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

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Despite having scored only three points in 13 games so far, Alex Laferriere (LAK) has steadily worked his way onto my fantasy radar this year. He scored his first goal at the end of October against Vegas on this beautiful breakaway wrister:

ALEX LAFERRIERE FIRST NHL GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/82BoaY8jor

— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 22, 2023

He has consistently impressed, even when his efforts don't land him on the scoresheet. There was one sequence against the Leafs a few games ago, for instance, where he used speed variation really effectively on a zone entry to open up space that he then turned into a scoring chance. The confidence and deceptiveness had a star quality to it, and he certainly didn't look like a rookie playing in his ninth-ever NHL game.

Then there was this play against Philly, where he won a two-on-one battle, stripped the puck from Travis Sanheim, calmly maintained possession for a moment, then set up Blake Lizotte for his first NHL assist:

Laferriere wins a 2-on-1 for the assist.https://t.co/4MuO11Pnqf via @YouTube

— Ben Gehrels (@beegare) November 11, 2023

Laferriere has not projected as a star-calibre player to this point in his career. He turned in two solid-but-unspectacular USHL campaigns in his Draft Year and D+1, then transitioned well to college, scoring just under a point per game as a 20-year-old freshman. Then came his dominant D+3 campaign, where he put up an impressive 44 NHL equivalency (NHLe) on the strength of 42 points in 34 games alongside Sean Farrell (MTL) and Matt Coronato (CGY).

While his relatively late surge leaves him with only a 1% chance of posting star-level production in the NHL, Laferriere looks like one of these players whose skill-set and style allows him to transition more seamlessly than most to the highest level. He has been playing well on the Kings' second line lately alongside Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kevin Fiala—a great sign that the coaching staff sees him in a top-six scoring role. That trio has outchanced the opposition 14-10 in recent games and has developed noticeable chemistry.

For a deeper dive on Laferriere, check out this article by my fellow Dobber Prospects editor Victor Nuño over at EP Rinkside.

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Speaking of young players doing little things effectively, Nick Robertson now has three points in his first three games for the Leafs. Finally, some signs of life from the young man! He has been a frustrating, nerve-wracking fantasy own over the last several years as he has dealt with injury and a deep Leafs lineup.

In this play against Tampa Bay, he hustles in to pin the defender behind his own net, disrupts a clearing attempt a few moments later to keep the play alive, and then—this is my favourite part—he passes the puck off, drifts backwards into an open shooting position, and gets a hard, quick shot off. The rebound is buried by a teammate. Boom.

Nick Friggin Robertson

Gets in on the forecheck, holds the puck in the zone, creates the rebound for Jarnkrok pic.twitter.com/8BtkrRJXbc

— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 7, 2023

Great two-way and goal-scoring instincts on display from the younger Robertson brother. As many were projecting before the season began, he has been carving out a meaningful role on Toronto's third line, reanimating Max Domi and Calle Jarnkrok in the process. That trio generated seven scoring chances while allowing none against in the recent match versus Calgary.

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Lady Byng alert: Cole Perfetti (WPG) has one hit across 13 games.

He is currently clicking at a 63-point pace and has upped his power play time and shot rate (two/game) compared to last year. But as much as I have been consistently championing Perfetti over the years as a high-end fantasy asset, he could be a category killer in multi-cat formats ala Clayton Keller if he continues to avoid physical play to this degree. Just something to keep an eye on.

If a chance arose to sell high on Perfetti for a comparable young player with a better-rounded statistical profile, I would consider it. He did take nearly three shots per game a couple years ago with the Moose (AHL) but has tended to net about twice as many assists as goals. Playmakers like him who do not shoot or hit that often are sometimes not as valuable in certain formats as you might think.

Perfetti has been paired with Nikolaj Ehlers this year, and I get the sense that Ehlers has not yet hit his stride in 2023-24. Ehlers' shot percentage is 6.1% below his career average right now, his PDO is abysmal (929), and his IPP is through the roof (83.3%), suggesting that he is due for an imminent point regression. If these two could receive more than the 13-15 minutes of ice a night that they have been seeing so far, there could be magic here. Perfetti could even possibly make a push into 70+ territory this year.

