The Athletic Hockey Show - NHL prospect standouts from each division

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

With NHL training camps operating at a much quicker pace because of the shortened preseason, rookies and prospects have had to make an impact right away this year. Today, the guys break down which players have done just that, discussing the standouts from each division and what to expect as the regular season gets underway next week.Hosts: Max Bultman, Corey Pronman, and Scott WheelerWith: FloHockey’s Chris PetersExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris FlanneryWatch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowSubscribe to The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Hey, everybody, Max Bolman here alongside the athletic Scott Wheeler and Corey Promin and Flow Hockey's, Chris Peters, for another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. It's been a while, guys. We had our U-23 draft a few weeks back. Camps are underway. We've got some standout, some really good stories on the site lately. Scott and you and Dom had your contention cycle, competitive cycle story that you do every year come out. Always a really interesting look at the league.

Corey, you did some rankings of these out of ELC contracts for a lot of the young players that are coming out. It's a boom right now. Corey ranked them for you. You guys should definitely go check those out. We don't have time to get to all of that today, though, because we've got some rookies to discuss around the league. We're going to kind of go division by division and talk about some of the players we think will make teams, some of the names you know, some of the guys who may be on the bubble. So we got a lot to get to here. And I want to start, Corey, in the Pacific Division.

I mean, the Anaheim ducks have been the locus of the prospects lately, along with the San Jose sharks, and San Jose will continue to be a very interesting hot spot here this fall. Yeah, and I think with Anaheim, the most interesting story for them has been the play of Nikita Klepov, their most recent first round pick out of Saginaw. And he was a really interesting story all summer because we expected him to go into Michigan State as a freshman this season. He was on the roster that Michigan State announced when they announced their rookie class. He was on campus for several weeks, and then he signs a contract right at the start of the NHL season, and he ends up going to camp for Anaheim. When that happened, we kind of thought, like, there must be some sort of underlying assumption here that, or understanding between the two that he has a really good chance to make

this team. And they seem to be giving him every opportunity, and he seems to be holding his own while playing with skilled players. I mean, you know, Klappov is a really skilled and intelligent forward. He's a good skater. He's competitive enough. And he's doing a good job, quite frankly, of showing that he could at least play with men, play with NHL players. You know, it's always tough, especially with these really, really young players when they show well at camp, when they show well at preseason.

Because when you get to the NHL games and all the big boys are playing and they're all trying, things change. things change. So you know, you clear rookie camp, that's a step. You clear preseason, that's a step. But then going to the real games is the biggest step. But so far, I think Kliepov has done what you've expected him to, and he's outplayed fellow first round pick, Roger McQueen, in the process. What was interesting, too, is coaches will talk about how the first half of the preseason

isn't the same as the second half of the preseason. But this year, we don't really have any familiarity on what that means, because it's a short and preseason for everybody. The whole thing is going to take place really in a span of a week. And then I wonder if some of that will carry over into the regular season with some of these guys who are getting kind of these nine game auditions. Does that change? Like what the threshold is. Like last year, there are guys who get off to starts in the first 10 games and then the league really clicks into gear.

It's a very different landscape now with the short and preseason. I do wonder how much the nine game thing is really going to matter for a lot of kids. I think it's all about the free agent year ticking off, the 41 game mark. And you mean, you talk about the preseason, the four games. They're not playing all four of those games either. They're playing two in most cases. Yeah, yeah, we're going to talk about, you know, Gavin McKenner, Ivar Stenberg's preseason. And it's to date, it's one game.

Like, you know, Ivar Stenberg had a great, you know, great performance the other night for the San Jose Sharks. And, you know, one, you know, made a lot of plays, you know, showed the high-end skill where he used a scene from him. So, you know, grand initial show, you know, he could always, if there was a lot of, longer preseason, who knows how the rest of those games would have gone. But that is, you know, you're definitely seeing a lot of teams coming to camp, knowing what the team looks like. I think I saw GM Kyle Davidson with Chicago the other day say you kind of have to project the team before you get to camp and then kind of work off that. Because you don't have time to, there really is no making the team right now. Like there's been a little bit of that throughout this process.

but for a lot of this new preseason format, it's basically been teams deciding what their roster is going to look like September 15th, essentially. With Klepov, too, like, we came into camps expecting

that Gavin McKenna, Yvars, Stenberg, Albert Smiths, maybe Vigo Bjork, four top 10 picks had a chance to make opening night rosters. Maybe he is this year's Ben Kindle. Like maybe he's the guy who joined,

that team and gives them a little bit more offensive juice and plays 10 minutes a night at five on five, but contributes on the power play and sort of finds his way in the same way Kindle do. There are a lot of lines, frankly, to draw. Obviously, Kindle's a center. So there's a bigger, bigger ask there of Kindle as a rookie, but there are some lines to draw in terms of the smarts, the playmaking, the feel on the puck, the ability to sort of pick teams apart. I do wonder about Kepov.

