Prospect Check-In: Forwards

And now, we get to the forwards. Because this is without much doubt the biggest group of the bunch, I will be limiting this to players who are listed on the CapFriendly, RosterResource, and/or EliteProspects page who are listed as RFAs or on ATOs. There’s a lot to get through and I don’t have too many days this week to split hairs on AHL lifers.

Providence

Colby Cave - C

GP: 10

On-Ice Results: 5g - 6a - 10pts

He’s doing great! Matt wrote a whole thing about his start over here.

Cameron Hughes - C

GP: 10

On-Ice Results: 4g - 5a - 9pts

Matt also wrote a thing on how he’s doing, ensuring that I don’t have to spend too much time on many of the Providence forward group.

He’s also capable of doing stuff like this!

Great shot on this kid.

Anton Blidh - LW/RW

GP: 11

Points: 2g - 4a - 6pts

A solid start for Mr. Blidh, who was on the NHL Roster for a bit...then wasn’t. Blidh will probably be on the shortlist of players who can be called up for a depth injury, and recently he’s been looking like he wants to make that a reality.

Peter Cehlarik - LW/RW

GP: 8

Points: 1g - 5a - 6pts

The Injury bug struck Celery once again, though thankfully Peter managed to keep it down to only a couple of games instead of the quarter of the season awfulness he tends to get inflicted with. He’s been more of a playmaker than usual, but assuming he can stay healthy, he’ll be rounding back into form soon enough.

Trent Frederic - C

GP: 11

On-Ice Results: 5g - 0a - 5pts

Frederic is a part of a coalition of 5 players with 5 points on Providence, and tied for the team lead in goals. He seems to have settled in quite easily with the kind of talent bopping around the Ocean State.

Jan Kovar - C

GP: 5

Points: 3g - 2a - 5pts

Since his pickup earlier this year on an ATO, Kovar has been one of the more intriguing players for the P-B’s, having a point in every game he’s played. Now, this tryout can be mostly just a trial run for something greater, but if he’s currently sitting at a point-per-game? Might be time to toss a league minimum deal at him and turn this theoretically temporary stay into a more permanent one.

Ryan Fitzgerald - LW/C

GP: 11

Points: 2g - 3a- 5pts

A not bad start for the patient P-Bruin, who keeps up his streak of being incredibly creative, though it has definitely come at the cost of backchecking, of which he’s been somewhat lacking in. Still, a good start for the kid, who hopefully can stabilize his play. If he can up his SH%, there’s hope that his offense will be far more impactful in the coming months.

Zach Senyshyn - RW

GP: 11

Points: 4g - 0a - 4pts

Say hello to the kid with the highest SH% on the P-Bruins! And the leading the team in PPG! While he’s never, ever going to escape his draft year or whose been lighting up the league while he’s in Providence, the fact that the Baby B’s can rely on him to be a weapon on the man advantage is an encouraging sign!

It’s just...he’s gonna have to start generating some buzz. Soonish, hopefully. Maybe being the Providence Power Play Guy™ can help him get there.

Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson - C

GP: 9

Points: 1g - 3a - 4pts

JFK hasn’t had a fun start to his season. Being banged up a bit will take a hit on your productivity, and players suddenly deciding to have their best start in awhile (like Cave) will definitely make it worse, but his start has been slow. Here’s hoping the rest of his year doesn’t stay slow.

Karson Kuhlman - RW

GP: 11

Points: 0g - 3a - 3pts

Kuhlman was signed earlier this year, had a good preseason and earned plenty of praise because of it.

In the AHL?...He’s been alright. Slow starts abound in the AHL right now and he’s no exception. Lets hope it’s just acclimating from College to the pro game (he only played 3 games for Providence last year) can help him build back up to where he was in preseason.

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ECHL - Atlanta:

Jesse Gabrielle - LW

GP: 7

Points: 2g - 3a - 5pts

Atlanta Gladiators Instagram

Gabrielle has been in that weird limbo where it’s clear being an overager in junior isn’t really going to teach him anything, but he has had his struggles on pro ice and is at a position the Bruins are already profoundly deep at. With this happy medium of the Gladiators, he’s already passed his total from his last year in Providence and is in the top 5 of Glads point-getters. Time will tell obviously if this warrants a call-up to the AHL or not, but if he keeps this up, the pesky winger could be back on track soon enough.