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Jagger Firkus (SEA) is making me look foolish: I had him ranked 13th overall ahead of the 2022 draft and then dropped him down to 20th when I re-ranked that class this past August. But he came out of the gates absolutely on fire in 2023-24, scoring 18 goals in his first 17 WHL games. With an additional 17 assists on top of that, Firkus is currently sitting atop the WHL's scoring race, four points up on Andrew Cristall (WAS), a strong contender in his own right to claim that honour by the time everything is said and done.

In retrospect, his stocks slipping a bit in my books had less to do with him and more to do with the notable improvements of other members of the 2022 class last year. Players who passed him include Lane Hutson (MTL), Pavel Mintyukov (ANA), Kevin Korchinski (CHI), and Jiri Kulich (BUF)—all of whom have taken remarkable strides since the draft. In 2022-23, Firkus went out and scored a relatively quiet 40 goals (and 48 assists) in only 66 games in his D+1—not a bad performance in the slightest, though it was not a huge improvement over his totals from the year before.

All told, Firkus has now scored nearly one hundred goals (94) in his last 150 WHL games. Ahead of the draft, Elite Prospects awarded Firkus the "Best Shot" in the entire class, edging out fellow sniper Jonathan Lekkerimaki (VAN). Yet while he relied too much on that weapon in the early months of 2021-22, they noted that he added increasing flashes of playmaking throughout his draft year. As his balanced statlines since then suggests, that progression has clearly continued, an excellent sign for his NHL trajectory.

The concerns with Firkus revolved mainly around size: he weighed in at 5-10, 154 lbs a couple years ago. Today, Moosejaw has him listed at 5-11, 160 lbs on their team page, so he is continuing to fill out but still has a lot of work to do. As Kent Johnson's recent AHL demotion by Columbus confirms, there remains merit to size-and-strength-based concerns in the modern NHL. Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent stated that, "It's a matter of, physically, we have a plan for him to get stronger and more strength in the 1-on-1 battles. That's going to take time, but he's a guy that takes it very seriously. So, we have big plans for 'K.J.' I think he's going to be a hell of a player."

Unlike Johnson, who jumped straight from the U of Michigan to Columbus in his D+2, Firkus is taking a slower route to the show, a decision that may benefit him in the long run. An overager with pedigree like him should be dominating junior, so it is a great sign to see him doing exactly that. His Hockey Prospecting profile does not yet include the current campaign (expect a jump when that update comes), but you can see the impact that his lack of progression from his D0 to D+1 had on his star trajectory:

Seattle clearly has a good one on their hands.

Jagger Firkus (SEA) was my pick for WHL Player of the Year this season

Here's a look at his 16 goals through the first 14 games of the season pic.twitter.com/33aF0FErFT

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) October 30, 2023

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Finally, another Kraken prospect is currently dominating the OHL: Carson Rehkopf has an insane 18 goals in his first 18 games (plus 14 assists) to lead the OHL in scoring. Serious props to Seattle's scouting team: both Firkus and Rehkopf were second-round picks.

Rehkopf is like a bigger, less creative version of Firkus. He is known primarily for his high-end release and goal-scoring instincts but never drifted higher than the mid-40s in my personal rankings for 2023 because he seemed raw and one-dimensional. If he can keep up this frantic pace over the course of the full season, his fantasy trajectory will be headed straight up. Playing with a slick playmaker like Montreal's underrated Filip Mesar is exactly what someone like Rehkopf needs to shine:

You simply cannot keep them off the scoresheet 🤷‍♂️

Filip Mesar connects with @CarsonRehkopf twice and the @OHLRangers double up their lead!@SeattleKraken | @CanadiensMTL pic.twitter.com/SQwnJznU97

— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) November 4, 2023

The challenge moving forward for the big Canadian will be whether he can be more than just a passenger at the next level.

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