And frankly, if he's not there, it's back to Saginaw now. that's that's his other option and sagna projects to have one of the best teams in the oh so he he would be going back to a situation where he's got a chance to to chase an oh hl title with de majeelkin and all them it's an interesting decision for anaheim though scott in that way because if you send him back to the a to the ohishl at this point like you can't you're not sending him to the a hl like if you send him to the ohhl is that going to be good for him like what's better for him to be pushed in the n hl or to go you know he already kind of dominated the o hl last year

And I heard from a couple of people when he made his decision that they felt he was making the wrong decision. And even over the weekend heard from a college coach who was like, I don't know if he shouldn't have just gone to Michigan State. And that was after people were sort of tweeting online about how well he played and how good he looked. There are still some skeptics. But there were skeptics with Kindle too. And sometimes these kids have a way of sticking around, especially with cap strap teams. Like the ducks need, they need a guy on an ELC to fit in there. And if McQueen can't be that guy, then maybe they'll, maybe they may feel that

Kleppov has to be that. It's hard on to connect the dots between what the management group saw coming down the pipe there with all those contract negotiations and then signing Kleppov. Like, I'm not saying they are guaranteeing this kid a spot before he even showed up to camp an 18-year-olds, but it kind of felt like there were some things that were, understood. Yeah, and Chris Kreider is obviously the cap casualty there. Now you have Kepov as the replacement.

A little bit more on Yvar Stenberg, Corey. I mean, you've talked about him a little bit here, but what's a reasonable expectation for him? I feel like in San Jose in particular, the curve has kind of been skewed by what's fair to expect of a top two pick this early in his career. Yeah, and, you know, he's not coming into the team the same way that Celebrini and Misa came in, in that there's obviously a lot more talent there. right now, and he doesn't need to be the guy or the second best guy or even the third best guy

among that forward group. I think we kind of expect Misa, but particularly Celebrini and Will Smith to be the leaders offensively for that team this coming season. I think you're expecting a guy who's going to be a middle six winger, who's going to be someone who can win battles at even strength, who can help their power play out. I don't even know he's going to be on the first power play, though, quite frankly. I think he's going to be, you know, weaned in here a little bit into the sharks. I still think you're expecting a guy who can be a top rookie in the league this season,

but I don't know if there should be, you know, massive expectations. I don't know if there's a rookie in the league right now, quite frankly, maybe Rowan Kanzarov in frontel are going to be those in Chicago, but I don't know if any of these rookies are being handed the keys and being asked to play a major role right away. Martone, maybe. Maybe, maybe, but I don't know. They've got a lot of wingers there.

Yeah, I took the words out of my mouth. Hudson's going to be on PP2. It's going to be Chickren on PP1, right? Corey talked about the Chicago guys. Let's go to the Central now, Chris. And Chicago is the locus of this, right? We could probably do an entire show on Chicago's decisions with their young players and not just the decisions,

but how they've looked, right? I would say probably the most buzz early in camp. Yeah, and as he should. I mean, I think, you know, you'd come in with the pedigree that he does out of the KHL. There should be a high expectation on you. And I think the thing that we caveat that with is that we've seen plenty of guys come over from the KHL and not really figure it out at the NHL level, though not

typically at the younger ages. So I think that that's probably good. You know, obviously with Chicago, the other element of this entire thing is that Baderd is not going to be starting the season on time. And so with that involved, you've got to lean on some guys a little bit earlier. Obviously, that pushes Frank Nazar into an elevated role, but it also then creates this opportunity for Kansarov to be, hey, more of an offensive focal point. Like, we're going to actually need you to do a few things here. Same with Frontel. We're going to need you to play a little bit of an elevated role and provide something to our team here in a pretty

quick manner. So I would say, you know, for both of those guys, you know, the expectations are what they are, but I think you, if you're a Blackhawks fan, you also have to manage those expectations a bit because obviously without Badaard, even with the addition of Cain, you know, I think that that offense looks a lot different without its centerpiece. So how does that help or hurt those two individuals in particular remains to be seen? But I think that they're both well equipped, especially with Frundell getting the last little audition at the end of last season, where he looked really good. And I think he looked really comfortable playing with NHL. players. I'm excited to see that. I think those are two of the guys that are certainly worth watching as close as anybody in the very early stages of the season, not so much in this abridged preseason. I think what Blackhawks fans are starting to see with Cancerov, too, is that everybody knew about the speed, the skill, the shot in particular. He's really fast. But he's built, he's built like a bulldog and kind of plays like a bulldog as well for a five, nine, five, ten player. He's strong. He puts his nose in front of the net. He's willing to battle in the

corners. That will go a long way for a rookie to avoid some of those lulls over the course of the season. Yeah, I agree with that. I think that that's probably the thing that gives you the most reason for optimism of anything because like you said, we already knew about the offensive elements, but getting those skills to translate, especially in the hard areas of the ice, that's what it builds longevity, builds opportunity. It builds trust from the coaching staff right away. I think that the coaches in particular are realizing, hey, we've got something pretty unique on our hands here with this player.

