Welcome to the Thursday Prospect ramblings. I realized after my last week rambling predictions of top prospects that could make a difference if given a chance, well a bunch of them were left off the phase four roster. Well that sure does not help that ramblings, so this week I will go over the misses and who could replace them. Also, the players brought in that I was right on I will just classify it as a hit and leave alone.

 

Here is my #GoodTweet of the week too:

 

I also put my series predictions at the end of these ramblings if you are interested

 

 

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East

Boston Bruins

• My pick: Anders Bjork
• Invite: Yes
• Will he still get a chance: Likely. The Bruins are bringing 17 forwards and he should get a shot especially with that shiny new extension:

 

Tampa Bay Lightning

• My pick: Alex Barre-Boulet
• Invited: No
• New pick: Carter Verhaeghe
• He never stood out in the regular season after improving in the AHL as he was used in a bottom-six role, which does not suit him statistically but his can play there if needed. I like him long-term as a top six player but he needs to opportunity and he may not get that ever on Tampa

 

Washington Capitals

• My Pick: Alexander Alexeyev
• Invited: Yes
• Will he still get a chance: Hopefully, but he needs a couple injuries or poor play to really get a shot

 

Philadelphia Flyers

• My pick: Joel Farabee
• Invited: Yes
• Will he still get a chance: He is already in the starting roster

 

 

Play-in teams

Pittsburgh Penguins

• My pick: Samuel Poulin
• Invited: No. The Penguins apparently wanted bottom six players only so they invited Phil Varone and Adam Johnson instead
• New pick: Pierre-Olivier Joseph
• He might need a lot of luck to get in to the roster but he is better than Jack Johnson I would bet

 

Montreal Canadiens

• My pick: Nick Suzuki
• Invited: Yes
• Will he still get a chance: Absolutely, he was one of the best Montreal players against Toronto in exhibition play

 

Carolina Hurricanes

• My pick: Jake Bean
• Invited: Yes
• Will he still get a chance: He will if the Canes have difficulty defending against the New York Rangers and want a shake up

 

New York Rangers

• My pick: Vitali Kravtsov
• Invited: Yes
• Will he still get a chance: I hope so because he is a very good player. Coach David Quinn may not use him though as he tends to prefer a good mix of grit (aka not skilled) players in his line up to throw hits
• Watch for Julien Gauthier this series though

 

New York Islanders

• My pick: Oliver Wahlstrom
• Invited: No; Reasoning: Because they want Andrew Ladd to play???
• New Pick: Otto Koivula
• I wanted to pick Sebastian Aho but I do not think he will get a legitimate shot. Koivula is one of the only young players the Islanders have brought, but to be fair for him he has been one of the best players on two bad Bridgeport teams
• I have no idea how but the Isles are going in with the oldest roster:

 

Florida Panthers

• My pick: Owen Tippett
• Invited: Yes
• Will he get a chance: He should especially after Florida was made to look like an AHL squad versus a Tampa team in exhibition without Stamkos and Hedman. They really need that pop he could bring

 

Toronto Maple Leafs

• My pick: Nicholas Robertson
• Invited: Yes
• Will he get a chance: He will probably not be taken out of the top nine if he keeps playing like he did in camp and in his first exhibition game

 

Columbus Blue Jackets

• My pick: Alexandre Texier
• Invited: Yes
• Will he get a chance: He will but he was recently moved off of the PLD and Bjorkstrand line for Nick Foligno because reasons. He is now on a line with Wennberg and Emil Bemstrom, which could be a sneaky good line if Wennberg can find his game that got him a six-year $30 million contract in 2017

 

 

West

St. Louis Blues

• I picked both Klim Kostin and Ville Husso
• Are they both invited: Yes
• Will each get a chance: Husso needs poor play from both goalies or one getting hurt to be able to sneak in. Kostin will probably have a tougher time getting a good roster spot as the Blues will put older vets in positions to score over him. It would be great if he found himself somehow lined up with O’Rielly and Perron

 

Colorado Avalanche

• My pick: Conor Timmins
• Invited: Yes
• Will each get a chance: Timmins only played 9:46 in exhibition play but the Avalanche have been impressed enough with him that his ice time could increase as the playoffs progress

 

Vegas Golden Knights

• My pick: Peyton Krebs
• Invited: Yes
• Will each get a chance: With no Pacioretty to start Krebs would look pretty great lined up next to Karlsson/Stastny-Stone (the two centres have been moving)

 

Dallas Stars

• My pick: Jason Robertson
• Invited: Yes
• Will each get a chance: It would be a long shot as he was not a part of the Stars’ 13 player practice lines. He will need help to get in to the line up

 

 

Play in

Edmonton Oilers

• My pick: Kailer Yamamoto
• Invited: gee let me check, um.. yes

 

Chicago Blackhawks

• My pick: Nicolas Beaudin
• Invited: Yes
• Will each get a chance: The last line up construction I saw (last Saturday the 25^th) he was not on the top eight defensemen, but that was before Seabrook was left at home with injury

 

Nashville Predators

• My pick: Connor Ingram
• Invited: Yes
• Will each get a chance: Needs an injury to either starter

 

Arizona Coyotes

• My pick: Victor Soderstrom
• Invited: Yes
• Will each get a chance: Arizona brought 11 defensemen (seriously with the way the teams goalies get hurt no idea why they only invited three) and of course have not released a line up for me to look at. I do feel confident enough to say if he gets in the line up he will not leave the line up

 

Vancouver Canucks

• My pick: Kole Lind
• Invited: No, and him not being invited was the whole reason I decided to do this continuation type ramblings
• New pick: Olli Juolevi
• He is already slated to play in exhibition and I hope he looks good and can stay in the line up

 

Minnesota Wild

• My pick: Calen Addison
• Invited: No
• My other options were: Gerald Mayhew and Sam Anas (also somehow not invited)
• New Pick: I could pick Mayhew but he was not used in exhibition play so instead I will select Kaapo Kahkonen
• I do not really trust Stalock or Dubnyk to steal a series here, luckily the Wild tend to drive play and defend well, but if it came down to it Kahkonen may end up with the reigns and shut the door

 

Calgary Flames

• My pick: Juuso Valimaki
• Invited: Yes
• Will each get a chance: Well after the game against Edmonton in exhibition play the Flames may realize that they do not want Forbort or Stone anywhere near the ice, so he will come in and take over (if he is healthy enough)

 

Winnipeg Jets

• My pick: Sami Niku
• Invited: Yes
• Will each get a chance: He should because the Jets defense is average at best

 

In the end I was right on 19 players being invited and was wrong on five players not invited, a success rate of 79.17%.

 

 

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Additionally, I want to get in my play-in predictions (which I expect to have a below 50% success rate since I swear, I can never predict playoffs):

 

East

Pittsburgh vs. Montreal – Pittsburgh in 3

Carolina vs. NY Rangers – Carolina in 5

NY Islanders vs. Florida – Islanders in 4

Toronto vs. Columbus – Columbus in 5 (upset pick!)

 

West

Edmonton vs. Chicago – Edmonton in 4

Nashville vs. Arizona – Arizona in 4 (in the battle of even line ice time)

Vancouver vs. Minnesota – Minnesota in 5 (thanks to Roussell’s comments)

Calgary vs. Winnipeg – Winnipeg in 4

 

I have the lowest confidence in Minnesota and Columbus winning, but you got to take risks

 

 

Thanks for reading, follow my twitter: @FHPQuinn