find themselves atop a team’s prospect list, Beecher is here on potential more than a previously established level of performance and production. The last of eight members of the 2019 class of the USNTDP to be selected in the 2019 first round, Beecher was actually a bottom six player in his draft season. While that is not a major concern considering that three other centers from that squad were drafted in the top nine, it cannot be ignored that eight other members of that roster had more points.

Clearly the Bruins didn’t use their first-round pick on him with the expectation that he would turn into the next coming of Patrice Bergeron. Instead, more like their selection of Trent Frederic in the late first in 2016, they saw a player with all of the components to his game, and the physical tools to grow into a world class third line center. That projection hasn’t yet worked out for Frederic (more on him shortly), but there is still hope for Beecher. Starting with the physical gifts, he is a bear of a young man, standing a burly 6-3”, and he skates like the wind. He is remarkably graceful for his stature, and when he goes to the net (which he does regularly) he has been near impossible to stop at the collegiate or WJC levels. Despite his moderate numbers, there is still reason to expect more to come.

He played a more central role as a freshman with Michigan, where he was the fourth most productive forward, than he did with the USNTDP. His hands are quick and capable of the occasional surprising deke. He uses his elite reach well on both sides of the puck and has demonstrated a knack for creatively setting up his linemates for scoring chances. Beecher also takes full advantage of his imposing size, and at his best, can dominate any given shift. He just needs to start doing it more often. - RW

Jack Studnicka, C (53^rd overall, 2017. 2019 Rank: 4)

Studnicka is a highly adaptable, fast, and naturally gifted hockey player who as a second-round pick was a real diamond in the rough when Boston drafted him. He has all the makings of a future first liner in the NHL and his ceiling is very high as a prospect who still has not come close to peaking yet. His biggest asset is his speed, both with and without the puck, although he is still a little lightweight and weak on the puck. His goal for next season will to be stronger too help him win his physical battles more often to better pair with his speed.

After leading AHL Providence in points and finishing third in rookie points and thirteenth overall in the entire AHL, Studnicka is certainly ready to take on fulltime duty with Boston although the strangeness of this period in history could see him start with a few games back in Providence and then be up with Boston by February. Of course, he will need to adapt, but even at his worst he makes things happen on the ice and therefore it would be unwise for the Bruins to sleep on such a good offensive talent and overall playmaker and goal scorer. - SC

Jeremy Swayman, G (111^th overall, 2017. 2019 Rank: UR)

Goalies are often difficult to project, but as a fourth-round pick, Swayman is looking like a solid investment. He put up a solid save percentage during his two seasons in the USHL but he didn’t really showcase his skills until he came to Maine, where he was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team and won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championship, both in his freshman year. He played in just one game at the WJC but kept his net clean.

He had an okay sophomore year but really broke out during his junior year, ranking second nationally in save percentage. He was named the Hockey East Goaltender of the Year, the Hockey East Player of the Year, the Mike Richter Award winner for goaltending, the Walter Brown award for the top player in New England and a Hobey Baker finalist. It is no surprise he signed with the Bruins after the season ended.

Swayman is a calm goaltender who isn’t afraid of playing the puck. He doesn’t often make flashy saves — a good indication of solid technical skills — but occasionally makes flashy glove saves. He has quick reflexes and a quick stick. He moves well latterly and often stays in the crease. His speed is important, and his reflexes are important, but it also helps that Swayman is 6-3” and fills the net nicely. His size will no doubt be an asset at the next level. There is no question Swayman will be an NHL goaltender in relatively short order. - JS

Urho Vaakanainen, D (18^th overall, 2017. 2019 Rank: 2)

With all the international and men’s professional play Vaakanainen has played in the past few years, including bouncing between the AHL and NHL for the last two years, it is hard to keep in mind that he is still only 21 years of age. He managed five games up with Boston this past season and fared pretty well with a +2 rating, looking like a better fit than his brief stint up with Boston the year before.

The AHL training has been good for Vaakanainen, who clocks in with top ice time marks usually and spends time on both the penalty kill and powerplay units. He is a good skater with a good overall skill set, but what makes him stand out the most is his ability to be calm under pressure and make quick and good decisions with the puck. His hockey IQ is high and he has matured so much as a player over the course of two seasons that mentally he is tough and composed enough to play with the ever competitive Bruins; although his speed and play on the ice is lacking a certain element for now.

Due to the fact that Vaakainen is normally very calm, more urgency and intensity need to be inserted into his game for next season and he needs to get to the puck and move it up faster to keep up with the NHL pace. He still has a high ceiling and he continues to develop at a good rate leading him to most likely be called up again next season and he will see many more games with Boston as a bottom four defenseman. - SC

Jeremy Lauzon, D (52^nd overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: 7)

Lauzon has found himself, after coming from a small town in Northern Quebec, now on the precipice of a full time role on the Bruins, over a journey of a few years, thanks to his tenacity and ability to rise up to the physical and mental challenges of the NHL and playing for one of the most notoriously feared original six teams.

Over the course of his professional career, he has not been known for his offensive contributions, but slightly adjusted his style of play to one that works for him and the Bruins. He plays a more defensive role and often lends his passing and skating abilities to breakouts and special teams’ situations. Lauzon is such a calm player that even in two-on-one defensive situations he takes the time to read the play and properly react which is what makes him able to not only play at the NHL level but also to be an asset to such an offensive minded group as the Bruins currently are constructed. He is simply a smart player and that really showed in his plus/minus this past season.

He has a good head on his shoulders and Boston needs more stay-at-home defensemen to balance things which is why Lauzon has lucked out with his calm play being an asset. It would really come as little surprise to see him finally hit his stride and secure a full time roster spot with Boston next season as part of a bottom four pairing, considering the way he played in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. - SC

Trent Frederic, C (29^th overall, 2016. 2019 Rank: 3)

Frederic is a well-rounded forward who can skate, shoot, move the puck, and stick handle all with ease, but in the Boston system as an average forward, he needs to make things happen in order to stand out and that is where he has been having trouble. He needs to dial in and focus on contributing to the stat sheet in a positive way, making his contributions hit the back of the net, rather than the penalty box especially when up with the Bruins as part of their bottom six.

For a player as talented as he is at getting to the net, he needs to find ways to perform at the next level and become an offensive threat in a skilled way as Boston already has plenty of grit in their main roster. - SC

Jakub Zboril, D (13^th overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: 14)

Zboril is probably one of the more well-rounded prospects in the system. He can skate, shoot, and pass all with top level accuracy and performance. He is not necessarily anything spectacular in terms of being a flashy, standout type of guy but he contributes in getting the little things he does right, which spurs bigger things downstream. A

s he continues to get more comfortable and confident in the AHL, his chances of making the NHL are growing along with his maturity. Zboril simply needs to continue on his development path and at some point next season, he may see himself up with Boston. - SC

Jack Ahcan, D (Undrafted Free Agent, signed Mar. 27, 2020. 2019 Rank: IE)

The undersized blueliner is a classic power play specialist, although he was used in all situations in college. He is very mobile and likes to activate in the offensive zone. He reads the play well and generally makes the smart play to extend possession. As with any player of this size Ahcan will have to prove himself at every level before moving out, but in a best-case scenario, he makes it easier for the Bruins to walk away from Matt Grzelcyk when the latter becomes a UFA after the 2021-22 season. - RW

Jakub Lauko, C/LW (77^th overall, 2018. 2019 Rank: 12)

Lauko will need to work on getting up to the AHL pace when moving the puck and knowing when to hold onto it, while his efforts in his own end are already commendable. He is yet another speedy, quick forward that Boston could use in their lineup at some point in the near-term future and he fits the mold for what the Bruins looks for in their forward prospects quite well.

For now, he has been loaned back out to his home country to play in the Czech league for a little bit, hoping that when he comes back he will be ready for his first NHL test as part of Boston’s bottom six. - SC

Daniel Vladar, G (75^th overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: UR)

He stands 6-5” and has an eye for finding the puck in scrambles and fights well for positioning behind screens. He stays square to the puck and cuts down angles really well. Confidence when playing the puck will come with time, and so will playing against one on one situations better. If he works on remaining calm and not biting too early, his progression towards earning Boston’s number one spot will only get better. Overall, much of Vladar’s play should improve in the coming seasons and by the next time he finds himself in a Boston jersey he should be ready to start. - SC

Zachary Senyshyn, RW (15^th overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: 16)

His transitional game, as well as his puck movement need to be faster and this next year will most likely be the last year to prove himself and try to find another gear when it comes to his overall game. Senyshyn’s skills are all up to standard for the type of offensive player he is, but he will need to do better and be more dominant in the AHL first in order to earn a full time spot whether with the Bruins, or on a different team. It has now become a mental game and it is up to only him to determine whether he still wants to do what it takes for a chance at the NHL or not. - SC

Ryan Fitzgerald, C (120^th overall, 2013. 2019 Rank: 20)

As it is Fitzgerald’s last year of prospect eligibility, now is the make or break time for him, as every year lowers the room for potential growth in his game. For the past three seasons, he has been a steady forward fixture on the AHL Providence Bruins, as a go-to point guy and versatile forward capable of playing in all situations.

He has skill but size is not in his corner. He makes up for that deficiency in his firmly rooted offensive mindset and natural scoring ability. That being said, Fitzgerald will need to make his defensive game better and be a better two way forward next season if he wants to finally get a call up to Boston. He has one more season to crack the big club’s bottom six and with as much maturity and leadership potential as a player like Fitzgerald has, a failure to take that step now could be the death knell of his NHL hopes. - SC

Roman Bychkov, D (154^th overall, 2019. 2019 Rank: 15)

He owns soft hands for giving and receiving passes. His shot is decent with a quick release but doesn’t pose much of a threat from the point. He plays with his head on a swivel and shows strong awareness of his surroundings. He is quick to collect loose pucks and take them out of danger in front of the net.

Bychkov is a good skater with quick feet and agility. I think his explosiveness and speed will improve once he gains lower-body strength. Despite a current lack of physicality, he looks ready to make the jump to pro hockey. - MB

Curtis Hall, C (119^th overall, 2018. 2019 Rank: UR)

This past year, he earned a spot on the U.S. World Junior Championship team. Hall led the Bulldogs, a historically low-scoring team, in points as well. Hall isn’t flashy but he is a fairly solid player and is an offensive asset who likes to score.

His game is still raw but at 20 years of age, there is time and room left for him to improve. He is very physical. isn’t incredibly fast but he is an aggressive backchecker, who makes his presence felt off the puck. He has also fared well in the face-off circle, winning over half of his draws. He may yet be a four-year college player before turning pro. – JS

Oskar Steen, C (165^th overall, 2016. 2019 Rank: 10)

Steen is a quick thinker and works best in tight situations down low where he can work the puck and find ways to get to the net. He simply has to keep up at the same high tempo pace as last season and land the same strong hits in order to earn his first NHL stint with Boston.

He brings a good skill set and speed along with a strong degree of smarts, the struggle simply comes with his size and consistency, and those will be the main tests when it comes to the next level. Steen should be able to earn his first call up next season in a bottom six role, with a shot at the second penalty kill unit as well. - SC

MCKEENS 2020 NHL PROSPECTS REPORT – TOP 250 PROSPECTS

McKeens Hockey; Article by Ryan Wagman — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 11:50:55 +0000

I write these words less than 24 hours after the Dallas Stars took game one of the Stanley Cup Finals against the heavily favored Tampa Bay Lightning. Unlike most seasons wherein the end of the Stanley Cup marks the beginning of off-season player movement, this year teams have taken an early start to the transactional Ferris wheel as many expect the upcoming offseason (from the awarding of the Cup, through to the draft in the first week of October to the start of the 2020-21 season perhaps as soon as early December, pending COVID trends in North America) to be especially turbulent.

We have seen a few trades of NHL pieces, one deal which impacted this guidebook, as Toronto sent Kasperi Kapanen to Pittsburgh and Swedish winger Filip Hallander was among those coming back to Toronto. Hallander was our selection for the second-best prospect in the Penguins system and now holds that title for the Maple Leafs. That trade knocked the Penguins down a few slots on our organizational rankings and allowed Toronto to go the other way accordingly.

Of course, with the draft roughly 17 days away, and with it a complete re-shuffling of the organizational rankings, this is just a snapshot in time of how every team’s system shakes up. We will re-run this list, incorporating the drafted players, in our pre-season fantasy guide, where we will expand the lists up to 20.

What you are about to dive into is a comprehensive list of all prospect eligible players on all 31 teams. To hold prospect eligibility, a player needs to 25 or younger, as of September 15, 2020. All skaters need to have played less than 60 career games, with no more than 35 of those games coming in a single season (or 25 for this past shortened season). For goalies, the age criteria remain the same, but the games played benchmark drops to 30 career games and 20 in a given season (or 15 last year). Any cutoff that does not hew exactly to the Calder Trophy award criteria is, by nature, arbitrary, but we aim to be inclusive for all players who have not yet cemented NHL jobs and/or have not had a prolonged chance to prove himself capable – or incapable.

We rank 15 per team, as depth is as important as the high end. Our goal is to identify players who could – if they have an advocate for them within the team’s braintrust – play a role in the NHL. These players were identified through our thorough vetting of each prospect across the globe, assigning scores, or grades, to five areas for skaters (skating, shot, puck skills, smarts, physicality) and six for netminders (athleticism/speed/quickness, compete/temperament, vision/play reading, positioning/technique, rebound control, and puck handling). Depending on the position, the grades are run through an algorithm to come up with an overall future projection (OFP).