So obviously plenty of reason for excitement there. I'm not saying he's going to score 100 points, but he does remind me of Kappersoff, like the way he plays, the hardness in his game, the interior skill for a small guy. Like, he's got the ability to be, a really good NHL player if it clicks. What do you set the bar for Frundel, Chris? Because he's a guy, the way he finished last year, he should be someone that we're talking

really prominently about and called their discussions. I feel like Martone has gotten kind of more assumption that he's just going to pick up where he left off than Frundel has. Yeah, that's a great point. And I kind of feel the same way about that. I think that the thing with Frundel that has been a continual theme is that we have seen him flash, but we have yet to see him sustain. And I think that that's really going to be the key to this season is that I think there are going to be kind of peaks and valleys. Eventually, it's

going to level out. It's just about him finding that consistent level because he has the physical strength. He has the know-how. He has the know-how. Like, he has all of the tools, but it's just about maintaining it whether that's a mental thing or whether that's really a physical thing in terms of fitness and whatever else. Those are going to be the things. But we know he's super strong. We know that he can get to the middle of the ice and we know that he doesn't you know he did not show any fear in the early state you know during that the course of that um that NHL stint that he had but I think for me the reason I give it a little bit of pause is because we haven't yet seen him do it over the last couple of years where we're like oh we know exactly what we're getting from

this guy every night um the top end of his game is is is one of a player that could be a top of the lineup kind of guy. Can he get there all the time? Can he maintain that? I think that's going to take a little longer to determine. The thing he has in his back pocket is that even during the dry spells, if he's on the power play, the one-timer every seven or eight games is probably going to fall for him.

But at five on five, I just think the reason we're not talking about him like Martone and some of these guys is that it's, I think it's going to be a bit more. of a struggle for him to be consistent at five-on-five. One other guy in Chicago, and Scott Power has been talking about Kevin Korninski in camp, and he's become the forgotten man there. They got a lot of young D. It's understandable why he's become the forgotten man there. How would you approach this, Scott, with Kevin Kortinski, a guy who has all this pedigree, you got capital invested into him, but there's other guys too. I mean, you can't really get bogged down on Kortinski. It sounds like, though, from

Powers reporting, maybe he's at least kind of earned at least a look. Yeah, it sounds like he's played quite well, and that's awesome for Kevin. Obviously, he's one of those kids that would have benefited from the sort of ACHL rule that now exists. Like, they felt like they pigeonholed him a little bit early on in his career by putting him into the NHL and playing him in the role that they did, and he wasn't ready for it, and he probably should have gone back to Seattle. And there's a lot of, there were a lot of ifs sort of along the way with Kortinski. But now the clock is ticking, and you don't want him to become, like, a change of scenery guy that you have to shop around the league for somebody else's sort of misfit toy, right? Like he needs to take steps. He needs to sort of establish himself.

And he's another player who over the course of his HL season last year when I watched him had some real highs, like some games where he could really take over offensively at the HL level. And yet also some struggles defensively and some continued struggles defensively. He's never put on a ton of weight despite having sort of the length. So there's been some issues in terms of board battles and clearing out the net front and all of that. And now he's playing well enough to earn a role and yet start to count them, right? Like I'm just off the top of my head. Alex Vlasic, Bowen Byram, Artie Webb Shunab, Sam Renzel,

Wyatt Kaiser. They signed a veteran in Ian Cole. Like, that's six guys right there. So that isn't to say that you prioritize Ian Cole or one of those guys over a young player in Kortinski if he earns it. But there is the shape of a blue line there that I think they didn't envision Kortinski necessarily being in. now you recalibrate, maybe you give him a look.

Maybe he starts the year with you and one of those guys is a healthy scratch. There are options. If he continues to play well, and the problem with the short and preseason is that there's not much more of an opportunity to do that. But if he continues to play well, I think you owe him, you owe him a look. And not just because he's a seventh overall pick. You owe it to him because he's earned it. Yeah. You know, the one thing that I do have a little bit of concern about is that over the last two seasons,

his production was largely the same at the HL. both cases it was underwhelming. And I think that the, the situation being what it is, is like, yeah, you know, I, I feel like you've got to give him every opportunity because he did what you asked them to do, you know, like he, he started in the NHL, goes to the HL, did all those things, just like you said, Scott. And then, but what he hasn't yet done is, is established the reason, you know, and if he can do that in this short preseason, that's great. But I, I, I feel less bullish on his opportunity like his his chance to make it. But I, you know, I think I would like to see him do it because he's definitely put in the work. It's just a matter of now does the opportunity exist?

And if it doesn't exist, where do you go from here? Is it a now a sunk asset where you can't really move them for much of anything? Or is it, let's keep going down this road and seeing if there's any development we can squeeze out of it? Does he need to be on a power play, though, for him to have value, though, in the NHL? Because he's not a great. defender and then you look at their lineup and I wonder like where would he even fit power play wise. Yeah, I don't think he would. And that's the that and I do, I agree with you. Like I think that he needs, well, you didn't really say whether or not he needs to be on there, but I think he does, right? You know, like if and and I couldn't put him on there right now, you know, and so yeah, I mean like

and really, to me, this is always, and I agree, Scott, like it would have been helped. It would have been helpful if they had that, that HL rule. It would have also maybe been helpful if he had the college rule. And it also would have been really helpful if the Blackhawks didn't put him in the NHL right away because they had to. And you can take the H.L and the college out of it. They should have just sent him back to Seattle. Correct. It's, yeah, I mean, like it just, it's just, it's, like, it's good preseason, like, helps his trade value more than anything else. Well, and that's kind of where I'm going with it, too, is it, you know, Power's quoted Blaschel saying, like, you guys see who the six defensemen are. He's not in there right now. And I just wonder,

like, is it, is it worth it to try him over a coal? Or is it, are you just going to, to hold him and try to move because you're not going to lose a guy like that on waivers, not that investment. Yeah. I don't know. It's a sticky situation. Yeah, I don't think, I don't, I think where the Blackhawks are as an organization right now, that's not the decision.

