Game 1 of the AHL Final goes to the Lake Erie Monsters (CBJ), a 4-1 road victory for the Monsters takes away home-ice advantage for the Hershey Bears (WSH). The Bears took the lead 1-0 after the first period on a goal by Jakub Vrana (WSH), but after the first intermission, the Monsters came out and took over the game scoring four straight goals. Daniel Zaar (CBJ) scored two goals, his fourth and fifth of the playoffs. Trent Vogelhuber (CBJ) scored the game winning goal early into the third period. Anton Forsberg (CBJ) stopped 26 of 27 shots.

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A couple of guys to keep your eye on in this final that have a chance of jumping into the NHL next season; Columbus’ Zach Werenski, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Sonny Milano, Anton Forsberg and/or Joonas Korpisalo and Washington’s Jakub Vrana, Madison Bowey.

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If you want to get your eyes on these guys, AHL Live is streaming the Calder Cup Final for free, every game is available on their AHL Live website. Take advantage of watching some pretty good hockey, last night was tough with them going up against the Stanley Cup Finals, but from here on you could watch hockey almost every other night with this streaming deal.

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The AHL has continued to be a great resource to develop NHL players, the AHL twitter account tweeted out the numbers for the two Conference champs, Pittsburgh and San Jose. Find the tweet below.  The graphic shows that only seven players in the two team lineups have not seen any time in the AHL, which is a pretty incredible number. The total numbers across the league is also staggering, very few guys jump straight to the NHL without any AHL playing time.

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A look at how the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AHL?src=hash">#AHL</a> has impacted the <a href="https://twitter.com/penguins">@penguins</a> vs. <a href="https://twitter.com/SanJoseSharks">@SanJoseSharks</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StanleyCup?src=hash">#StanleyCup</a> Final →<a href="https://t.co/IXbdTnHtbW">https://t.co/IXbdTnHtbW</a> <a href="https://t.co/SsKCIIDL1f">pic.twitter.com/SsKCIIDL1f</a></p>&mdash; AHL (@TheAHL) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheAHL/status/737290505395048448">May 30, 2016</a></blockquote>

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Two guys who played in the AHL earlier this season, Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust are making a huge impact for the Penguins, Sheary has back-to-back goals in Game 1 and 2, Rust has scored some pretty big goals, two goals in Game 7 to clinch the Eastern Conference title.  Sheary signed a contract two years ago, after going undrafted and playing four years with UMass (Amherst). At the time of the signing, the Penguins couldn’t have planned for him to be a playoff hero two years later. Playing in the AHL last year he finished with 45 points (20-25) in 58 games and this year had 36 points (7-29) in 30 AHL games and 10 points (7-3) in 44 NHL games. Sheary has been growing chemistry playing alongside both Crosby and Malkin. At the beginning of the year he looked timid and overwhelmed playing with either of the two superstars, but has since calmed his game and got back to his speedy, hardworking and energetic style and it is showing.

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Matt Murray (PIT) started the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and played most of his season for the baby pens, Marc-Andre Fleury gets hurt just before the playoffs, Jeff Zatkoff gets the start the first two games, Murray starts Game 3 of the first round and has kept the Penguins in every game. Fleury is healthy and Murray still is getting the starts, next season could be interesting as to what the Penguins do with their goaltending. Fleury is likely going to get the net back to start the season, but he will be looking over his shoulder wondering when Murray will take the net again.

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Now that the June 1^st deadline to sign 2014 draftees has passed, CapFriendly has an updated list of players who signed at the deadline and players who will be headed back into the draft. Peter Harling gave a few names in Tuesday’s Ramblings of interest. The updated list is below.

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Updated look at the remaining players from the 2014 Draft whose team negotiation rights expired at 5:00pm yesterday. <a href="https://t.co/qKg0n7NAjG">pic.twitter.com/qKg0n7NAjG</a></p>&mdash; CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) <a href="https://twitter.com/CapFriendly/status/738372299049553920">June 2, 2016</a></blockquote>

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Head over to the SHOP and get your hands on the 2016 Prospect Report, a lot of hockey minds have put together a massive amount of tips, notes, comparisons and so much more, all dedicated to fantasy hockey. I downloaded my copy last night. I enjoy reading from start to finish, then go back through and highlight the guys I will target in dynasty and prospect drafts. It is never too early to start your research for the upcoming year, get ahead of your buddies with this extensive prospect report.

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Feel free to leave comments, questions or concerns below, have fun playing the game of Fantasy Hockey.

Paul Zwambag
@zwambag