Joona Koppanen - C/LW

GP: 7

Points: 0g - 1a - 1pt

Koppanen has had a rough start to his season, no questions about it. Being at a position of strength in either way and also not really excelling as a member of the PB’s brought him here, and it’s clear Koppanen needs some time to get going...or he’s probably wearing the Glads’ Maroon and Old Gold for the season.

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Sweden:

Oskar Steen - C

GP: 15

Points: 5g - 3a - 8pts

FREDRIK KARLSSON / Bildbyrån

Steen has been mostly an afterthought when fans think about big european prospects for the B’s, and frankly I’m not sure that’s fair, as he’s started to click as a member of Farjestad BK, being 6th on the team in points, tied with four other players for 2nd on the team in goalscoring and having a pronounced shift in his minutes, going from barely over 11 minutes a night to a swing between 13 and 18. And all of this while only being 20 in a league that tends to baby it’s young prospects. FBK loves him, and if he keeps this up, Steen will be making things interesting down the depth chart.

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Junior:

Jack Studnicka - C

GP: 16

Points: 7g- 13a - 20pts

The Captain of the Generals has been busy lately, having points in 4 of his last 5 games, mostly spreading the wealth enough to once again be the class of his team, and leading Oshawa in points and assists. In short, this year will mostly be the solidification of Studnicka being the prospect everyone wants to talk about, before he heads to the AHL later this year to prove he’s also got it there.

Jakub Lauko - C/LW

GP: 14

Points: 6g - 6a - 12pts

Lauko endeared himself to fans earlier this year by being brazen about believing he’s a steal and is eager to prove himself. Thus, instead of playing with Pirati in the Czech Republic, he’s been in the QMJHL, where he’s played about 5 fewer games than most of his contemporaries. His contemporaries for the record, are the top 10 in scoring for Rouyn-Noranda, where he sits at 8th. One can expect that he plans on shooting up that list as he catches up with the other Huskies.

Also, Rouyn-Noranda’s expected badness was profoundly exaggerated on my part, as they currently sit at the tip-top of the QMJHL’s Western Conference. For that and for the team, I can only say... Je suis sincèrement désolé. Merci.

Cedric Pare - C

GP: 14

Points: 4g - 10a - 14pts

Cedric Pare has been having a pretty alright start to his season, being 7th on the team in points and 6th in assists. He also plays for Rimouski Oceanic, a profoundly mediocre team floated by having the number 1a or number 2 prospect in Canada that won’t be going in next year’s draft help completely lift the team from what would otherwise be irrelevance. Pare is probably not going to stand out much and when we check back in a couple of months, I don’t expect that to change.

But who knows! He could surprise us all!

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NCAA:

Curtis Hall - C

GP: 3

Points: 2g - 1a - 3pts

Yale Hockey Website

Curtis Hall has a point in each of Yale’s wins. Which, thanks to some truly bizarre scheduling, they have played among the least out of every team in the ECAC.

I guess learning how to do white collar crime takes up a lot of what would be tourney-time. Regardless, a good start for the young gun!

Jack Becker - C

GP: 7

Points: 1g - 1a - 2pts

Becker’s year has been slow-starting. Which is fine, though it certainly would behoove him to start looking for more from himself, or he may get lost in the shuffle among all these prospects.

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Russia:

Alex Khokhlachev - C

GP: 26

Points: 8g - 8a - 16pts

Spartak’s Twitter

I know...I know. Alot of you already gave up on this guy since he got tired of waiting to be 3rd line Center, but the reality is A) the team still holds his rights, so in the interest of fairness he has to be on here. B) The team and Koko himself has been flirting with a return for a couple of years now, and C), he took a chance on himself while playing for Spartak Moscow and he’s been, yet again, their best player.

Is Spartak any good? Well, kinda. They’re certainly way better than they were last year where Koko basically had to drag them to results of any kind, and are 3rd in division behind Jokerit and SKA St. Petersburg, which given the amount of money between those two teams essentially ensures that’s where they’re staying.

All I’m saying is, if the B’s are (still) hurting for depth and decide to find more skilled talent, you could probably do a lot worse than trying a comeback tour.

Pavel Shen - C

GP: 12 in KHL, 5 in VHL, 4 in MHL

KHL Points: Nada

VHL Points: 0g - 1a - 1pt

MHL Points: 0g - 1a- 1pt

The latest of late round russian picks has had a wild ride to start his season. He started with Salavat in the KHL, and has landed all the way back down in Russian junior. But given that he played roughly the same amount of games in the VHL (Russian AHL), there’s a good chance he could be called up once whatever the heck was up with him clears up.

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And that just about does it! We’ll check back in with everyone after the new year!