Like, it can't, you, what happens to Kevin Kortchinsky is no longer a huge issue for them. I don't think that that's a make or break issue. Yeah. It wasn't like they were a great team last year with this loaded blue line that he just, like, there was just no way for him to crack. It's, it's tough because. They were a bottom team last year, and he couldn't make that team. So what teams are out there that, you know, have worse blue lines than the Chicago did last season that would have openings for him?

That's kind of the conventional bottom. Yeah, that's fair. We'll see. We'll see where that goes. Let's take a quick break right there. We're going to finish out the Central Division right after this break. All right, we're back. And before we get into the rest of the Central Division, the Athletics Hockey Desk, some of the sharpest,

in the sport, if we do say so ourselves, is set to release the Hockey 100, ranking the 100 greatest modern NHL players, written by Sean McIndoo and Dan Robson with the foreword by Ken Hitchcock. That is out October 27th from William Morrow. We would love if you would give it a read. All right, diving back into the Central guys, we talked about Chicago. I think that's ground zero for the prospect conversation in the Central. But the next one out is Utah.

And Utah is an interesting one because they're in a very different spot as a franchise that the Chicago Blackhawks are. They are ready to seriously compete, but they have some big names really pushing for spots here. And I wonder, Corey, how would you kind of come at this from the Utah Mammoth's perspective? Like, there's some names here like Tijiginla, Daniel Boot, like, how do you sort through this

and then who's ready to impact your team? Well, based on the play through camp so far, you know, Tijiginla, Caleb Denae, have had good moments, but I think Daniel Boot has been the best among the three. I think he's the guy who's most, likely to take that open forward spot and start the season, potentially in the top six and even on the top power player or one of the top two powerplay units for the Utah mammoth. You know, he had really good rookie camps, had a good preseason, you know, big fast forward

who played well versus men last season in the American League. And I think the fact that they have boot and that he's played well in camp gives them the luxury to not have to rush denouye, not have to rush again. You know, a ginnla's had injury issues, send him down the American League, see how he does down there, give Denaulte, you know, time to play against men, let him go to the world juniors. You know, I think they have the luxury of options there. And that if that boot looks ready, you know, I think that's all, that's a, you know, a great thing for that organization. Chris, how do you kind of approach it as Utah? Because this is a team that they have some guys like Denoia and Aginla that I think many teams in their spot are trying, not, sorry, not in their spot.

Many teams with players like that are trying to get those guys into their lineup, but it's just a different, different situation. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I feel like they're in this mode where, you know, being competitive is the highest priority. They're not in development mode right now. They have the luxury of having some young players that are really exciting. I think Denaue and Ginnla are both those guys. You know, in normal years, they would not have the capability of sending Denaue to the HL. But now because of the new 19-year-old rule, they can. They can send them to two. Tucson. And I think that that's ultimately, you know, the right thing. And I think it's the right thing for Teage, too, because at the same, like, you don't want those guys to spend all of their season, each season fighting for ice time because you really cannot give it to them,

based on until, until they've proven that they deserve it. And so, you know, in the case of Boots, he's already been in the system. He's already done those things and has already had success at the HL level, which gives you a little bit more confidence. He also has the size, too, on top of all of it. But we saw what Simashev was able to do. I think there's a lot of optimism about him. Boot had a very similar trajectory within his AHL time, albeit in a different position. So I think ultimately you're not making decisions based on development. You're making decisions on what helps you compete now.

And unless those two younger guys, Denaue and Agimlet can prove that there is a role for them to play, then I think that you have to get them into the roles you expect them to play down the road in the AHO. Yeah. We talked about Ben Kindle last year, Scott. And I know we already kind of used that comparison once talking about Nikita Klob. But in terms of the actual role Ben Kindle played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the analog this year is probably going to be in Winnipeg with Vigo Bjork. Yeah, I think that's perfectly fair.

Bjork is the center. He's probably going to slot in at least to start the year in the middle six. And he's going to play similar minutes to what Ben Kindle did. Ben kind of played 15 minutes a night. And they didn't shelter him. He played a regular shift. But they also didn't ask him to do too much. I think that's what you have to do with Bjork.

They're also in a situation in Winnipeg where I think they're giving a real look to Braden Yeager and giving potentially an opportunity at some point early in the season to Braden Yeager. Both of them, I was in Gatno for their rookie tournament. This obviously predates camp here, but both Yeager and Bjork looked a cut above in Gatno at the rookie tournament there. And I think that there's momentum for both of those players to play a role on a bit of a younger, bit of a different-looking Winnipeg Jets team this year.

Like, there's some openings there. That doesn't guarantee that Bjork plays 82 games in the league this year. He's H.L. eligible. The world juniors are a consideration for them. But he, from a competitiveness standpoint, from a smart standpoint, that's all there. I think the real question with Bjork is just sort of the physicality, the pace. He's a good skater, but not a great one. And he's going to have to navigate that.

But Kindle, sort of same boat. Kindle is a good skater, not a great one. The physicality was a question. And sometimes when you're smart and you know where to be and you know how to play off of your line mates, you just make it work. And Kindle made it work for a full 82 game season last year. You think Bjork could go to the world juniors? I feel like a guy who was a top player on the senior team last spring.

