The DobberProspects writers are pleased to introduce to you our inaugural awards feature, the Prospect Fantasy Hockey Awards.

The Awards are broken down into two categories, one for all amateur prospects and one for pro prospects.

The Amateur prospects are all players playing in the CHL such as the OHL, QMJHL, WHL or in NCAA. The pro prospects are those playing in pro leagues such as the AHL, KHL, SHL and Liiga. They are separated due to the fact that there is such a separation in development and level of play between the two.

For the purposes of this article, we choose to only include prospects that have not played a NHL regular season game.

All DobberProspects writers were offered the opportunity of a ballot and the following writers contributed.

Peter Harling – Managing Editor

Hayden Soboleski – Senior Associate Editor (Colorado Avalanche)

Cam Robinson – Associate Editor (Vancouver Canucks)

Brad Phillips – Senior Writer (Buffalo Sabres)

Keith Duggan – Senior Writer (Arizona Coyotes)

Zachary DeVine – Senior Writer (San Jose Sharks)

Kevin Wickersham – Senior Writer (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Brayden Olofson – Senior Writer (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Grant Frey – Writer (New Jersey Devils)

Mark Hillier – Jr Writer (Detroit Red Wings)

Mason Black – Jr Writer (Vegas Golden Knights)

Jokke Nevalainen – Jr Writer (Florida Panthers)

With no further ado, the winners are…

Amateur Prospects

Top Rising Prospects

The Nominees are

1. Drake Batherson (Ottawa Senators)

2. Morgan Frost (Philadelphia Flyers)

3. Carter Hart (Philadelphia Flyers)

4. Aleksi Heponiemi (Florida Panthers)

5. Dylan Sikura (Chicago Blackhawks)

And the winner is…Aleksi Haponiemi – Florida Panthers

Top 2018 NHL Draft Prospect

The Nominees are

1. Adam Boqvist

2. Rasmus Dahlin

3. Andrei Svechnikov

4. Brady Tkachuk

5. Filip Zadina

And the winner is…Rasmus Dahlin

Top Multi Category Player

1. Jordan Greenway (Minnesota Wild)

2. Max Jones (Anaheim Ducks)

3. Isaac Ratcliffe (Philadelphia Flyers)

4. Nicholas Roy (Carolina Hurricanes)

5. Austin Wong (2018)

And the winner is…Jordan Greenway

Top Free Agent Prospects

1. Alex Barre-Boulet (Blainville-Boisbriand)

2. Brayden Burke (Moose Jaw)

3. Nicholas Halloran (Colorado College)

4. Hugh McGinn (Western Michigan U)

5. Scot Perunovich (U of Minnesota-Duluth)

And the winner is…Brayden Burke

Best Goalie

1. Michael DiPietro (Vancouver Canucks)

2. Carter Hart (Philadelphia Flyers)

3. Jake Oettinger (Dallas Stars)

4. Colton Point (Dallas Stars)

5. Joseph Woll (Toronto Maple Leafs)

And the winner is… Carter Hart

Best Offensive Defenseman

1. Jake Bean (Carolina Hurricanes)

2. Kale Clague (Los Angeles Kings)

3. Dante Fabbro (Nashville Predators)

4. Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche)

5. Conor Timmins (Colorado Avalanche)

And the winner is…Cale Makar

Best Forward

1. Henrik Borgstrom (Florida Panthers)

2. Adam Gaudette (Vancouver Canucks)

3. Cody Glass (Vegas Golden Knights)

4. Casey Mittelstadt (Buffalo Sabres)

5. Sam Steel (Anaheim Ducks)

And the Winner is…Casey Mittelstadt

Professional Prospects

Top Rising Prospect

1. Mason Appleton (Winnipeg Jets)

2. Warren Foegele (Carolina Hurricanes)

3. Elias Pettersson (Vancouver Canucks)

 4. Eli Tolvanen (Nashville Predators)

5. Kristian Vesalainen (Winnipeg Jets)

And the Winner is – Elias Pettersson

Top Free Agent Prospect

1. Alexi Byvaltsev

2. Ville Meskanen

3. Lawrence Pilut

4. Antti Suomela

5. Veini Velvalainen

And the winner is… Lawrence Pilut

Best Multi Category Player

1. Lias Andersson (New York Rangers)

2. Julien Gauthier (Carolina Hurricanes)

3. Jayce Hawryluk (Florida Panthers)

4. Klim Kostin (St. Louis Blues)

5. Kristian Vesalainen (Winnipeg Jets)

And the winner is…Klim Kostin

Best Goalie

1. Thatcher Demko (Vancouver Canucks)

2. Ilya Samsonov (Washington Capitals)

3. Igor Shesterkin (New York Rangers)

4. Linus Soderstrom (New York Islanders)

5. Ilya Sorokin (New York Islanders)

And the winner is…Ilya Sorokin

Best Offensive Defenseman

1. Erik Brannstrom (Vegas Golden Knights)

2. Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars)

3. Olli Juolevi (Vancouver Canucks)

4. Timothy Liljegren (Toronto Maple Leafs)

5. Devon Toews (New York Islanders)

And the winner is…Miro Heiskanen

Best Forward

1. Nikita Gusev (Vegas Golden Knights)

2. Kirill Kaprizoz (Minnesota Wild)

3. Klim Kostin (St. Louis Blues)

4. Elias Pettersson (Vancouver Canucks

5. Eli Tolvanen (Nashville Predators)

And the winner is… Elias Pettersson

Finally, the Award for Top Overall Prospect, which combines both amateur and professional prospect, and the nominees are…

1. Rasmus Dahlin (2018)

2. Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild)

3. Casey Mittelstadt (Buffalo Sabres)

4. Elias Pettersson (Vancouver Canucks)

5. Eli Tolvanen (Nashville Predators)

And the winner is…Rasmus Dahlin

Some notes and points of interest regarding the results.

In the top Pro Offensive Defenseman category ballot, I overlooked one significant prospect in Rasmus Dahlin, stick tap to Cam Robinson who was the writer to point out that while Dahlin is a draft eligible prospect he is playing pro hockey in the SHL. I believe that if had included him on the ballot he would have won the award.

Dahlin was the unanimous top ranked Draft eligible prospect , and all but one writer selected Dahlen as the top overall prospect as well.

Other players to receive votes outside of the ballot nominations included

Top Overall Prospect – Andrei Svechnikov, Aleksi Heponiemi, and Miro Heiskanen.

Top Pro Forward – Jonathan Dahlen, and Kristian Vesalainen

Top Pro Offensive Defenseman – Rasmus Andersson, Adam Boqvist

Top Pro Goalie – Cal Petersen and Filip Gustavsson

Top Amateur Forward – Jordan Kyrou, and Aleksi Heponiemi

Top Amateur Defenseman – Henri Jokiharju, and Evan Bouchard

Top Rising Amateur Prospect – Adam Gaudette, Jordan Kyrou, and Tyler Steenbergen.