The OFP, if the scout is being honest, measures the future role we anticipate the prospect being able to hold. A 50 score is the lower threshold to be a regular 4^th line forward, or bottom pairing defender. Grades over 56 are potential top line/pairing skaters. The grades in between, obviously project to the middle of the lineup.

As we are reminded every year, development is not linear. Some players take unexpected sudden leaps forward (see Marino, John), and others stagnate (see Ho-Sang, Josh), and many do exactly what we expect of them when they are given the chance. As much as I trust the analysts in our team, I can also tell you that this exercise is always humbling. There will be at least one player who we rate highly who bombs. There will be at least one player who did not feature on his team’s top 15 who becomes an NHL regular next year. We accept those errors in judgment and promise you, our faithful subscriber, that we will learn from them and refine our work for next year, as we learn just as NHL teams learn.

Until then, please enjoy this snapshot view of the future of the beautiful, frozen game. Putting this together has provided at least some sense of normalcy during this crazy summer.

NHL	RNK	PLAYER	POS	AGE	HT/WT	TM	Acquired
Ana	1	Trevor Zegras	C	19	6-0/170	Boston University (HE)	`19(9th)
Min	2	Kirill Kaprizov	LW	23	5-10/200	CSKA (KHL)	`15(135th)
Col	3	Bowen Byram	D	19	6-0/195	Vancouver (WHL)	`19(4th)
Buf	4	Dylan Cozens	C	19	6-3/185	Lethbridge (WHL)	`19(7th)
Fla	5	Spencer Knight	G	19	6-3/195	Boston College (HE)	`19(13th)
VGK	6	Peyton Krebs	C	19	5-11/180	Winnipeg (WHL)	`19(17th)
Ari	7	Victor Soderstrom	D	19	5-11/180	Brynas (Swe)	`19(11th)
Mtl	8	Cole Caufield	RW	19	5-7/165	Wisconsin (B1G)	`19(15th)
Van	9	Vasili Podkolzin	RW	19	6-1/190	SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)	`19(10th)
Edm	10	Philip Broberg	D	19	6-3/200	Skelleftea AIK (Swe)	`19(8th)
Tor	11	Nick Robertson	LW	19	5-9/160	Peterborough (OHL)	`19(53rd)
Col	12	Alex Newhook	C	19	5-10/195	Boston College (HE)	`19(16th)
Det	13	Moritz Seider	D	19	6-3/185	Grand Rapids (AHL)	`19(6th)
Fla	14	Grigori Denisenko	LW	20	5-11/185	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL)	`18(15th)
Min	15	Matthew Boldy	LW	19	6-1/190	Boston College (HE)	`19(12th)
NJ	16	Ty Smith	D	20	5-10/180	Spokane (WHL)	`18(17th)
LA	17	Alex Turcotte	C	19	5-11/185	Wisconsin (B1G)	`19(5th)
Nsh	18	Philip Tomasino	C	19	5-11/180	Nia-Osh (OHL)	`19(24th)
Pit	19	Samuel Poulin	LW	19	6-1/205	Sherbrooke (QMJHL)	`19(21st)
Wsh	20	Connor McMichael	C	19	5-11/175	London (OHL)	`19(25th)
LA	21	Gabriel Vilardi	RW	21	6-3/200	Ontario (AHL)	`17(11th)
NYR	22	Igor Shesterkin	G	24	6-1/190	Hartford (AHL)	`14(118th)
Dal	23	Thomas Harley	D	19	6-3/190	Mississauga (OHL)	`19(18th)
Ari	24	Barrett Hayton	C	20	6-1/190	Arizona (NHL)	`18(5th)
NYR	25	Nils Lundkvist	D	20	5-11/180	Lulea (Swe)	`18(28th)
LA	26	Arthur Kaliyev	RW	19	6-2/190	Hamilton (OHL)	`19(33rd)
Cgy	27	Juuso Valimaki	D	21	6-2/205	DNP - Injured	`17(16th)
Det	28	Jared McIsaac	D	20	6-1/195	Hal-Mon (QMJHL)	`18(36th)
NYR	29	Vitali Kravtsov	RW	20	6-3/185	Hartford (AHL)	`18(9th)
Edm	30	Evan Bouchard	D	20	6-2/195	Bakersfield (AHL)	`18(10th)
NYR	31	K'Andre Miller	D	20	6-3/205	Wisconsin (B1G)	`18(22nd)
Edm	32	Raphael Lavoie	RW	19	6-4/195	Hal-Chi (QMJHL)	`19(38th)
NYI	33	Ilya Sorokin	G	25	6-2/180	CSKA (KHL)	`14(78th)
Det	34	Albert Johansson	D	19	5-11/165	Farjestads (Swe)	`19(60th)
Ari	35	Matias Maccelli	LW	19	5-11/170	Ilves Tampere (Fin)	`19(98th)
Van	36	Nils Hoglander	RW	19	5-9/185	Rogle (Swe)	`19(40th)
Ari	37	Jan Jenik	RW	20	6-1/180	Hamilton (OHL)	`18(65th)
Phi	38	Cam York	D	19	5-11/175	Michigan (B1G)	`19(14th)
Phi	39	Morgan Frost	C	21	5-11/180	Lehigh Valley (AHL)	`17(27th)
Ana	40	Lukas Dostal	G	20	6-1/170	Ilves Tampere (Fin)	`18(85th)
LA	41	Tobias Bjornfot	D	19	6-0/200	Ontario (AHL)	`19(22nd)
SJ	42	Ryan Merkley	D	20	5-11/170	London (OHL)	`18(21st)
NYI	43	Kieffer Bellows	LW	22	6-0/200	Bridgeport (AHL)	`16(19th)
NYI	44	Oliver Wahlstrom	RW	20	6-1/205	Bridgeport (AHL)	`18(11th)
LA	45	Rasmus Kupari	C	20	6-1/185	Ontario (AHL)	`18(20th)
CBJ	46	Liam Foudy	C	20	6-0/175	London (OHL)	`18(18th)
LA	47	Tyler Madden	C	20	5-10/155	Northeastern (HE)	T(Van-2/20)
Mtl	48	Alexander Romanov	D	20	5-11/185	CSKA (KHL)	`18(38th)
NYI	49	Bode Wilde	D	20	6-2/195	Bridgeport (AHL)	`18(41st)
Ott	50	Jacob Bernard-Docker	D	20	6-0/180	North Dakota (NCHC)	`18(26th)
Cgy	51	Jakob Pelletier	LW	19	5-9/165	Moncton (QMJHL)	`19(26th)
LA	52	Akil Thomas	C	20	5-11/170	Nia-Pbo (OHL)	`18(51st)
Wpg	53	Dylan Samberg	D	21	6-3/190	Minn-Duluth (NCHC)	`17(43rd)
Chi	54	Ian Mitchell	D	21	5-11/175	Denver (NCHC)	`17(57th)
Ott	55	Josh Norris	C	21	6-1/195	Belleville (AHL)	T(SJ-9/18)
NYR	56	Matthew Robertson	D	19	6-3/200	Edmonton (WHL)	`19(49th)
VGK	57	Pavel Dorofeyev	LW	19	6-1/170	Magnitogorsk (KHL)	`19(79th)
Dal	58	Jake Oettinger	G	21	6-4/210	Texas (AHL)	`17(26th)
Ott	59	Drake Batherson	RW	22	6-1/190	Belleville (AHL)	`17(121st)
LA	60	Samuel Fagemo	RW	20	6-0/195	Frolunda (Swe)	`19(50th)
Col	61	Justus Annunen	G	20	6-4/215	Karpat Oulu (Fin)	`18(64th)
Bos	62	John Beecher	C	19	6-3/210	Michigan (B1G)	`19(30th)
Phi	63	Egor Zamula	D	20	6-4/175	Calgary (WHL)	FA(9/18)
NYR	64	Zac Jones	D	19	5-10/175	Massachusetts (HE)	`19(68th)
CBJ	65	Kirill Marchenko	LW	20	6-3/190	SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)	`18(49th)
VGK	66	Jack Dugan	RW	22	6-2/185	Providence (HE)	`17(142nd)
StL	67	Scott Perunovich	D	22	5-10/175	Minn-Duluth (NCHC)	`18(45th)
Bos	68	Jack Studnicka	C	21	6-1/170	Providence (AHL)	`17(53rd)
Dal	69	Ty Dellandrea	C	20	6-0/185	Flint (OHL)	`18(13th)
Min	70	Calen Addison	D	20	5-10/180	Lethbridge (WHL)	T(Pit-2/20)
NYR	71	Julien Gauthier	RW	22	6-4/225	Charlotte (AHL)	T(Car-2/20)
Van	72	Olli Juolevi	D	22	6-3/200	Utica (AHL)	`16(5th)
NJ	73	Nolan Foote	LW	19	6-3/190	Kelowna (WHL)	T(TB-2/20)
NJ	74	Janne Kuokkanen	LW	22	6-1/190	Cha-Bng (AHL)	T(Car-2/20)
Ott	75	Alex Formenton	LW	21	6-2/165	Belleville (AHL)	`17(47th)
Det	76	Robert Mastrosimone	LW	19	5-10/160	Boston University (HE)	`19(54th)
NYR	77	Morgan Barron	C	21	6-2/200	Cornell (ECAC)	`17(174th)
Mtl	78	Jesse Ylonen	RW	20	6-1/185	Pelicans (Fin)	`18(35th)
Car	79	Dominik Bokk	RW	20	6-1/180	Rogle (Swe)	T(StL-9/19)
Nsh	80	Egor Afanasyev	RW	19	6-3/205	Windsor (OHL)	`19(45th)
Ana	81	Benoit-Olivier Groulx	C	20	6-1/195	Hal-Mon (QMJHL)	`18(54th)
Min	82	Alexander Khovanov	C	20	5-11/195	Moncton (QMJHL)	`18(86th)
Det	83	Joe Veleno	C	20	6-1/195	Grand Rapids (AHL)	`18(30th)
NJ	84	Kevin Bahl	D	20	6-6/230	Ottawa (OHL)	T(Ari-12/19)
Car	85	Ryan Suzuki	C	19	6-0/180	Bar-Sag (OHL)	`19(28th)
Van	86	Jett Woo	D	20	6-0/205	Calgary (WHL)	`18(37th)
Mtl	87	Mattias Norlinder	D	20	5-11/180	MODO (Swe 2)	`19(64th)
Min	88	Adam Beckman	LW	19	6-1/170	Spokane (WHL)	`19(75th)
Bos	89	Jeremy Swayman	G	21	6-1/190	Maine (HE)	`17(111th)
Wpg	90	Kristian Vesalainen	LW	21	6-3/205	Manitoba (AHL)	`17(24th)
Tor	91	Filip Hallander	LW	20	6-1/185	Lulea (Swe)	T(Pit-8/20)
Fla	92	Owen Tippett	RW	21	6-1/200	Springfield (AHL)	`17(10th)
Car	93	Jake Bean	D	22	6-1/175	Charlotte (AHL)	`16(13th)
Ott	94	Shane Pinto	C	19	6-2/190	North Dakota (NCHC)	`19(32nd)
Col	95	Martin Kaut	RW	20	6-1/175	Colorado (AHL)	`18(16th)
Van	96	Jack Rathbone	D	21	5-10/175	Harvard (ECAC)	`17(95th)
Tor	97	Nick Abruzzese	C	21	5-9/160	Harvard (ECAC)	`19(124th)
Bos	98	Urho Vaakanainen	D	21	6-0/185	Providence (AHL)	`17(18th)
Wsh	99	Alexander Alexeyev	D	20	6-3/200	Hershey (AHL)	`18(31st)
NYI	100	Simon Holmstrom	RW	19	6-1/185	Bridgeport (AHL)	`19(23rd)
LA	101	Jaret Anderson-Dolan	C	21	5-11/190	Ontario (AHL)	`17(41st)
Car	102	Joey Keane	D	21	6-0/185	Hfd-Cha (AHL)	T(NYR-2/20)
Wsh	103	Martin Fehervary	D	20	6-1/190	Hershey (AHL)	`18(46th)
StL	104	Tyler Tucker	D	20	6-1/205	Bar-Fnt (OHL)	`18(200th)
SJ	105	Yegor Spiridonov	C	19	6-2/195	Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk (MHL)	`19(108th)
NJ	106	Joey Anderson	RW	22	6-0/195	Binghamton (AHL)	`16(73rd)
Col	107	Conor Timmins	D	21	6-1/185	Colorado (AHL)	`17(32nd)
StL	108	Klim Kostin	C	21	6-3/195	San Antonio (AHL)	`17(31st)
Mtl	109	Cayden Primeau	G	21	6-3/180	Laval (AHL)	`17(199th)
SJ	110	Jonathan Dahlen	LW	22	5-11/185	Timra IK (Swe 2)	T(Van-2/19)
NJ	111	Reilly Walsh	D	21	5-11/180	Harvard (ECAC)	`17(81st)
Buf	112	Oskari Laaksonen	D	21	6-2/165	Ilves Tampere (Fin)	`17(89th)
NJ	113	Arseni Gritsyuk	RW	19	5-10/170	Omskie Yastreby (MHL)	`19(129th)
Wsh	114	Aliaksei Protas	C	19	6-5/205	Prince Albert (WHL)	`19(91st)
Cgy	115	Dustin Wolf	G	19	6-0/165	Everett (WHL)	`19(214th)
StL	116	Joel Hofer	G	20	6-3/160	Portland (WHL)	`18(107th)
VGK	117	Ivan Morozov	C	20	6-1/180	SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)	`18(61st)
Mtl	118	Jake Evans	C	24	6-0/185	Laval (AHL)	`14(207th)
Nsh	119	Eeli Tolvanen	RW	21	5-10/175	Milwaukee (AHL)	`17(30th)
Wpg	120	Ville Heinola	D	19	5-11/180	Lukko Rauma (Fin)	`19(20th)
VGK	121	Lucas Elvenes	RW	21	6-0/175	Chicago (AHL)	`17(127th)
TB	122	Cole Koepke	LW	22	6-1/195	Minn-Duluth (NCHC)	`18(183rd)
Ana	123	Isac Lundestrom	C	20	6-0/185	San Diego (AHL)	`18(23rd)
