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

Now that the real NHL draft is over, fantasy leagues have the green light to hold their own. Most managers are well acquainted by now with the big names in 2023, not only the guys at the top of the draft but also most players taken in the first round. While nailing your early picks is essential, the most interesting aspect of drafting is snagging hidden gems in later rounds.

With that in mind, this week's Journey will highlight some lesser-known commodities taken outside the first round in Nashville last month that could help you get an edge on your competitors a few years down the road—boom-bust types that might not make the NHL but could score in buckets if they do.

Round 2

Gavin Brindley, CBJ

Kasper Halttunen, SJS

Andrew Cristall, WAS

Felix Nilsson, NAS

Roman Kantserov, CHI

Play the player, not the game. Every prospect in the Blackhawks pipeline got a serious facelift the moment Chicago took Connor Bedard first overall. Managers will likely overlook some warts—like Kantserov's lack of creativity as a playmaker—because of their Bedard-coloured glasses and choose to focus instead on the potential Blackhawks logo on their chest. Kantserov plays a speedy, dynamic game and showed a great deal of growth as the year progressed. He put up 54 points in 45 MHL games as a draft eligible, a total that is impressive but does not yet indicate a lot about his NHL projection. For every Nikita Kucherov (58 points in 41 MHL games in his draft year), there are several Alexander Kisakovs (BUF, 73 in 61) who feast on their peers but struggle when the quality of competition rises. The fact that Chicago took Kantserov this early despite his small stature (5-10, 150 lbs) speaks to their confidence in his ability to translate his skills to North America.

Danny Nelson, NYI

Carson Rehkopf, SEA

Lukas Dragicevic, SEA

Gracyn Sawchyn, FLA

Riley Heidt, MIN

Round 3

William Whitelaw, CBJ

Nick Lardis, CHI

Koehn Ziemmer, LAK

On paper, Ziemmer looks like he should have been a sure-fire early first-rounder. Three of his four comparables in the Hockey Prospecting model—Colby Barlow (WPG), Oliver Moore (CHI), and Matthew Wood (NAS)—were taken in the middle of the first, and the fourth, Ziemmer's teammate, Riley Heidt (MIN), fell to the second round. All of his skills except for his skating are high-end and near the top of the class; the Elite Prospects rated his shooting, passing, puckhandling, hockey sense, and physicality at a six or higher (out of ten, where five is NHL average). While not a huge guy (6-0, 195lbs), he plays with an edge and loves to throw the body, which is something to take note of for managers in multi-cat formats. To me, he looks like a guy who will excel with the man advantage. On an up-and-coming Kings squad, Ziemmer holds more potential than most third-rounders to score in bunches.

Jayden Perron, CAR

One of the best puckhandlers and overall talents in the entire draft class, Perron was finally plucked by the Hurricanes at 94th overall. Granted, NHL teams know far more about these players than I do, but I have spent a fair amount of time studying this draft class and can pick out quite a few names taken ahead of Perron that I had never even heard before. The 93rd pick, Jiri Felcman (CHI), for instance, put up decent totals in the low-profile Swiss junior league and was ranked 67th among European skaters. But he is 6-4 (versus Perron at 5-9), so there you go, I guess. All I know is that Perron is one of the most dynamic puckhandlers in the entire class, a defining skill that pairs extremely well with his high-end passing and hockey sense. The actual NHL draft always impacts fantasy drafts, and I have already seen Perron fall much further than he should have in one of my leagues (I got him 28th). Dobber Prospects ranked him 12th overall on our final board. Be there to pounce if he falls in your league.

What a setup from Jayden Perron #2023NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/0WnSlueHsQ

— Douglas Larson (@DL_Scouting) February 19, 2023

Denver Barkey, PHI

Logan Stankoven (DAL) is one of my favourite prospects, and Barkey reminds me a lot of Stankoven. In a draft laden with smaller, high-skill guys, Barkey distinguishes himself with his fearlessness and unrelenting motor. Here is what Dobber Prospects Director of North American Scouting, Hadi Kalakeche, had to say about Barkey on our final board: "Surprisingly stocky and solid on his feet, Barkey loves nothing more than to get under checks, absorb hits to make plays and pester defenders on the forecheck. There are very, very few forwards who boast the intensity and stamina that he displays on a shift-by-shift basis." Coming from the London Knights system, it wouldn't be surprising to see him take a significant step forward on his 59 points in 61 games from this year in 2023-24. Fantastic pick in Round 3 by Philly.

