Welcome back to The Journey, where we track the development of prospects as they excel in junior, make the NHL, and push towards stardom.

This week, we will continue the Uncertain Futures segment that began with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen a few weeks ago and will continue throughout the summer. Each instalment will highlight a player with an uncertain NHL projection who was covered by the recent Organizational Rankings project over at Dobber Prospects. Seven members of DP’s senior staff, including myself, ranked the top 15 prospects in each team’s pipeline and gave them a score from 1 (not fantasy relevant) to 10 (generational).

For reference, here is the team at Dobber Prospects (in order of the scores):

Peter Harling (Managing Editor)

Victor Nuño (Junior Editor)

Curtis Rines (Associate Editor)

Pat Quinn (Associate Editor)

Aaron Itovitch (Junior Editor)

Sebastian High (Director of Scouting)

Ben Gehrels (Associate Editor)

I want to focus here on players who prompted a variation of at least three points between the editors. Player X would qualify, for instance, if he received a score of 5 from one person and a score of 8 from at least one other. A spread that dramatic indicates a player’s NHL projection is currently quite cloudy, and uncertainty is always interesting in fantasy. Should you sell high while they still have name value? Or is it a great time to hold or buy low? There are a number of factors to consider when ranking a player’s future upside, including team context, deployment, skill-sets, trajectory, and past performance.

Let’s dig a bit further into the some more intriguing players that threw the Dobber Prospects team for a loop.

Dylan Holloway, RW (EDM)

Scores: 8, 5, 8, 8, 7, 6.5, 8

Holloway is a fast, scrappy winger in the mould of Zach Hyman who has been teasing us with his potential since the Oilers took him halfway through the first round in 2020. He came up through the freewheeling AJHL (88 points in 53 games), where he was named the Canadian Junior Hockey League Player of the Year before joining a strong Wisconsin program in the NCAA that boasted an astounding 12 drafted NHL prospects in 2019-20, including Cole Caufield. Although he was the second-youngest player in college hockey that year and did not produce like a first rounder (17 in 35), his play picked up as the campaign wore on, and Edmonton took a swing on him for his skating, physicality, and two-way play.

He has a solid frame (6-1, 203 lbs), almost the exact build of Hyman, and took a significant step forward in his Draft+1 as a sophomore (35 in 23) alongside the Hobey Baker award-winning Caufield after many of Wisconsin's other top guys moved on. After that season, his linemate immediately stepped up and made an impact with Montreal, but Holloway did not receive a call-up. Instead, the Oilers went out that summer and signed Zach Hyman to a seven-year contract to be Connor McDavid's wingman—the slot fantasy managers everywhere hoped would go to Holloway.

The positive spin on that move was that it gave Holloway a chance to develop steadily by acclimating to the pro game with Bakersfield (AHL). His debut was delayed due to a wrist injury sustained with Wisconsin in the 2021 playoffs, but he acquitted himself well once he debuted in January, scoring 22 points in 33 games as a rookie.

Then, this past year, he cracked the Oilers out of camp, but was heavily sheltered and buried down the lineup, seeing only 6% of his shifts alongside Leon Draisaitl and 3% with McDavid. Edmonton finally sent him down in February after he posted nine points in 51 games playing just over nine minutes a game. He then went down with a shoulder injury almost immediately that held him out of action for a month. Upon his return, he went nearly a point per game over the final 12 games of the year.

Big picture, nothing has changed with Holloway's projection as a versatile, top-nine winger who has the speed and skill to play with the Oilers' mega-stars. The two injuries he has dealt with (wrist, shoulder) are not connected and do not yet represent a Band Aid Boy pattern. Hyman certainly appears to be blocking him but there are rumours that Kailer Yamamoto's days in Edmonton are numbered. If he were to be shipped out, that would open up a prime spot on the right side alongside Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

It would not be surprising to see 2023-24 Holloway reproduce the astounding jump in production we saw from him in college, when he went from 0.49 to 1.5 points per game playing with a premier talent in Caufield. If he gets great linemates, some power play exposure, and a big boost in ice time, the sky’s the limit. For poolies in multi-cat formats, his physicality could also bring hits and the possibility of some penalty minutes. Although the DP Editors had some disagreement on Holloway's projection, most of us agreed: his four eights and a seven represent the majority over the lone dissenting opinion of a five score.

Bobby Brink, RW (PHI)

Scores: 7, 5, 7, 8, 6, 5, 8

The spread of opinions on Brink was greater than with Holloway. Some of us see him as a top prospect while others have his upside capped as a middle-six depth piece. Those on the lower end of his projection are likely concerned about his slow footspeed and small frame (5-8, 166 lbs). Although smaller players have been carving out roles at the NHL level in recent years, most of those who succeed have A-level skating like Brayden Point.