NYR	124	Tarmo Reunanen	D	22	6-0/180	Lukko Rauma (Fin)	`16(98th)
Mtl	125	Jordan Harris	D	20	5-11/180	Northeastern (HE)	`18(71st)
Ana	126	Brayden Tracey	LW	19	6-0/175	MJ-Vic (WHL)	`19(29th)
Phi	127	Tanner Laczynski	C	23	6-1/200	Ohio State (B1G)	`16(169th)
Chi	128	Alec Regula	D	20	6-3/200	London (OHL)	T(Det-10/19)
Buf	129	Mattias Samuelsson	D	20	6-3/215	Western Michigan (NCHC)	`18(32nd)
Car	130	Jamieson Rees	C	19	5-10/175	Sarnia (OHL)	`19(44th)
Edm	131	Olivier Rodrigue	G	20	6-1/165	Moncton (QMJHL)	`18(62nd)
Fla	132	Serron Noel	RW	20	6-5/205	Osh-Kit (OHL)	`18(34th)
Det	133	Antti Tuomisto	D	19	6-4/190	Assat Pori (Fin Jr)	`19(35th)
Dal	134	Jason Robertson	LW	21	6-2/195	Texas (AHL)	`17(39th)
Mtl	135	Joni Ikonen	C	21	5-10/170	DNP - Injured	`17(58th)
Nsh	136	Rem Pitlick	C	23	5-11/200	Milwaukee (AHL)	`16(76th)
Ott	137	Logan Brown	C	22	6-6/220	Belleville (AHL)	`16(11th)
TB	138	Samuel Walker	C	21	5-11/160	Minnesota (B1G)	`17(200th)
Phi	139	Wade Allison	RW	22	6-2/205	Western Michigan (NCHC)	`16(52nd)
Wpg	140	Declan Chisholm	D	20	6-1/190	Peterborough (OHL)	`18(150th)
NJ	141	Tyce Thompson	RW	21	6-1/180	Providence (HE)	`19(96th)
VGK	142	Connor Corcoran	D	20	6-1/185	Windsor (OHL)	`18(154th)
Ana	143	Jackson Lacombe	D	19	6-1/170	Minnesota (B1G)	`19(39th)
NYR	144	Lauri Pajuniemi	RW	21	6-0/185	TPS Turku (Fin)	`18(132nd)
Car	145	Tuukka Tieksola	RW	19	5-10/160	Karpat Oulu (Fin Jr)	`19(121st)
CBJ	146	Andrew Peeke	D	22	6-3/210	Cleveland (AHL)	`16(34th)
Ana	147	Axel Andersson	D	20	6-0/180	Moncton (QMJHL)	T(Bos-2/20)
Car	148	Patrik Puistola	LW	19	6-0/175	Tap-Juk-Koo (Fin)	`19(73rd)
NJ	149	Michael McLeod	C	22	6-2/195	Binghamton (AHL)	`16(12th)
Car	150	Pyotr Kochetkov	G	21	6-1/175	SKA-VIT (KHL)	`19(36th)
NJ	151	Michael Vukojevic	D	19	6-3/210	Kitchener (OHL)	`19(82nd)
NYI	152	Ruslan Iskhakov	C	20	5-8/155	UConn (HE)	`18(43rd)
Wpg	153	Sami Niku	D	23	6-0/175	Manitoba (AHL)	`15(198th)
TB	154	Hugo Alnefelt	G	19	6-3/195	HV 71 (Swe)	`19(71st)
NJ	155	Nikita Okhotyuk	D	19	6-1/195	Ottawa (OHL)	`19(61st)
NYR	156	Hunter Skinner	D	19	6-2/175	London (OHL)	`19(112th)
LA	157	Mikey Anderson	D	21	6-0/195	Ontario (AHL)	`17(103rd)
Col	158	Shane Bowers	C	21	6-2/190	Colorado (AHL)	T(Ott-11/17)
NYI	159	Joshua Ho-Sang	RW	24	6-0/175	Bri-SA (AHL)	`14(28th)
LA	160	Cal Petersen	G	25	6-3/190	Ontario (AHL)	FA(7/17)
Col	161	Sampo Ranta	LW	20	6-2/205	Minnesota (B1G)	`18(78th)
Wpg	162	Mikhail Berdin	G	22	6-2/165	Manitoba (AHL)	`16(157th)
Bos	163	Jeremy Lauzon	D	23	6-3/205	Providence (AHL)	`15(52nd)
Nsh	164	David Farrance	D	21	5-11/190	Boston University (HE)	`17(92nd)
Van	165	Will Lockwood	RW	22	5-11/175	Michigan (B1G)	`16(64th)
NYI	166	Sebastian Aho	D	24	5-10/175	Bridgeport (AHL)	`17(139th)
Wpg	167	Logan Stanley	D	22	6-7/225	Manitoba (AHL)	`16(18th)
Buf	168	Ryan Johnson	D	19	6-0/175	Minnesota (B1G)	`19(31st)
Van	169	Michael DiPietro	G	21	6-0/195	Utica (AHL)	`17(64th)
VGK	170	Kaedan Korczak	D	19	6-3/190	Kelowna (WHL)	`19(41st)
Car	171	Jack Drury	C	20	5-11/180	Harvard (ECAC)	`18(42nd)
StL	172	Nikita Alexandrov	C	19	6-0/180	Charlottetown (QMJHL)	`19(62nd)
Col	173	Nikolai Kovalenko	RW	20	5-10/175	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL)	`18(171st)
Nsh	174	Juuso Parssinen	C	19	6-2/205	TPS Turku (Fin)	`19(210th)
Chi	175	Pius Suter	C	24	5-11/170	ZSC Lions (NLA)	FA(7/20)
Fla	176	Aleksi Saarela	RW	23	5-11/200	Rfd-Spr (AHL)	T(Chi-10/19)
Bos	177	Trent Frederic	C	22	6-4/215	Providence (AHL)	`16(29th)
CBJ	178	Dmitri Voronkov	LW	20	6-4/190	Ak Bars Kazan (KHL)	`19(114th)
Ott	179	Lassi Thomson	D	19	6-0/190	Ilves Tampere (Fin)	`19(19th)
Car	180	Morgan Geekie	C	22	6-2/180	Charlotte (AHL)	`17(67th)
CBJ	181	Trey Fix-Wolansky	RW	21	5-8/185	Cleveland (AHL)	`18(204th)
Ott	182	Vitaly Abramov	RW	22	5-9/175	Belleville (AHL)	T(CBJ-2/19)
TB	183	Alexander Volkov	LW	23	6-1/190	Syracuse (AHL)	`17(48th)
Tor	184	Mikko Kokkonen	D	19	5-11/200	Jukurit (Fin)	`19(84th)
Ott	185	Kevin Mandolese	G	20	6-4/180	Cape Breton (QMJHL)	`18(157th)
CBJ	186	Daniil Tarasov	G	21	6-5/185	Assat Pori (Fin)	`17(86th)
LA	187	Carl Grundstrom	LW	22	6-0/195	Ontario (AHL)	T(Tor-1/19)
LA	188	Kale Clague	D	22	6-0/180	Ontario (AHL)	`16(51st)
Ott	189	Artyom Zub	D	24	6-2/200	SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)	FA(5/20)
Edm	190	Tyler Benson	LW	22	6-0/200	Bakersfield (AHL)	`16(32nd)
Det	191	Jonatan Berggren	RW	20	5-10/185	Skelleftea AIK (Swe)	`18(33rd)
Tor	192	Yegor Korshkov	RW	24	6-4/215	Toronto (AHL)	`16(31st)
Dal	193	Riley Damiani	C	20	5-9/165	Kitchener (OHL)	`18(137th)
VGK	194	Zach Whitecloud	D	23	6-2/210	Chicago (AHL)	FA(3/18)
Buf	195	Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen	G	21	6-4/195	Cincinnati (ECHL)	`17(54th)
Car	196	David Cotton	LW	23	6-3/205	Boston College (HE)	`15(169th)
Chi	197	Wyatt Kalynuk	D	23	6-1/180	Wisconsin (B1G)	FA(7/20)
Min	198	Hunter Jones	G	19	6-4/195	Peterborough (OHL)	`19(59th)
LA	199	Jordan Spence	D	19	5-10/165	Moncton (QMJHL)	`19(95th)
Cgy	200	Dmitri Zavgorodny	LW	20	5-9/175	Rimouski (QMJHL)	`18(198th)
Col	201	Alex Beaucage	RW	19	6-1/195	Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL)	`19(78th)
TB	202	Dmitri Semykin	D	20	6-3/200	SKA-1946 St. Petersburg (MHL)	`18(90th)
CBJ	203	Matiss Kivlenieks	G	24	6-2/190	Cleveland (AHL)	FA(5/17)
StL	204	Ville Husso	G	25	6-3/205	San Antonio (AHL)	`14(94th)
Phi	205	Bobby Brink	RW	19	5-10/165	Denver (NCHC)	`19(34th)
NYI	206	Otto Koivula	C	22	6-4/220	Bridgeport (AHL)	`16(120th)
Car	207	Eetu Makiniemi	G	21	6-2/180	KOOVEE (Fin 2)	`17(104th)
NYI	208	Anatoli Golyshev	RW	25	5-8/180	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (KHL)	`16(95th)
Chi	209	Evan Barratt	C	21	6-0/190	Penn State (B1G)	`17(90th)
Buf	210	Erik Portillo	G	20	6-6/210	Dubuque (USHL)	`19(67th)
Fla	211	Cole Schwindt	RW	19	6-2/185	Mississauga (OHL)	`19(81st)
Chi	212	Michal Teply	LW	19	6-3/185	Winnipeg (WHL)	`19(105th)
Ott	213	Mads Sogaard	G	19	6-7/195	Medicine Hat (WHL)	`19(37th)
Buf	214	Jonas Johansson	G	24	6-4/205	Rochester (AHL)	`14(61st)
TB	215	Cal Foote	D	21	6-4/215	Syracuse (AHL)	`17(14th)
StL	216	Niko Mikkola	D	24	6-5/200	San Antonio (AHL)	`15(127th)
NYI	217	Robin Salo	D	21	6-1/190	SaiPa (Fin)	`17(46th)
Bos	218	Jakub Zboril	D	23	6-1/200	Providence (AHL)	`15(13th)
Buf	219	Will Borgen	D	23	6-2/200	Rochester (AHL)	`15(92nd)
Pit	220	Pierre-Olivier Joseph	D	21	6-2/170	Wilkes-Barre (AHL)	`17(23rd)
SJ	221	Sasha Chmelevski	C	21	5-11/190	San Jose (AHL)	`17(185th)
Ari	222	Kyle Capobianco	D	23	6-1/180	Tucson (AHL)	`15(63rd)
Det	223	Keith Petruzzelli	G	21	6-5/180	Quinnipiac (ECAC)	`17(88th)
Wsh	224	Garrett Pilon	RW	22	5-11/190	Hershey (AHL)	`16(87th)
NJ	225	Nikola Pasic	RW	19	5-10/185	Karlskoga (Swe 2)	`19(189th)
TB	226	Alex Barre-Boulet	C	23	5-10/165	Syracuse (AHL)	FA(3/18)
Edm	227	Ryan McLeod	C	20	6-2/205	Bakersfield (AHL)	`18(40th)
NYI	228	Samuel Bolduc	D	19	6-3/210	BLB-She (QMJHL)	`19(57th)
Ott	229	Joey Daccord	G	24	6-2/195	Belleville (AHL)	`15(199th)
StL	230	Hugh McGing	C	22	5-9/180	Western Michigan (NCHC)	`18(138th)
Edm	231	Cooper Marody	C	23	6-0/180	Bakersfield (AHL)	T(Phi-3/18)
Tor	232	Jeremy Bracco	RW	23	5-9/180	Toronto (AHL)	`15(61st)
Phi	233	German Rubtsov	C	22	6-2/190	Lehigh Valley (AHL)	`16(22nd)
Wsh	234	Brian Pinho	C	25	6-1/195	Hershey (AHL)	`13(174th)
Col	235	Logan O'Connor	RW	24	6-0/170	Colorado (AHL)	FA(7/18)
Buf	236	Casey Fitzgerald	D	23	5-11/190	Rochester (AHL)	`16(86th)
NJ	237	Daniil Misyul	D	19	6-3/180	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL)	`19(70th)
Ari	238	John Farinacci	C	19	5-11/185	Harvard (ECAC)	`19(76th)
Edm	239	Aapeli Rasanen	C	22	6-0/195	Boston College (HE)	`16(153rd)
Pit	240	Anthony Angello	RW	24	6-5/205	Wilkes-Barre (AHL)	`14(145th)
Mtl	241	Cam Hillis	C	20	5-10/170	Guelph (OHL)	`18(66th)
Cgy	242	Mathias Emilio Pettersen	RW	20	5-9/170	Denver (NCHC)	`18(167th)
SJ	243	Alexander True	C	23	6-5/205	San Jose (AHL)	FA(7/18)
NYI	244	Reece Newkirk	C	19	5-11/175	Portland (WHL)	`19(147th)
Dal	245	Dawson Barteaux	D	20	6-0/180	RD-Wpg (WHL)	`18(168th)
Bos	246	Jack Ahcan	D	23	5-8/185	St. Cloud State (NCHC)	FA(3/20)
Det	247	Seth Barton	D	21	6-2/175	Mass-Lowell (HE)	`18(81st)
Fla	248	Max Gildon	D	21	6-3/190	New Hampshire (HE)	`17(66th)
Ari	249	Aku Raty	RW	19	6-0/175	Karpat Oulu (Fin)	`19(151st)
Wpg	250	David Gustafsson	C	20	6-1/195	Winnipeg (NHL)	`18(60th)

AHL: Eastern Conference Team by Team Update

Shaiyena Cote — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 12:33:34 +0000

LAVAL, QC - FEBRUARY 05: Laval Rocket center Jesperi Kotkaniemi (45) waits for a faceoff during the Utica Comets versus the Laval Rocket game on February 05, 2020, at Place Bell in Laval, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire)

After the All-Star Break and past the halfway point in the 2019-20 season, all 16 teams in the AHL’s Eastern Conference have begun the race for a playoff spot. Out of 16 teams only half will make the cut, four in the North division and four in the Atlantic division. Every team has prospects and each team has one who has made an impact thus far. Here is a run down on those particular prospects’ from the AHL East.

