The Avs prospect pool is ranked among the worst in the league. Also, players on the Penguins and Flyers have a lot to play for. Who’s got the most pressure?
All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — August 31.
Colorado Hockey Now
The Avalanche are in win now mode. And that’s part of the reason why their prospect pool is among the worst in the NHL. The Athletic and Daily Faceoff both ranked the prospects for each of the 32 franchises, and the Avs are low on each one.
At some point they’ll have to get this figured out. Especially as the pieces around their core start to age out.
READ MORE: Avalanche’s Prospect Pool Ranked Among the Worst in the NHL
Around The NHL
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Here are three Pens with the most to gain or lose this season.
Philly Hockey Now: Same exercise for the Flyers. I hate to spoil some of the article, but my colleague William James is spot on with Trevor Zegras being at the top of this list. Zegras has an opportunity to cement himself as a No. 1 center with great wingers like Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov. This could be the big break he needs to get over the hump and take that next step in his career. Having Rick Tocchet at the helm sounds like it could be a perfect match for the former Anaheim Ducks center.
Detroit Hockey Now: Pavel Datsyuk was victorious in his farewell match in Russia. It’s hard to believe the once NHL great is now 47 years old.
San Jose Hockey Now: Were there parts of Will Smith’s game that was better than Macklin Celebrini last season? Sheng Peng has more.
Boston Hockey Now: I actually loved reading this a lot more than I thought I would. Andrew Fantuccio broke down the EA Sports ratings for several of the Bruins players. He applied logic to something that sometimes doesn’t have much of it. Who’s overrated? Who’s underrated? And who’s perfectly rated?
If anything, you should see where EA Sports has Casey Mittelstadt,
