• PROSPECT-UPDATE ARCHIVE
There were almost no games involving 2018 NHL Entry Draft prospects on
Monday, so the top performances list goes on hold until Tuesday.
Days with minimal action offer a chance to spotlight a prospect who might not be getting the recognition ahe deserves. In such a heavily-hyped and deep draft pool with a clear Nos. 1 and 2 in Rasmus Dahlin and Andrei Svechnikov, it's easy to forget that there are other players who might have been top-two picks in a weaker draft year.
Filip Zadina has taken up the No. 3 focus of late, but there is another player whose sniper skills are just as good as Zadina's. Indeed, if you want to consider the North American guy in this draft most likely to one day score 50 goals in an NHL season, they you want consider Oliver Wahlstrom.
Wahlstrom gained fame as a 9-year-old when a video of his circus-shot shootout goal between periods of a Boston Bruins game went viral. By age 13, he had committed to the University of Maine. A few years later, he changed his college commitment to Harvard and entered the U.S. NTDP program.
Now a member of the U.S. Under-18 team, Wahlstrom has shown that the amazing hands he demonstrated as a 9-year-old are ready for prime time. He leads his team with 16 goals to date, and has scored in just about every possible way, including a 3-on-3 overtime goal. When you watch him, you know instinctively that he will mature into a special NHL player. In fact, he might bring a Hobey Baker Award to Harvard before he gets to the NHL.
It's one thing to talk about a draft prospect, but his play on the ice should always speak for itself. In Wahlstrom's case, it does. Take a look at this video showing 15 of his 16 goals from the 2017-18 season and ask yourself why this guy isn't talked about in the same space as Dahlin, Svechnikov, and Zadina.