NORTH DIVISION

Belleville Senators (Ottawa)

Despite the Ottawa Senators occupying the basement in the NHL’s Atlantic Division, their AHL feeder team Belleville are off to a strong second half of the season. Belleville currently sits atop the North Division. They also lead the way in rookie talent with two in the top five for rookie scoring and two top prospects in the top five for scoring across the entire league. Ottawa has an underrated prospect system and the Baby Sens have really stepped up this season as a hard act to follow for any other teams welcoming rookie talent.

Currently Belleville’s top five point leaders all fall under the age of 22 with many of them on a teeter totter of call ups and demotions from the big club. Rookie Josh Norris leads the way in the prospect pool, not by points but with his overall playing ability. Norris has made a tremendous transition from NCAA to the AHL with both his puck skills and passing ability enabling him to stand out. His two way play has developed tremendously over the first half of the season which has helped him to adapt to the pro level and will enable him to make the necessary adjustments to playing with Ottawa.

Binghamton Devils (New Jersey)

A struggling yet young club, Binghamton has had a shaky start to the second half of the season. With frequent roster moves both the parent club in New Jersey and Binghamton themselves, the AHL club has been feeling the pressure considering both clubs sit at the bottom in their standings. Binghamton has yet to find their groove in special team play and their offensive attack struggles in terms of getting the puck deep.

With New Jersey loaning forwards Jesper Boqvist and Joey Anderson back to Binghamton things may improve on the offensive end with a boost from the likes of these two. However things looking up for prospect Nathan Bastian who continues to steadily improve his play as a right winger on the farm. His full potential is still untapped and with his size and skill his future looks bright as long as he keeps exploring his creativity while driving to the net.

Cleveland Monsters (Columbus)

The Monsters are not seeming so scary this season with more losses than wins, and they will need a drastic turn around if they even want to consider a playoff run. Cleveland has simply been having a difficult time formulating plays and getting the puck deep. After losing several key forwards to trades and call ups to the Columbus Blue Jackets, Cleveland has been struggling ever since.

There is one bright spot however, in their youngest player, Trey Fix-Wolansky, who may also be one of the smallest players in the league. Despite his size, Fix-Wolansky was a force to be reckoned with last season as a point leader in the WHL and now brings his high intensity drive and skill to the AHL in his rookie season.

Laval Rocket (Montreal)

Montreal’s prospect system seems to be rolling out high-end, offensive prospects such as Ryan Poehling as well as composed, hard hitting defenseman such as the likes of Cale Fleury. Although not the prettiest of teams to watch, the Rocket de Laval have proven able to get the job done efficiently enough in even strength play. Laval could do with improving their power play as shots do not come easily for them, as they have much circulation of the puck but not enough quality shots, if any. Poehling moving up and down to Montreal frequently is showing that the Habs consider him worthy of getting the first shot at any forward call ups.

On the contrary, 2018 third overall pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi has been struggling to find a place in Montreal’s improved lineup and has been having an equally hard time adjusting to the minors, with average even strength ice time and special team play limited to the power play only. Currently tied for fourth place in the North division, Laval will have to work on better capitalizing on the man advantage if they want the last playoff spot.

Rochester Americans (Buffalo)

With the accumulated experience that Rochester has on their roster it comes as little surprise to find them in second place in the North. The Americans have few players that still fall into the prospect category which could be either good or bad for their big club in Buffalo. The good thing for now is that due to the leadership on Rochester, the Amerks have a strong team structure which is evident on the ice in special team situations. They do well at killing penalties and have the lowest goals against in the North division, coupled with the fact that they have two rookie goaltenders sharing the position between the pipes.

With Buffalo Sabres’ goaltender Linus Ullmark injured and Jonas Johansson up, more pressure has been placed on rookie goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to start. Luukkonen fills the net with his size and does well at staying composed. Having played at a professional level already in the Finnish Liiga, he has adjusted well to the shot quality and remains calm. Although there is still much for Luukkonen to learn, he appears to have what it takes for a promising future ahead of him as a starting goaltender.

Syracuse Crunch (Tampa Bay)

Despite being off to a moderately good start the Tamp Bay affiliate Syracuse Crunch sit at a disappointing 6th spot in the standings compared to their top ranking last season. To say that goaltending has been a little lackluster is an understatement with the most goals against in the entire AHL East. It is safe to say that the Crunch will have to find a way to improve their defensive performance.

The Crunch have a good balance of defensive and offensive prospect talent, which with a big sister club such as the Lightning, will prove to be crucial in the coming years should Tampa Bay want to keep up their league dominance. An underrated story comes from prospect Alex Barré-Boulet, having already picked up 44 points through the first half of the season and an AHL All-Star nod, he has proven himself as a top forward and a skilled, fast skating playmaker.

Toronto Marlies (Toronto)

With many developments in the Maple Leafs’ system and player movement across all levels including their ECHL affiliate, from the Newfoundland Growlers to the AHL Marlies to the Maple Leafs, it’s easy to see that Toronto takes full advantage of their prospect system. Due to these changes (both the NHL and AHL teams changed coaches in-season) however, it has been hard for the Marlies to keep their lineup cohesive and their lines working alongside their mid-season shift in bench staff.

With prospect Timothy Liljegren bouncing back and forth between the Leafs and the Marlies, it’s safe to say that his days in the AHL are numbered for good as well as his time as a top prospect. Instead look to Yegor Korshkov to take the lead prospect role. Although still new to the North American game, Korshkov has quickly learned how to get to the net. He uses his size well, plays an even 200 foot game and is capable of putting the puck in the net. With tight cap space he may be just what the Maple Leafs are looking for in a young forward.

Utica Comets (Vancouver)

The Utica Comets, AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, soared to the top spot early on with a strong start on the back of what seemed like an unstoppable winning streak, however things slowed as the other teams caught up and a race for first spot transpired. The Comets now sit in third in the North division and with an energetic lineup it is no surprise that even after slowing down before the holidays they are still expected to make playoffs.

They generate a lot of chances from the outside and breakout efficiently. These breakouts are often led by defensive prospect Olli Juolevi who has come back from injury better than ever. Juolevi, who was labelled as a dud before the start of the season, now has quite the comeback story to follow and a point to prove to all his doubters. His passing ability, along with his overall skill, prove deadly and he reads the play well. He has the maturity to move up to Vancouver should he stay healthy.

ATLANTIC DIVISION

Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NY Islanders)

To say that Bridgeport has had a shaky year is an understatement. With a barely 110 goals for, the New York Islanders’ affiliate are in last place in the entire AHL in offense. An embarrassing statistic that can only be matched with poor special team execution and inexperience from a younger squad. With ‘01 Simon Holmstrom and ‘00 Oliver Walhstrom up front, the Sound Tigers have a few of the youngest forwards in the AHL East in their lineup.

With movement up and down from Wahlstrom and former Sound Tiger Kieffer Bellows looking to make a more permanent jump to the Isles, there is room to shine light on Otto Koivula, who is making the most out of a low scoring team. Koivula has a lot of potential if he can find a way to produce in the same fashion as he did last season. It is rare to find a 6-4” forward who moves the way Koivula does and with hands to match. His hockey IQ is high and he plays a physically mature enough game to manage with the Islanders at some point. The remainder of the season for Bridgeport however, has to be better on all fronts.

Charlotte Checkers (Carolina)

The defending Calder Cup champion Charlotte Checkers started off slowly but that did not phase the Checkers in the least. With one of the top ranking power plays in the league it is easy to see that once Charlotte clicked as a team they were quickly on the move from there. Moving a solid four spots in a month going into the December break, the Checkers went from a comfortable 8th spot into 4th following a spate of victories.

The Carolina Hurricanes are known for their Finnish players and their affiliate are no exception to that rule with prospects Janne Kuokkanen and Eetu Luostarinen leading the way. Kuokkanen, in particular, has had a standout first half with a team leading 39 points. He is dynamic, quick and plays with a determination that makes him hard to shake. He is utilized in all situations and plays a good two way game, he has a few small adjustments to make but overall should be a strong consideration for a call up in the near future.

Hartford Wolf Pack (NY Rangers)

Along with the New York Rangers, their AHL affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack have an equally young team, as the Rangers have a blueline that currently averages 24 years of age with three 21-year-olds having already made the jump or working on making a more permanent jump to NHL style play. Hartford was one of the teams in the Eastern conference to get off to a flying start, leading the pack out of the gate until recently when rival Hershey stole the lead from them.

After going back to the KHL in Russia for a 14 game stint, forward Vitali Kravtsov came back with better focus and more commitment than ever, proving that he is deserving of his status as a former top ten pick. A real shining star for Hartford has been defensive prospect and first year rookie Joey Keane, who has been solid and reliable during the first half. He can shoot, skate and collects himself well enough to play a mature game. With his patience and know-how, he plays as though he is a seasoned veteran which is what got him the invite to the 2020 AHL All-Star Showcase. Respect goes to Keane for his quick adaption to the fast pace of the AHL and the way he has stepped up to the plate to play a role in all situations.

Hershey Bears (Washington)

The first place Hershey Bears have been a steady, consistent team over the first half and have adapted well to losing their top forward Mike Sgarbossa early in January. With a less than impressive power play and a mediocre penalty kill it is safe to say that Hershey is simply a tough even strength team. Often finding themselves with a one goal margin separating them from their opponents, it has been a challenging season so far and perhaps requiring more work than might have been necessary, with only 22 regulation wins, and many games being unnecessarily forced into overtime because of poor lead protection.

With a packed Washington Capitals system and inconsistent play from much of the young talent it seems as though there is a distinct separation between veteran production and rookie production in Hershey. Hidden in the shadows of high picks, undrafted defensive prospect Bobby Nardella is shining on the power play, and with almost a point per game record, he is one of the most consistent offensive defensemen for the Bears with shots in every game. Despite his small stature, his composure and ability to read the play easily surpasses those of his cohorts. Nardella has the skill, skating ability and IQ to attempt a shot at the Capitals but his size may still be of concern.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Philadelphia)

The first half of the season for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms was up and down from a good start to a slippery slope and the Phantoms now sit second from the bottom. Lehigh started strong with prospects Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost dominating at the AHL level but both have since been shipped out to Philadelphia. Lehigh Valley is another team that deals with many transactions throughout the season as Philadelphia does well at utilizing their prospects. Regardless, their defensive play needs work and turnover control is lacking.

With their two top prospects up with the big club, additional responsibilities have been given to players like Maxim Sushko, who in his first professional season carries a +11 rating despite being on a team that has more goals against than goals for. Sushko has learned to use his speed in all situations and has become a good enough two way player to earn a call up to Philadelphia at some point. However, Lehigh cannot only rely on their young forward talent if they expect to grind out enough points to qualify for a wild card playoff spot.

Providence Bruins (Boston)

The Boston Bruins are known for their playoff showings and the star veteran names dotting their roster, however with the outrageously fast pace of their prospects coming up it comes as little surprise that their AHL affiliate in Providence sits in the top four of the Atlantic division. Providence is not the biggest, nor the best puck moving team but they have skaters and energy which combine to make them deadly in even strength play.

With an average age of a hair over 24 years of age, the Baby Bruins are one of the youngest teams in the division. Rookie forward Jack Studnicka leads the entire league for short-handed goals with six. Studnicka can fly, with hands to match, and the only aspects of his game still needing some development are timing and awareness. At times he tries to do too much but after a season under his belt at the professional level he will be trusted to play more than just penalty kill. Capable of winning puck races, his physical play will need to be a bit better when he makes the jump to Boston so he can win puck battles and not just races.

