Note SN has the Canucks at #3 and projects Demko, Juolevi, Lind, Jasek, and Gaudette to play in in Utica.
Their interesting projection has Dahlen playing for Timra of the SHL. Haven't heard anything of this nature before now. Has he still got a choice to book if he doesn't make the Canucks roster?
The rest:
Buffalo was ranked #1 but only 2 are projected to be in Rochester.
Alex Nylander - 2016 1st round, 3rd yr pro, 27Pts/51GP last year
Rasmus Asplund - (C) 2016 2nd round, ROOKIE .
They have 1 in Jrs,
1 in the SHL
1 in college
The other 4 are projected to be in Buffalo.
Philly was #2 and they are projected to send 4 of them against the Comets in Lehigh Valley.
2 are 2nd yr undrafted free agents that had really good seasons last year.
Mike Vecchione - (C/RW) 40Pts/65GP
Phillipe Myers - (D) (21Pts/50GP/+12. He is currently ranked by ESPN as the 8th best defensive prospect in the game.
German Rubstov - (C) 2016 1st round, ROOKIE
Carter Hart - (G) 2016 2nd round, ROOKIE
Looks like 2014 4th rounder Oskar Lindblom (LW, 2017-18 AHL All-Star, 34Pts/54GP and 23 more GP with Philly) may get a full-time slot with Philly.
Carolina was 4th and 5 of them are projected to be in the lineup against the Comets. All played there last year.
Aleksi Saarela - (C) 2015 3rd round, 2nd yr pro (43Pts/69GP)
Janne Kuokkanin - (C/W) 2016 2nd round, 2nd yr pro, (40Pts/60GP
Julien Gauthier - (RW) 2016 1st round, 2nd yr pro, (25Pts/65GP).
Valentin Zykov - (LW/RW) 2013 2nd round, 3rd yr pro, (34Pts/66GP and 54Pts/63GP)
Alex Nedelijkovic - (G) 2014 2nd round, 3rd yr pro, (2.55/.903 last year)
Blues were 5th. Wow, 7 projected to play for San Antonio. Nice the Comets don't face them.
Tampa was ranked 7th and 5 of them will be playing vs the Comets in Syracuse along with some very good past picks. The 5 are:
Mathieu Joseph - (RW) 2015 4th round, 2nd year pro, 53Pts/70GP
Alexander Volkov - (RW) 2015 4th round, 2nd yr pro, 45Pts/75GP
Mitchell Stevens - (C) 2015 2nd round, 2nd yr pro, 41Pts/70GP
Connor Ingram - (G) 2016 3rd round, 2nd yr pro, 2.33/.914 35GP
Terrific numbers for rookie seasons.
Dominik Maisin - (D) 2014 2nd round, 6'2"/19o lbs, 3rd yr pro, '16-17 - 6Pts/69GP/73 PIM, '17-18 - 24Pts/72GP/79 PIM/+25.
This guy is becoming a beast.
Looks like Cirelli will be a full time Lightning player. Good, because he was Hell to play against. Won't be sad to see his ass out of the lineup. The other five were no picnic either and will only be better.
Florida at #8 will will likely ice 3 prospects against the Comets with Springfield.
Jonathan Ang - (C) 2016 4th round (#94 OA), ROOKIE
Riley Stillman - (D) 2016 4th round (#114 OA), ROOKIE
Samuel Montembeault - (G) 2015 3rd round, 2nd yr pro, 3.25/.890/41GP, not very sparkling numbers.
Hartford, farm of the 9th ranked Rangers, will show us 3 newbies acquired through trades. What a novel idea. All 3 will be ROOKIE pros.
Brett Howden - (C) 2016 Tampa 1st round, ROOKIE
Libor Hajek - (D) 2016 Tampa 2nd round, ROOKIE
Ryan Lindgren - (D) 2016 Boston 2nd, ROOKIE
By acquiring lots of picks Tampa is able to make trades like this to enrich their NHL roster. They got Ryan McDonagh and forward J.T. Miller in this deal Vladisov Namestnikov and their 2018 1st round pick and a conditional 1st round 2019 pick were included in the deal.
Boston at #12 are projected to play 6 of their prospects in Providence.
Boston was loaded up on picks in 2015 and their 2 1st round picks and both 2nd round picks are in this 6.
Jakub Zboril - (D) 2015 1st round (#13 OA), 2nd yr pro, 19Pts/68GP, +12
Zach Senyshyn - RW 2015 1st round (#15 OA), 2nd yr pro, 26Pts/66GP
Jakob Forsabacka-Karlsson - (C) 2015 2nd (#45 OA), 2nd yr pro, 32Pts/58GP
Jeremy Lauzon - (D) 2015 2nd round (#52 OA), 7Pts /52GP, wore an 'A'.
