NHL Top Prospects Who Can Make the Jump in 2018-2019 | NHL

In the era of wage ceilings, getting contributions from young players still on entry-level contracts or even accumulating enough experience to reach an unrestricted free agency may be the key to victory

. and the Winnipeg Jets have witnessed this system. The likes of Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine have produced tremendously while playing on recruit contracts at reduced numbers of caps, and in turn will be due for the important pay days

but each season a new Harvest players – to varying degrees – make the jump to the NHL and play a key role for their teams. Whether it's a top-ranked skater like Matthews or a more unparalleled face like Oilers defender Matt Benning a few seasons ago, teams are incorporating new talents that become regulars of training.

NHL DRAFT 2018: Team-notes by team | Winners and losers

The seven NHL teams across Canada find themselves in very different situations, but all of them host young people who will take their choices into account one way or the other. Some teams, in the reconstruction phase, hope that their young hearts will be able to take over and start steering the ship in a new direction, while others have cast their youth into complementary roles in a winning environment that has already was created.

(For the purposes of this article, a prospect is considered to be a player with 10 or fewer regular season NHL experience matches for his club.)

Calgary Flames

The prospect: Rasmus Andersson

The case: Andersson, along with Adam Fox, were the two most popular defensive perspectives of the Flames who highlighted the agricultural system. All that remains is Andersson after Fox was sent to Carolina as part of Dougie Hamilton's trade, but he is likely to become bigger than the American League. Andersson almost managed to get out of this hypothetical situation a year ago, reaching the mark of the 10 games of the NHL after being recalled at the end of the regular season. He is a right handed shooter who could very well fit in with the newly acquired Noah Hanifin, though head coach Bill Peters pushes Travis Hamonic into the depth chart. The latter is coming out of a declining year paired with T.J. Brodie, who seems ready to join Mark Giordano with Hamilton now a member of the Hurricanes.

GRADES: The new Carolina regime is a sensation with Dougie Hamilton

Edmonton Oilers

The prospect: Kailer Yamamoto

The Case: He almost managed to stay with the Oilers long-time season ago, but at the nine-game mark, Edmonton sent him back to Spokane from the WHL to drag his other contract. year. Yamamoto has spent time on the wing of Connor McDavid, and could compete to win this spot back to the training camp next month. Yamamoto is a good skater who can follow McDavid (as well as anybody can follow him), and the Oilers still have to find a solution to their first six if they do not understand Leon Draisaitl

SUITE: Kailer Yamamoto talks about the NHL debut, playing with Connor McDavid

Montreal Canadiens

The prospect: Jesperi Kotkaniemi

The case: The Canadians had been looking for a high-end center for years and this mission led them to choose Kotkaniemi for the third pick in the 2018 draft. The Finnish teenager should not no case be rushed into the NHL, and he can still return to his national league, Liiga, represent Finland at the 2019 World Junior Championship, and join the Canadiens towards the end of the season. But there is also a possibility for Kotkaniemi to have significant NHL experience now in a team that will not really sniff the first eight of the Eastern Conference this season.

PLUS: Canadians Remain in Dreaded Place] Ottawa Senators

Perspective: Logan Brown

The Case: The Senators team, without Mike Hoffman, needs a brew of talent in his group of attackers. It remains to be seen what Brady Tkachuk has chosen to do. It also remains to be seen which players or players are acquired in a potential exchange with Erik Karlsson. But Brown, selected 11th in the NHL draft in 2016, has accumulated 48 points in 32 junior games in 2017-18, and at age 20, it seems unlikely that he will come back for an outranking season. Matt Duchene is the indisputable "1C" on the list but behind him? This is a place where Brown could intervene immediately. With the rebuilding of the Senators, he could get valuable experience and important minutes at a time when he is still developing.

MORE: The Story of How St. Louis Modeled Brady Tkachuk

Toronto Maple Leafs

Prospect: Andreas Johnsson

The case: Goes directly to the source. After accepting the Maple Leafs' eligible offer, a one-year contract that will bring in nearly $ 800,000 to the 24-year-old man, Johnsson explained that he's essentially betting on him even for good reason. In nine games in the NHL at the end of the regular season, he scored two goals. He scored another goal in the six playoff games he played in the Leafs first-round series, before returning to the AHL and winning the Calder Cup Playoffs at 24 points in 16 games

. reasons to be optimistic when it comes to the production of Johnsson 2018-19? While remaining in the NHL roster in Toronto, it could be focused on John Tavares or Nazem Kadri, as opposing teams are forced to compete with the reality that is the depths ahead of the Maple Leafs.

MORE: Leafs & # 39; Focus on AHL Growing Clbad A Farm-to-NHL Results

Vancouver Canucks

Perspective: Elias Pettersson

The case: The Canucks should be able to give their young players significant minutes after the retirement of Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and Pettersson could be the beneficiary. The 19-year-old Swede (turning 20 in November) has accumulated impressive teen statistics in the SHL and has also ripped the World Junior Championship.

The Perspective: Quinn Hughes

The Case: Having the opportunity to seize the Vancouver blue line, Hughes can step in and be the dynamic defenseman the Canucks so desperately need. More relevant is immediately if Hughes decides to return to the University of Michigan for his second season or give up his remaining college eligibility to become pro. But if he made the jump, Hughes' style will make him an impact player immediately.

MORE: Quinn Hughes is as valuable as anyone who plays his own style

Winnipeg Jets

: Sami Niku

The case: Even though the Jets agree to a new one-year deal with Jacob Trouba, they still need another defender, especially a left shooter, after the start of Toby Enstrom. Conventional wisdom would give Dmitry Kulikov, often injured, the inner trajectory of this post, but Niku, a seventh-round pick by the Jets in 2015, really played the role of an NHL defender in AHL Manitoba. He scored 16 goals and 54 points in 76 games there is a season, an American League season in the top 20 for a defenseman under 22.