Springfield Thunderbirds (Florida)

The Springfield Thunderbirds have been on unstable ground for a few weeks now, as in early December they had successfully made up ground and briefly managed to reach third spot in the Division but with mediocre special team play and sloppy zone entries, they have been spending more time in their own zone than they would like. With solid offensive lines, the problem seems to be on the defensive end, as breakouts are getting intercepted with too much frequency and pucks are being turned over with regularity. It is not for a lack of talent, and in fact Springfield has more than enough of that to produce but they need to work on bettering all forms of execution.

For 2017 first round pick Owen Tippett, the adjustment to the professional ranks has gone well. The winger currently leads the Thunderbirds in points with 40 and sits third in rookie scoring and 15th across the entire league for points. Should the Florida Panthers call him up however, it will be a the blow for Springfield which so heavily relies on his skills and playmaking ability. With size, patience, good hockey sense and the right amount of confidence paired with a top level shot, Tippett is ready to move up to the NHL, and it is only a matter of time before he makes the move.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh)

With the Pittsburgh Penguins struggling on and off with injuries, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL have been forced to adapt along with the loss of players on the parent club. W-B/S is currently tied with Providence for fourth spot in the Atlantic despite having been in first place at the start of the season. With few prospect eligible players in the lineup, the Baby Pens lean on their many seasoned players for support and know how.

W-B/S keeps turnovers low in the neutral zone and their breakouts are good. On the other hand, their play in the offensive end is simply average. At times it even appears as though they are not putting forth maximum effort when attacking which is perhaps why Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is known as a defensive team. Rookie defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph adds skill to the team’s defensive play, as he is a good skater with composure, and he has been playing it safe rather than getting into more of the offensive action so far this season. In the QMJHL, Joseph was known as a shooter and a strong passer, and he will have to show more of what had him drafted in the first round if he wants a chance at a call up. Confidence will come for the rookie pro, but his work ethic will need to intensify heading into the back half of the season.

AHL 2019-20 Preview: Eastern Division

Shaiyena Cote — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 19:24:06 +0000

LAVAL, QC - MARCH 06: Toronto Marlies right wing Jeremy Bracco (27) tries to maintain control of the puck while under pressure from Laval Rocket center Hayden Verbeek (17) during the Toronto Marlies versus the Laval Rocket game on March 06, 2019, at Place Bell in Laval, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire)

The 2019-20 AHL season marks the start of the professional careers for many of the top prospects representing each of the 31 NHL teams.

Although some of the AHL teams are located in smaller cities or far from their parent clubs (for example Utica and Vancouver) the start of the AHL season marks the start of a game of chess and musical chairs for NHL and AHL clubs and their internal player dealings as they work with their prospects and shift lines around to allow for injuries and call ups throughout the season.

Below is a brief segment on every team in the East as well as a glimpse at their three top prospects. Team run down is presented alphabetically by division and not as a prediction for the upcoming 2019-2020 AHL season.

Note: All quotes have been taken from the 2019-20 McKeen’s Hockey Yearbook.

Atlantic Division

The AHL’s Atlantic Division plays host to teams all over the eastern US coastline from Rhode Island to North Carolina. The Atlantic encompasses eight teams, some states play host to multiple teams such as Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Last season the Charlotte Checkers were able to bring the Calder Cup back to the Atlantic and this season the same will presumably be expected.

Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders)

Even though Bridgeport was able to clinch a playoff spot last season, they were no match for the defending Calder Cup champion Charlotte Checkers. Bridgeport finished second in the Atlantic division and second also in penalty minutes. Despite having a mass of talent on Bridgeport, they did not play as a group and therefore could not achieve the desired playoff goal.

The Islanders organization are not as progressive with getting their prospects in the NHL lineup as say the Montreal Canadiens or New York Rangers. Losing Michael Dal Colle and Oliver Wahlstrom to the Islanders this season may have lessened Bridgeport’s offence somewhat but with Sebastian Aho back down and coming off a career year last season their defence is stronger than ever and may be just what Bridgeport needs to “bridge” their offensive gap.

Players to Watch

Sebastian Aho

“The Swedish born Aho is a smooth skating and smart playing defenseman. Although not known for his shooting ability, he is accurate and his shots from the point are of quality. He is a strong passer and a creative playmaker which was notable in his second AHL season.”

Otto Koivula

“Koivula is a massive forward and a very handy player to have in front of the net as his positioning is generally very good in all areas of the ice. He sees the play very well and has a good eye for making difficult passes in tight spots and from behind the net. Overall, he is a very clean and skilled player.”

Kieffer Bellows

“Bellows is a strong, dominant force on the ice with physical prowess and a highly competitive attitude. He plays to win and with an impressive amount of passion to compliment his natural scoring ability and skill set. He will need to have better control of his game next season and step up his play a bit to earn a spot at the next level.”

Charlotte Checkers (Carolina Hurricanes)

Charlotte is the Southern-most team in the Atlantic division and boasts some of the hottest weather for an Atlantic division team. The defending 2019 Calder Cup Champion Checkers who posted a record of 51-17-7-1 last season and had an impressive playoff run to say the least, but have not had the best start to the 2019-20 season. Upon losing their two top forwards with Aleksi Saarela being traded (to Chicago, since moved to Florida) and Martin Necas graduating to the Hurricanes, Charlotte has had to rebuild their offensive core one draft pick at a time and with many of their high end prospects still playing major junior or overseas, the Checkers will have to devise a plan to do so.

Just over ten games into the season Charlotte is sitting second from the bottom and with not a lot of goals scored. Many of their shots last year came from guys like Saarela and Necas but now without them, they’ll be turning to the players who flew under the radar last season such as Morgan Geekie and Eetu Luostarinen to create offensive opportunities in hopes of repeating Charlotte’s Calder Cup success.

Players to Watch

Morgan Geekie

“He has plus size, moves well for a big man and has quietly effective offensive instincts which help him to outproduce his tools. He has the strength to protect the puck, and the quickness of hands to capitalize on a broken play and make something happen.”

Eetu Luostarinen

“His skating was fairly good in his draft year but he has since added explosiveness, quickness, and improved his endurance. Moreover, he has added power to his game, not only strength-wise but his shot is also more powerful than it used to be. Luostarinen is dependable without the puck and can play in a more defensive role if needed.”

Jake Bean

“He has a very high panic threshold, allowing him to remain calm with the puck in the face of opposing pressure. He can walk the blueline nicely, but his best work comes in his ability to exit his own zone with total control. Whether he skates the puck out or finds a passing option, he can be relied on to kickstart the transition to offense.”

Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers)Now to move on to from one of the bottom placed teams with the Charlotte Checkers to the top team in the Atlantic; the Hartford Wolfpack feeder team to the original six New York Rangers have gotten off to an electric start this season. So far Hartford has spun things around 180 degrees on the poor outcome the Wolf Pack had last season with only 29 wins and no real chance at qualifying for the playoffs. Their disappointing 2018-19 was a bi-product of their ever-changing rosters as the Rangers frequently called players up and as a result Hartford’s lines were constantly changing and their play was inconsistent and messy. They also boasted the highest goals against number and the lowest goals for on the season.

With the positive start, the Wolf Pack sit atop the Atlantic Division rolling into the start of November and over the hump of new teams and settling into new line combinations. With key acquisitions and veteran experience added during the offseason, Hartford will be a hard opponent to knock off the top. Although heading into his last season of prospect status, Vinni Lettieri can offer just the right amount of knowledge and offensive talent to make up for the recent temporary loss of top Rangers prospect Vitali Kravtsov, who departed the Wolf Pack for a year long loan deal back to his KHL club Traktor Chelyabinsk.

Players to Watch

Vinni Lettieri

“Often overlooked due to his stature, Lettieri’s speed and tenacity make up for any doubts his size may have caused. If given the chance, he could carry a role on the top penalty kill unit with his speed and overall forechecking knowledge.”

Igor Shestyorkin

“The 23-year old goalie has accumulated enough experience in the KHL and on the international stage and is more ready than your average rookie netminder. Shestyorkin is an agile goaltender, a bit on the small side for today’s trends, but won’t going to suffer from it.”

Joey Keane

“An elite skater, Keane is built for the modern NHL age. With his mobility, he is incredibly difficult to pin deep in his own zone, because he takes such good routes to dump ins and is able to transition to offense in a flash. As he moves to the pro level, he will need to keep the game simple, using his mobility to aid in his learning curve.”

Hershey Bears (Washington Capitals)

Despite Hershey Pennsylvania being the home of the Hershey Chocolate World, the Bears could certainly argue that the end of their 2018-19 season could have been a little sweeter. Not only did the Bears manage to end the season third from the bottom in goal production but they were also swept by Charlotte in the second round of playoffs.

With Hershey being the feeder team for the offensive powerhouse Washington Capitals it would seem the club has big shoes to fill. This season is looking somewhat different and the team is off to a better start offensively, already doubling the number of goals they had at the tail end of last season. Their back end is loaded with new talent, many of whom are responsible for quarterbacking their offensive play. With Jonas Siegenthaler now a permanent Capitals fixture the Bears look to have their rookie defensemen, namely; 2018 first rounder Alex Alexeyev and speedy 2^nd rounder Martin Fehervary, taking over in the back. Look for the Bears to be playoff hopefuls once again.

Prospects to Watch

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby

“When he is at his best, Jonsson-Fjallby is a highly energetic and quick player to play with and tough to keep up when paired against. His speed makes him a force to be reckoned with and his hockey IQ has improved drastically in the last year. He has become a smart and reliable two way player, whereas once his defensive game was insubstantial.”

Martin Fehervary

“An aggressive import from Slovakia, Fehervary played full time in the SHL last season, in his last year qualifying for junior hockey. He played in his customary aggressive style, with quick skating, physicality, and good reach. He still has NHL potential, with the look of a third pairing blueliner. His skating, reach and aggressiveness will becoming a strong defensive defender.”

Alex Alexeyev

“Alexeyev is a very good player who has all the tools to be a top four defender in the NHL. He has good size, skates very well, and has more snarl in his game then most give him credit for. Couple all that with a defender who is an excellent passer both in his own zone as well as when quarterbacking a powerplay, and he shows real promise. He has been one of the top defenders in the WHL since his arrival from Russia.”

Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Philadelphia Flyers)

Last season the Phantoms missed playoffs by two points, finishing fifth in the Atlantic Division. For an AHL team that seems to fly under the radar and whose parent team of Philadelphia seems to be known more for their mascot antics than their play, so far their success in the opening part of the season has not gone unnoticed. With rookie Morgan Frost leading the way and riding a seven game point streak as of this writing and carrying the team with nine points through the opening ten games, Lehigh’s young blood has been off to a strong start.

However, one point streak is not enough to create a winning team and with the departures of defenceman Phillippe Meyers and goaltender Carter Hart to the Flyers, their offence will surely have to be a strong point. This year Lehigh Valley welcomes many new faces to their roster which could be a turning point in the Flyers system due to their struggles with team cohesiveness in the past. The Phantoms look to have a promising amount of offensive rookie talent, many of whom bring energy to a slow to start returning AHL group.

Players to Watch

Morgan Frost

“Frost is ready for the next challenge in his young career. The talented playmaking center has improved his skating and strength on the puck over his OHL career and those should allow for an easy transition to pro hockey. He generates well off the rush, using a variety of dif- ferent attacks which speaks volumes to his creativity with the puck.”

Isaac Ratcliffe

“Ratcliffe is a hulking power winger with massive goal scoring potential at the next level. He has an extremely powerful shot that sees him use his size well to shield defenders before releasing the puck quickly. His skating continues to improve, especially his ability to cut and maintain possession through to the net.”

German Rubtsov

“He is a fast skating, quick shooting, high tempo player who plays with a lot of intensity and drive. He is a promising forward with much offensive potential and enough speed that he can get back on the backcheck as well. Rubtsov has the hands, the shot and the speed to be a standout forward with Philadelphia in the future if he can stay healthy.”

Providence Bruins (Boston Bruins)

One of the most controversial and most talked about clubs in the NHL is the Boston Bruins who seem to be Stanley Cup contenders every year, but can the same be said for the Bruins’ American Hockey league team? Last season the Providence Bruins managed to clinch the last playoff spot in the Atlantic division but were eliminated in the first round by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. With the third lowest goals against average in the league and many other stats ranking somewhere in the middle of the pack, for Providence they were the quintessential “average” team. They played a safe, controlled and structured breakout, regroup and forecheck game but there seemed to be a missing spark in their 2018-19 season.

The team has had a firecracker of a start and from the very first game it was evident that Providence would be a much faster and more skilled team than they were last year. With speedy rookies like Jack Studnicka and Oskar Steen added to the lineup, Providence’s offensive zone time has been rising. Should Providence stay healthy, they will be playoff contenders for sure.

Players to Watch

Urho Vaakanainen

“Vaakanainen is a smooth skating, dynamic defenseman who had
a good transition from SaiPa in the Liiga to the Providence Bruins. He is not known for any particular offensive abilities but his neutral zone play and puck movement are still amongst the top on this list. He makes precise passes and knows when to skate the puck and when to dump it.”

Trent Frederic

“He is a fine skater with enough puck skill and offensive instinct to earn middle six minutes at maturity. His grinder, to the net style also bodes well for that role. Boston will be looking for more consistent production before giving an NHL look.”

Jack Studnicka

“It could probably be argued that Studnicka is one of the more well-rounded forward prospects in hockey. There is no role that he cannot play on the ice for his team. Given how pro ready his game is, he could be much closer to making an impact in Boston than some think.”

