Well it is Thursday and you know what Thursday at dobber prospects is now, my day to ramble.
I will go over the current KHL and MHL playoffs, Shane Gersich, a Panthers prospect I have a feeling about, and CHL teams that have already moved on. Also Svechnikov is still my fantasy hockey #1 2018 pick
Also how great is this song (even though the Coffee Girl set here is my favorite one from this acoustic set)
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The KHL playoffs are down to the final four teams with first place SKA vs second place CSKA on the West side and first place Ak Bars facing off against Cinderella story Traktor. By Cinderella story I mean they finished in third place and beat second place, which if you have followed the KHL before you know the higher seeded teams regularly win, so technically I am right.
Vitaly Kravtsov is still playing great and has helped Traktor to the finals as he has been one of their best forwards playing, game in and game out. He has 11 points in 12 games setting a new rookie record in the KHL, and with that is the only rookie in the KHL playoffs to ever hit double digit points.
The MHL playoffs are also down to the final four teams with first place Loko Yaroslavl facing off against seventh place Reaktor Nizhnekamsk, who recently swept the other first place squad Mamonty Yugry in three games. Loko is going to have to play their series down arguably the team’s most skilled forward in 2018 prospect Grigori Denisenko, as he was suspended three games for the following gross hit:
{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Grigoriy Denisenko gets a 3 game suspension for kneeing. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/2018NHLDraft?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#2018NHLDraft</a> <a href="https://t.co/C4kepq5Apz">https://t.co/C4kepq5Apz</a></p>— Russian Prospects (@RUSProspects) <a href="https://twitter.com/RUSProspects/status/978591913011040257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2018</a></blockquote>https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js{/source}
The other matchup is second place SKA-1946 Saint Petersburg (surprise a SKA team) versus sixth place Belye Medvedi Chelyabinsk, who has knocked off the third and fourth place teams.
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Capitals prospect Shane Gersich got into his first NHL game after signing an NHL contract the other day. In current Barry Trotz fashion skilled rookie Jakub Vrana was sat to accommodate the college rookie who himself only got 8:52 of ice time but had three shots on goal. If the Capitals hope to go anywhere in the playoffs they need to add speed and skill into their line up and take out the slow grinders like Orpik and Chiasson, so what I mean to say is that the Capitals will go nowhere again.
Chandler Stephenson got in his usual 10-12 minutes of ice time but in the future he is much better suited to a bottom six style role.
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Maxim Mamin is a player that really intrigues me going forward for the Panthers. He does only have three points in 21 games, with a lowly 22 shots as well, but he is only used in a third line role averaging around 10 minutes a game. From watching him he just appears to have that scoring power forward mold to him, with slick hands in tight. With the current set up of the Panthers roster Mamin could slip in to the second line with Trochek and Huberdeau, but there could be a potential for a fantastic rookie line (as long as Tallon doesn’t give any of the players away to get rid of a good player with a not great contract to Seattle in two-three years) that could include letting a sheltered Henrik Borgstrom, Mamin and either Denis Malgin or Jared McCann run wild on the opposition.
Just a hunch on Mamin really.
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The first place 55-7-3 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds were the first OHL team to advance after sweeping their playoff matchup with the Saginaw Spirit, to I am sure EVERYONE’s surprise.
In the QMJHL the first place 50-11-4 Blainville-Boisbriand Armada swept the 19-42-5 Val-d'Or Foreurs as the QMJHL has four teams under 500 in the playoffs, since 16 out of 18 teams do not make it. Reminds me of fantasy leagues that have like two to four people who do not make playoffs, how bad does your year have to be to NOT make it.
Anyway that is all for me. Hope it was enjoyable.
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