Prospect Need to Know: Get excited for Calen Addison

The key prospect in the trade that sent Jason Zucker to Pittsburgh, Addison has a lot of upside and already has a championship under his belt this season. Learn more about him and one prospect from all 31 teams in our exclusive roundup.

We’ve got a trade, folks – and it has serious prospect implications. The Minnesota Wild acquired defenseman Calen Addison and a 2020 first-rounder in part of a deal that also saw Alex Galchenyuk go to Minnesota and Jason Zucker head to Pittsburgh. From a Wild perspective, Addison brings an excellent new-school game to the back end with plenty of offense, but also a competitive spirit that allows the undersized D-man to battle in his own end. Addison was loved by Team Canada’s coaching staff at the world juniors in Ostrava, where he helped the team win gold with nine points in seven games. Addison likely will need one year in the AHL in order to get stronger, but he’s a high-end catch.

On the flip side, why does Pittsburgh hate their scouts so much? I kid, because I know this trade was made to maximize the Crosby/Malkin championship window, but seriously: the Penguins have only made one first-round selection in the past five drafts (Samuel Poulin, 2019) and none of their top picks in the other four drafts are with the organization anymore.

In other prospect news, Northeastern won the NCAA Beanpot tournament thanks to a double-OT goal by Habs pick Jordan Harris, making it three all-Boston titles in a row for the Huskies. Let’s take a whirl around the world to see who else is making noise right now.

ANA – Here’s USHL Chicago left winger Sean Farrell on former NTDP teammate Henry Thrun, now tearing it up in the NCAA with Harvard: “We’ve known each other since we were five or six. He’s a really smart player and he can play with anyone. He’s meshed well with all their top players and taken advantage of the minutes he’s getting there.”

ARI – Here’s Arizona GM John Chayka on D-man Victor Soderstrom’s playmaking ability: “In transitional opportunities, he’s an elite playmaker. He sees the ice so well, he can make quick decisions, he can make the simple pass, he can also make some complex plays when he needs to. That was one of his best attributes when we drafted him; his playmaking ability.”

BOS – Rookie pro Jack Studnicka leads the AHL’s Providence Bruins in scoring and six points in his past four games certainly helped. Studnicka has great details in his two-way game and he has already made two NHL appearances this season.

BUF – The best goaltender in the USHL is Dubuque’s Erik Portillo. The 6-foot-6 University of Michigan commit has already won goalie of the week honors twice in the league and leads the circuit in goals-against average (1.94) and save percentage (.922) for the top-end Fighting Saints.

CGY – How’s this for a stat to get you excited about the future: goaltender Dustin Wolf has eight shutouts and just nine losses this season for WHL Everett. The competitive netminder sits third in the league with 25 wins and first with a .936 save percentage.

CAR – Here’s OHL Saginaw GM Dave Drinkill on Ryan Suzuki, who was traded to the Spirit from Barrie at the deadline: “Ryan’s been great. We knew he was a character kid already and he’s good friends with (D-man) Mason Millman and his family.” Drinkill also noted that Suzuki’s vision and skill set fit perfectly with Saginaw’s puck possession game.

CHI – Center Antti Saarela is one of the top-scoring junior-aged players in Finland’s Liiga this season. The skilled pivot has 12 points in 30 games with Ilves while playing just 11:20 per game. Concussion worries hurt his draft stock, allowing the Hawks to grab him in the fourth round this past summer.

COL – It’s been a long road for Hunter Miska, but the netminder just signed an NHL deal with the Avs. Playing for high-end programs such as the U.S. NTDP, the BCHL’s Penticton Vees and the University of Minnesota-Duluth before turning pro, Miska has been one of the AHL’s top goalies with a .925 save percentage for the Colorado Eagles this year.

CBJ – With four games left plus the Big Ten tournament, Ohio State senior right winger Carson Meyer is five points away from tying his college career best of 26, set as a freshman with Miami. The Buckeyes will need Meyer, as the conference is a scramble right now.

DAL – The OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads are making a run at division-leading Sudbury with points in eight of their past 10 games. During that stretch, franchise defenseman Thomas Harley has been on top of his game with 12 points during the run.

DET – After a successful stint with second-tier Allsvenskan squad Kristianstad (10 points in 25 games), towering defenseman Malte Setkov is back in the SHL with Malmo, where the Redhawks are currently mid-table.

EDM – Big, rushing right winger Raphael Lavoie has kept the party going since the trade that saw him go from QMJHL Halifax to Chicoutimi. The WJC gold-medallist has 18 points in 12 games for the Sagueneens; a slightly better point-per-game clip than he had with the Mooseheads.

