News broke this morning out of the Canucks organization, Nikita Tryamkin and Philip Larsen have both signed contracts in the KHL for the next year or two. This opens the door for multiple Canucks defense prospects to battle for a spot in training camp this fall.

Defenseman Nikita Tryamkin returns to @IHCAvtomobilist after one full season with @Canucks in NHL. pic.twitter.com/3kJRLpvc0i

— KHL (@khl_eng) April 20, 2017

Nikita Tryamkin is #9 on our Vancouver Top Prospects, this is going to hurt not only the Canucks but also anybody who had him or was on the fringe of having him in their Prospect Pool. Our very own Peter Harling had him in the DobberProspects Fantasy Hockey League (#DPFHL) and is already…

This is a major blow to Vancouver…and my #DPFHL fantasy team https://t.co/ZA688BmPIr

— Peter Harling? (@pharling) April 20, 2017

I’m sure there’s many more who will be scavenging to fix their defense prospect depth with this news.

Philip Larsen has signed a two-year deal with Salavat Yulaev in the KHL. #Canucks

— Canucks Now (@CanucksNow) April 20, 2017

Philip Larsen signing a two-year deal in the KHL opens up a potential NHL roster spot. If the Canucks are going young, which we all presume to be the case, Olli Juolevi, Andrey Pedan, Jordan Subban and Guillaume Brisebois all move up the depth chart and a few have viable shots at the opening day roster in the fall.

 

DobberHockey and DobberProspects’ Cam Robinson weighed in on the situation:

Realistically, it should be Andrey Pedan who should get the longest look in filling Tryamkin's spot. Juolevi can steal w/ a big camp though.

— /Cam Robinson/ (@CrazyJoeDavola3) April 20, 2017

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Under 18 World Quarterfinals were played today. Below is the tournament bracket and who won and lost their quarterfinal matches.

Finland defeated Czech Republic 6-5 in OT, Miro Heiskanen was the standout in the game, recording one goal and three assists to lead Finalnd to victory. Heiskanen’s name has been moving up everyone’s draft rankings, becoming a top-3 defensemen and a top-10 candidate in the draft. 2017 draft eligible goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had a mediocre game and will hopefully get the chance to bounce back and prove he is a top-3 goaltender in the draft this coming June.

Sweden upset Canada 7-3, Sweden’s Jacob Olofsson (2018 Draft Eligible) has a multi-goal game (2) and had multiple players with two point games; Erik Brannstrom (2017), Rickard Hugg (2017), Isac Lunderstrom (2018) and Fabian Zetterlund (2017).

Russia beat Slovakia in the final two minutes of overtime. Russia’s offense runs through Ivan Chekhovich (2017) and Andrei Svechnikov (2018). Chekhovich scored two goals and Svechnikov had both primary assists. Kirill Slepets (2017) scored the overtime winner. Slovak Adam Ruzicka (2017) scored a goal in this one, and finished the tournament with five points (2-3-5) in five games played.

Switzerland kept pace with the Americans for most of the game. They were outplayed and outshot thw entire game, but they were able to keep it close up until the last five minutes of the game. The Americans scored two quick goals 27 seconds apart. USA has balanced scoring with six players with five or more points. Sean Dhooghe (2017) leads the way with two goals and five assists.

Top 10 Scoring Leaders:

Name	Team	POS.	GP	G	A	Pts
Kristian Vesalainen	FIN	F	5	6	7	13
Miro Heiskanen	FIN	D	5	2	10	12
Ivan Chekhovich	RUS	F	5	5	3	8
Joni Ikonen	FIN	F	5	4	4	8
Andrei Svechnikov	RUS	F	5	4	4	8
Jesse Ylonen	FIN	F	4	3	5	8
Mackenzie Entwistle	CAN	F	5	4	3	7
Aarne Talvitie	FIN	F	5	4	3	7
Sean Dhooghe	USA	F	5	2	5	7
Filip Zadina	CZE	F	5	3	3	6

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Kristian Vesalainen signs w/ HPK in Liiga, will play there next season if he doesn't get an NHL deal. https://t.co/on6KKz1lFa #2017NHLDraft

— Finnish jr hockey (@FINjrhockey) April 20, 2017

Kristian Vesalainen has signed a contract with HPK in Liiga. He will either make his NHL team out of training camp or head back to Liiga. Vesalainen has already been playing against players much older than him and this just proves that he will be continuing that either with the NHL or the Liiga. I don’t think this will be a problem to most NHL teams, but it could set off a red flag come the June draft. I can’t see his stock being hurt by this news. Just interesting to see he got the attention of HPK in his short stint (nine games) with them last year. He previously played for Frolunda of the SHL the past two and a half years.