That would probably, that would surprise me if he would want to go do that. I think Bjork is there if he's in the H.L. Or if he suffers an injury at some point and they just want to get him going, that kind of a thing he goes and he captains that team. Hellenius went as an 18, like nobody's expecting him to play as a 19 year old, but technically Bjork has two years of eligibility left. I wouldn't be shocked if he went as an 18 year old and was the guy as they try to try to repeat.

Yeah. And I think if you're, I talk about this a lot with, you know, whenever I talk about the Jets is at this point, you're just looking for that pop of optimism too and how much does Vigo Bjork bring that to your team right now. and you're not going to put him on your roster because he makes you feel better. But I think he is a guy that you're going to feel better because you can see some of the glimpses of what he's going to provide you for the future and what he's going to be able to do long term. And these are the hits that the Jets are going to have to make. You know, like Vigo has to hit for them because they really don't have a choice at this point.

Pre-agency isn't helping. They're on everybody's no trade list. it's just these are the opportunities for them to hit home runs. No pressure. With, yeah, with, yeah, no pressure on Vigo, no pressure on them. This has to work. Well, you've got to sell something too, right? I mean, you're talking about it, right?

Like with Winnipeg, that's a franchise that always has to be able to sell something to their fans. I don't think Winnipeg can do a 10-year rebuild. Did Col Perfetti work? Is I, you know, Scott's like a major Cole Perfetti fans? Like, where do we stand on that one right now? Not to the draft value, but I think he's a fine NHL player. He's a good player. Agreed.

And I think... But did it work? To what Chris is going to have... If Vigo Bjork is Cole Perfetti, it won't be considered a success. No. No. No. If Vigo Bjork has...

Like, I just looked it up, Kindle had 17 goals and 35 points. Is that a successful season for Vigo? Yeah. For Vigo? 15 goals and 35 points? I think given the hype behind him, it would be a slightly underwhelming, but it wouldn't be... It still be a success. But I feel like he's like not underwhelming in my eyes,

but I feel like everyone's expecting this guy to like be bright and point essentially. And I don't know if like asking it to be this impactful two-way guy as an 18-year-old is realistic. I think if he can be 35 points and play the full season up there, like that's that's on the path to becoming what he can become at least. And I think that's what you're saying too. But there's a, you're right. There's a perception factor to this too that does.

matter. All right, let's go from the central to the metro. But let's stay with buzzy young Swedes, Corey, because as I've been on Twitter, I haven't been able to watch the Islanders at all through the preseason, but I keep seeing Victor Eklund's name popping up a whole lot. Yeah, and they have a number of young players in Canada. It's been interesting. Like, I think Cole Eisenman's been good enough. You know, you've been keeping an eye on Aitchinson and Daniel Prokerov, but it's really been Victor Ecclent that I think has had the best camp among the islanders, and a guy who I think has given himself a really good chance to break camp in their top nine, to be on their power play, you know, just because not only because he's so skilled and a great skater,

but because of how hard he competes. I think he's really created an opportunity there, and he seems to really endear himself to the coaching staff as well. All right. How about the other big New York rookie here, Albert Smith's playing on the Rangers blue line? You know, we thought Smiths, I mean, he's played in the Olympics. There's no reason he can't play pro games. has he at this point kind of solidified that he can play a top six

role for the New York Rangers? I don't know if he's solidified. It seems like that's the likely expectation is he's going to start up with the big team. I think he's been good when I've watched him. I can't say I've been blown away and thought like, okay, he's clearly ready. He's going to stay up all year.

I think it's going to be a week-to-week thing with him. But, you know, he said he's held his own. He showed he can play with NHL players. and I think on opening night he's going to be in the starting six. I didn't see the game last night, but I got a text from a couple of people this morning saying that in a little group chat I have with a couple of people saying that last night was sort of the high point for him.

Like it's kind of been up and down through the rookie tournament and early on in camp. It was kind of up and down, but he was really good last night by the sounds of it. How about in Pittsburgh, Corey? I mean, they dressed a lot of NHL guys Tuesday night against the Red Wings and there were some young blood still hanging around when they did that.

Yeah, I mean, both brothers had a good night. They both got on the score sheet. You know, you're worried about both of their skating in terms of how they translate to the NHL, but I think you saw the skill on the, especially the hockey sense that both of them have there.

I also think, you know, you got to be happy with how Sergen and Murershaw played the other night for the Penguins, given that, you know, especially given how poorly Silovs played in that one game, but, I mean, it's only one game. But I think you're really, you know, there's a lot of expectations there on Murr Shop

to hopefully be, a major contributor to them this season. You know, time will tell at his size if he's able to do it at the NHL level consistently. But I think he's got a really good chance. Kosa and Fowler are the big names in terms of rookie goalies, but I almost wonder whether Mershov has the best chance of those three to be in the Calder conversation. Like, he might, a couple months into the season, he may be there 1A, and he may play 40, 45 games.

