The Sports Corner

Five prospects who could make an impact in the Stanley Cup playoffs

I just picked up a copy of The Hockey News Future Watch 09, which in my opinion is better than any NHL draft preview guide.

It sometimes can take years after a player is originally drafted in the NHL before he even has a shot at playing in the show.

The Future Watch issue takes a look at the top prospects that are currently in a teams’ system and that means that more of these players have a chance to make an impact sooner than almost all of the players in this years draft class.

Some of the players have already made a small contribution for their franchise, but none of them will have done enough to win the Calder trophy this season.

I think that some of them have the opportunity to make a far greater contribution over the next few months in the Stanley Cup playoffs despite not being huge part of their teams’ regular seasons.

Here are five guys that we could hear a lot more about over the next month.

1. Nikita Filatov- Columbus Blue Jackets

The CBJ look like they are finally going to make the playoffs this year and I’m rooting for them not to be one and done. (Unless they play the Canucks, then you can forget about it.) Despite only playing eight games so far with the big club, Filatov already has his first NHL hat trick and he is their only ace in the hole to go to if they struggle to put the puck in the net.

2. Jack Skille- Chicago Blackhawks

Skille has been up a few times this season with the Blackhawks because of his first good season in the minors. He’s been the forgotten prospect in Chicago because of the considerable and immediate contributions by Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Maybe Skille gets to make his first mark during the Blackhawks long awaited return to the playoffs.

3. Matt Gilroy- Free Agent

Gilroy is good. Really good. Hobey Baker award-good. Should’ve been in the NHL already-good. The craziest part about Gilroy joining an NHL team after Boston University gets finished with the Frozen Four? He doesn’t even have a team to join yet. He’s a free agent that all teams want to get a hold of. If he gets signed by a playoff team who has some injuries on the back end then it’s not far fetched to say that he could be the same kind of player Matt Carle was when he went from the University of Denver right to the San Jose Sharks.

4. B.J. Gaylord- Free Agent

Just kidding, but this guy is an actual hockey player and this is his actual real name. My friend Reese was his teammate at the University of Windsor. I think this is a worse name than Gaylord Focker simply because that was a movie character and this is a real person. They could probably make a movie about how tormented his childhood was.

5. Simeon Varlamov- Washington Capitals

There is a lot of pressure on the Capitals to do well in the playoffs this year. Gary Bettman is counting on them. Varlamov is the goalie of the future in Washington and he’s currently up from the minors. Most people wouldn’t bet money on Jose Theodore leading the Capitals deep into the playoffs. Could Theodore be the Capitals’ Martin Gerber and Varlamov be the Cam Ward? If it happened Varlamov wouldn’t be the first rookie goaltender who rose to stardom in the playoffs.