Springfield Thunderbirds (Florida Panthers)

Although the Florida Panthers continue to struggle with their attendance, their feeder team in Springfield, MA seems to do fine and will continue to do so this season with a start as hot as the one they’re having now. The Thunderbirds have soared to second place in the Atlantic division after just over ten games played and currently lead in goals for.

With the recent additions of rookies Owen Tippett and Aleksi Heponiemi to the regular roster it is no wonder they are on the fast track to success. Tippett is a scoring machine and can shoot from anywhere on the ice while Heponiemi had unbeatable major junior years in the WHL as a playmaker and only continues to shine in the AHL. With young players like these only continuing to gain momentum, look for Springfield to maintain their top four Atlantic division status throughout the season.

Players to Watch

Owen Tippett

“While his ability to put the puck in the net will be his ticket to an NHL career, he has improved his play away from the puck and his patience with it to become a player who can make an impact even when he is not scoring. With good size and skating ability, Tippett is at his best when he is attacking North/South, hunting for opportunities to unleash his terrific wrist shot.”

Aleksi Heponiemi

“A nifty stickhandler with excellent vision and offensive awareness, he is a natural playmaker who can finish, too. His shot has improved quite a bit, he has the ability to pick his spots and be a dual threat in the final third. While not fast, Heponiemi is highly agile on his skates and can make shifty moves to evade defenders.”

Jonathan Ang

“A brilliant skater, Ang’s hands are almost as quick as his legs. The question he has always been asked about is his offensive ceiling. For as much as his speed allows hi to be one step ahead of the play and very difficult to contain, his numbers have never really stood out. He flashes the tools that got him drafted, but not consistently and he struggles to finish what he starts.”

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh Penguins)

It is no secret that the Pittsburgh Penguins are in trouble when it comes to their prospect system, however after just one draft that can be turned around and with a trade a team can be bolstered dramatically. Not to say that the Penguins prospect system needs a revamp but if they continue to draft the way they have, their feeder team in Wilkes-Barre will remain average, at best. For the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins momentum is hard to find, not only is the arena an older venue but there is just is not enough talent on the back end to drive offensive plays. To boot, the average age of Wilkes-Barre is 25 which means very few prospects are seeing ice time at the AHL level and the team lacks in youthful energy.

For the Pittsburgh Penguins the next few years will be a tipping point for their prospects and current players. That said, there is hope with defenceman Pierre-Olivier Joseph paving the way for a hardworking, play making defencemen, W-B/S may be able to generate enough offence to up their scoring chances. As the season progresses, look for forward Kasper Bjorkqvist to earn top mention and top minutes with the Baby Penguins on the front end.

Players to Watch

Pierre-Olivier Joseph

“Joseph’s best two assets are his work eth- ic and his hockey sense. He rarely makes a bad decision and, most importantly, knows his limitations. He is slight for the pro game at 168 pounds, but he is as adept at defending positionally as he is physically, and has figured out how to read many schemes with the puck to best attack from the back end.”

Jordy Bellerive

“Bellerive is a player who can play the game in any style. He is happy to drive the net and work hard to create his offense but he has a shot that can beat goalies cleanly from distance. He works his tail off in both zones and often generates additional chances from chasing down the play. He makes good passes both in transition and below the dots.”

Kasper Bjorkqvist

“He uses his solid size to play near the opposing crease and has a plan for the puck when he gets it, resulting in quick touches and quickly released shots. At his best, he has a nice shot an can play or pass the puck well, but he can go for prolonged stretches at less than his best, effectively becoming a non-factor in the play.”

North Division

The North Division is home to three out of the four Canadian teams in the AHL and some of the coldest climates, ranging from Binghamton, NY up to Laval, QC. Two seasons ago the Calder Cup was hoisted by the Toronto Marlies in dramatic fashion against the Texas Stars, and we should look to the North to be hungry for the Cup once again.

Belleville Senators (Ottawa Senators)

As one of the newest teams in the AHL with one of the smaller arenas, the Belleville Senators had a reasonable season last year but failed to qualify for the last playoff spot in the North Division. Belleville is still capable of packing an offensive punch and holding their own. Making up for the absence of Rudolfs Balcers who has earned a spot on Ottawa, will be rookie Josh Norris and Drake Batherson, the latter of whom earned the AHL All-Star MVP last season.

Although Belleville looks to be offensively equipped it will be interesting to see how they fare defensively this season after losing Erik Brannstrom and Christian Wolanin to Ottawa. Both were responsible for much of Belleville’s offensive play last season, particularly after Brannstrom joined the club in the Mark Stone trade from Vegas.

Prospects to Watch

Drake Batherson

“He is an elusive player that slips under the radar and is quiet on the ice until the puck is found in the net as a result of his strong playmaking ability. He is a highly adaptable and entertaining player to watch in both even strength and special team situations, his adjustment to the AHL level has been tremendous.”

Josh Norris

“A high IQ center with a standout two-way game, the former USNTDP standout is a strong play driver, with a fantastic shot and strong playmaking abilities. He was the hockey wherewith- al to play a bottom six role right away, but he projects as a clear top six center at his best.

Alex Formenton

“The foundation of Formenton’s game is his elite skating ability. He has an effortless, yet powerful stride that allows him to be such an effective high-energy winger. Additionally, Formen- ton is a physical player who is aggressive on the forecheck, making him a terrific penalty killer. As an offensive player, his best asset is a quick release.”

Binghamton Devils (New Jersey Devils)

Although the Binghamton Devils finished last in the North Division last season, their big sister club New Jersey made some key trades as well as draft acquisitions during the off season in hopes of deepening their system. Despite their place in the standings, that did not stop the Devils from having a successful development year for many of their prospects who received the chance to play up with New Jersey.

With a plethora of prospects to choose from Binghamton will be expected to move further up the ranks in the 2019-20 season standings. With additions like 2019 first overall pick Jack Hughes and Swedish prospect Jesper Boqvist to New Jersey’s forward lineup, look to Michael McLeod, Joey Anderson, Nathan Bastian, Mikhail Maltsev and Marian Studenic to pad up Binghamton’s offence. There is an abundance of top level prospects in New Jersey’s system and after the 2019 draft, look to the Devils to potentially have one of the best systems on paper.

Prospects to Watch

Michael McLeod

“Although not the smoothest of skaters to watch, he is strong and good both with and without the puck. McLeod’s defensive game has grown a lot this season making him a better two way player. He is a talented and smart playmaker and with a good start in the AHL and given more confidence he will definitely be in the right shape again to be shipped back up to the Devils.”

Marian Studenic

“Studenic had a solid start to his professional career this year with Binghamton and his natural skill and skating ability helped him to stand out amongst fellow rookie forwards. He is a deadly player when he gets to the net and is quick to capitalize on turnovers.”

Mikhail Maltsev

“He is a two-way forward with excellent size and good physical abilities, smooth hands and a solid positional game. Maltsev is a great choice for the third or fourth line considering his mass, defensive skills, and great reading of the ice in any situation at both ends of the rink.”

Cleveland Monsters (Columbus Bluejackets)

With an average height of 6-2” the name “Monsters” fits the tallest team in the AHL perfectly. Ironically enough Cleveland’s parent club, the Columbus Bluejackets, is home to one of the shortest and most skilled forwards in the NHL in 5-8” Cam Atkinson. Last season, Cleveland got off to a good start but faded quickly after the January All-Star break, barely making the playoffs. This coming year Cleveland once again seems to be hugging the fourth place spot in the North Division but perhaps they are still acclimatizing and pacing themselves, especially after seeing Sonny Milano and Kole Sherwood move up to the parent club.

With offence hanging in the brink for Cleveland, look to their firecracker of a forward Trey Fix-Wolansky to fire things up offensively and to Kevin Stenlund to add a physical punch to the Monsters’ offence. With 2018 first round pick Liam Foudy not quite ready to make the jump to the AHL yet, the Monsters will also have to rely on good goaltending from Finnish product Veini Vehvilainen to keep them in the game. Expect a decent back half of the season playoff run from the Monsters once they get settled.

Players to Watch

Veini Vehvilainen

“He is a very quick goalie. His lateral quickness and post-to-post movement are both high end and he can recover loose pucks quickly. He is also highly athletic and flexible. He rarely allows a soft goal and if he does, he is able to bounce back quickly.”

Trey Fix-Wolansky

“Fix-Wolansky is a player that has really grown over the past couple of seasons. That has improved substantially in this regard as has his foot speed. His playmaking and shooting skills have always been there but now he has the pace and the drive to impact every play. He has a real shot at being a success story as his offensive tools are very good.”

Kevin Stenlund

“Stenlund plays a gritty and hard on the puck type of game, he wins battles and uses his size to his advantage. Stenlund may have used his size as an advantage but his size is also what made him stand out despite being one of the slower players on the ice. He is strong on the puck but it sometimes appears to be an effort for Stenlund to maneuver easily in tight spots.”

Laval Rocket (Montreal Canadiens)

There is only one team in the league who conducts most of their business in a language other than English and that would be the Montreal Canadiens who have been a staple original six team as well as a symbol of French Canadian culture for decades. Now fast forward to the Laval Rocket who play in one of the nicest arenas in the AHL, La Place Bell, which housed one of the poorest performing teams in the North Division last season. Laval had a less than desirable year finishing second last in the standings having managed to score only 195 times through the whole season while every other team in their division surpassing the 200 goal mark.

Montreal has had some major prospect developments and a few small turnarounds from where they were sitting last season with Nick Suzuki, Victor Mete and Ryan Poehling all pulling their weight in the big leagues. That being said, it’s an exciting time for the Canadiens who have prospect momentum heading into the next year year with NCAA product Jake Evans in his sophomore season with Laval and Noah Juulsen, an unexpected cut from Montreal, returning to the lineup. Laval will be a dark horse this season and only time will tell where they will finish in the standings.

Players to Watch

Jake Evans

“Evans is an elite level passer who can make crisp on-the-tape passes in the most difficult of situations. He is a really solid player and has good jump to his stride and energy to his game. Evans has the full package, and he just needs to muster up more grit and stay consistent with his play and he will be set to dawn a Canadiens jersey soon.”

Noah Juulsen

“For a smooth skating defenseman who can shoot from just about anywhere on the ice, Juulsen has not had the same amount of success in the pro ranks as he had during his major junior days with Everett in the WHL. He is not the most mobile defender and his actions seem even more stiff and mechanical when he begins to think too much.”

Otto Leskinen

“A mobile defenseman, he skates well both backwards and laterally. He is light on his skates and there is little wasted motion in his stride. Leskinen has the abilities to be an impactful player offensively. He can make a crisp first pass or carry the puck up into the zone. He has a hard slap shot and a wrister with a very quick release.”

Rochester Americans (Buffalo Sabres)

For the past few seasons the Buffalo Sabres have been the team that starts out strong and finishes in last place but the opposite can be said about their feeder team, the Rochester Americans. Last season, Rochester duked it out with the Syracuse Crunch all season long for top spot in the North Division with only a three point margin separating the two teams. Rochester was led by veteran defenceman Zach Redmond and rookie forward Victor Olofsson, the latter of whom has since moved up to clinch a well-deserved spot with the Sabres.

Although Olofsson is no longer on the farm, his Swedish line mate Rasmus Asplund continues to gain momentum and acclimatize to North American play. Asplund is off to a much better start this season and his linemate C.J. Smith also looks to add to Rochester’s offensive depth. Netminder Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen remains a dark horse, soon set to return from rehab for surgery he had during the offseason. With Luukkonen, who is arguably one of the top goaltending prospects - and a future starting netminder in the NHL- joining Rochester it will be safe to say that should Rochester make playoffs their back end composure will be more than okay.

Players to Watch

Rasmus Asplund

“He is a smaller forward but a great forechecker working well to fill a spot as a grinder. Always keeping his feet moving, many of his 41 points this year came from rebounds and net scrambles. At times he is a little bit sloppy with his positioning which may be the reason why he has yet to earn a call up to the Sabres.”

Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen

“He is the complete package as a goaltender with his size and athleticism. Luukkonen moves so well in his crease, but with his size is able to square up to shooters still and take away all angles. He also reads and reacts to the play around him as he is rarely caught out of position. His composure in the crease this year was one of his more impressive features.”

C.J. Smith

“Smith is a great example of this as he is an entertaining player to watch and brings energy and drive to each game. His natural skill and scoring ability made him a stand out forward for the Americans last year, and are what will hopefully push him to work hard to gain a top six spot.

Syracuse Crunch (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Recapping the post season for the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise in the 2018-2019 season is simply depressing, as not only did Tampa fail to impress in their playoffs despite running away with the regular season, but Syracuse followed the exact same pattern. The Crunch led the North Division all season long but were swept in the first round of playoffs by the fourth place Cleveland Monsters. Truly disappointing but nonetheless a wakeup call to a franchise that may have gotten a little overconfident.

After the humbling events of last season, Syracuse has started off in a very modest middle of the pack spot with the departure of Alexander Volkov and Erik Cernak from the Crunch to the Lightning. It has been up to many of the guys heading into their sophomore seasons like Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh and Cal Foote to make up for the absences on the blueline as well as on the offensive attack. Syracuse will have to work much harder with their young squad if they want to achieve the same results as they achieved in 2018-19.