And if he has good numbers across 40 or 45 games, like that's normally enough. has a goalie to put you in the mix. And how many, how many points does that get me in our U23 draft if my goalie wins the Calder? It doesn't hurt. That's for sure. We never did work out a scoring system for that,

did you? Yeah, we should have. Yeah, but like, I think that's a good point, Scott, too, because yeah, Murshov with the opportunity that's going to come. And then again, it's just another guy that's had success at other levels

that, you know, once that, and obviously has had a taste of the NHL, I think all of that matters, you know, especially going into whatever it is in their award season, if you will, or like when they're actually going to be a fully fledged rookie. But, yeah, I mean, like, if you're the penguins, I think you want to start seeing the glimpses of some of those players as you kind of start to begin your transition to the, you know,

whenever it is that Crosby is going to be ready, these are the guys that are going to have to take over. Yeah. I'm honestly amazed that there's even still room for prospects in the Washington Capitals lineup with all the NHL guys that they've had and guys that have come through already. But there are still some guys worth discussing there with the capitals. And the big one, Chris, to start off, you kind of mentioned him earlier, Cole Hudson.

Yeah, you know, I think Cole is obviously exciting. And you look at the way that he played, you look at the way that, you know, he's already interacting. It seems like the capitals have really kind of, you know, brought him in and he's one of their guys. And, you know, they have a good, you know, team culture there. And he's now part of that. And I think that that's great. But, you know, the one thing is, like, when you think about projecting out a, a player, I think a lot of us were wondering, how soon would he potentially take over the number

one power play from Jacob Chikrin? And at least in the early goings here, he's not going to do it now. So, you know, what does that mean for, for, I think it has an impact on what his overall production could potentially be as a rookie, a fully fledged rookie here at a full-time guy. But it is one of those things that's, it's worth mentioning because I think you have to keep your expectations appropriate it to roll. And what kind of time does he get at five on five? And then really how much power play time does he ultimately get? Yeah, it looks like third pairing at five on five, too.

Yeah. How long did Lane last on the second power play out of curiosity? I forgot it. I remember because Matheson, it lingered longer than, I think it was like into December where Matheson was still. Chikron's better than Matheson. Yeah, he was last year for sure. Offensively, he is.

He is. But I would just, I just reminded me about that. And I think that's a good question with all. Because Denver can be on second power play, McCann's going to be a second power play. At some point, one of these guys is going to become a focal point. It's just hard to say who is going to be and when. I think Jack, we'll get to the Atlantic,

but I think Jack Roslovick might be off PP1 after tonight if it doesn't go well for the power play. Corey, I talked about how crowded it is there, though. Like, Ivan Mera Shoshchenko is a guy that we've been waiting to see make the breakthrough. Is he going to run out of runway? it's tough to say because I think he's had a good camp and like he's been productive and he's getting his scoring chances and he's doing the things you want out of him. The thing about him is he is a score but there is some hardness in his game and I think there's a spot for him on a fourth line where he can bang bodies and still get some minutes in.

But it's tough. They have so many wingers in Washington right now. they would almost need to be creative and fine and it's not like they have they don't have any centers either they have good centers too I think they're a really sneaky team this year like I mean I don't know how sneaky they are

we talk about them a lot but I think they've got a really talented team and they could make a lot of noise this season yeah I agree including including Ilya Proto who who has just leapfrogged several of their prospects right like yeah yeah that's I mean and this really is like we

talk. How about that sort of contract? I know. Well, yeah. Hey, that's that's the thing. Like, sort of, sort of was free. He could have been free to basically anybody there. He was out in the H.L. Just kind of going along. And now that's a, that's a really solid fourth line guy that's under cost control for a long time. And but like, he's better than a fourth liner, right? Well, fourth third or fourth line. Whatever it was. Yeah. Yeah. But like, you know, I think the interesting discussion is where do you put Ilyaprodis in that forward group now? Because we've talked about all these guys that they've added. And Protis has level jumped every single year.

He is, you know, he went USHL, the OHL leading score, goes into the AHL leading among rookies, and now into the NHL potentially if, you know, those guys can hang on the roster spot. So like, really, I think the caps have to almost find ways to make sure those guys are involved because I think they're ready to do it, including Marash DeShanko, who, as Corey mentioned, has added more versatility to his game beyond the scoring component. I absolutely love the idea of protis, protis Wilson and just... That's too big.

That's just too darn big. Too darn big. Scott, you said he's leapfrogged everyone. And for mortals, that would be true. For Ilya, he just steps right over him. So it's actually not too tricky. All right, we'll take a quick break right there. We'll come back.

We'll come back. Let's get into the Atlantic Division now. And there's a lot of places we could go with this. I mean, obviously the Atlantic is home to the number one overall pick here and Kevin McKenna. I mean, what do we want to start with the Atlantic Division? Why do we start with Detroit? Because it seems like there's some entry going on there in camp.

And it seems like you could be covering a pretty young team this season, Max. Yeah, it looks that way. I mean, their third line through most of camp has been Nate Danielson, Michael Brantzeggard, and Carter Mazer. Mazer did skate. We're recording this on Wednesday. Did skate with the H.L guys on Wednesday. So I do wonder if his spot may be vulnerable. But as far as I can tell, Michael Brantzegger is going to make this team.

It's picking up where he left off at the end of the year in the HL playoffs. he scored twice on Tuesday night in that Red Wings Penguins game we've talked about. He's averaging like six hits a game in the preseason. So I think he's going to make their team. Danielson, I come back from the injury last year, like I don't know that he's really popped, but I think he's probably going to still make this team. And I think that they have a lot of incentive for him to. Larkin's situation could influence that.

