Ages as per BRHL site***

1 - TAMPA BAY - Brock Faber, Alexis Lafreniere, Owen Power, Jake Sanderson.  Boy, does Eric possess some insanely good young defencemen.  His team reminds me slightly of Devon's with building from the back-end out (honourable mention to Devon Levi).  Faber was deserving of the Calder in some people's eyes, and Power and Sanderson are on their way to becoming franchise D-men.  About 30 BRHL GMs now regret not racing to their slack DMs with Kevin when he made Laf available last season, and either offering up something big or something better than they did, but I bet Eric is tickled pink that he was the one to land the young Ranger winger. 

2 - FLORIDA - Cole Caufield, Wyatt Johnston, Matt Savoie, Pavel Dorofeyev.  Not a bad collection of young talent right here either.  Sober Ty has gone heavy up front (in forward talent, not in their physical size department), acquiring some of the most exciting youngsters in the game.  Caufield and Johnston were their team's best players at time, especially Caufield.  Savoie has always had all-world skill, and now is in an amazing position heading to Edmonton.  Dorofeyev has been quietly progressing and getting better each and every season. 

3 - BUFFALO - Dylan Cozens, Dawson Mercer, Liam Ohgren, Mackie Samoskevich.  Jared is definitely set up the middle for a very long time with Cozens and Mercer patrolling the centre position.  Both did take a small step back last season due to varying circumstances, but it's certainly nothing concerning, and perfectly normal for players of their age to do so before another jump.  Ohgren and Samoskevich both have eyes on making the opening night rosters for their respective NHL teams this fall, and are not top/tier 1 prospects, but still have plenty of pedigree and potential. 

4 - OTTAWA - Matvei Michkov, Kirill Marchenko, Bradley Nadeau, Jagger Firkus.  Brayden is already doing wonders for the Ottawa Senators, making everyone wonder why he didn't take over sooner!  The excitement surrounding Michkov took off to a whole nother level when it was confirmed he'd be playing this fall in North America.  Marchenko has exploded onto the scene in Columbus over the past 2 seasons.  And Nadeau and Firkus might be two of the quietest top prospects in the game, but I doubt they will be for long.  

5 - BOSTON - Lucas Raymond, Cole Sillinger, Matt Coronato, Mason Lohrei.  Surprisingly Greg still has a plethora of younger talented players despite adding a lot of top players in his quest for a championship.  Raymond will be a star for years to come.  There's no secret there.  Sillinger is turning into a fairly well-rounded player who developed his finer details of play this past season in the physicality and defensiveness departments.  Coronato is taking a bit of time to really become an NHL regular, but has been getting better every year.  Lohrei is a big-bodied, typical Bruins D-man, who looked good during both his regular season and playoff playing time last season. 

6 - DETROIT - Shane Pinto, Nick Robertson, Easton Cowan, Hendrix Lapierre.  I've attempted a bit of a quick retool with my Red Wings as I didn't want to end up fielding an old and over-the-hill roster for long.  Both Pinto and Robertson have always produced well when given ice-time.  Pinto is also responsible at both ends of the rink, while Robertson is developing a nice physical game, but neither seems to be overly happy with their current team.  Cowan did everything you could do at the junior level last season, so his goal will be to make a jump as soon as this fall.  Lapierre looked really solid with the Caps last year and is targeting more minutes and another jump next season. 

7 - TORONTO - Shane Wright, Dmitry Simashev, Matthew Knies, Jordan Spence.  I'd imagine that this is the year Wright makes it full-time for the Kraken.  He had a decent year settling in with the Firebirds last year learning the pro-game.  He's always had decent defensive awareness about him too, which hopefully for Garrett translates to the NHL level.  Simashev was one of the biggest fallers in our draft, but that was much to Garrett's delight I'm sure.  Knies is a player who always seems to leave people wanting more, but if his finishing skills can improve, he will reach that next level.  Spence finally stuck around the big league for a full season, despite not being known for his defensive prowess. 

8 - MONTREAL - Jayden Struble, No One, No One, No One.  Vardy's cupboard of youth is pretty bare these days as Struble is his only listed player under the age of 24.  In fact, I traded him Struble just in time for this series of articles.  Struble is a mature, physical defender who has a touch of offensive upside to his game.  He should be a middle of the pack and reliable NHL defenceman for many years, with a slight chance to take things a notch higher.