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Sticking with the World Championships, countries are naming their roster for the Men’s tournament. A few notable prospects have been named to Team USA and Canada and are listed below:

United States

Clayton Keller (ARI)

JT Compher (COL)

Jordan Greenway (MIN)

Cal Petersen (BUF)

Canada

Eric Comrie (WPG)

Josh Morrissey (WPG)

Most of the teams are leaving spots open for the first and second rounds to be finished in the NHL, but it looks once again like Team USA is going very young in this tournament. There could be more prospects named as the May tournament inches closer.

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*BEWARE – Something absolutely useless to any fantasy owner next…*

If you head to the iihf.com website you will see everywhere you look that they have introduced the “Official Song” of the 2017 IIHF Worlds. Below is the music video. Enjoy…or just skip over it!

"Playground" by Cascada

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And then I found they have Official Mascots? Here is the unveiling of the two mascots, Asterix & Obelix.

{youtube}pPEQLguFlmU{/youtube}

 

Apologies for all of this…moving on!

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CHL Round 2 playoffs have finished, the third round begins tonight (Thursday) with the Mississauga Steelheads taking on the Peterborough Petes. If you want to know what has happened over the course of the first two rounds, have a listen to the latest episode of DobberProspects Radio on iTunes or SoundCloud.

Peter Harling and I also talk about some AHL call-ups, including Janne Kuokkanen joining the Charlotte Checkers.

Tyler Parsons is joining the AHL Stockton Heat for their playoff run. Is there a possibility of Parsons getting AHl Playoff game time? He will have to prove he can outplay Jon Gillies and David Rittich. Keep an eye on that first round series: San Jose Barracude vs Stockton Heat.

I asked our Calgary prospect writer/scout, Joel Henderson his opinion on the move and also our AHL editorial writer Zachary DeVine gets in on the conversation too.

@dathockeydoe What % do you think that Parsons will get into a Stockton Heat game?
Or is he just getting professional practice experience?

— ?Paul Zwambag? (@zwambag) April 20, 2017

@dathockeydoe @zwambag His starts will be zero unless Rittich gets groin flu and Gillies' hip pops again. Like Hart in Lehigh Valley: learn, practice, absorb.

— Zachary DeVine (@zakkthebear) April 20, 2017

Always feel free to spark questions to our writers and scouts, they return with answers fairly quickly.

 

Below I have posted my record for the first two rounds of CHL predictions as well as the next round predictions.

 

(6-2 in first round, 4-0 in second round)

Eastern Conference

Peterborough Petes (1) vs. Mississauga Steelheads (2) – Prediction: Petes in 6

Western Conference

Erie Otters (1) vs. Owen Sound Attack (3) – Prediction: Otters in 6

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(6-2 in first round, 2-2 in second round)

Eastern Conference

Regina Pats (1) vs. Lethbridge Hurricanes (2) – Prediction: Pats in 5

Western Conference

Seattle Thunderbirds (2) vs. Kelowna Rockets (2) – Prediction: Thunderbirds in 6

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(8-0 in first round, 3-1 in second round)

Saint John Sea Dogs (1) vs. Chicoutimi Saugeneens (8) – Prediction: Sea Dogs in 4

Charlottetown Islanders (4) vs. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (5) – Prediction: Islanders in 5

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Follow along daily with my brackets update on my twitter feed: @zwambag

 

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Incredible 1st impression.@ryan_merkley the 8th 1st overall #OHLDraft pick to win #OHL Rookie of the Year.

READ: https://t.co/2v8IZ2b9qF pic.twitter.com/m1iOpHRRFg

— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) April 20, 2017

Keep watch of this kid, he is a fantastic talent on the back end, eligible for the 2018 NHL Draft!

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And last but not least, the AHL playoffs begin tonight, below is the AHL bracket I will be keeping up to date all playoffs.

Series begin Thursday and Friday:

Thursday

Toronto at Albany

Chicago at Charlotte

Friday

Syracuse at St.John's

Milwaukee at Grand Rapids

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at Providence

Hershey at Lehigh Valley

Stockton at San Jose

Ontario at San Diego

Be watchful of who is home and away, the series don't have a set home and away schedule. Some series play two games and then three games, some go every other, and others go two games, two games and then one game. I'm sure the reasoning is for travel and access to the arena's, but it is very interesting and confusing all at the same time.

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

 

Paul Zwambag
@zwambag