Ryan Fitzgerald - (C) 2013 4th round, 2nd yr pro 37Pts/65GP
Urho Vaakanainen - (D) 2017 1st round, ROOKIE.
Ottawa was #13 and the Comets will see 4 players.
Logan Brown - (C) 2016 1st round, ROOKIE
Filip Gustavsson - (G) acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh, 2016 2nd round, ROOKIE
Filip Chlapik - (C) 2015 2nd round, 2nd yr pro, 32Pts/52GP
Christian Jaros - (D) 2015 5th round, 2nd yr pro, 16Pts/44GP
The Isles were #14 and are projected to have 3 in the lineup vs the Comets
KiefferBellows - (LW) 2016 1st round, Rookie.
Mitchell Vande Sompel - (D) 2015 3rd round, 2nd yr pro, 29Pts/58GP
Devon Toews - (D) 2014 4th round, 3rd yr pro, '16-17 45Pts/76GP, '17-18 22Pts/30GP He injured a shoulder and was out for the season. The Islanders expected to recall him or at least bring him on board in '18-19, but the injury sets those plans back and he will open the season in Bridgeport Sound.
Toronto, ranked #16, are expected to start 4 top prospects in AHL Toronto. The Comets will see them along with everyone else they have slated to go in October.
Carl Grundstrom - (LW) 2016 2nd round, ROOKIE
Pierre Engvall - (LW) 2014 7th round, ROOKIE
Both of these guys got a taste last season, but will be rookies.
Dymtro Timashov - (LW) 2015 5th round, 3rd yr pro, '16-17 24Pts/63GP, '17-18 34Pts/67GP.
Jeremy Bracco - (RW) 2015 2nd round, 2nd yr pro, 26Pts/50GP
Montreal was ranked #18 and only project a 2014 7th round center in the AHL.
Jake Evans - (C) 2014 7th round, 4yrs at NCAA Notre Dame, 33Pts/40 GP his Sr year, ROOKIE
Albany ranked at #19 are projected to only have 2014 1st round center John Quenneville in their AHL lineup.
John Quenneville - (C) 2014 1st round, 3rd year pro, '16-17 32Pts/58GP-AHL Albany and 4Pts/12GP New Jersey, '17-18 34Pts/43GP. He appears to be knocking on the door.
That's the top 20, but might as well look at the top prospects on the rest of the Comets' opponents.
Columbus is ranked #28 and their AHL farm, Cleveland, has moved into the AHL Eastern Division. 1 top prospect expected to end up in Cleveland this Fall.
Gabriel Carlsson - (D) 2015 1st round, 2nd yr pro, split his rookie season between NHL Columbus 2Pts/14GP and AHL Cleveland 5Pts in 33GP.
Not exactly an offensive D-man.
Washington ranks #29 and 5 of those prospects are speculated to land in AHL Hershey.
Vitek Vanecek - (G) 2014 2nd round, 4th yr pro, '16-17 39GP 2.54/.909, '17-18 32GP 3.04/.888
Ilya Samsonov - (G) 2016 2st round, ROOKIE
Goal was a a problem last season. 4 yr pro Pheonix Copley posted 2.91/.896 in 41 GP.
Jonas Siegenthaler - (D) 2015 2nd round, 2nd yr pro, 12Pts/75GP
Lucas Johanson - (D) 2016 1st round, 2nd yr pro, 27Pts/74GP
Garrett Pilon - (C) 2016 3rd round, ROOKIE
Dead last at #31 is the Pittsburgh Penguins. they will place 3 off their top 10 prospects in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The best of the trio is an undrafted free agent.
Jordy Bellerive - (C) UDFA, eliteprospects has him assigned to WHL Lethbridge since based on Canadian JR/NHL rules he can't play in the AHL until he is 20 and he just turned 19 in May.
Linus Olund - (C) 2017 5th round, ROOKIE
Joe Masonius - D 2016 6th round, 3 yrs NCAA U Conn, Rookie
All the players I have listed in this post come from the list of each NHL team's top 10 prospects. My only concern was to show the prospects the rest of the NHL will be putting on their AHL rosters. Then I only detailed those who are on teams the Utica Comets play during their regular season. Some of these teams are loaded up and others have very little to offer. Utica's group is good, but is in no way at the top of the pack. Utica's list is comprised solely of rookies while sevaral of the others bring back players with AHL experience who have excelled here and put up numbers to back that up. It will be very interesting to see how the Comets kids match up with the better team rosters on their schedule.