NHL Prospect Roundup: Boston Bruins’ Fabian Lysell continues to shine

Credit: (Photo by Steven Ellis)

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World Junior Championship camps are in full swing for many teams, and thus many high-quality talents are leaving their teams for the time being.

A few of them are focuses of today’s roundup, including Sweden’s Fabian Lysell. If you’ve watched him play, you know he’s one of the fastest-moving prospects in the game today, and he’s about to unleash that in blue and gold over the next few weeks.

We’re in the stretch run before teams take short breaks for Christmas, so let’s look at 10 standout prospects as of late:

AHL

– The Swedes are going to count a lot on Boston Bruins prospect Fabian Lysell at the World Junior Championship, just like the Providence Bruins have been doing so far. The 19-year-old has 17 points in 19 AHL games this year, including three points over the weekend. Lysell had six points in seven games en route to a bronze in 2022 with the Tre Kronor but will be leaned on even more as Sweden looks to build upon that in Group A play this year. Lysell leads all U-20 AHLers in points, and while that isn’t a huge sample size given CHLers can’t play there without going on a conditioning stint, he could still end up north of 50 points, something only six players in that age range have done over the past decade.

– After injuries limited Tyson Foerster‘s 2021-22 season, it’s great to see him bounce back in a huge way with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The 2022 WJC gold medallist is up to 18 points in 22 games in his first full AHL season and has six points over the past four games. That helped give him the team scoring lead and slots him second behind Lukas Reichel among U-21 scorers this season. Foerster is playing well enough that the Philadelphia Flyers should give him a couple of games as a reward this year, but there’s no rush given the team’s spot in the standings, and there are still some things he can work on to improve his overall game anyway.

NCAA

– With USA’s camp starting this week, Jimmy Snuggerud picked an incredible time to get hot. The 2022 St. Louis Blues first-rounder entered camp with an eight-game point streak with 15 points in that span. He was an offensive weapon with the USNTDP and had over a point per game at the U-18 World Championship last year. Snuggerud has a good shot at cracking USA’s top six and he’ll likely slot in somewhere on the power play, too.

– And then there’s Logan Cooley, who has 15 points in his last seven games with the University of Minnesota. Cooley is now the second-highest-scoring NHL-affiliated prospect in the NCAA behind Snuggerud and was starting to look like a true contender to challenge for the league-scoring lead before camp began. Taken third overall by the Arizona Coyotes in 2022, Cooley has almost always been one of USA’s better players at international competitions and he’s ready for his second go-around as an 18-year-old. Cooley does a lot more than just score, but when he’s putting points on the board, he can be unstoppable.

QMJHL

– What a weekend for Tristan Luneau, who’s played like he’s determined to prove Hockey Canada wrong for leaving him off the team’s camp roster. Luneau had six points in two games with the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques, pushing him up to 33 points in 30 games. The Anaheim Ducks prospect has immense talent as a two-way player and seems to draw attention to him every time he hits the ice while still maintaining strong puck protection. With Pavel Mintyukov playing at a 1.3-point-per-game rate in the OHL, Anaheim is having incredible success with its young defensive talent right now.

– Staying in Gatineau, Samuel Savoie isn’t having an explosive season by any means for a Draft+1 prospect, but his four-point effort against Charlottetown on Sunday was massive. The Chicago Blackhawks third-rounder isn’t big, but he loves to throw his weight around and his offense is starting to pick up this season to boot.

WHL

A double overager when he was selected in the fifth round by the Montreal Canadiens last summer, Jared Davidson has had an excellent fifth year with the Seattle Thunderbirds. He’s on pace for 100 points this year after potting 42 goals and 89 points last season, which was aided by his six points in three games over the weekend. He had a whopping 25 shots in that span, which, even for an older player, is quite impressive. He’s set to turn pro next year, and as a mid-sized overage prospect, his future isn’t clear. He missed some game this season which would have put him higher up in the scoring race, but continuing on as Seattle’s top scorer until the very end will be important in figuring out what’s next.

OHL

– David Goyette has been one of the hottest players in the OHL recently, and he’s now up to nine points in the past three games. His five-point effort last Sunday was one of the best performances of the season, and he had another four points in two outings this weekend. Now sitting at 20 goals and 38 points in 26 games, Goyette looks on pace to hit the 50-goal, 100-point mark with the Sudbury Wolves, leaving many to wonder why Canada didn’t invite the Seattle Kraken prospect to WJC training camp. Regardless, he’s on fire right now, giving the Kraken some incredible value after taking him 61st overall.

USHL

– Jake Richard, a sixth-round pick by the Buffalo Sabres in July, had a nice little run with the Muskegon Lumberjacks before joining USA’s World Junior A Challenge team. He had eight points in his last four games, including a pair of three-pointers last weekend against Chicago and Dubuque. He’s on pace for 69 points this season, which should drop with the missed time at the WJAC, but there’s some solid progress in his game and Buffalo should be happy.

SHL

– He only played one game last week, but Toronto Maple Leafs fourth-rounder Dennis Hildeby looked great with a 3-0 shutout victory on Thursday with Farjestad, his first of the season. He now has a 5-3-0 record with a .927 save percentage while backing up Canadian Olympian Matt Tomkins, but Hildeby’s stats are noticeably better. Hildeby was a triple overager when the Leafs took him in the summer, but that extra development time could serve him well as the team looks to find its goalie of the future. The Toronto Marlies have four goaltenders right now, so it’s a little stacked, but Hildeby is doing everything he needs to keep himself in the conversation.

NHL Prospect Roundup: Boston Bruins’ Fabian Lysell continues to shine

AHL

NCAA

QMJHL

WHL

OHL

USHL

SHL

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