Players to Watch

Cal Foote

“Foote’s ranking as Tampa Bay’s number one prospect is well deserved as he is the perfect mix of a skilled offensive blueliner with a highly physical and dependable defensive defenseman. He has exceptional awareness and his hockey IQ is what makes him a great player. He has size and plays a calm, aware positional game that makes him stand out as being the most mature and dynamic prospect on this list.”

Taylor Raddysh

“Raddysh is a natural goal scorer with a knack for getting to the net in even the most difficult of situations. He is a good skater and a strong shooter capable of getting shots off in tight situations. He is especially good with one timers and adapting to bad passes. Raddysh will have to work on being more creative and being stronger on the puck in open ice situations, his level of want for the puck will have to improve.”

Mitchell Stephens

“He is a very competitive player who likes to win and who brings such passion to the game. He wins draws, gets to the net, blocks shots and plays a strong physical game. The only thing missing is an extra gear, as he needs that extra speed to be able to make a solid impact at the next level.”

Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs)

The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the most iconic teams in the league, boasting some of the most loyal fans around. That being said, they are also one of the younger player systems in the NHL with a core group of high end young players, and theirs is not a system like Boston or Washington which are reliant on veteran talent. That also means that for the Toronto Marlies, the Leafs’ AHL affiliate, it may be harder to make the opening night lineup than ever with very few retiring and new talent being drafted every year- the only thing mixing things up being the cap hit. However, despite monetary constrictions and trades all around, the Marlies have managed to not only win a Calder Cup in 2018 but also qualify for playoffs again the following year.

This season seems a little different and so far with so many changes, the core group consisting of Jeremy Bracco, Rasmus Sandin, Timothy Liljegren, Pierre Engvall and Adam Brooks have all adjusted well and have continued to put up a North Division leading 7-0-3 record through their first ten games of the season. Look to see the Marlies either on top of the divisional race or just below in second by the time the 2019-20 season draws to a close.

Players to Watch

Jeremy Bracco

“Bracco is a creative playmaker to say the least and every play holds different possibilities thanks to his level of hockey sense. He is a powerful and agile skater that can easily maneuver around opponents with his edgework, often opting to use his inside edges for turns rather than traditional crossovers.”

Rasmus Sandin

“Sandin is a versatile defenseman capable of leading rushes and quar- terbacking them as well. He is a skilled player with a good shot and great hockey sense. He sees the plays before they happen and stays one step ahead and remains focused while doing so.”

Yegor Korshkov

“He has a lot of good traits in his game that could translate well to the NHL, like the way he can cover the puck in the corners and create scoring chances from there. He has strong balance which will get stronger with more overall strength.”

Utica Comets (Vancouver Canucks)

Having played host to the 2019 World Juniors in Vancouver as well as the 2019 NHL Draft, Vancouver has been quite the hockey destination within the past months. However, for many fans who do not reside on the west coast, it may be easier to catch a Utica Comets game instead. Utica has had quite the roster turn around from last season offering a better start to the season as well.

With the addition of former Team Canada goaltender and top prospect Michael DiPietro, Utica now can rest assured that the net is covered as DiPietro moves like no other goaltender and possesses ultimate composure and focus while in the net. Another key addition is 2016 fifth overall pick Olli Juolevi who has come back from injury and is padding up the defensive end for the Comets. Utica is battling with Toronto back and forth for first spot in the North, which should be the race all season long should Utica not move any players. Note that former Canucks regular Nikolay Goldobin is still down with Utica and only adds to their offensive talent.

Players to Watch

Michael DiPietro

“He relies on his reads and his athleticism to make saves and he can be a real game changer because of it. At the pro level, there are often growing pains for these types of goaltenders because the game moves faster, the top part of the net becomes an easier target, and confidence can wane. But DiPietro remains a very solid pro prospect and should eventually develop into an asset.”

Olli Juolevi

He is a smart defenseman capable of reading the play and being one step ahead. He is a spot on passer and he can shoot from anywhere on the ice with speed and precision. His goal should be to keep his feet moving equally in all zones of the ice and to get back to playing a physical game.

Lukas Jasek

“An underdog type of player, Jasek has the ability to sneak past opponents and get into open ice without notice, giving him a leg up on his counterparts. He is a lightweight and a rather small looking player but his deceptiveness is scary when it comes to how aggressive he is on the puck. He plays with energy and passion and never gives up on a play.”

Boston Bruins 2019-20 Prospect Review: Top 20

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 17:37:55 +0000

Despite missing the playoffs for two season in a row in 2014-15 and 2015-16, the Bruins have generally been among the best teams in the league going back over a decade. Since the 2007-08 season, a span in which those two misses were the only times the B’s missed out on the postseason, the four constants in Boston have been Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Tuukka Rask, and David Krejci.

In 2010-11 that core was expanded by the full time addition of Brad Marchand to the roster, while David Pastrnak emerged full formed out of the draft for the 2014-15 season. One could make plausible arguments for both Torey Krug and Charlie McAvoy as additions to that vaunted core, and I wouldn’t argue their inclusions, but whether the Bruins’ core includes five, six, or seven players, it is clear that the rest of the roster is not and cannot compete with their supremacy.

For the most part, the Bruins have focused their drafting efforts in the past 12 seasons towards augmenting their core, getting players who could support their super stars – on entry level, or second contract dollars – while the stars eat up the spotlight and the lion’s share of the salary cap.

A full accounting of the efficacy of such a strategy is best left for an essay with fewer limitations on size, but it certainly hasn’t hurt the Bruins. The strategy is helped greatly by finding good players through the draft – and occasionally through amateur free agency – that can fill those roles. And I don’t mean that they draft role players in the way that Edmonton used to draft role players – the Bruins have not been focusing on players who could not crack top sixes on their respective amateur teams.

Rather, the Bruins have long been on the hunt for players with skill, but whose style and skillsets are adaptable to the grind of bottom six life (and bottom pairing life, and backup goalie life) in the NHL.

The proof to their success in drafting can be observed by how many players they had selected have eventually played in the NHL, often for Boston. Of course not every player has evolved into a long-term NHLer, but when your fifth or sixth round pick plays even 20 games in the NHL, that is a successful draft pick.

Year	Number of picks	How many played in the NHL
2008	6	4
2009	5	4
2010	8	6
2011	6	4
2012	6	4
2013	6	2
2014	5	4
2015	10	6
2016	6	3

Through nine drafts (it is far too early to judge the 2017-18 drafts, the Bruins saw at least half of the players selected reach the NHL in all years except 2013, and if Ryan Fitzgerald or Wiley Sherman plays in the NHL (neither would surprise at all), it will be a full nine out of nine. Some of those players have played less than 50 games in the NHL thus far, but those numbers also include 13 players who have already played over 100 games in the Show. Only two of those players are even considered for the core designation discussed above. Whether or not the strategy can work for all teams, it certainly works for Boston.

-Ryan Wagman

Boston Bruins defenseman Urho Vaakanainen (58) (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)

1 John Beecher, C (30^th overall, 2019. Last Year: IE) Although not at all correlated with this ranking, or his prospects for future success, I want to point out that John Beecher has hands like catcher’s mitts. I speak from experience. Not only are his paws gigantic, Beecher is a very big young man. He is also a splendid skater, not just for his size, but even in comparison to players six inches and thirty pounds smaller than he is. His draft year numbers may be underwhelming, but context helps put them into focus. As a member of the All Star USNTDP class, Beecher generally played in the bottom six. He isn’t as skilled as Jack Hughes, or Alex Turcotte, or Trevor Zegras. He spent very little time on the power play, with only two points on the man advantage throughout USHL play. He focused on defensive work, penalty killing and the like, but Beecher has skill, too. He has soft hands and can generate on his own, with his speed, physicality and creativity. I strongly suspect that he will play a far more offensive role with Michigan, and eventually, in the pros as well. - RW

2 Urho Vaakanainen, D (18^th overall, 2017. Last Year: 1) Vaakanainen is a smooth skating, dynamic defenseman who had a good transition from SaiPa in the Liiga to the Providence Bruins. He is not known for any particular offensive abilities but his neutral zone play and puck movement are still amongst the top on this list. He makes precise passes and knows when to skate the puck and when to dump it. For a blueliner who plays big, Vaakanainen still plays a rather naive physical game, and he will have to learn to be better in the dirty spots and make sure to win his physical battles, which includes one on ones. His hockey sense and awareness with and without the puck prove him to be NHL ready and his overall contribution to every shift make him a contender for a top line defensive spot in the future. - SC

3 Trent Frederic, C (29^th overall, 2016. Last Year: 2) Even though his first full professional season was somewhat of a let down, Frederic’s outlook is still bright. His seasonal numbers were clearly underwhelming, but they look better when we split his year into halves, as he began to acclimatize himself to the AHL pace in the season’s second half, which included a hat trick in the regular season’s penultimate game. Even so, he certainly wasn’t ready for the NHL, looking out of place in his 15 game midseason stint. The two-way game that convinced the Bruins to select him in the first round are still with him. He is a fine skater with enough puck skill and offensive instinct to earn middle six minutes at maturity. His grinder, to the net style also bodes well for that role. Boston will be looking for more consistent production before giving an NHL look. - RW

4 Jack Studnicka, C (53^rd overall, 2017. Last Year: 8) It could probably be argued that Studnicka is one of the more well-rounded forward prospects in hockey. There is no role that he cannot play on the ice for his team. Improvements to his skating stride over his OHL career have also really improved his outlook as an impact player. If his offensive skill set translates and he proves that he can skate and create in transition consistently, Boston could have a potential second line center. But if not, he still could develop into a nice checking line center who could be utilized in tough defensive matchups. Given how pro ready his game is, he could be much closer to making an impact in Boston than some think. - BO

5 Anders Bjork, LW (146^th overall, 2014. Last Year: 3) Even though he has already played in 50 NHL games, split over two seasons, Bjork still qualifies as a prospect by our criteria, as he came five games shy of graduating as a rookie, and is ten game short for his career. The problem, for the most part, has been health-related. In each of the last two seasons, his work was cut short due to serious shoulder injuries. The injuries should not impact his skating, which is still impactful. His instincts could have grown rusty with the long layoffs, although his previous work as a collegian suggests that he has the high end hockey IQ for him to be able to wear that rust off if he can stay on the ice. With this ranking, we are presuming a return to health, but the recurring nature of the injuries may have a potentially severely deleterious effect on his ascension to regular NHL status, such as we recently saw with St. Louis’ Robby Fabbri. - RW

6 Connor Clifton, D (133^rd overall, 2013 [Arizona]. Last Year: 13) Originally drafted by Arizona, the Coyotes sought to sign Clifton after his four years at Quinnipiac were up, but the hard hitting blueliner took his chances in free agency and was given an AHL deal by the Bruins’ organization. One strong season with Providence and the Bruins awarded him with an ELC. With the injuries suffered throughout the defense-corps last year, he got to showcase his stuff over 37 games combined in the regular season and the playoffs. Clifton is a good puck mover, but lacking in the flash to play in an NHL power play. His main strength is in his own zone, where his physicality makes him very tough to play against. He may also have more offense within, if he plays with the confidence to take more chances. That may be the difference between the 4/5 ceiling, and a more solid second pairing role at his peak. - RW

7 Jeremy Lauzon, D (52^nd overall, 2015. Last Year: 9) A smooth, no-drama defender, the two-way upside that Lauzon demonstrated in the QMJHL has given way to a more stately, first pass type, as he still has not found much of an offensive game after two years as a pro. Now looking more like a decent potential third pairing blueliner at his peak, he plays a more cerebral game, with a high panic threshold and sound positional play. He has decent size and strength, but is not especially aggressive to play against. One concern that was brought up in his amateur days which seems to have followed him is his average at best foot-speed. Without the ability to recover in time if he pinches deep in the offensive zone, he ends u playing more conservatively. That limits mistakes, but also limits his upside. - RW

8 Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, C (45^th overall, 2015. Last Year: 5) Although Forsbacka Karlsson will be heading back to play with Vaxjo in the SHL for a year, he is not to be counted out of the top prospect list for the Bruins. He is a well-rounded player offering skill and good speed to any forward line. He is a better passer than he is a shooter and can pass from all areas and both sides of the blade equally well. He will have to work on his consistency however, as he can be very good some games and not so good in others. As a centerman he is good at winning draws and is a good two-way player capable of playing a good defensive roll and playing on both power play and penalty kill. Presuming an eventual return to North America and the NHL, JFK would make a decent bottom six forward and a dynamic centerman. - SC

9 Kyle Keyser, G (Undrafted Free Agent, signed Oct. 3, 2017. Last Year: Not ranked) Keyser is an athletic netminder who can steal games for his team when he is dialed in. He moves post to post with great power, tracking the play and demonstrating the ability to make those highlight reel stretch saves. Over his OHL career, he really improved his mental focus, allowing him to be more consistent and to bounce back from tough goals or poor performances. Like any netminder who relies primarily on athleticism, there will be a transition period as Keyser will need to adjust his reads and become less of a stopper and more of a goaltender. There is no reason to suggest that with some AHL seasoning, that he could not be an NHL netminder within three years. - BO

10 Oskar Steen, C (165^th overall, 2016. Last Year: 17) A small-sized forward with nice offensive tools who plays with a lot of energy and with some edge as well. 21-year-old Steen took a big step last season increasing his offensive output to 37 points from six points in the prior year. He played a bigger role on a strong team and took it. He has a quick and hard shot. He can use both a one-time slap shot, as well as a quick released wrist shot to score. His overall hockey sense and offensive game isn’t elite and success comes mostly from playing a fast-paced game and working hard. His compete level fits well with the Bruins’ identity. He will probably start next season with Providence, but I can see him making the NHL as a high intense skating and skilled bottom six player who also can produce some points in that role. - JH