In the recently released Elite Prospects draft guide, a common refrain from NHL scouts and executives on smaller 2023-eligible prospects like Andrew Cristall, Jayden Perron, Gabe Perreault, and Gavin Brindley is a concern that they will not be able to hack it at the NHL level. Regarding Cristall, whose slow-skating and dynamic puck skills make him a solid comparable for Brink, one Western Conference scout wrote the following: "You watch the NHL playoffs right now, and who is he? When you watch the NHL playoffs, who do you watch and go, 'that's Andrew Cristall'? There isn't anyone for me."

A key difference between Cristall and Brink, however, is that while the former can disappear for long stretches and lack fire and engagement, Brink always keeps his feet moving and has proved that he is not afraid to engage physically against pro-level defenders. After winning the Hobey Baker award as the top player and scorer in college hockey in 2021-22 (57 points in 41 games), he jumped up and played 10 games with Philly, scoring four points. What stood out to me in that brief audition is that his skating looked NHL average at the very least and he was a feisty puckhound in the mould of Wyatt Johnston and Ty Dellandrea this year for Dallas, battling hard for pucks and setting up teammates with plays like this.

Here are a few clips that support these assessments. In one of his games a couple years ago in a Flyers sweater, he shows off his vision, ability to weave through traffic with give-and-go's under pressure, and fairly effortless footspeed (albeit he is going against the grain):

Bobby Brink and Joel Farabee. All the youth. 👀 pic.twitter.com/vvH00ZDrrh

— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) April 16, 2022

Many of his points at a variety of levels (NHL, NCAA, World Juniors) come as a result of his determined and intuitive forechecking. He constantly surprises and strips opposing defenders, then protects the puck long enough to find a teammate in space. Here is one example from international play:

Absolutely tenacious forecheck by #Flyers prospect Bobby Brink leads to this crucial USA gold to go up 4-2 late in 3rd pic.twitter.com/RZGFJzifRp

— Dan Silver (@dsilver88) January 3, 2021

And another from college:

Carter Savoie (#LetsGoOilers) deposits the puck into the yawning cage after Bobby Brink's (#BringItToBroad) forechecking frees up the puck along the boards and Cole Guttman (#GoBolts) sends the cross-ice pass. pic.twitter.com/fA7tfikQfs

— J.D. Burke (@JDylanBurke) November 13, 2021

As for whether his scoring touch will translate to the pros, Brink may not have lit up the AHL as a rookie in 2022-23 (28 in 41), but his vision, poise, and high-end puck skills were often on display. Check out these slick, relaxed-looking backhands. You can somehow tell these pucks are going in the net even before they leave his stick.

BOBBY. BRINK. TIED AT 2.#Flyers #FueledByPhilly pic.twitter.com/HAElWDZs1k

— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) April 15, 2023

Ewwwwww.

Bobby Brink wins the game for the Phantoms in the shootout with a disgusting move. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/lHEXiMsnfQ

— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) March 26, 2023

There is also some important context for his rookie AHL campaign: aside from a tough 18-game stretch in February and March where he only scored five points, he put up 23 points in the remaining 26 on either side. That shows he is capable of point-per-game production at the pro level and just needs to get stronger and more consistent. To me, his ability to forecheck effectively and win puck battles, even against larger opponents, suggests that his NHL projection is more secure than someone like Cristall. He may earn a spot in Philly's bottom-six to kick off 2023-24, somewhat like Holloway did with the Oilers in 2022-23, but I believe he has the hands, shot, and vision of a top-line forward. It may take a season or two, but Brink strikes me as the kind of player who will work his way up the lineup in time.

As a final note on Brink, it should be noted that there is some intriguing momentum in Philadelphia right now. GM Danny Briere made waves this past week by shipping out Ivan Provorov to Columbus (check out our fantasy take here) and is reportedly looking at options for Carter Hart after picking up a reclamation project in Cal Petersen from the Kings. The Flyers also finished the 2023-24 campaign with many of their young guns absolutely blazing. Brink is in a position to join a burgeoning core composed of players like Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, Tyson Foerster, Cutter Gauthier, Cam York, Helge Grans, Emil Andrae, and Samuel Ersson (assuming Hart is on the move)—plus whoever they select at 7th overall in this year's draft, perhaps one of the dynamic three from this year's USDP crop: Will Smith, Ryan Leonard, or Oliver Moore. This team has been considered a bit of a fantasy wasteland in recent years but that outlook could shift in a hurry and Brink could very well be a big part of that turnaround.

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