We’ve got a busy week in prospect news this week, gang! Lots of scoring, lots to be impressed by, which is a nice break from, you know, whatever’s been going on with the Flyers. But we digress. Let’s talk prospects.
Three stars
Tyson Foerster
We talked about Foerster in last week’s report and made note that he was getting himself back into game shape nicely in his first weekend back, and things have really broken open for him in a big way in his second. In Barrie’s three games on the week, Foerster contributed four goals and an assist, which included a hat trick in Saturday’s win over London. He also chipped in 10 shots on goal in those three games, so his apparent model of “shoot everything” seems to be rolling along swimmingly.
And all of this, of course, is great to see. He had an uphill battle ahead of him in coming back from injury and getting adjusted to the OHL again, but he’s taking all of that in stride. His confidence is showing already,
Olle Lycksell
Over in the SHL, we’re down to the end of the line as the playoffs have gotten underway, and Lycksell has been a really key piece to Växjö’s bid to advance to the next round. In their last three games, Lycksell has put up two goals and four assists, and as such has factored into six of the team’s 10 goals scored over that span, which is not too shabby at all. A lot of their offense is running through him, and Lycksell seems to be taking that role and running with it. He’s putting together a very nice postseason campaign for himself, and it looks like, with Växjö down 2-1 in their best of seven series against Frölunda, he will continue to be leaned on heavily down the stretch. No pressure of anything.
Zayde Wisdom
And swinging back over to the OHL (sorry for the bit of whiplash), Wisdom also had himself a very solid week. He’s continuing to put things together in a big way, and he’s turning into a consistent contributor for Kingston again. In his last three games, he added a goal and three assists to his season totals of eight goals and 32 points in 37 games played, which is still quite solid considering the ground he had to cover to get back this season.
Kingston’s already clinched a playoff spot, but both the team and Wisdom on an individual level are looking to keep stringing together some more strong performances through the final six games of the regular season, and head into the postseason with some steam.
Honorable mentions
Eliott Desnoyers
Desnoyer’s scoring tear continues, to the surprise of probably no one, but it’s still been fun to watch. It was a relatively quiet week for Halifax, with just two games on deck, but they were both good ones. They picked up wins in both games against Charlottetown, and Desnoyers put up two goals, one assist, and six shots on goal in those two games. He’s continuing to drive offense well, while also remaining on top of the finer details of his game, and bringing that signature high energy and tenacity. It’s all continuing to come together nicely, and putting him in a good position to make the jump to the next level next fall.
Tanner Laczynski
Laczynski continues to be on a bit of a roll with the Phantoms. They’re trying their hardest to string together wins and push to get themselves into the final playoff spot in their division (they’ve got quite the hill to climb, but a win tonight will put them within five points of that last spot, with two games in hand over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and four in hand over Bridgeport ahead of them). They’re plugging along well, too, with three wins in the last week, and Laczynski has been a key piece to getting their offense clicking again. He had a goal and three assists in his last three games, bringing him up to 13 points in his 18 games played so far this season. He hasn’t been super flashy, but he’s been effective in all areas of the game, and that’s certainly enough for us.
Ivan Fedotov
And finally, the KHL playoffs are starting to wind down, and Fedotov’s stellar run just will not seem to slow down. In his last two starts, he picked up one win and one loss, but only allowed three goals between those two games. In them he stopped 28 of 29 shots faced in the win and 36 of 38 shots faced in the loss, which combine for a tidy .955 SV%. He’s been little short of stellar in these playoffs, and he’s doing just about everything that could be asked of him here. Their series against SKA St. Petersburg is split, and they have three games remaining to pull ahead and punch their ticket to the finals.
