Hard at work on the Fantasy Prospects Report, which will come out the afternoon of June 14. It is the 16^th edition and has been an invaluable resource for keeper and dynasty leaguers. You can pre-order it here.

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The Blue Jackets signed free agent Joona Luoto to a two-way contract last week. I found that interesting because the Winnipeg Jets already gave him a shot a couple of years ago. But now he's 24 and closer to his prime. He is a big (6-3) winger and his numbers in Finland weren't great. While he was in North America he totaled eight points in 29 AHL games. But, what caught my eye was the likely reason for the sudden interest by the Jackets. His Liiga postseason was outstanding. Luoto had 17 points in 14 games to lead everyone – and the next best was 10 points. He was named the best playoff player (Jari Kurri Award) and led Tappara to the title. Between that clutch performance during key games and his size, I can see the appeal. Remember one of my core teachings here: big men (6-3 or over) take a couple extra years to come into their own.

The Jackets let the rights to draft pick Marcus Karlberg go, leaving him unsigned.

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Here is the full list of unsigned prospects who either go back into the draft (if they're 20 and were drafted in 2018) and/or just become unrestricted free agents because their organization did not sign them by June 1:

BUF – Linus Lindstrand Cronholm, Miska Kukkonen, William Worge Kreu

CGY – Ryan Francis*

CAR – Lenni Killinen

CHI – Niklas Nordgren, Chad Yetman

COL – Nils Aman

CBJ – Karlberg*

DAL – Albin Eriksson*

DET – Jesper Eliasson*, Alex Cotton*, Otto Kivenmaki*

EDM – Patrik Siikanen

FLA – Justin Schutz

MIN – Filip Johansson*

MTL – Jacob Olofsson*

NJD – Benjamin Baumgartner, Eetu Pakkila*

NYR – Jacob Ragnarsson*, Evan Vierling*

OTT- Eric Engstrand

PHI – Connor McClennon*, Marcus Westfalt

SJS – Linus Oberg*

TBL – Declan McDonnell*

VAN – Toni Utunen*

WSH – Bear Hughes*

Those with an asterisk are players I have in my prospects templates. I have most of them in there, unless they had zero percent chance of even remote fantasy value ever. But the players who jumped out at me were Francis, Vierling and McClennon. Here's a quick bit about those three:

Francis – The highest ranked of the group here on my Fantasy Prospects List at 177, he has been nothing but high-scoring at the junior level. He's 5-10, actually growing an inch since he was drafted, but questions about his speed along with the fact that the organization has enough smaller players were likely contributing factors. But part of me wonders if it was Francis who didn't want to sign. I guess we'll find out. If he gets drafted again, higher than 143^rd overall when he was drafted in 2020, then we can probably assume he wasn't overly keen on the Flames.

Vierling – I actually recently finished writing up his profile in the Fantasy Prospects Report. He is a solid two-way player but, talking long-term here, he does have a bit of upside. But at least five years away and probably worthy of a re-draft from another team simply do to the other things he brings to the table.

McClennon – Size bias at it's finest. McClennon would have been re-signed if he was 6-0, but he's 5-8. Posted over a point-per-game average in each of his last three seasons in the WHL. And he's still just 19. Most players who don't sign by the deadline are 20 or older, but McClennon is 19. Skill to burn, and he plays bigger than his size. I can see him getting drafted again.

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I think Buffalo let their three players go because they didn't want to pay the cost of all the jersey lettering involved, looking at those giant names…

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Evander Kane has been suspended for one game for his hit on Nazem Kadri, who is out for the series. So technically both players are out for one game? I just don't see how the Oilers can win, unless Connor McDavid goes all video-game NHL94 on their ass. Does he have one more of those in him?

Kane, by the way, leads the playoffs in goals (13), Hits (73) and PIM (37), so he's earned that paycheck and then some. Curious about his next contract. The benefits and drawbacks are, of course, obvious.

Should Nathan MacKinnon have received supplementary discipline for this?

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Still with the Oilers, the are reportedly releasing prospect goaltender Ilya Konovalov from his contract. The pickings are rather slim when it comes to the Edmonton pipeline for goalies, so letting one go comes as a surprise to me. But I guess the player wasn't happy, first time in a new country and all that. He didn't have a great season in Bakersfield, whereas he had three very good seasons in the KHL before that. He was my favorite goalie prospect in the system and would give him a Mulligan for this first year in North America. But it's all moot now – he's gone. I can see him being one of those teams that get wooed back over here when he's 27 or 28 (similar to Mikko Koskinen).

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The Champs finally showed up in the third period on Sunday. Yes, Igor Shesterkin has been great in this series, but the Rangers have outplayed the champs up until that point. The Lightning really poured it on though, showing the mark of a champion – or of a desperate team. Being down 3-0 would not be a good thing, and they know it.

Chris Kreider now has the record (tied) for most playoff goals in franchise history. In New York Rangers history. His goal on Sunday was his 34^th postseason goal for a team that started 96 years ago. Here are the all-time leaders for the Rangers:

1. Rod Gilbert/Chris Kreider 34
2. Mark Messier 29
3. Adam Graves/Ron Duguay/Brian Leetch 28

7.    Steve Vickers 24

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I wonder if Artemi Panarin is playing through a bit of an injury. If you recall, in the third-last game of the season he left early with an upper-body injury. He looks good out there in terms of mobility, but I wonder if he is just a little effected by something that's hampering his stickwork, even slightly. He says that it wasn't a serious injury and that he's fine, but he does have just 15 points in 17 games – and that's low for him.

Ryan Strome left the game with a lower-body injury on this play:

Ryan Strome to the locker room: pic.twitter.com/bXOy3Le84Q

— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) June 5, 2022

The tiniest little move seemed to really tweak something.

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Igor Shesterkin took the loss yet still posted a 0.941 SV% on Sunday. The guy is money in the bank. Six Tampa players had five shots on Shesterkin on Sunday: Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Brandon Hagel and Alex Killorn.

Nikita Kucherov posted a 1.47 points-per-game average in the regular season and is at 1.43 for the playoffs. All the talk about McDavid and MacKinnon, we don't hear enough about MaKucherov. With his third outing of three or more points these playoffs, Kucherov became the sixth player in NHL history to record 20 career games of at least three points in the postseason. The others: Wayne Gretzky (59x), Mark Messier (30x), Jari Kurri (28x), Denis Savard (21x) and Jaromir Jagr (20x).

The line of Alex Killorn, Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel was on the ice for 24 chances-for and just five chances-against at even strength for a CF% of 82.8%. Just an incredible game for that trio that mixes speed and tenacity. I love this line.

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If Colorado wins tonight they will be the eighth team to get to the Final since 1987 with only two playoff losses on the way. Funny enough, only three of those teams ended up actually winning the Cup despite being 12-2 in the playoffs heading in.

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See you next Monday.