11 Karson Kuhlman, D (Undrafted Free Agent, signed Apr. 10, 2018. Last Year: Not ranked) Although he was never a gamebreaker over his four year career at Minneaota-Duluth, or beforehand, Kuhlman had the best year of his life as a first year pro, scoring at a respectable clip in the AHL and impressing enough in an NHL stint that he earned playoff shifts for the B’s. He is on the small side, and his pure skill set is average on a good day, but between his hockey IQ and his gritty style, he makes the most of what he has. He is a reliable penalty killer and his foot speed can make him dangerous if he gets a clean break. Kuhlman has a lower ceiling than anyone else on this list, but more certainty of reaching it than most. He could easily earn a fourth line NHL roe out of camp and stick in the NHL for as long as he is willing to play for a salary near the minimum. - RW

12 Jakub Lauko, C/LW (77^th overall, 2018. Last Year: 10) A European in the Bruins’ mold, Lauko brings great straight-line speed and a strong work ethic. He struggled a bit with injuries but was a great factor in the playoffs, leading all rookies in scoring with 13 points in 19 games, and added an impressive eight points in the Memorial Cup. His speed off the rush makes him dangerous and it is where he is most comfortable, but he is also a contributor without the puck. He is a confident sniper with a great shot, and he knows it; he fires with authority from all around the zone. His hockey sense makes him a threat to take the puck and go north from any spot on the ice, while his speed makes him tough to catch. He has all the tools to be a sniper off the wing at the NHL level. - MS

13 Axel Andersson, D (57^th overall, 2018. Last Year: 11) A puck skilled right-handed defenseman who skates well. Andersson has both good puck control as well as mature decision-making. He has NHL potential, as a third pairing or maybe even second pairing role. He is not a typical shutdown defender but protects the blue line well. He is best used as a quietly effective defenseman with the puck who has some offensive blue line skills as well. He has shown great promise playing in the junior league in Sweden, but often got sidelined in the international events due to tough internal competition for ice-time. Last season, he got a chance to play senior hockey full time as an 18-year-old in Allsvenskan. He had an okay season but wasn’t able to earn big minutes there either. Next season, Andersson will be heading to North America. He is probably not ready for NHL, so it’ll be Providence (AHL) or Moncton (QMJHL) for now. - JH

14 Jakub Zboril, D (13^th overall, 2015. Last Year: 7) The first player Boston selected as part of their infamous three-in-a-row first round run in 2015, Zboril has seen his pro career stagnate through two seasons in Providence. He was considered a safe prospect at the time, but that moniker is always cringe-worthy and while he will expand his NHL resume beyond his current two games of experience, the likelihood of him having an impact beyond the third pairing is shrinking. His offensive tools are passable, but he has struggled with bringing them to the fore more than occasionally. As a former first rounder, the Bruins will not be too quick to dismiss him as a prospect, and he has enough in his game to play, but more is needed. - RW

15 Roman Bychkov, D (154^th overall, 2019. Last Year: IE) A talented defenseman, Bychkov is coming off a strong season in the Lokomotiv system, winning the MHL title. Earlier in the season he helped Team Russia earn a Bronze Medal at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, to which he contributed a goal. He is a potential top-four, two-way defenseman with interesting puck skills and a solid defensive game. He has a good set of hands that allows him to carry the puck up the ice or making a good first pass, but he may play more in the offensive zone, and sometimes he prefers to play a simple game even though he has the skills to take risks in creating a scoring chance. He absolutely needs to bulk up and further fine-tune his game before thinking about a move overseas. He is under contract in Russia for two more seasons and he still needs another year or two of seasoning and growing. - ASR

16 Zachary Senyshyn, RW (15^th overall, 2015. Last Year: 6) On the pro side of the ledger, Senyshyn is still a fantastic skater. His end-to-end speed is dynamic and played a large part in the Bruins using the 15^th overall pick on him four years ago. Another positive is his shot. When he gets positioning and time, he can rip the puck. On the other side of the ledger is everything else. He cannot think the game at the speed of his legs and has not been able to adjust to the pace of the pro game, even though he is faster than most of his teammates as well as opponents. He can get himself – momentarily – into scoring opportunities, but all too often fails to act in time to make good on them. His wheels will keep hm on the radar for another two or three years, but will not prevent others from passing him on the depth charts. He needs to find a new level. - RW

17 Peter Cehlarik, LW (90^th overall, 2013. Last Year: 16) Cehlarik is, in a way, the polar opposite to Senyshyn above. Senyshyn can fly, but rarely produces. Cehlarik produces at a strong level for the AHL, but his pace is plodding. The Slovakian import is equally effective as a scorer and a playmaker, but his lack of pace has always been a concern, and NHL stints in each of the last three seasons have done nothing to negate those concerns. He has enough size and has demonstrated repeatedly that he has the ability to find holes in coverage from which to strike, but scoring in the AHL is not always a precursor to scoring in the NHL and until Cehlarik proves he can do it, that question will always hang over his helmet. In the meantime, Boston will be happy to go year-by-year contractually with him. - RW

18 Pavel Shen, C (212^th overall, 2018. Last Year: 20) In spite of his successful WJC campaign, Shen had a tough season in 2018-19. Pressure was high on him and on his team in the second half, and he failed to deliver despite being given a chance. Left without many options at home, he decided to move overseas. The move seems to be a bit too fast, and perhaps it would have been better for him to find himself another KHL team for a couple of seasons as right now he is very raw, albeit talented. Shen skates well and has a good eye for the game, but the other side of the coin is that he doesn’t defend hard and he prefers playing on the perimeter or in open ice. If he manages to find a niche in North America, he can develop into a smooth-skating forward with a good knack for secondary scoring, but at this point his move seems premature. The next season will be key for his development. - ASR

19 Cameron Hughes, C (165^th overall, 2015. Last Year: 14) For a first year pro, Hughes held his own last year, contributing a decent amount of secondary offense to a middling Providence squad. In an interesting change from his days at the University of Wisconsin (some alongside Trent Frederic), he has shown more finishing skill than previously thought, while his playmaking, previously a strength of his game, took a backseat in the AHL. Even though he has added muscle from his days on campus, he is still undersized and plays in accordance with his lack of strength. The main concern at this point is Hughes is that he lacks a natural role. He has great hands, but they are not enough to secure a top six role in the NHL – and barely so in the AHL. Yet he also lacks the style of game traditionally seen in a bottom six role. Contrast with Karson Kuhlman above, who has lesser skills than Hughes, but whose game is much better suited to a bottom six role. - RW

20 Ryan Fitzgerald, C (120^th overall, 2013. Last Year: 12) After contributing 37 points in each of his first two full pro seasons, it would seem, at a glance, that we know what Fitzgerald can bring to the table. But looking deeper, we can see that the shape of his production has varied greatly year over year. A finisher as a debutant, he skewed much more towards playmaking as a follow up. He had fluctuated similarly over his four year run at Boston College, adding to the confusion. Fitzgerald plays a skill game, and is stronger in the offensive and neutral zones than in his own zone, where he can struggle to hold his assignment. He lacks size and can be neutralized physically, although he is smart enough to find a way often enough. Like Hughes above, he has a bit of the tweener in him, and will need his IQ to convince the decision makers to give him a prolonged opportunity. - RW

Jack Studnicka – McKeen's Hockey

MCKEEN’S 2022-23 NHL YEARBOOK – BOSTON BRUINS – Top 20 Prospects

2021-22 TOP 15 PROSPECTS: BOSTON BRUINS – RANK: #25 – TIER V

McKeen’s Fantasy Prospects Rankings

Forward Rankings

Defense Rankings

Goalie Rankings

McKeen’s 2020-21 Hockey Yearbook: Top 300 Prospect Rankings

2020-21 McKeen’s Hockey Yearbook: Boston Bruins Top 20 Prospects

Boston Bruins

John Beecher, C (30th overall, 2019. Previous ranking: 1)

Jack Studnicka, C (53rd overall, 2017. Previous ranking: 2)

Jeremy Swayman, G (111th overall, 2017. Previous ranking: 3)

Urho Vaakanainen, D (18th overall, 2017. Previous ranking: 4)

Jeremy Lauzon, D (52nd overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 5)

Trent Frederic, C (29th overall, 2016. Previous ranking: 6)

Jakub Zboril, D (13th overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 7)

Jack Ahcan, D (Undrafted Free Agent, signed Mar. 27, 2020. Previous ranking: 8)

Jakub Lauko, C/LW (77th overall, 2018. Previous ranking: 9)

Daniel Vladar, G (75th overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 10)

Zachary Senyshyn, RW (15th overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 11)

Trevor Kuntar, C (89th overall, 2020. Previous ranking: NA)

Roman Bychkov, D (154th overall, 2019. Previous ranking: 13)

Curtis Hall, C (119th overall, 2018. Previous ranking: 14)

Oskar Steen, C (165th overall, 2016. Previous ranking: 15)

Peter Cehlarik, LW (90th overall, 2013. Previous ranking: 16)

Anton Blidh, LW (180th overall, 2013. Previous ranking: 17)

Joona Koppanen, LW (135th overall, 2016. Previous ranking: UR)

Victor Berglund, D (195th overall, 2017. Previous ranking: UR)

Mason Lohrei, D (58th overall, 2020. Previous ranking: NA)

MCKEEN’S 2020 NHL PROSPECT REPORT – BOSTON BRUINS – ORGANIZATIONAL RANK: 7

Boston Bruins

John Beecher, C (30th overall, 2019. 2019 Rank: 1)

Jack Studnicka, C (53rd overall, 2017. 2019 Rank: 4)

Jeremy Swayman, G (111th overall, 2017. 2019 Rank: UR)

Urho Vaakanainen, D (18th overall, 2017. 2019 Rank: 2)

Jeremy Lauzon, D (52nd overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: 7)

Trent Frederic, C (29th overall, 2016. 2019 Rank: 3)

Jakub Zboril, D (13th overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: 14)

Jack Ahcan, D (Undrafted Free Agent, signed Mar. 27, 2020. 2019 Rank: IE)

Jakub Lauko, C/LW (77th overall, 2018. 2019 Rank: 12)

Daniel Vladar, G (75th overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: UR)

Zachary Senyshyn, RW (15th overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: 16)

Ryan Fitzgerald, C (120th overall, 2013. 2019 Rank: 20)

Roman Bychkov, D (154th overall, 2019. 2019 Rank: 15)

Curtis Hall, C (119th overall, 2018. 2019 Rank: UR)

Oskar Steen, C (165th overall, 2016. 2019 Rank: 10)

MCKEENS 2020 NHL PROSPECTS REPORT – TOP 250 PROSPECTS

AHL: Eastern Conference Team by Team Update

AHL 2019-20 Preview: Eastern Division

Boston Bruins 2019-20 Prospect Review: Top 20

John Beecher, C (30^th overall, 2019. Previous ranking: 1)

Jack Studnicka, C (53^rd overall, 2017. Previous ranking: 2)

Jeremy Swayman, G (111^th overall, 2017. Previous ranking: 3)

Urho Vaakanainen, D (18^th overall, 2017. Previous ranking: 4)

Jeremy Lauzon, D (52^nd overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 5)

Trent Frederic, C (29^th overall, 2016. Previous ranking: 6)

Jakub Zboril, D (13^th overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 7)

Jakub Lauko, C/LW (77^th overall, 2018. Previous ranking: 9)

Daniel Vladar, G (75^th overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 10)

Zachary Senyshyn, RW (15^th overall, 2015. Previous ranking: 11)

Trevor Kuntar, C (89^th overall, 2020. Previous ranking: NA)

Roman Bychkov, D (154^th overall, 2019. Previous ranking: 13)

Curtis Hall, C (119^th overall, 2018. Previous ranking: 14)

Oskar Steen, C (165^th overall, 2016. Previous ranking: 15)

Peter Cehlarik, LW (90^th overall, 2013. Previous ranking: 16)

Anton Blidh, LW (180^th overall, 2013. Previous ranking: 17)

Joona Koppanen, LW (135^th overall, 2016. Previous ranking: UR)

Victor Berglund, D (195^th overall, 2017. Previous ranking: UR)

Mason Lohrei, D (58^th overall, 2020. Previous ranking: NA)

John Beecher, C (30^th overall, 2019. 2019 Rank: 1)

Jack Studnicka, C (53^rd overall, 2017. 2019 Rank: 4)

Jeremy Swayman, G (111^th overall, 2017. 2019 Rank: UR)

Urho Vaakanainen, D (18^th overall, 2017. 2019 Rank: 2)

Jeremy Lauzon, D (52^nd overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: 7)

Trent Frederic, C (29^th overall, 2016. 2019 Rank: 3)

Jakub Zboril, D (13^th overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: 14)

Jakub Lauko, C/LW (77^th overall, 2018. 2019 Rank: 12)

Daniel Vladar, G (75^th overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: UR)

Zachary Senyshyn, RW (15^th overall, 2015. 2019 Rank: 16)

Ryan Fitzgerald, C (120^th overall, 2013. 2019 Rank: 20)

Roman Bychkov, D (154^th overall, 2019. 2019 Rank: 15)

Curtis Hall, C (119^th overall, 2018. 2019 Rank: UR)

Oskar Steen, C (165^th overall, 2016. 2019 Rank: 10)