The Fantasy Prospects Report was released on June 14! If you didn't pick it up, you can do so here. The NHL Draft is coming Thursday and Friday!

Unrestricted Free Agency opens July 13 and the NHL Entry Draft is July 7 (round one) and July 8 (the other rounds).

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The Magic Man Pavel Datsyuk took last season off and now, at age 43, he has indicated that he will be announcing his retirement from pro hockey very soon. I remember that he was scouted out of the middle of nowhere in Russia, and drafted 171^st overall in 1998 because no other scout even knew about him (or they heard of him but hadn't made the difficult journey to the middle of nowhere to watch him play). Back in the late 90s, even drafted prospects were off the radar – and to me, Datsyuk remained off the radar for the two years that he played in Russia after being drafted. That sort of thing is nearly impossible these days, with social media (and the Prospects Report!).

Datsyuk made the NHL in 2001-02 and had 35 points in his rookie season. From there, he was a fantasy owner's dream. A nice, steady trajectory upwards, going from 35 to 51 to 68 to 87 to 97! His best fantasy season was in 2007-08 when he was 29 years old, posting 31 goals, 97 points and going plus-41, not to mention adding 23 points in the playoffs. An eight-time 65-point player, a four-time 87-point player and to me a first-year lock for the HHOF.

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This situation with Ivan Fedotov is quite serious. In case you hadn't heard, the Philly prospect goaltender signed with the Flyers and, to me, was a great dark horse. But he left his final day of training and was about to head to North America and was pulled aside by the Russian Army and charged with not fulfilling his military duties. He's 25 and doesn't have a huge window to earn an NHL job, so any extensive military stay (more than two years, I'd say) would be crippling. More details:

This goes beyond hockey. I legitimately fear for this guy's life. But I won't get all political here so let's circle back to hockey. What does this mean for Russian prospects currently in the KHL moving forward? Winnipeg's Daniel Rashevsky, New Jersey's Arseni Gritsyuk, San Jose's Alexei Kolosov? Does Danila Yurov fall down the draft on Friday?

Players such as Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Kirill Kaprizov have gone back (or are going back) to Russia to visit family and friends. Will they be allowed to return? Today – probably. But what about early September? Things are changing quickly…

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The Ryan McDonagh acquisition was a curious one for Nashville. He's 33 and on the downside of his career. He was used on a purely defensive pairing, but Erik Cernak (his partner) was the better of the two. Cernak faced tougher competition and was much more effective. McDonagh still has four more years left on a monster cap hit of $6.75M AAV and may only be worth that number for one more season. If that. Furthermore, he shoots left – and so does Roman Josi and Mattias Ekholm. Even prospect David Farrance is a left shot. Why didn't Nashville use that cap space on a right shot? He does provide a ton of experience, which this team desperately needs, but to me that doesn't compensate for the cap hit. Here are Nashville's right shooters: Alexandre Carrier, Dante Fabbro and Matt Benning.

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Just last week I had Philippe Myers "bust odds" at 95%. But word out of Tampa is that the organization has been very big on this guy since he was in junior hockey. He's still getting quite a hefty contract (AAV of $2.55M), and as a bigger player (6-5, 210 pounds) it's understandable that he could go well into his 20s without breaking through (he's 25 now). I like how the Lightning have turned Sean Day into a prospect again when it looked like he was a bust, perhaps they do the same with Myers? At any rate, Myers has just received the defibrillator and there's a heartbeat once again! I change my bust projection from 95% all the way down to 50-50. This is a nice break for those few dynasty owners who still hung onto Myers.

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Columbus seems to be tweaking their tactics. First, they make a minor trade landing Mathieu Olivier. This guy is 25, has good size (6-2, 210), and in 48 career games he has 88 penalty minutes and 102 Hits. So you know what you're getting there. And their prospect Carson Meyer has signed an extension. In 13 games at the end of last season, Meyer had 27 Hits despite just over eight minutes of ice time per game. Two guys with sandpaper. Depth players who may sit the press box at times, or even the minors. But this is a team that had just three players credited with more than 100 Hits and I think they're looking to change that culture. Another player they extended over the weekend was 6-4 prospect forward Josh Dunne, who had 12 Hits and four PIM in just six games with them. They're obviously not going to have all three of these guys in the lineup at once, but one or two of them will stick.

If they go after big free agents on July 13 like Nikita Zadorov, Ben Chiarot, Josh Manson or Nino Niederreiter, then it would pretty much confirm the change in tactics.

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I don't think teams will be hesitant to give Ville Husso big money on a contract this month despite the similarities to what Carter Hutton did prior to his becoming a UFA four years ago. Hutton was 32, whereas Husso is 27. Hutton was fantastic over 32 games for St. Louis before Buffalo rushed to sign him. Husso was fantastic over 40 games. Husso has a better pedigree and a better frame. He's been a top goalie prospect for several years. This wasn't a surprise season for him the way Hutton's was. With Husso, we were kind of waiting for a season like this to happen. If I'm an NHL GM, I'd let my fellow GMs fight over Marc-Andre Fleury and Darcy Kuemper – and I'd make a beeline towards Husso. I think he's worth the risk.

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See you next Monday.

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These three guys each had their rankings included in the Top 50 that is found at the beginning of the Fantasy Prospects Report. Here they discuss their reasoning…