Discussing new homes for prospects around the league and the resulting call-up fallout around the league in Sunday's Ramnlings…

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As the trade deadline sees managers prepare their teams for the future, many prospects are finding new homes around the league.Despite a surprising abundace of draft picks included in deals so far, there is no shortage of prospect rambling content so let's get to it!

 

Overlooked in the deal which sent James Reimer to the Sharks, journeyman Jeremy Morin will also be heading to the west coast to play on his 3rd AHL team this season. Morin produces reasonably well at the AHL level, but hasn't had an NHL look this season after failing to take advantage of chances last year with the Blackhawks (zero points in 15 games) and the Blue Jackets (six points in 28 gmes). He's definitely closing in on his last opportunities before GMs start giving them to more promising prospects. Alex Stalock, who came to Toronto in the trade, was placed on waivers today meaning that Garret Sparks is getting another run with the Leafs.

 

A side-effect of the pending-UFA exodus in Toronto is the inevitable recalls of youth ready to play serious time in the big-leagues. As per Damian Cox on Hockey Night in Canada, William Nylander is expected to be called up and play the remainder of the season with the Maple Leafs.This will be a huge step in the star's development and will be an important indicator of whether the organization has succeeded in providing an environment of proper AHL learning for a smooth NHL transistion. Josh Leivo was recalled earlier in the month and has enjoyed modest success thus far with three goals in five February games, while Brendan Leipsic has received a second call-up and curently sports two points in four games total. 26-year-old TJ Brennan isnt considered a prospect anymore as much as an asset, but his utter dominance of the AHL (20 goals, 30 assists, plus-23 in 54 games) is hard to ignore when d-men are on their way out the door. Its understandable for the team to want the Marlies to continue their winning ways but offence can be generated elsewhere, give the guy a shot! 

 

(I make it sound like an easy decision, but remember that teams only have four non-emergency call-ups to spend after the trade deadline, meaning that tryouts are over, and anyone playing with the NHL squad is likely staying there until playoff season). 

 

Acquired from Chicago on Friday, Philip Danault was held pointless in his Candiens debut, but was impressive in the faceoff circle, winning 15-of-19. Another result of Montreal shipping Dale Weise and Tomas Fleishmann to the Hawks – top prospect Michael McCarron has been given a chance to show he's fit for NHL duties, beginning with fourth-line duties against Toronto last night. The rookie tallied an assist hile playing in the bottom-six with Mitchell and Smith-Pelly.If he sticks with the club long enough to burn a year of his entry-level contract, I would expect the power forward to get some chances to show off his potential with more talented linemates.He's likely the Canadiens' best option as a net-front powerplay presence (check out the AHL hat-trick below), so serious ice time with the extra man is a real possibility. 

 

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In a fringe-prospect blockbuster on Saturday, Ottawa traded Cole Schnieder, Eric O'Dell, Alex Guptill, and Michael Sdao to Buffalo for Jason Akeson, Phil Varone, Jerome Gauthier-Leduc, and a conditional draft pick. Every single player in the deal is signed only until the end of this season, and are considered AHL assets at this point in their careers. Nonetheless, Schneider and O'Dell led Ottawa's AHL affiliate in with 42 and 37 points respectively, and Varone and Akeson led Buffalo's affiliate with 32 and 30 points, respectively, so all are potential call-up candidates despite their lack of long-term potential.

 

Many believe that the Jonathan Drouin drama in Tampa Bay will be coming to and end before Monday's trade deadline as Tampa selects a suitor for the former 3rd-overall pick. His reputation has taken an enormous hit this season based on his trade demands, but the fact remains that he is an offensive catalyst with a scoring pedigree. He has scored at a 0.45 points-per-game rate in his NHL career thus far, so its a good bet that whoever picks him up is planning to give him the ice time he dearly wants.

 

An interesting tidbit from the twitterverse yesterday was from a proposedly failed deal betwen LA and Edmonton. According to "insiders", the deal did not end up taking place due to the unknown status of LA prospect Nikolai Prokhorkin. The 22-year-old has two good KHL season performances under his belt (36 points and 91 PIM in 56 games this year) and has the size (6'2", 198 lbs) to make the jump to the NHL with less of an adjustment process than most. Edmonton (reportedly) hoped to bring him to North America as soon as possible, so the fact that the deal fell through may bode ill for any hopes that he will commit to playing over here. 

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is apparently one of the hang-ups in LA/EDM deal…will this player commit to North America. (1/2) <a href="https://t.co/B53dAJVIWg">https://t.co/B53dAJVIWg</a></p>&mdash; Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) <a href="https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/703669071024418816">February 27, 2016</a></blockquote>
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If you missed yesterday's Ramblings, Mark Allan took a look at some of the first prospect moves made before most of Saturday's trade madness took place. Good stuff HERE on the Chicago/Winnipeg, Toronto/San Jose, and St. Louis/Edmonton swaps that kicked off the weekend. Some follw-up to that content:

 

 – Freshly acquired Marko Dano made his Winnipeg debut on Saturday, playing 14:41, registering three SOG, and going minus-two with no points on the night. He played on the third line with fellow prospect Joel Armia and Adam Lowry. Not related to any trade news – but its worth mentioning that Armia has five points in his last five games.You can check out one of the newest essential DobberHockey tools to find out who's hot and who's not HERE.

 

– Edmonton has recalled goalie Laurent Brossoit to fill the vacancy left by the Nilsson trade. Its unlikely he steals many starts from Talbot, but the team is in last place and desperate for some wins so some good play would get rewarded. 

 

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A fantasy hockey PSA: The waiver wire is an insanely busy place right now due to the fact that tomorrow is the last day for teams to loan players to the AHL. Adding that to the fact that teams are trying to save salary cap spending at every opportunity, be sure to take any reassignments and recalls with a grain of salt over the next 36 hours or so.

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Part of the reason for busy waiver wire is that per CBA 13.12(j), last day to loan players to AHL is tomorrow. <a href="https://t.co/0lozRfe8V0">pic.twitter.com/0lozRfe8V0</a></p>&mdash; General Fanager (@generalfanager) <a href="https://twitter.com/generalfanager/status/703992477259317249">February 28, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

 

With so many new line combos coming into effect after the deadline, be sure to check out the free FrozenPool tools over on DobberHockey. The line combo and player profile tools are the best way to keep track of who is playing (and producing) with whom.

 

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Just a few non-trade-related prospect notes:

– Scott Wilson (PIT) is on fire for the Penguins with four goals in his last five games

– Mikko Rantanen  (COL) has moved up to fifth in AHL scoring (47 points in 38 games) despite playing up to 17 fewer games than those ahead of him

– Scott Laughton (PHI) has five points in his lat five games despite averaging under 11 minutes TOI per night in that span

– Max Domi (ARI) has seven points in his last seven games, but of those, five came within two games…he can certainly go big on occasion, tipping the scales in certain H2H leagues

– Richard Rakell  (ANH) has six points in his last six. Check out his absolutely stunning OT winner from this week below:

 

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As always, thank you for reading and best of luck in any fantasy leagues I'm not a part of!

 

Hayden Soboleski

AE, DobberProspects

@soboleskih