FLA – Your WHL player of the week is defenseman Johnny Ludvig of the Portland Winterhawks. The captain of the team had nine points in three games, using his great passing ability and wicked shot to generate offense.

LA – A gritty, detailed player who won gold with Canada at the WJC, center Aidan Dudas has OHL Owen Sound on the rise, with the Attack winning seven of their past 10 games. Dudas has 11 points in that span.

MIN – Not only does Calen Addison have a ton of potential, but he’s also hot lately, putting up 17 points during a running 10-game point-streak.

MTL – Here’s OHL Sault Ste. Marie GM Kyle Raftis on defenseman Jacob LaGuerriere, one of just two 19-year-olds on a young Greyhounds team: “He’s done his usual shutdown defense, but he has also taken a step forward offensively. And he’s always been great on his zone exits.”

NSH – Here’s GM David Poile on OHL Oshawa star Phil Tomasino, who really impressed the Preds at training camp in the fall: “He has a pretty mature game in terms of his details. Sometimes juniors take long shifts or no attention to detail but Phil looks like a pro. We’re really happy with his season.”

NJ – The top-scoring junior-aged player in Sweden’s second-tier Allsvenskan is Nikola Pasic. The right winger and WJC bronze medallist has 34 points in 37 games for Karlskroga.

NYI – The Islanders assigned defenseman Bode Wilde to OHL Saginaw and that’s great news for the Spirit post-trade deadline. “Any time you get a player of Bode’s caliber, it’s going to be huge,” said GM Dave Drinkill. “It sets us up for, hopefully, a long playoff run. Our power play has been struggling and Bode is obviously an elite quarterback.”

NYR – Cornell is one of the top college teams in the nation and power forward Morgan Barron is the leading scorer for the Big Red. Barron, a left winger, has 25 points in 23 games, putting the junior on pace for his best career totals yet.

OTT – How about an NCAA Bentley shout-out? Sophomore power forward Jakov Novak has six points in his past five games, four of which were victories for the Falcons.

PHI – The Jay O’Brien experiment in BCHL Penticton is working as planned. The 2018 first-rounder is leading the Vees in scoring with 61 points in 42 games, which should have him in a good headspace for when he joins Boston University next season.

PIT – Since he’s one of the only prospects the Penguins have left, it’s a good thing Samuel Poulin is on a tear again. The power forward with QMJHL Sherbrooke has 25 points during an eight-game point-streak.

STL – It’s been a pretty decent season for netminder Colten Ellis, who has the benefit of playing for an awesome QMJHL Rimouski squad. But the veteran goalie is heating up at the right time and Ellis now has two shutouts in his past five games – all of which have been Oceanic wins.

SJ – Find yourself some John Leonard highlights if you want to get happy, Sharks fans. The UMass right winger is coming off a five-point weekend that included a hat trick and two wins against Providence College.

TB – Here’s Lightning goalie coach Frantz Jean on University of Denver freshman Magnus Chrona: “He was a little bit of a project when we drafted him. Didn’t play the top junior league in Sweden. He was very raw but you could see he was a big, strong, athletic kid. In his first development camp, I was impressed with how he understood the concepts we were working on really quickly. He was able to incorporate them quickly and from day to day you could visually see the improvement in the fluidity of how he executed what we were teaching.”

TOR – Here’s USHL Chicago Steel GM Ryan Hardy on Harvard freshman and Steel alumni Nick Abruzzese: “It starts with mindset. He’s obsessed with hockey and he’s an extremely selfless person. He still looks like he’s 13 years old – there’s so much room in his body to mature physically. But the biggest thing is his hockey sense. His brain is elite: his ability to feel pressure and to make plays and make the players around him better is exceptional. Give Kyle Dubas credit; he was on him early and they’re looking pretty smart with that pick right now.”

VAN – Once again, freshman left winger Aidan McDonough made his presence felt for Northeastern University: McDonough had three points for the Huskies in their double-OT Beanpot championship victory over Boston University.

VGK – It’s going to be hard catching Jack Dugan for the NCAA scoring crown. The Providence College right winger has 46 points in 28 games and he just keeps producing. The sophomore leads the nation in assists as well with 37 – no one else has hit 30 yet.

WSH – We expected a big year from Aliaksei Protas and the big center is living up to the hype. Protas has 61 points in 47 games to lead the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders in scoring. He had 40 points all of last year.

WPG – The Peterborough Petes are going for it this year and the OHL team’s high-octane offense has been backed up on the blueline by Declan Chisholm. He’s got 60 points in 52 games, putting him third in team scoring.

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