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Prospects Unlimited 2021-22
Our annual Prospects Unlimited issue returns, with full listings of every NHL team’s system, grades, and a profile on an intriguing youngster. Also, we count down the top 100 21-and-under players in the world.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
DESPITE SOME ROUGH EDGES to his game, Samu Salminen has the tools that could make him a valuable middle-six forward in the NHL one day – even if that day is likely far away. “Samu is a big center who plays a two-way game,” said Greg Royce, the New Jersey Devils’ director of European scouting. At the world under-18s in Frisco, Texas, where Salminen was captain of Finland’s team, Royce came away impressed with the prospect’s performance. “He was the No. 1 center on the team,” Royce said. “He was a leader, killed penalties, played on the power play.” Drafted by the Devils in the third round (68th overall) in 2021, Salminen is playing for Jokerit’s junior team this season. His 6-foot-2 frame suggests he could develop into a power forward, potentially…
BACK TO THE FUTURE
JARET ANDERSON-DOLAN won 86 faceoffs at the Staples Center last season. And each time he did, Jarret Stoll would allow himself to smile, and perhaps puff out his chest a little like a proud father. Because with each of those faceoff wins, Stoll gained some validation in the knowledge that his Jarret-on-Jaret tutelage was paying off. “I’d be watching from the press box and to see him win a key faceoff and to win it the way you taught him to win it, that’s what really pumps you up and gets you excited,” Stoll said. “Of course, I was really happy for him, but I was also thinking that all these things that I was teaching and preaching were actually working.” The Los Angeles Kings have missed the playoffs four of…
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
DREW O’CONNOR GOT A taste of life in the NHL last season. Entering 2021-22 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the 23-year-old left winger now wants a bit more. After signing a two-year entry-level contract as an undrafted free agent in March 2020, O’Connor debuted with an assist for the Penguins in a 3-2 overtime loss to Boston on Jan. 26 last season. He played nine more games with the Pens and went without a point in that time. The experience, however, was invaluable for a prospect looking to earn a more permanent role in Pittsburgh. “Last year was a good learning experience,” O’Connor said. “I got to know the level, what it takes at this level. It’s a big jump from college, but I feel like I learned how I can make an…
PROSPECTS: 71-80
71. KIRILL MARCHENKO POS: RW| AGE: 21 SKA St. Petersburg (KHL) | Draft: 49th, 2018 Slow-cooking in Russia worked for another Kirill (Kaprizov, of course), and if the Blue Jackets can get even three-quarters of that production in Marchenko, they’ll be stoked. A big kid with a lot of promising offensive elements to his game, Marchenko’s KHL contract ends in April 2022, so North America is on the horizon. 72. ZAC JONES POS: D | AGE: 21 Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) | Draft: 68th, 2019 (NYR) Straight out of UMass, Jones went from a national title to the NHL, and though he started off this season in the AHL with the Wolf Pack, there is a lot to like here. A new-school defenseman with great smarts and mobility, the competitive Jones learned how to round out his…
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