Welcome back to The Journey, where we follow hockey prospects and their paths to the NHL, providing fantasy predictions and analysis along the way.

At the end of last month, this column did a sink-or-swim article covering Kaapo Kakko, Erik Brannstrom, and Eeli Tolvanen—all young, formerly hyped prospects who seem to be at a crossroads in their development. The response inspired a monthly feature on The Journey.  At the end of each month, we'll examine three former blue-chip prospects whose values have taken a hit and whose futures now seem uncertain. Should you trade them while they still have name recognition or hold until/buy low before they turn things around and get back to their dynamic ways?

Post ideas for future players in the comments or hit me up on twitter @beegare. This month, the spotlight is on Juuso Valimaki, Kailer Yamamoto, and Nick Robertson.

Juuso Valimaki, CGY

What's going on with Valimaki? During the NHL pause last year, the 23-year-old went a point per game over 19 games in the Liiga and came into the 2020-21 season with a ton of hype. Since then, his stocks have slowly declined to the point that he's next to worthless right now in keeper leagues. His 11 points in 49 games last year certainly didn't move the needle. Then this year it was healthy scratch, healthy scratch, healthy scratch from late October until early December until he was finally demoted to the AHL where he immediately put up seven points in ten games.

So is Valimaki still a top prospect or has his ship sailed? Well first off, check out his usage last year versus this year. In 2020-21, Valimaki was as sheltered as humanly possible: his small-ish light blue bubble in the extreme bottom right indicates he was doing well with limited minutes and constant offensive zone starts against the weakest competition available. That deployment seems a tad over the top but it's also how one might hope a team would utilize a young offensive blue liner like Valimaki.

Then in 2021-22, the Flames brought in Darryl Sutter as head coach and Valimaki's offensive zone starts completely dried up; he was given the fewest on the team in fact. He's the light orange bubble on the far left, which shows that he did okay in a sheltered role again in terms of relative Corsi. But then the healthy scratches began.

The main things that jump out are the emergence of Oliver Kylington (large tan bubble in the middle-left) and the incredibly perplexing preferential usage given to newly acquired D-men Erik Gudbranson and Nikita Zadorov (blue, bottom right). No offence but Gudbranson and Zadorov literally provide no offence. These guys are replacement-level players who provide physicality and not a whole lot else.

The infusion of these three defenders plus a new coach meant that Valimaki became the odd man out. Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, and Rasmus Andersson are shouldering the load defensively, matching up against top players and starting most shifts in the defensive zone. Kylington is being a bit more sheltered and given more offensive opportunities. And Zadorov and Gudbranson are being incredibly sheltered and seeing far more offensive zone starts than they ever have in their respective careers. Finally, Andersson is getting over 60% of the available power play time for some reason while Kylington and the others are seeing less than 25%.

Not super sure what the thought process for the Flames is here—all across the board. But Valimaki is taking 3.6 shots/game and scoring at a 57-point pace over a small 10-game sample in the AHL so far. Zadorov and Gudbranson are both on expiring contracts; if the Flames move on from them and give Valimaki similar deployment next year to what he had last year, there's clearly still a skilled offensive defenceman here. It seems likely that Hanifin, Andersson, and Tanev will play a similar role next year and Valimaki's main competition moving forward will be the smooth-skating 24-year-old Kylington.

Hopefully the Flames will employ better asset management and stop fumbling Valimaki's development. No one benefits from being healthy scratched for two months straight.

Kailer Yamamoto, EDM

Yamamoto is another 23-year-old head-scratcher. He's still rocking a 9.0 upside rating on Dobber Prospects and hit an 80-point pace over 27 games only two years ago. But his production has retreated down to the 30-point range for the past couple years now despite playing most of his shifts still alongside either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. So what gives?

His deployment chart over the past three years (2019-20 at the top, 2021-22 at the bottom) shows that he's played a similar role with increasingly poor results. He's been sent out against other teams' top players all three years—a result of riding shotgun with EDM's two superstars. But his effectiveness at driving play has steadily declined (dark blue to bright orange). He's also now on the "bad" side of the defensive/offensive zone start line, meaning he's seeing fewer faceoffs in the opposing zone which will make it even more challenging to pick up his production.

Other red flags: he's never shot much more than a shot per game, he's had a low IPP for the past couple years (not involved in goals scored while he's on the ice), and he's getting very minimal time on the power play.

There aren't a lot of positives to balance out the picture either. He's about 60 games away from reaching the standard Breakout Threshold of 200 games but as a smaller player (5-8, 153 lbs) his BT should arrive closer to his 400th game. That means we shouldn't entirely abandon hope on Yamamoto reaching his upside for another three seasons, but aside from the fact that he provides decent hits for a (theoretically) scoring forward it's going to be tough optimistically rostering him for that long. Plus, Edmonton has a ton of dynamic forward prospects who will be looking to make the jump during that time. It seems likely that the Oilers will give golden boys like Xavier Bourgault and Dylan Holloway preferential treatment and a shot in the top 6, possibly at Yamamoto's expense.

This is sure looking like a case of just cutting your losses and moving on. Take solace in the possibility of grabbing Yamamoto off the wire in a couple years if he shows signs of life again. But don't waste a roster spot indefinitely.

Nick Robertson, TOR

It's always tricky gauging a prospect's value in general because there's so much variation between leagues and managers. But Robertson's value seems to have taken a major hit in keeper and dynasty formats over the past year. He's acquired a Band-Aid Boy label and many people are understandably impatient for his arrival. It feels like many have begun doubting his former blue-chip status.

So what's the deal with Robertson? Simply put, this is a wonderful buy-low window that won't stay open much longer. High-upside prospects like Robertson don't come along very often, and his value will likely never be lower than it is right now.

The guy broke his leg and caught Covid. It's not like he has a concerning string of wear-and-tear type injuries or a lengthy concussion history. Both these setbacks are merely that – he should be able to come back 100% and pick up where he left off. Just to remind you where that was, he scored 55 goals and 86 points in only 46 OHL games a couple years ago in his Draft +1 year, then turned pro and took three shots per game to put up 16 points in 21 games as an AHL rookie with the Marlies.

Here's his chart from Hockey Prospecting. His 26%-star percentage is solid but not incredible—take that with a grain of salt, though; that number may already be higher if he had been able to play this year.

Comparables for his progression at the moment include Gary Roberts and Max Domi, which bodes well. Plus, his brother Jason (Dallas Stars) was supposed to be a worse skater with a lower offensive ceiling but has 83 points in his first 84 NHL games. If the younger Robertson can come back strong and earn time in Toronto's top six alongside Auston Matthews or John Tavares, which seems likely, his value will skyrocket back up to where it was and beyond. Buy now.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @beegare for more prospect content and fantasy hockey analysis.