The Hockey News Prospects Unlimited 2019-20

1. RASMUS DAHLIN POS: D AGE: 19 LAST YEAR: 4TEAM: BUFFALO (NHL) DRAFT: 1ST, 2018 (BUF) “There’s nobody close to him,” said a scout of Dahlin in The Hockey News’ Draft Preview 2018. Even as a defenseman, he earned the caliber of No. 1 pick buzz typically reserved for generational-phenom forwards like Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. Dahlin really was that good in his draft year. He rushed the puck like a playmaking center but punished opponents in the defensive zone like an elite shutdown technician. Dahlin hasn’t been given a ton of responsibility on the defensive side as a Sabres sophomore, but he’s exactly what he was supposed to be on the offensive end thus far: pure magic. As a rookie, he became just the third 18-year-old D-man in NHL history…

3. MIRO HEISKANEN POS: D AGE: 20 LAST YEAR: 12TEAM: DALLAS (NHL) DRAFT: 3RD, 2017 (DAL) IT TURNS OUT IF you want to get Miro Heiskanen rattled, the best thing to do is to force him to talk, preferably about himself and in front of a lot of people. That’s not really his thing. Former NHL great and countryman Kimmo Timonen has met and spoken to Heiskanen once and said he got more information out of Heiskanen’s girlfriend than he managed to pry out of the 20-year-old son of a kindergarten teacher and an automatic-door repairman from suburban Helsinki. So there’s that. This will be good information to know within the next couple years, because that will explain why Heiskanen’s Norris Trophy acceptance speech will likely be a little on the dull side.…

4. CALE MAKAR POS: D AGE: 21 LAST YEAR: 41TEAM: COLORADO (NHL) DRAFT: 4TH, 2017 (COL) The main reason Colorado could afford to trade Tyson Barrie over the summer: it had Makar, another silky-smooth, right-shot, puck-moving defenseman, ready to take over as its primary power-play quarterback. Forget that he was 20 at the time and had yet to play a regular-season NHL game. Makar is such a virtuoso with the puck that he got an Olympic invite from Team Canada in 2018, when he was a teenager, and he jumped directly from college to the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring, logging 17:22 a game. Makar possesses the skill and intelligence to become an offensive force and perennial Norris Trophy threat. 5. PATRIK LAINE POS: RW AGE: 21 LAST YEAR: 3TEAM: WINNIPEG (NHL) DRAFT: 2ND,…

44. ADAM FANTILLI POS: C AGE: 14 LAST YEAR: NRTEAM: KIMBALL UNION (USHL) DRAFT: ELIGIBLE IN 2023 YOU CAN IMAGINE LUCA Fantilli’s surprise when he looked across the ice and saw his kid brother skating in the warmup for the other team. Adam Fantilli had made a major life and hockey decision, leaving the biggest and most prestigious youth hockey association in the world to be closer to his brother, and in one of their first games they were going nose-to-nose instead of being side-by-side. First, the backstory, Reader’s Digest version. Adam Fantilli is the best young hockey player in Ontario. He doesn’t turn 15 until December, but he’s big and strong and skilled and is a shoo-in to be the No. 1 pick in the 2020 OHL draft if he chooses to…

45. MARTIN NECAS POS: C AGE: 20 LAST YEAR: 44TEAM: CAROLINA (NHL) DRAFT: 12TH, 2017 (CAR) Grooming Necas conservatively paid dividends, as spending most of 2018-19 in the AHL yielded a Calder Cup title run with Charlotte. His great hands helped him pile up assists at that level. Finally sticking in the NHL, he’s toiled as a winger early, but he’s a natural center. 46. SAMUEL GIRARD POS: D AGE: 21 LAST YEAR: NRTEAM: COLORADO (NHL) DRAFT: 47TH, 2016 (NSH) The Avs have so many good young blueliners that Girard gets overshadowed. His mobility is excellent, and he can run a power play, but he’s also being entrusted with a top-pair assignment alongside shutdown man Erik Johnson. Girard can defend in the modern style. 47. ADAM BOQVIST POS: D AGE: 19 LAST YEAR: 58TEAM: ROCKFORD (AHL) DRAFT:…

RECYCLING IS BIG THESE days. Even in the NHL. Don’t be surprised to see a multi-year low number of rookies break into the NHL this season. Strangely, in our annual Prospects Unlimited issue that trumpets the up-and-comers, the next wave, the fresh faces, this instead has become the season of the recycled veteran. Blame this one-year aberration on a salary cap that didn’t go up a whole lot from the previous season. And it’s many of the high-profile rookies who are feeling the squeeze. Most teams expected the NHL salary cap to rise from $79.5 million in 2018-19 to north of $83 million this year. That was the indication throughout last season. (After all, it did rise six percent from $75 million to $79.5 million the season before.) But the increase was…