"That motor just never stops."@LondonKnights forward Denver Barkey brings an infectious level of energy and enthusiasm to the @NHLFlyers 🎥 pic.twitter.com/7ebDLg3i1m

— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) July 5, 2023

Round 4

Alexander Rykov, CAR

Hoyt Stanley, OTT

One of my favourite things to note about players picked in the later rounds is whether their talent is often described as "raw" in scouting reports. If they have a late birthday, big frame, and skills that lack refinement, sign me up. Hoyt Stanley fits all that to a tee. Plus, he played his draft year in the BCHL, a high-end junior league that nevertheless has a track record increasingly littered with NHL disappointments (Tyson Jost, for instance). As with players taken out of high school in the States, huge totals in the BCHL need to be taken with a grain of salt. The key is translatability. With 38 points in 53 games as a defender, Stanley didn't exactly blow the doors down. But his deceptive mobility on the rush and aggressive drive to pinch and activate, combined with his 6-2 frame, creates an intriguing picture that should become clearer next year when he joins Cornell (NCAA).

Hoyt Stanley, the newest Senator prospect, has some impressive skating abilities. Seems like there's some real NHL potential here. Great pick. pic.twitter.com/GhuyLeCNX8

— SENS TALK (@senstalk_) June 29, 2023

Luca Pinelli, CBJ

Luca Cagnoni, ANA

Aram Minnetian, DAL

Round 5

Rodwin Dionicio, ANA

Although he was a re-entry this year who was first eligible for the 2022 draft, this guy feels like the best-kept secret in the hockey prospect world right now. I'll be honest: I had never heard of Dionicio before seeing this tweet a couple weeks ago from Mitch Brown over at EP Rinkside:

There isn't another prospect like Rodwin Dionicio, the best playmaking blue liner in my many-year, ~1500-player data set.

Few manipulate opponents like him, forwards included. Fakes them out, instantly reads space, deceives the next layer, connects through tiny openings. pic.twitter.com/QPeTWtq3gA

— Mitchell Brown (@MitchLBrown) June 23, 2023

Were he a better skater, how high might Dionicio have gone? Like Perron's puckhandling, Dionicio's hockey sense is among the best in the entire class. He is also a sublime passer with an above-average shot and puckhandling ability. An intriguing aspect of his profile is that Windsor (OHL) experimented at times this year with moving him to Forward, which he played growing up, and in that role he kept up with and at times outshone linemate Shane Wright (SEA). On top of all his other eye-catching qualities, perhaps Dionicio will be the next Dustin Byfuglien and provide poolies with the rare W/D eligibility.

Cam Allen, WAS

Matthew Mania, LAK

Round 6

Timur Mukhanov, CAR

Tuomas Uronen, VGK

Another analytics darling whose upside is hindered by poor skating, Uronen does not fit the boom-bust label as well as many others on this list. For a sixth-round pick, though, Uronen has an impressive bundle of qualities that should lead to an NHL debut a few years from now. He forechecks effectively, maintains possession and often creates plays out of board battles, and is a constant thorn in the opposition's side. He's one of those utility knife types that consistently drives play for his team even if he doesn't figure into all the offense.

Round 7

Aiden Fink, NAS

Another undersized, high-skill forward who doesn't have the high-octane wheels NHL teams prefer to see from smaller players. If Fink can grow a couple inches and improve his skating stride even just a bit, he could easily be the late-round steal of 2023. Just as Stanley has some question marks from playing in the BCHL, Fink is coming out of the AJHL—a league that famously produced Cale Makar but little else in the way of established NHLers so far. He chose that route to preserve his US college eligibility, however, and it's possible that he has flown much further under the radar than he would have in the WHL as a result. His 97 points in 54 games proves he can put a team on his back offensively; time will tell if he can replicate that feat at the NCAA level with Penn State in the coming years.

Tyler Peddle, CBJ