He skated for the first time on Wednesday. If there's no Larkin, I think Danielson's got a clear path to the team. And even if Larkin is back, I kind of wonder if Danielson's able to still make it just on, you know, they trust him. I think they believe he's kind of trending up. The standout, though, has been on defense. And Corey, you know I've had kind of a soft spot for Anton Johansson watching him the last two H.L playoffs. It's been a loud camp from him. He had four assists in a game on Tuesday night.

And a lot of them were a very repeatable way. He just gets a lot of pucks to the net for tips and deflections, which is a specifically a type of offense. The Red Wings are desperately trying to. to coax more of out of their players. I think they really like how direct he plays. They really like that he just gets stuff to the net. And oh, by the way, he's 6'4. He skates really well.

He's willing to kill a play defensively. Physical player too. Exactly, yeah, trending, I think, way up. And boy, if we were handing it today, is he the favorite to be the third pair, right shot D over Axel Sandin, Pellica? I think so. That'd be very interesting.

Yeah, I know Johansson's tool kits are, you know, very obvious the things he can do. And if he has offense now in his game, I think that would make it a very convincing case for him to play in the NHL. Yeah, it would be tricky to send ASP down again. But I think it's a battle. I think you're looking at those two guys as battling for the spot on the third pair. Unique handling with Johansen, too, like the election to have him play in Sweden and his election to play in Sweden instead of the HL at times. And just the way they've kind of brought him along has intrigued me.

I think his dad was the GM of that, of his Swedish team. And I would imagine that played a role. So that's great part of it. Yeah, Grand Rapids has had some good teams too. Yeah, yeah, for sure. All right. We talked about McKenna off the top here. And Scott, we'll go right to you with this one.

I mean, you talked about it early in the week that he wasn't starting out on PP1. What have you seen from him? What have you thought of how kind of the usage has progressed? Well, just the lone game to date, as we record this on Wednesday, he'll play his second game tonight. the Leaps are essentially playing their full roster tonight at home against Ottawa. I thought in the game against Montreal, he looked really good. They lost 4-1, and that was largely a Leap's regulars team against a LaValle Rocket team, and they lost 4-1, and that's what happens in the preseason sometimes.

But McKenna was a standout. He made probably 7, 8, maybe even 9 plays on the puck inside the offensive zone, where he lost his guy or made a scene play to the interior or found someone at the back post or even danced for a couple of his own looks that he just didn't convert on himself. In board battles, does McKenna still look like McKenna? Yes, there were three or four board battles over the course of 60 minutes where he got pushed off of pucks in a 50-50. That really isn't a 50-50.

I think there's going to be a lot of sort of 30-70s when McKenna answers into the corner this year in terms of him coming out with possession. But he still looks really slippery along the wall. He looked fast. And most importantly, he looked confident. with the puck. Like he looked like he knew he could beat guys and he wasn't playing timid. He wasn't deferring to William Neelander and John Tavares, his linemates through camp so far. And I kind of wonder about Jack Roselvic's sort of stranglehold or maybe lack thereof,

loose grip, if you will, on P.P.1. I think it's only a matter of time before McKenna's on PP1. And if he's playing with Neelander and Tavares, there's going to be a lot of opportunity for McKenna this season to at least be productive. There's going to be some learning curves. We've talked a lot about his deficiencies, but I thought it was most notably, he just looked really confident for his first game at that level, even against a predominantly

Laval Rocket team, if you will. How about Carter Yakumchuk and Ottawa, Corey? Yeah, he's had his struggles. You know, I think there's times where you watch him, you can see the skill, and he's got a lot of skill for a big man. I think we've talked a lot over the years

about his decision-making, and I think that comes into question at times. I think there was a spot there on that third pair right D, especially with Artem Zub's injury, for him to play. I don't know if that's a guarantee. We'll see how he plays tonight, but he seems to be on the bubble right now. After what we thought was a promising, you know,

after he came up in the spring last year, he played in the playoffs. I thought that this would be kind of assured. He started the year up with the big team. I don't know if that's a guarantee, though, right now. I did watch his first game, and he coughed up the puck a bunch of times and looked slow in some important moments. And his pair really, really did struggle.

So I do think he's maybe a little in jeopardy there. They brought in Ben Hutton on a PTO and Hutton played well. And so I think if Hutton plays well again and Yakumchuk does, and I do wonder if they sign Hutton and Hutton's sort of that guy until Zubb gets back. Hutton just has a way of sticking around in the league and finding a top seven job with an NHL club year after year. So, yeah, I don't know. I think the HL may be, he put up a ton of points in the HL last year, but, man, he even struggled defensively in the HL for a lot of last year.

So I think they just may need more time there with Yakumchuk. Corey and I did a bit on James Hagen's earlier this summer. And off to a good start here, Chris. I mean, I don't know exactly what the role will look like in finality with Boston, but the opportunity is there and he's done everything he can to grab it. Yeah. I mean, I think going to the rookie tournament and the four-goal game that he had and, you know, six goals overall and just, you know, taking charge. And I think that the thing with James Hagen's, it's always about when he looks like he has that confidence, he is really the best version of himself.

And I think that we saw that in the rookie tournaments. I think that he took charge. He took ownership of it. And that's what he's going to have to do with his NHL opportunity if it comes. You know, I think that before the season, Marco Stern was trying to temper expectations, talking about how guys were going to have to learn it or to earn it. And I think that he's on his way to doing that.

And I agree. Like, it's hard to figure out exactly where the role is going to be. It's not the end of the world if he goes to Providence for a period of time. I think that this is a guy that is a very, very valuable piece for the Bruins. And they have to do right by his development, allow him to continue building strength, make sure you're putting him in positions to succeed. And whether that's with. the big club or with Providence, I think he's going to make the most of that situation.

He clearly came in with an idea of how he wanted to, how he wanted to approach this, this first full pro season. And so far, I think it's been impressive. Now we'll see if that can translate a little bit more into some of these, these latter preseason games and early season games, too, because just because he makes the team, if he does make the team out of camp, doesn't mean that he'll stay there the whole time. I think the, the Bruins have to be really, really patient and conscious about how it's going for him and making sure they're putting him in the best position to succeed. If it's Minton, Kusnadinov, and Hagen's as their third line, which has, I know, been talked

about a lot in that market, I really like the shape of kind of a kid third line with that makeup and him playing and allowing Hagen's to start on the wing and he doesn't have to be a center. And both Kusnidinov and Minton, obviously, you've got three natural centers on that line, but could be a kind of a compelling, you've still got Pastronach and sort of Swayman and McAvoy on that team, but I think that that kid line could be kind of a compelling secondary story for the Bruins. And I know they seem to be talking glowingly about how strong Hagen's looks on the puck

and his fitness level and the way he's skating. And there seems to be a lot of positive momentum for James in the organization right now. Interesting thing about the 25 draft. You had all those quote unquote centers in Frondell, Skip to NOAA here for a second, but Brady Martin, James Hagan, Jake O'Brien that went in the top eight. And I think there's some real open questions there

on how many of those guys long term. I know Frundell has played some center in Chicago's camp that bards out. I think there's some real questions there on how many of these guys are actually going to be NHL centers, which obviously kind of shines a light on Philadelphia's decision to not take a center and it took Porter Martone at that pick instead.

Over under one and a half of them end up as NHL centers for more than half their career at this point. I'd probably take the under. I think Brady, I think Brady's going to be a winger. I think, I mean, it looks like Higgins might be a winger.

Well, they just signed Minton for forever. O'Brien's a winger. And, yeah, like, it's, it's, it's tough.

That's why, it's why Yona Nouchewinders going to go real, and Alexie Joseph and Milan Sunstrom are going to go real fast. Because if, even in this year, I think they're a top six center.

Like people, you know, those are really hard to find. Even in this year's class, there's a talk of, like, my first list, I think, had 14 at the top 20 are technically going to be listed in NHL Central Scouting's first ranking as centers. I was looking over my list yesterday to make tweaks for my upcoming ranking. And there's seven or eight of those 14 so-called centers that I think are probably wingers at the next level as well. Yeah. anyone I didn't ask you guys about here. I mean, we just went through four divisions,

but I'm sure, I know we didn't hit every team. I'm sure there's specific players. Like, who didn't we talk about that we should hit before we wrap up? I'll mention David Reinebacker. Like, he played the one preseason game. And now he played with late Hudson. And I think he was, you know, I wouldn't say like he was dynamic by any means. But I think he did the things that you wanted to see from him,

especially with Kain Gouldy's injury. You know, he made, you know, good outlets. He killed a lot of plays. He was involved a lot of both ends of the ice. You know, I think he's given himself a real good chance to be, to at least make the team, or at least be in the conversation to make the Havs team at a camp. I'll add Zane Perak as well. He, now he was playing against the dregs of the Vancouver Canucks,

so he's not exactly playing against the Canadian team from the Sochi Olympics. But Zane last night, as we record this, was the best player on the ice for the Calgary Flames and made like probably over a dozen plays over the course of that game. And he was skating and he was confident and he was jumping off the line and he was beating guys one-on-one. And he was getting pucks on net. I think he finished with like nine shot attempts. And if Zane can take a step there, I think they've got an interesting little PP1 battle with him and Simon Nemich. Although I wonder if they should maybe just with the look of the forwards on that team, whether

maybe Simon Nemich and Simon Emmich should be on the one time. slot and Zane should be running that power play and they should just have 2D there. But Zane taking a step could be a fun storyline for the flames. They need something to latch on to this year. And he's even with the emergence of Griden and how good Cole Reschney has looked over the last year, I still think Zane's, he's the highest ceiling guy there. If he hits, it kind of changes things for them in a way that I don't think Gridden or Reschney could.

Yeah. The guy that I'll mention is Consta Hellenius from the Buffalo Sabres. I think that he's, you know, he's done everything that they've kind of asked him to do at the HAL level. We talked about how he did not play at the World Juniors as a 19-year-old state focus, comes in, makes an impact, you know, towards the end of the season, showed some good signs over the course of his time in Buffalo, you know, giving him a little bit more run, giving him a little more opportunity.

I think he's got the versatility. Golden goal at men's worlds. Yeah, golden goal at men's worlds. Like, this is a guy coming in with a lot of momentum. him. And I think that that's a really good, a really good place for him to be in a really good place for the Sabres to be. Obviously, they're a team with aspirations, expectations. That's a player that, you know, you can potentially slot into a variety of different places and get some success out of them.

Yeah. All right. I think that's going to do it for us. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Fudic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Remember, you can catch more of Chris over at Flow Hockey and on his podcast called up. We'll talk to you soon.